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spear

(Encyclopedia)spear, primitive weapon consisting of a wooden shaft tipped with a sharp point, usually 8 to 9 ft (2.4–2.7 m) in length. The point may be carved from the shaft and hardened in a fire, or made from a...

Borgia, Lucrezia

(Encyclopedia)Borgia, Lucrezia bōrˈjä [key], 1480–1519, Italian noblewoman, famous figure of the Italian Renaissance; daughter of Pope Alexander VI. Her first marriage (1492) to Giovanni Sforza of Pesaro was ...

pine

(Encyclopedia)pine, common name for members of the Pinaceae, a family of resinous woody trees with needlelike, usually evergreen leaves. The Pinaceae reproduce by means of cones (see cone) rather than flowers and m...

logania

(Encyclopedia)logania lōgāˈnēə [key], common name for the Loganiaceae, a family of herbs, shrubs, and trees of warmer climates, including many woody climbing species. Some plants of this family are grown in th...

medical jurisprudence

(Encyclopedia)medical jurisprudence or forensic medicine, the application of medical science to legal problems. It is typically involved in cases concerning blood relationship, mental illness, injury, or death resu...

thallium

(Encyclopedia)thallium thălˈēəm [key], metallic chemical element; symbol Tl; at. no. 81; interval in which at. wt. ranges 204.382–204.385; m.p. 303.5℃; b.p. about 1,457℃; sp. gr. 11.85 at 20℃; valence +...

trench warfare

(Encyclopedia)trench warfare. Although trenches were used in ancient and medieval warfare, in the American Civil War, and in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–5), they did not become important until World War I. The i...

Dyak

(Encyclopedia)Dyak or Dayak both: dīˈăk [key], name applied to one of the groups of indigenous peoples of the island of Borneo, numbering about 2 million. The Dyaks have maintained their customs and mode of life...

Assad, Bashar al-

(Encyclopedia)Assad, Bashar al- bäshärˈ äl-äsˈsäd [key], 1965–, Syrian political leader, son of Hafez al-Assad. A medical doctor, he left Syria (1992) for an ophthamology residency i...

Rommel, Erwin

(Encyclopedia)Rommel, Erwin ĕrˈvēn rômˈəl [key], 1891–1944, German field marshal. He entered the army in 1910 and rose slowly through the ranks. In 1939, Adolf Hitler made him a general. Rommel brilliantly ...