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amber

(Encyclopedia)amber, fossilized tree resin. Amber can vary in color from yellow to red to green and blue. The best commercial amber is transparent, but some varieties are cloudy. To be called amber, the resin must ...

flying squirrel

(Encyclopedia)flying squirrel, name for certain nocturnal tree squirrels adapted for gliding; they do not actually fly. Most are found in Asia, but one species of the genus Pteromys extends into SE Europe and the t...

Hindustani

(Encyclopedia)Hindustani hĭndo͞ostänˈē [key], subdivision of the Indic group of the Indo-Iranian languages, which ...

alligator

(Encyclopedia)alligator, large aquatic reptile of the genus Alligator, in the same order as the crocodile. There are two species—a large type found in the S United States and a small type found in E China. Alliga...

sewerage

(Encyclopedia)sewerage, system for the removal and disposal of chiefly liquid wastes and of rainwater, which are collectively called sewage. The average person in the industrialized world produces between 60 and 14...

brake, in technology

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Shoe brake CE5 Disk brake brake, in technology, device to slow or stop the motion of a mechanism or vehicle. The vacuum brake system, or vacuum brake, depends upon the use of a vacuum to ...

Norwegian language

(Encyclopedia)Norwegian language, member of the North Germanic, or Scandinavian, group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. It is spoken by about 4 million people in Norway and anothe...

narcotic

(Encyclopedia)narcotic, any of a number of substances that have a depressant effect on the nervous system. The chief narcotic drugs are opium, its constituents morphine and codeine, and the morphine derivative hero...

peanut

(Encyclopedia)peanut, name for a low, annual leguminous plant (Arachis hypogaea) of the family Leguminosae (pulse family) and for its edible seeds. Native to South America and cultivated there for millenia, it is s...

Sembene, Ousmane

(Encyclopedia)Sembene, Ousmane o͝osmäˈnĕ səmbĕˈnĕ [key], 1923–2007, Senegalese author and film director who wrote and made films in French and Wolof, often regarded as the father of sub-Saharan African ci...