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Currier & Ives

(Encyclopedia)Currier & Ives, American lithographers and print publishers, who produced highly popular hand-colored prints of contemporary scenes and events in American life. Nathaniel Currier, 1813–88, b. Ro...

Mergenthaler, Ottmar

(Encyclopedia)Mergenthaler, Ottmar ôtˈmär mĕrˈgən-täˌlər [key], 1854–99, American inventor of the Linotype (see printing). Mergenthaler was born in Germany. He emigrated to the United States in 1872 and ...

bursa, in anatomy

(Encyclopedia)bursa bûrˈsə [key], closed fibrous sac lined with a smooth membrane, producing a viscous lubricant known as synovial fluid. Bursas are found in regions where muscles or tendons rub against other mu...

Stevenson, Teófilo

(Encyclopedia)Stevenson, Teófilo, 1952–2012, Cuban heavyweight boxer, b. Puerto Padre. One of the greatest amateur boxers ever to enter the ring, he won gold medals at the Munich (1972), Montreal (1976), and Mos...

plea bargaining

(Encyclopedia)plea bargaining, negotiation in which a defendant agrees to plead guilty to a criminal charge in exchange for concessions by the prosecutor (representing the state). The defendant waives the right to ...

Osborne, Thomas Mott

(Encyclopedia)Osborne, Thomas Mott, 1859–1926, American prison reformer, b. Auburn, N.Y., grad. Harvard, 1884. As chairman (1913) of the state commission on prison reform he became a voluntary prisoner in the Aub...

conducting

(Encyclopedia)conducting, in music, the art of unifying the efforts of a number of musicians simultaneously engaged in musical performance. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance the conductor was primarily a time beat...

Alamo, the

(Encyclopedia)Alamo, the ălˈəmōˌ [key] [Span.,=cottonwood], building in San Antonio, Tex., “the cradle of Texas liberty.” Built as a chapel after 1744, it is all that remains of the mission of San Antonio ...

equation

(Encyclopedia)equation, in mathematics, a statement, usually written in symbols, that states the equality of two quantities or algebraic expressions, e.g., x+3=5. The quantity x+3, to the left of the equals sign (=...

foot, in anatomy

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Foot foot, in anatomy, terminal part of the land vertebrate leg. The term is also applied to any invertebrate appendage used either for locomotion or attachment, e.g., the legs of insects and ...