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Vratsa

(Encyclopedia)Vratsa vräˈtsä [key], city (1993 pop. 76,947), NW Bulgaria, in the picturesque foothills of the Balkan Mts. It is a commercial and crafts center and a railway junction. Vratsa has textile, metal pr...

Westerly

(Encyclopedia)Westerly, town (1990 pop. 21,605), Washington co., extreme SW R.I., between the Pawcatuck River and Block Island Sound; inc. 1669. Formerly important industries include textile manufacturing (dating f...

sponge

(Encyclopedia)sponge, common name for members of the aquatic animal phylum Porifera, and for the dried, processed skeletons of certain species used to hold water. Over 4,500 living species are known; they are found...

perfume

(Encyclopedia)perfume, aroma produced by the essential oils of plants and by synthetic aromatics. The burning of incense that accompanied the religious rites of ancient China, Palestine, and Egypt led gradually to ...

straw

(Encyclopedia)straw, dried stalks of threshed grains, especially wheat, barley, oats, and rye. It has been used from antiquity for bedding, covering floors, and thatching roofs, as fodder and litter for animals, an...

cellulose

(Encyclopedia)cellulose, chief constituent of the cell walls of plants. Chemically, it is a carbohydrate that is a high molecular weight polysaccharide. Raw cotton is composed of 91% pure cellulose; other important...

Nykøbing

(Encyclopedia)Nykøbing nüˈköˌbĭng [key], city (1992 com. pop. 25,350), capital of Storstrøm co., SE Denmark, on Falster Island and on the Guldborg Sund, connected by bridge with Lolland. It is a seaport and ...

Medinipur

(Encyclopedia)Medinipur mĭdˈnəpûrˌ [key], town (1991 pop. 125,498), West Bengal state, E India, on the Kasai River. It is a district administrative center and has textile and chemical manufactures. A canal lin...

Makó

(Encyclopedia)Makó mŏˈkō [key], town (1991 est. pop. 27,160), S Hungary, on the Mureşul River near the Romanian border. It is an administrative and trade center and a road hub in a fertile agricultural region....

Kompong Cham

(Encyclopedia)Kompong Cham kämˈpôngˈ chäm [key], city (1971 est. pop. 35,000), capital of Kompong Cham prov., SE Cambodia, a port on the Mekong River. The third largest city in Cambodia, it has a large textile...