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shawm

(Encyclopedia)shawm shôm [key], double-reed woodwind instrument used in Europe from the 13th through the 17th cent. The term denotes a family of instruments of different sizes. The shape and tone of the soprano sh...

pamphlet

(Encyclopedia)pamphlet, short unbound or paper-bound book of from 64 to 96 pages. The pamphlet gained popularity as an instrument of religious or political controversy, giving the author and reader full benefit of ...

xylophone

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Xylophone xylophone zīˈləfōn [key] [Gr.,=wood sound], musical instrument having graduated wooden slabs that are struck by the player with small, hard mallets. The slabs are usually arrange...

Wild, Jonathan

(Encyclopedia)Wild, Jonathan, 1683–1725, English criminal. He maintained a highly organized gang of thieves in London and long escaped punishment by posing as an instrument of justice and helping the authorities ...

Blaeu, Willem Janszoon

(Encyclopedia)Blaeu, Willem Janszoon vĭˈləm yänˈsōn blou [key], 1571–1638, Dutch cartographer and printer. He studied astronomy and instrument making under the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. The printing es...

hydrometer

(Encyclopedia)hydrometer hīdrŏmˈətər [key], device used to determine directly the specific gravity of a liquid. It usually consists of a thin glass tube closed at both ends, with one end enlarged into a bulb t...

binocular

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Binocular binocular, small optical instrument consisting of two similar telescopes mounted on a single frame so that separate images enter each of the viewer's eyes. As with a single telescope...

small arms

(Encyclopedia)small arms, firearms designed primarily to be carried and fired by one person and, generally, held in the hands, as distinguished from heavy arms, or artillery. Automatic small arms were develope...

accordion

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Accordion accordion, musical instrument consisting of a rectangular bellows expanded and contracted between the hands. Buttons or keys operated by the player open valves, allowing air to enter...

Marler, Peter Robert

(Encyclopedia)Marler, Peter Robert, 1928–2014, British ethologist, b. Slough, England, Ph.D University College London, 1952, and Cambridge, 1954. At Cambridge he was introduced to the sonic spectrograph, an instr...