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shaduf

(Encyclopedia)shaduf or shadoof both: shədo͝ofˈ, shäˈdo͝of [key], primitive device used to lift water from a well or stream for irrigation purposes. Essentially the device consists of a long boom balanced acr...

Common Cause

(Encyclopedia)Common Cause, U.S. organization that seeks a “reordering of national priorities and revitalization of the public process to make our political and governmental institutions more responsive to the ne...

anchovy

(Encyclopedia)anchovy, small fish of the family Engraulidae, found mainly in the temperate waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans and the Mediterranean and Black seas. The commercially significant ancho...

precipitation, in chemistry

(Encyclopedia)precipitation, in chemistry, a process in which a solid is separated from a suspension, sol, or solution. In a suspension such as sand in water the solid spontaneously precipitates (settles out) on st...

Fletcher, Alice Cunningham

(Encyclopedia)Fletcher, Alice Cunningham, 1838–1923, American anthropologist, b. Havana, Cuba. Originally interested in archaeology, she turned to the study of the Plains tribes. After studying informally with Fr...

forging

(Encyclopedia)forging, shaping metal by heating it and then hammering or rolling it. Forging is the method by which metal was first worked when it came into use about 4000 b.c. in Egypt and Asia. Modern forging is ...

humus

(Encyclopedia)humus hyo͞oˈməs [key], organic matter that has decayed to a relatively stable, amorphous state. It is an important biological constituent of fertile soil. Humus is formed by the decomposing action ...

intarsia

(Encyclopedia)intarsia ĭntärˈsēə [key] or tarsia, properly a form of wood inlaying. The term is sometimes applied to inlays of other materials such as ivory and metal. It is differentiated from marquetry by th...

drypoint

(Encyclopedia)drypoint, an intaglio printing process in which the lines are scratched directly into a metal plate with a needle; also, the print made from such a plate. Although it is often used in combination with...

Sullivan, Harry Stack

(Encyclopedia)Sullivan, Harry Stack, 1892–1949, American psychiatrist, b. Norwich, N.Y., M.D. Chicago College of Medicine and Surgery, 1917. He was, along with his teacher William Alanson White, responsible for t...