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rancheria

(Encyclopedia)rancheria ränchāˈrēä [key], type of communal settlement formerly characteristic of the Yaqui Indians of Sonora, Mexico, and of various small Native American groups of the SW United States, especi...

serval

(Encyclopedia)serval, medium-sized African cat, Leptailurus serval, found S of the Sahara in scrub country close to water. The serval is lightly built with very long legs; it has a small head with large eyes and ea...

custard-apple

(Encyclopedia)custard-apple, common name for members of the Annonaceae, a family of shrubs, woody vines, and small trees of the tropics. The custard-apples (Annona squamosa and A. reticulata) and other members of t...

tubercle

(Encyclopedia)tubercle to͞oˈbərkyo͞olˌ [key] [Lat.,=little swelling], small, usually solid, nodule or prominence. In anatomy the term is applied to natural prominences in certain muscles, to nerve nuclei of th...

palmtop

(Encyclopedia)palmtop or hand-held personal computer, lightweight, small, battery-powered, general-purpose programmable computer. It typically had a miniaturized full-function, typewriterlike keyboard for input and...

jack, mechanical device

(Encyclopedia)jack, mechanical device used to multiply a relatively small applied force so that it can lift and support heavy loads, or sometimes, move massive objects into a desired position. The lever jack, often...

Taman Peninsula

(Encyclopedia)Taman Peninsula təmänˈ [key], c.20 mi (30 km) long and 8 mi (12.9 km) wide, Krasnodar Territory, SE European Russia, projecting westward between the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. It is separated f...

thermometer

(Encyclopedia)thermometer, instrument for measuring temperature. Galileo and Sanctorius devised thermometers consisting essentially of a bulb with a tubular projection, the open end of which was immersed in a liqui...

chevrotain

(Encyclopedia)chevrotain shĕvˈrətānˌ [key], name for several species of small, ruminant mammals of Africa and SE Asia. Although they are also called mouse-deer, chevrotains are not closely related to true deer...

killifish

(Encyclopedia)killifish, any of more than a thousand species of small fish of the several families of the order Cyprinodontiformes (toothed minnows or toothed carps), a group that includes also the topminnows and m...