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simile

(Encyclopedia)simile sĭmˈəlē [key] [Lat.,=likeness], in rhetoric, a figure of speech in which an object is explicitly compared to another object. Robert Burns's poem “A Red Red Rose” contains two straightfo...

South, the

(Encyclopedia)South, the, region of the United States embracing the southeastern and south-central parts of the country. Traditionally, all states S of the Mason-Dixon Line and the Ohio River (except West Virginia)...

isobar

(Encyclopedia)isobar īˌsəbărˈĭk [key], line drawn on a weather map through points of equal atmospheric pressure. Isobars are used to define cyclones (low-pressure regions) and anticyclones (high-pressure regi...

Saxe-Altenburg

(Encyclopedia)Saxe-Altenburg săks-ălˈtənbərg [key], Ger. Sachsen-Altenburg, former duchy, Thuringia, central Germany. Altenburg was the capital. Created a separate duchy in 1603, it was ruled by an Ernestine l...

Shih-T'ao

(Encyclopedia)Shih-T'ao shûr-tou [key], 1641–c.1670, Chinese painter of the late Ming–early Ch'ing period, one of the major figures in 17th-century painting. A descendant of the imperial Ming family, he escape...

Thomasville

(Encyclopedia)Thomasville. 1 City (1990 pop. 17,457), seat of Thomas co., SW Ga., near the Fla. line; inc. 1831. It is a farm trade center, with a large fresh-vegetable market. Manufactures include lumber, clothing...

infinity

(Encyclopedia)infinity, in mathematics, that which is not finite; it is often indicated by the symbol ∞. A sequence of numbers, a1, a2, a3, … , is said to “approach infinity” if the numbers eventually b...

squash racquets

(Encyclopedia)squash racquets or squash, game played on a four-walled court, 16 ft (4.88 m) high by 181⁄2 ft (5.64 m) wide by 32 ft (9.75 m) long. The back wall, shorter than the front wall, usually measures 9 ft...

Karan, Donna

(Encyclopedia)Karan, Donna, 1948–, American fashion designer, b. Forest Hills, N.Y., as Donna Faske. Daughter of a tailor and a garment saleswoman, she started to design clothes as a teenager and studied at New Y...

ray, in physics

(Encyclopedia)ray, in physics, term denoting the straight line along which light or other form of radiation is propagated from its source. It generally refers to the line of propagation of waves but is also applied...