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committee

(Encyclopedia)committee, one or more persons appointed or elected to consider, report on, or take action on a particular matter. Because of the advantages of a division of labor, legislative committees of various k...

Ito, Hirobumi

(Encyclopedia)Ito, Hirobumi hērōˈbo͞omē ēˈtō [key], 1841–1909, Japanese statesman, the outstanding figure in the modernization of Japan. As a young Choshu samurai, he was a xenophobe. In 1863 he visited E...

germanium

(Encyclopedia)germanium jərmāˈnēəm [key] [from Germany], semimetallic chemical element; symbol Ge; at. no. 32; at. wt. 72.63; m.p. 937.4℃; b.p. 2,830℃; sp. gr. 5.323 at 25℃; valence +2 or +4. Pure german...

Mosquito Coast

(Encyclopedia)Mosquito Coast or Mosquitia məskēˈtēə, mōskētēˈä [key], region, east coast of Nicaragua and Honduras. The name is derived from the Miskito, the indigenous inhabitants and remnants of the Cho...

Oaxaca, state, Mexico

(Encyclopedia)Oaxaca wähäˈkä [key], state (1990 pop. 3,019,560), 36,375 sq mi (94,211 sq km), S Mexico, on the Pacific Ocean and its arm, the Gulf of Tehuantepec. Oaxaca is the capital. The northern part of the...

Lowell, James Russell

(Encyclopedia)Lowell, James Russell, 1819–91, American poet, critic, and editor, b. Cambridge, Mass. He was influential in revitalizing the intellectual life of New England in the mid-19th cent. Educated at Harva...

lanthanum

(Encyclopedia)lanthanum lănˈthənəm [key] [Gr.,=to lie hidden], metallic chemical element; symbol La; at. no. 57; at. wt. 138.90547; m.p. about 920℃; b.p. about 3,460℃; sp. gr. 6.19 at 25℃; valence +3. Lan...

Lafayette

(Encyclopedia)Lafayette läˌfēĕtˈ, lăfˌēĕtˈ [key]. 1 City (1990 pop. 23,501), Contra Costa co., NW Calif., a residential suburb in the San Francisco–Oakland area; settled 1848, inc. 1968. The city is a h...

Louis XVIII, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Louis XVIII, 1755–1824, king of France (1814–24), brother of King Louis XVI. Known as the comte de Provence, he fled (1791) to Koblenz from the French Revolution and intrigued to bring about forei...

paint

(Encyclopedia)paint, mixture of a pigment and a binding medium, usually thinned with a solvent to form a liquid vehicle. The term includes lacquer, portland cement paint, printing ink, calcimine, and whitewash. Pai...