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bearing

(Encyclopedia)bearing, machine part designed to reduce friction between moving parts or to support moving loads. There are two main kinds of bearings: the antifriction type, such as the roller bearing and the ball ...

watch

(Encyclopedia)watch, small, portable timepiece usually designed to be worn on the person. Other kinds of timepieces are generally referred to as clocks. At one time it was generally believed that the first watches ...

restaurant

(Encyclopedia)restaurant, a commerical establishment where meals can be bought and eaten. In the 16th cent. English inns and taverns began to serve one meal a day at a fixed time and price, at a common table, and u...

Cocteau, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Cocteau, Jean zhäN kôktōˈ [key], 1889–1963, French writer, visual artist, and filmmaker. He experimented audaciously in almost every artistic medium, becoming a leader of the French avant-garde ...

Chemnitz

(Encyclopedia)Chemnitz kärl-märks-shtät [key], city, Saxony, E central Germany, on the Chemnitz River. It is a ...

chariot

(Encyclopedia)chariot, earliest and simplest type of carriage and the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples. The chariot was known among the Babylonians before the introduction of horses c.2000 b.c. and was first d...

Felton, William Harrell

(Encyclopedia)Felton, William Harrell, 1823–1909, American political leader, b. Oglethorpe co., Ga. After studying medicine he practiced for awhile, but gave it up for farming in 1847. Ordained a Methodist minist...

Hopper, Grace

(Encyclopedia)Hopper, Grace, 1906–92, American computer scientist, b. New York City as Grace Brewster Murray. She was educated at Vassar College and Yale (Ph.D., 1934). After teaching at Vassar (1931–1943), she...

Hine, Lewis

(Encyclopedia)Hine, Lewis (Lewis Wickes Hine), 1874–1940, American photographer, b. Oshkosh, Wis. Hine dedicated much of his photographic career, which began shortly after he bought his first camera in 1903, to e...

Jones, Mary Harris

(Encyclopedia)Jones, Mary Harris, 1830–1930, American labor agitator, called Mother Jones, b. Ireland. Interested in the labor movement for many years, she became active in it after the death of her husband and f...