(Encyclopedia) silky terrier, breed of agile, spirited toy dog originated in Australia in the early 20th cent. It stands about 10 in. (25 cm) high at the shoulder and weighs from 8 to 10 lb (3.6.–4.5…
(Encyclopedia) milling, mechanical grinding of wheat or other grains to produce flour. Milling separates the fine, mealy parts of grain from the fibrous bran covering. In prehistoric times grain was…
Neither Fish nor Tetrapod Several times a year popular science articles breathlessly announce the discovery of a “missing link,” but in the case of the recently identified fossils of an odd…
Corsets In Florence during the Renaissance, Catherine de Medici decreed it bad manners to have a thick waist and designed a hinged corset that narrowed the waist to 13 inches.Corsets and girdles…
(Encyclopedia) Jackson, Shirley, 1916–65, American writer, b. San Francisco. She is best known for her stories and novels of horror and the occult, rendered more terrifying because they are set…
(Encyclopedia) Wilson, Colin, 1931–2013, English writer, b. Leicester. Born into a working-class family and largely self-educated, Wilson in many of his books exhorts humankind to expand its powers…
(Encyclopedia) eccentric, in mechanics, device for changing rotary to back-and-forth motion. A disk is mounted off center on a shaft. One flat, open, circular end of a rod fits around the edge of the…
(Encyclopedia) double bass, bowed stringed musical instrument, the contrabass of the modern orchestral string section. It originated as a double-bass viol, an instrument described as early as 1566. A…
(Encyclopedia) damaskdamaskdămˈəsk [key] [from Damascus], fabric of silk, wool, linen, cotton, or synthetic fibers, with a pattern formed by the weaving; e.g., the ground may be in twill weave, and…
