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Khmer Empire

(Encyclopedia)Khmer Empire kəmĕrˈ [key], ancient kingdom of SE Asia. In the 6th cent. the Cambodians, or Khmers, established an empire roughly corresponding to modern Cambodia and Laos. Divided during the 8th ce...

soap

(Encyclopedia)soap, a cleansing agent. It cleanses by lowering the surface tension of water, by emulsifying grease, and by absorbing dirt into the foam. Ancient peoples are believed to have employed wood ashes and ...

Who, The

(Encyclopedia) Who, The, English rock music group formed in 1964. The members were Peter Dennis Blanford Townshend, 1945–, Chiswick, London, U.K., guitar, ...

catacombs

(Encyclopedia)catacombs katˈəkōmz [key], cemeteries of the early Christians and contemporary Jews, arranged in extensive subterranean vaults and galleries. Besides serving as places of burial, the catacombs were...

cellular telephone

(Encyclopedia)cellular telephone or cellular radio, telecommunications system in which a portable or mobile radio transmitter and receiver, or “cellphone,” is linked via microwave radio frequencies to base tran...

Commonwealth of Nations

(Encyclopedia)Commonwealth of Nations, voluntary association of Great Britain and its dependencies, certain former British dependencies that are now sovereign states and their dependencies, and the associated state...

Anatolian languages

(Encyclopedia)Anatolian languages ănˌətōˈlēən [key], subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see The Indo-European Family of Languages, tableIndo-European, table); the term “Anatolian languages...

Farm Credit Administration

(Encyclopedia)Farm Credit Administration (FCA), an independent agency of the executive branch of the federal government that supervises and regulates the Farm Credit System (FCS) for American agriculture. The Farm ...

engineering

(Encyclopedia)engineering, profession devoted to designing, constructing, and operating the structures, machines, and other devices of industry and everyday life. Until the Industrial Revolution there were only t...