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grinding

(Encyclopedia)grinding, process by which surface material is removed from an object, usually metal, by the abrasive action of a rotating wheel or a moving belt that contains abrasive grains. A grinding wheel can be...

Spartanburg

(Encyclopedia)Spartanburg, city (1990 pop. 43,467), seat of Spartanburg co., NW S.C., in the Piedmont (see under piedmont) near the N.C. line; inc. 1831. The city is noted for its textile production. It is an impor...

Phoenician art

(Encyclopedia)Phoenician art. The Phoenician region developed as a major trade center of the ancient world; consequently Phoenician art clearly reflects the influences of Egypt, Syria, and Greece. Phoenician deitie...

Carver, George Washington

(Encyclopedia)Carver, George Washington, 1864?–1943, American agricultural chemist, b. Diamond, Mo., grad. Iowa State College (now Iowa State Univ.; B.S., 1894; M.A. 1896). Born a slave, he later, as a free man, ...

blasting

(Encyclopedia)blasting, shattering, breaking, or splitting of rock or other material by the discharge of an explosive placed within or in contact with it. It is a necessary part of many engineering operations. An a...

tile

(Encyclopedia)tile, one of the ceramic products used in building, to which group brick and terra-cotta also belong. The term designates the finished baked clay—the material of a wide variety of units used in arch...

Nerchinsk

(Encyclopedia)Nerchinsk nyĕrˈchĭnsk [key], city, SE Siberian Russia. Founded in 1654, the city was a Russian outpost in E Asia from the 17th to the 19th cent. A Russo-Chinese border treaty signed at Nerchinsk in...

Pratas Island

(Encyclopedia)Pratas Island do͝ongˈshäˈ [key], in the South China Sea, controlled by Taiwan and administered as part of Kaohsiung. A national park, the island is part of an atoll and has guano deposits. It was ...

Kiaochow

(Encyclopedia)Kiaochow jēouˈjōˈ [key], former German territory, area c.200 sq mi (520 sq km), along the southern coast of Shandong prov., China. Its administrative center was the city of Qingdao. Germany leased...

Six Dynasties

(Encyclopedia)Six Dynasties, period of Chinese history between the fall of the Han dynasty (a.d. 220) and the unification of China under the Sui dynasty (a.d. 589). It is named for the six successive dynasties that...