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lake dwelling

(Encyclopedia)lake dwelling, prehistoric habitation built over the shallow waters of a lake shore or a marsh, usually erected on pile-supported platforms, but sometimes on artificial islands or mounds. Such a site ...

Petty, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Petty, Richard, 1937–, American auto racing driver, b. Level Cross, N.C. The son of Lee Petty, a champion stock car race driver, he won a record 200 National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing ra...

South Pass

(Encyclopedia)South Pass, broad, level valley (alt. c.7,550 ft/2,301 m), SW Wyo., cutting across the Rocky Mts. It was used by trappers and explorers before Jedediah Smith inaugurated its use as a route for settler...

home economics

(Encyclopedia)home economics, study of homemaking and the relation of the home to the community. Formerly limited to problems of food (nutrition and cookery), clothing, sewing, textiles, household equipment, housec...

accent

(Encyclopedia)accent, in speech, emphasis given a particular sound, called prosodic systems in linguistics. There are three basic accentual methods: stress, tone, and length. In English each word has at least one p...

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...

elevation

(Encyclopedia)elevation, vertical distance from a datum plane, usually mean sea level to a point above the earth. Often used synonymously with altitude, elevation is the height on the earth's surface and altitude, ...

Tahoe, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Tahoe, Lake täˈhō, tāˈ– [key], 193 sq mi (500 sq km), on the Calif.-Nev. line. It occupies a basin in the Sierra Nevada and is drained by the Truckee River. Lying 6,228 ft (1,898 m) above sea l...

Quezaltenango

(Encyclopedia)Quezaltenango kāsältānängˈgō [key], city (1994 est. pop. 90,801), SW Guatemala. The city is the metropolis of the western highlands (it is 7,500 ft/2,286 m above sea level) and the second city o...

crypt

(Encyclopedia)crypt krĭpt [key] [Gr.,=hidden], vault or chamber beneath the main level of a church, used as a meeting place or burial place. It undoubtedly developed from the catacombs used by early Christians as ...