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Wurster, William Wilson

(Encyclopedia)Wurster, William Wilson, 1895–1973, American architect, b. Stockton, Calif. Wurster was a major designer of town and country dwellings in the roomy and comfortable West Coast aesthetic termed “Bay...

Bio, Julius Maada

(Encyclopedia)Bio, Julius Maada, 1964–, Sierra Leonean political leader. He served in the Sierra Leone armed forces in Liberia (1990–91) as part of a UN peacekeeping force, and then fought in the Sierra Leone c...

block book

(Encyclopedia)block book. Before and after the invention of printing from movable types in the mid-15th cent., some books were printed in Europe from engraved wooden blocks, with one block for each page. This metho...

neutralization

(Encyclopedia)neutralization, chemical reaction, according to the Arrhenius theory of acids and bases, in which a water solution of acid is mixed with a water solution of base to form a salt and water; this reactio...

library school

(Encyclopedia)library school, educational institution providing professional training for librarians (see also library). Librarians were trained by apprenticeship until the late 19th cent. The first school for trai...

mutual fund

(Encyclopedia)mutual fund, in finance, investment company or trust that has a very fluid capital stock. It is unique in that at any time it can sell or redeem any of its outstanding shares at net asset value (i.e.,...

National Gallery of Art

(Encyclopedia)National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, established by an act of Congress, 1937. Andrew W. Mellon donated funds for construction of the building as well...

tense

(Encyclopedia)tense [O.Fr., from Lat.,=time], in the grammar of many languages, a category of time distinctions expressed by any conjugated form of a verb. In Latin inflection the tense of a verb is indicated by a ...

Polish language

(Encyclopedia)Polish language, member of the West Slavic group of the Slavic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Slavic languages). Polish is spoken as a first language by about 38 million peopl...

oxide

(Encyclopedia)oxide, chemical compound containing oxygen and one other chemical element. Oxides are widely and abundantly distributed in nature. Water is the oxide of hydrogen. Silicon dioxide is the major componen...