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Abu Dhabi

(Encyclopedia)Abu Dhabi äˈbo͞o ᵺäˈbē, zä–, dä– [key], Arab. Abu Zabi, sheikhdom, c.26,000 sq mi (67,300 sq km), part of the federation of seven United Arab Emirate...

Handke, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Handke, Peter pāˈtər häntˈkə [key], 1942–, Austrian novelist and playwright. His controversial, avant-garde works often reflect his ironic sense of the constricting limitations of language and...

helicopter

(Encyclopedia)helicopter, type of aircraft in which lift is obtained by means of one or more power-driven horizontal propellers called rotors. When the rotor of a helicopter turns it produces reaction torque which ...

Dakar

(Encyclopedia)Dakar dəkärˈ, dä– [key], city (1988 pop. 672,991), capital of Senegal, W Senegal, on Cape Verde Peninsula, a port on the Atlantic Ocean. Situated in a market-gardening region, Dakar is Senegal's...

Falun Gong

(Encyclopedia)Falun Gong dä-fä [key], movement promoting physical and spiritual well-being that became widespread China in the 1990s. Founded in 1992 by Li Hongzhi (1951?–), a former Changchun grain clerk, it c...

Scarlatti, Alessandro

(Encyclopedia)Scarlatti, Alessandro älĕs-sänˈdrō skärlätˈtē [key], 1660–1725, Italian composer. He may have studied with Carissimi in Rome, where his first opera was produced in 1679. In 1684 he went to ...

snorkel

(Encyclopedia)snorkel, tube through which a submarine or diver can draw air while underwater. When in use, the top of the snorkel tube extends above the water surface into the air. The first snorkels were probably ...

perspective

(Encyclopedia)perspective, in art, any method employed to represent three-dimensional space on a flat surface or in relief sculpture. Although many periods in art showed some progressive diminution of objects seen ...

Perugino

(Encyclopedia)Perugino pāro͞ojēˈnō [key], c.1445–1523?, Umbrian painter, b. near Perugia. His real name was Pietro di Cristoforo Vannucci. Perugino is, after Raphael, the greatest painter of the Umbrian scho...

Catherine of Siena, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Catherine of Siena, Saint sēĕnˈə [key], 1347–80, Italian mystic and diplomat, a member of the third order of the Dominicans, Doctor of the Church. The daughter of Giacomo Benincasa, a Sienese dy...