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Torres Strait

(Encyclopedia)Torres Strait tŏrˈĭz, –rĭs [key], channel, c.95 mi (153 km) wide, between New Guinea and Cape York Peninsula of Australia. It connects the Arafura and Coral seas. The strait is shallow, with man...

Shaker Heights

(Encyclopedia)Shaker Heights, city (1990 pop. 30,831), Cuyahoga co., NE Ohio, a residential suburb of Cleveland; inc. 1912. Founded (1905) as a suburban development by Cleveland businessmen Oris and Mantis Van Swer...

Sierra Nevada de Mérida

(Encyclopedia)Sierra Nevada de Mérida syāˈrä nāväˈᵺä ᵺā māˈrēᵺä [key], mountain range, NW Venezuela, a spur of the Andes extending c.200 mi (320 km) NE from the Colombian border to the Caribbean ...

Shrapnel, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Shrapnel, Henry shrăpˈnəl [key], 1761–1842, British general, inventor of the shrapnel shell. The shell, consisting of a steel case filled with bullets and an explosive charge, is fired in midair ...

San Pedro Sula

(Encyclopedia)San Pedro Sula säm pāˈᵺrō so͞oˈlä [key], city (1997 est. pop. 417,000), capital of Cortés dept., NW Honduras. It is the second largest city in the country. San Pedro Sula and Puerto Cortés ...

Cartwright, Edmund

(Encyclopedia)Cartwright, Edmund, 1743–1823, English inventor and clergyman. He was the inventor of an imperfect power loom that, when finally patented (1785), became the parent of the modern loom. It was the fir...

Purbeck, Isle of

(Encyclopedia)Purbeck, Isle of, peninsula, c.12 mi (20 km) long and c.8 mi (13 km) wide, Dorset, S England, between Poole Harbour and the English Channel. St. Albans Head is the most southerly point of the rocky sh...

Qaidam

(Encyclopedia)Qaidam tsīˈdäm, chī-däm [key], arid basin, c.350 mi (560 km) long and c.100 mi (160 km) wide, between two branches of the Kunlun range, central Qinghai prov., W China. A salt marsh occupies most ...

Post, Emily Price

(Encyclopedia)Post, Emily Price, 1872–1960, American authority on etiquette, b. Baltimore. Born into a wealthy family, Post began her literary career as a novelist. Her best-known book, however, is Etiquette (192...

Indian Ocean

(Encyclopedia)Indian Ocean, third largest ocean, c.28,350,000 sq mi (73,427,000 sq km), extending from S Asia to Antarctica and from E Africa to SE Australia; it is c.4,000 mi (6,400 km) wide at the equator. It con...