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fertility rites

(Encyclopedia)fertility rites, magico-religious ceremonies to insure an abundance of food and the birth of children. The rites, expressed through dances, prayers, incantations, and sacred dramas, seek to control th...

air mass

(Encyclopedia)air mass, large body of air within the earth's atmosphere in which temperature and humidity, although varying at different heights, remain similar throughout the body at any one height. Air masses for...

Cape Canaveral

(Encyclopedia)Cape Canaveral kənăvˈərəl [key], low, sandy promontory extending E into the Atlantic Ocean from a barrier island, E Fla., separated from Merritt Island by the Banana River, a lagoon; named (1963)...

space station

(Encyclopedia)space station or space platform, artificial earth satellite, usually manned, that is placed in a fixed orbit and can serve as a base for astronomical observations; zero-gravity materials processing; s...

Garay, Juan de

(Encyclopedia)Garay, Juan de hwän dā gärīˈ [key], c.1528–1583, Spanish conquistador, refounder of Buenos Aires. He went to Peru (1544) in the train of the first viceroy, Blasco Núñez Vela, and was active a...

Fourth of July

(Encyclopedia)Fourth of July, Independence Day, or July Fourth, U.S. holiday, commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. The Second Continental Congress approved the Declaration on July 4, 1776...

Wuchang

(Encyclopedia)Wuchang wo͞o-chäng [key], former city, since 1950 part of Wuhan, E Hubei prov., China, on the right bank of the Chang River at the mouth of the Han. It is an administrative and cultural center, with...

Great Glen

(Encyclopedia)Great Glen or Glen More, valley, 60 mi (97 km) long, Highland, N central Scotland, extending from Moray Firth SW to Loch Linnhe. It was formed by a fault in the earth's surface. Loch Ness, Loch Oich, ...

antipodes, in geography

(Encyclopedia)antipodes [Gr.,=having feet opposite], people or places diametrically opposite on the globe. Thus antipodes must be separated by half the circumference of the earth (180°), and one must be as far nor...

adit

(Encyclopedia)adit ădˈĭt [key], in mining, underground passage excavated nearly horizontally, with one end open to the earth's surface, usually used to service a mine. The adit end is the furthermost end from th...