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Trevisa, John of

(Encyclopedia)Trevisa, John of trəvēˈsə [key], c.1326–c.1402, English writer. He was the vicar of Berkeley. In 1387 he translated into English Ranulph Higden's Polychronicon, a history of the world, and in 13...

Rockefeller, William

(Encyclopedia)Rockefeller, William, 1841–1922, American financier, b. Tioga co., N.Y.; brother of John D. Rockefeller. He joined (1865) his brother in the oil-refining business. William was a successful stock mar...

Barr, Alfred Hamilton, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Barr, Alfred Hamilton, Jr., 1902–81, American art historian, b. Detroit. Barr taught art history at several colleges and was the first director of the Museum of Modern Art, New York City. He organiz...

composition board

(Encyclopedia)composition board, wood product produced in the form of a board or sheet, formed of cellulose fibers or particles derived from wood or other sources, and used principally as a building material. The o...

ACE inhibitor

(Encyclopedia)ACE inhibitor ănˌjēōtĕnˈsĭn [key], drug used to reduce elevated blood pressure (see hypertension), to treat congestive heart failure, and to alleviate strain on hea...

Ashkin, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Ashkin, Arthur, 1922–2020, American physicist, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., Ph.D. Cornell, 1952. Ashkin worked for four decades at Bell Laboratories, retiring in 1992. Ashkin researched microwaves, nonlinear ...

bladder, urinary

(Encyclopedia)bladder, urinary, muscular sac located in the pelvis that stores urine and contracts to expel it from the body. Urine enters the bladder from the kidneys through the ureters and is discharged from the...

chronometer

(Encyclopedia)chronometer krənŏmˈətər [key], instrument for keeping highly accurate time, used especially in navigation. Before the advent of radio time signals it was the only device that provided the time ac...

lard

(Encyclopedia)lard, hog's fat melted and strained from the tissues, an important byproduct of the meatpacking industry. The highest grade, leaf lard, is from the fat around the kidneys; the next best is from the ba...

taconite

(Encyclopedia)taconite, low-grade iron ore, a flintlike rock usually containing less than 30% iron. Resistant to drilling and to the extraction of its contained metal, the rock was long considered worthless. Experi...