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barrel organ

(Encyclopedia)barrel organ, mechanical musical instrument requiring nothing but the regular rotary motion of a handle to keep it going. It probably originated at the beginning of the 18th cent., and was once used e...

shawm

(Encyclopedia)shawm shôm [key], double-reed woodwind instrument used in Europe from the 13th through the 17th cent. The term denotes a family of instruments of different sizes. The shape and tone of the soprano sh...

hydrometer

(Encyclopedia)hydrometer hīdrŏmˈətər [key], device used to determine directly the specific gravity of a liquid. It usually consists of a thin glass tube closed at both ends, with one end enlarged into a bulb t...

binocular

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Binocular binocular, small optical instrument consisting of two similar telescopes mounted on a single frame so that separate images enter each of the viewer's eyes. As with a single telescope...

Murakami, Haruki

(Encyclopedia)Murakami, Haruki häro͞oˈkē mo͝orˌäkäˈmē [key], 1949–, Japanese novelist. He lived in Europe and the United States from 1986 to 1995. Widely considered one of Japan's most important contemp...

Miyazaki, Hayao

(Encyclopedia)Miyazaki, Hayao mēyäˈzäˌkē [key], 1941–, Japanese animator. Japan's preeminent maker of animated films (anime), Miyazaki is thought by many to be the world's finest living animator. He draws, ...

C.I.A.M.

(Encyclopedia)C.I.A.M. (Congrès internationaux d'architecture moderne). Founded in 1928 by Hélène de Mandrot, Sigfried Giedion, and Le Corbusier, C.I.A.M. sought to divert architecture from academic preoccupatio...

Espinel, Vicente Martínez

(Encyclopedia)Espinel, Vicente Martínez vēthānˈtā märtēˈnāth āspēnĕlˈ [key], 1550–1624, Spanish writer, musician, and adventurer. Espinel was notorious for his dissolute life, which his holy vows, ta...

Aaron

(Encyclopedia)Aaron ârˈən [key], in the Bible, the brother of Moses and his spokesman in Egypt, and the first high priest of the Hebrews. He is presented as the instrument of God in performing many signs, such a...

Oistrakh, David Feodorovich

(Encyclopedia)Oistrakh, David Feodorovich oiˈsträk [key], 1908–74, Ukrainian violinist, b. Odessa. Encouraged by his father, an amateur violinist, he began to study his instrument at the age of five. He graduat...