(Encyclopedia) brown recluse spider or violin spider, poisonous nocturnal spider, Loxoceles reclusa, most common in the SE and S central United States. Adults are 3&fslsh;8 in. (10 mm) long and…
(Encyclopedia) Blackheath, common, 267 acres (108 hectares) in Lewisham and Greenwich boroughs, London, England. It was the gathering place of highwaymen and of several martial groups, including the…
(Encyclopedia) bluestone, common name for the blue, crystalline heptahydrate of cupric sulfate called chalcanthite, a minor ore of copper. It also refers to a fine-grained, light to dark colored blue…
(Encyclopedia) stromatolite, layered structures produced by the binding together of sediments by a thin layer of cyanobacteria. The layers, which are deposited very slowly, gradually produce rounded…
(Encyclopedia) superstition, an irrational belief or practice resulting from ignorance or fear of the unknown. The validity of superstitions is based on belief in the power of magic and witchcraft…
(Encyclopedia) trill, in music, ornament consisting of the more or less rapid alternation of two adjacent notes. Indicated by any of several conventional symbols, it varies in speed and duration and…
(Encyclopedia) Tizard, Sir Henry Thomas, 1885–1959, English physical chemist and scientific adviser. He was educated at Westminster school and Magdalen College, Oxford, from which he received honors…
(Encyclopedia) sea nettle, any one of several species of stinging jellyfish, common along coasts and much feared by swimmers. Most stings are painful but are not dangerous to man; however, certain…
(Encyclopedia) Shaw, Robert Gould, 1837–63, Union hero in the American Civil War, b. Boston. An ardent white abolitionist, he was colonel of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the first body of black…
(Encyclopedia) S, 19th letter of the alphabet, representing the common sibilant, voiceless in spur, voiced in rose. Its Greek equivalent is sigma. In former times the nonterminal s was written or…
