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Oshogbo

(Encyclopedia)Oshogbo ōshōbˈbō [key], city (1991 est. pop. 421,000), SW Nigeria, on the Oshun River. Primarily a farming and commercial city, it has cotton gins, a steel-rolling mill, a traditional textiles ind...

corundum

(Encyclopedia)corundum kərŭnˈdəm [key], mineral, aluminum oxide, Al2O3. The clear varieties are used as gems and the opaque as abrasive materials. Corundum occurs in crystals of the hexagonal system and in mass...

avocet

(Encyclopedia)avocet ăvˈəsĕt [key], common name for a long-legged wading bird about 15 to 18 in. (37.5–45 cm) long, related to the snipe and belonging to the same family as the stilt. The American avocet or b...

agate

(Encyclopedia)agate ăgˈĭt [key], translucent, cryptocrystalline variety of quartz and a subvariety of chalcedony. Agates are identical in chemical structure to jasper, flint, chert, petrified wood, and tiger's-e...

centering

(Encyclopedia)centering, the framework of wood or of wood and steel built to support a masonry arch or vault during its construction. The centering itself must be rigidly supported, either by posts from the ground ...

steel

(Encyclopedia)steel, alloy of iron, carbon, and small proportions of other elements. Iron contains impurities in the form of silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, and manganese; steelmaking involves the removal of these imp...

Klein, Yves

(Encyclopedia)Klein, Yves, 1928–62, French painter. With critic Pierre Restany, he was a leader of the avant-garde movement called Nouveau Réalisme (founded 1960). In the 1950s Klein began to work in monochromes...

bowls

(Encyclopedia)bowls, ancient sport (the bocce of Caesar's Rome is still played by Italians), especially popular in Great Britain and Australia, known as lawn bowls or bowling on the green in the United States. It w...

airfoil

(Encyclopedia)airfoil, surface designed to develop a desired force by reaction with a fluid, especially air, that is flowing across the surface. For example, the fixed wing surfaces of an airplane produce lift, whi...

canary

(Encyclopedia)canary kənârˈē [key], common name for a familiar cage bird of the family Ploceidae (Old World finch family), descended from either the wild serin finch or from the very similar wild canary, Serinu...