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constipation

(Encyclopedia)constipation, infrequent or difficult passage of feces. Constipation may be caused by the lack of adequate roughage or fluid in the diet, prolonged physical inactivity, certain drugs, or emotional dis...

Morris, Wright

(Encyclopedia)Morris, Wright (Wright Marion Morris), 1910–98, American writer, b. Central City, Nebr. He was for many years professor of English at San Francisco State College (now San Francisco State Univ.). Fro...

Kempe, Margery

(Encyclopedia)Kempe, Margery kĕmp [key], d. 1438 or afterward, English religious writer, b. King's Lynn. She was the wife of a prominent citizen and the mother of 14 children. Her autobiography, The Book of Marger...

Habakkuk

(Encyclopedia)Habakkuk həbakˈək [key], prophetic book of the Bible. It is a collection of oracles, perhaps three in number, delivered against the backdrop of the Babylonian threat to Judah in c.600 b.c. The firs...

Schober, Johann

(Encyclopedia)Schober, Johann yōˈhän shōˈbər [key], 1874–1932, Austrian chancellor (1921–22, 1929–30). A respected career civil servant, he held the key post of head of the Vienna police after July, 191...

Green, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Green, Samuel, 1615–1702, early American printer. He established himself at Cambridge, Mass., in 1649, using a press owned by Henry Dunster, the first president of Harvard. Green succeeded Stephen D...

Qur'an

(Encyclopedia)Qur'an or Koran kōrănˈ, –ränˈ [key] [Arab.,=reading, recitation], the sacred book of Islam. Revealed by God to the Prophet Muhammad in separate revelations over the major portion of the Prophet...

chronometer

(Encyclopedia)chronometer krənŏmˈətər [key], instrument for keeping highly accurate time, used especially in navigation. Before the advent of radio time signals it was the only device that provided the time ac...

shape memory

(Encyclopedia)shape memory, property possessed by certain alloys that allows them to return, when heated, to their original shape after having been deformed. This effect results because, as the alloy is deformed, i...

Okmok

(Encyclopedia)Okmok, shield volcano on Umnak, SW Alaska, in the Aleutian Islands. Rising to 3,520 ft (1,073 m) and extending over most of NE Umnak, the 22-mi-wide (35-km) volcano contains two 6-mi-wide (10-km) part...