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vision

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Optic nerve vision, physiological sense of sight by which the form, color, size, movements, and distance of objects are perceived. Defects of vision include astigmatism, color blindness, far...

Dia Art Foundation

(Encyclopedia)Dia Art Foundation, American foundation that supports contemporary art and artists, est. 1974 by art dealer Heiner Friedrich and his wife, art patron Philippa de Menil. The foundation, which commissio...

Sacco-Vanzetti Case

(Encyclopedia)Sacco-Vanzetti Case săkˈō-vănzĕtˈē [key]. On Apr. 15, 1920, a paymaster for a shoe company in South Braintree, Mass., and his guard were shot and killed by two men who escaped with over $15,000...

Escherichia coli

(Encyclopedia)Escherichia coli ĕshˌərĭkˈēə kōˈlī [key], common bacterium that normally inhabits the intestinal tracts of humans and animals, but can cause infection in other parts of the body, especially ...

tornado

(Encyclopedia)tornado, dark, funnel-shaped cloud containing violently rotating air that develops below a heavy cumulonimbus cloud mass and extends toward the earth. The funnel twists about, rises and falls, and whe...

Barak, Ehud

(Encyclopedia)Barak, Ehud āˈkho͞od bäräkˈ [key], 1942–, Israeli military and political leader, prime minister of Israel (1999–2001). The son of East European immigrants in Palestine, he was born Ehud Brog...

steam engine

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Steam engine steam engine, machine for converting heat energy into mechanical energy using steam as a medium, or working fluid. When water is converted into steam it expands, its volume increa...

Tampa

(Encyclopedia)Tampa tămˈpə [key], city (1990 pop. 280,015), seat of Hillsborough co., W Fla., a port of entry with an impressive harbor on Tampa Bay; inc. 1855. The third largest city in the state, Tampa has lon...

impotence

(Encyclopedia)impotence imˈpətəns [key], inhibited sexual excitement in a man during sexual activity that, despite an unaffected desire for sex, results in inability to attain or maintain a penile erection. Know...

tunicate

(Encyclopedia)tunicate to͞oˈnəkĭt [key], marine animal of the phylum Chordata, which also includes the vertebrates. The adult form of most tunicates (also called urochordates) shows no resemblance to vertebrate...