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COVID-19

(Encyclopedia)COVID-19, contagious viral disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2, a coronavirus that is genetically related to SARS-CoV, which causes SARS. Symptoms generall...

Darrow, Clarence Seward

(Encyclopedia)Darrow, Clarence Seward, 1857–1938, American lawyer, b. Kinsman, Ohio. He first practiced law in Ashtabula, Ohio. In 1887 he moved to Chicago, where he was corporation counsel for several years and ...

octopus

(Encyclopedia)octopus, cephalopod mollusk having no shell, eight muscular arms or tentacles, a pouch-shaped body, and two large, highly developed eyes. The prey (crabs, lobsters, and other shellfish) is seized by t...

sandgrouse

(Encyclopedia)sandgrouse, common name for pigeon-sized, seed-eating, terrestrial birds of the genera Pteroclida (approximately 14 species) and Syrrhaptes (2 species). They are birds of the Old World deserts and ste...

combustion

(Encyclopedia)combustion, rapid chemical reaction of two or more substances with a characteristic liberation of heat and light; it is commonly called burning. The burning of a fuel (e.g., wood, coal, oil, or natura...

Zurbarán, Francisco de

(Encyclopedia)Zurbarán, Francisco de fränthēsˈkō ᵺā tho͝orbäränˈ [key], 1598–1664, Spanish baroque painter, active mainly at Llerena, Madrid, and Seville. One of the finest painters of 17th-century Sp...

falcon

(Encyclopedia)falcon, common name for members of the Falconidae, a heterogeneous family of long-winged birds of prey similar to the hawks but genetically more closely related to the parrots and other birds. True fa...

evaporation

(Encyclopedia)evaporation, change of a liquid into vapor at any temperature below its boiling point. For example, water, when placed in a shallow open container exposed to air, gradually disappears, evaporating at ...

East Saint Louis

(Encyclopedia)East Saint Louis lo͞oˈĭs [key], city (2020 pop. 25,377), St. Clair co., SW Ill., on the Mississippi ...

swift

(Encyclopedia)swift, common name for small, swallowlike birds related to the hummingbird and found all over the world, chiefly in the tropics. They range in size from 6 to 12 in. (15–30 cm) in length. Swifts have...