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Gaspee

(Encyclopedia)Gaspee găsˈpēˌ [key], British revenue cutter, burned (June 10, 1772) at Namquit (now Gaspee) Point in the present-day city of Warwick on the western shore of Narragansett Bay, R.I. The vessel arri...

atropine

(Encyclopedia)atropine ătˈrəpēn, –pĭn [key], alkaloid drug derived from belladonna and other plants of the family Solanaceae (nightshade family). Available either as the tincture or extract of belladonna, or...

nautilus, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)nautilus or chambered nautilus, cephalopod mollusk belonging to the sole surviving genus (Nautilus) of a subclass that flourished 200 million years ago, known as the nautiloids. The spirally coiled sh...

Baal-Shem-Tov

(Encyclopedia)Baal-Shem-Tov bäl-shĕm-tôv [key], c.1698–1760, Jewish founder of modern Hasidism, b. Ukraine. His life is the subject of many tales that circulated even before his death. Originally named Israel ...

parathyroid hormone

(Encyclopedia)parathyroid hormone or parathormone, a hormone secreted by the parathyroid glands that regulates the metabolism of calcium and phosphate in the body. It has been purified extensively and appears to be...

penance

(Encyclopedia)penance pĕnˈəns [key], sacrament of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Eastern churches. By it the penitent (the person receiving the sacrament) is absolved of his or her sins by a confessor (the pers...

Pentecost

(Encyclopedia)Pentecost pĕnˈtəkôst [key] [Gr.,=fiftieth], important Jewish and Christian feast. The Jewish feast of Pentecost, in Hebrew Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, one of the three pilgrimage festivals, arose...

pepsin

(Encyclopedia)pepsin, enzyme produced in the mucosal lining of the stomach that acts to degrade protein. Pepsin is one of three principal protein-degrading, or proteolytic, enzymes in the digestive system, the othe...

McDonagh, Martin

(Encyclopedia)McDonagh, Martin məkdŭnˈə [key], 1970–, Anglo-Irish playwright, b. London to Irish parents. During summer visits he became acquainted with W Ireland, and without any formal training he wrote a s...

mandamus

(Encyclopedia)mandamus măndāˈməs [key] [Lat.,=we order], in law, writ directing the performance of ministerial acts. A ministerial act is one that a person or body is obliged by law to perform under given circu...