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Eureka

(Encyclopedia)Eureka yo͞orēˈkə [key], port city (2020 pop. 26,512), seat of Humboldt co., NW Calif., on ...

decibel

(Encyclopedia)decibel dĕsˈəbĕlˌ, –bəl [key], abbr. dB, unit used to measure the loudness of sound. It is one tenth of a bel (named for A. G. Bell), but the larger unit is rarely used. The decibel is a measu...

Whetstone, George

(Encyclopedia)Whetstone, George, 1551?–1587, English dramatist and poet. His chief work, the play Promos and Cassandra (1578), is important in the development of English domestic drama and was a source for Shakes...

dielectric

(Encyclopedia)dielectric dīˌĭlĕkˈtrĭk [key], material that does not conduct electricity readily, i.e., an insulator (see insulation). A good dielectric should also have other properties: It must resist breakd...

Doab

(Encyclopedia)Doab dōˈăb [key], term applied in India to a tract of land between two converging rivers. The Doab, unqualified by the names of any rivers, designates the tract in Uttar Pradesh state between the G...

Giraldi, Giovanni Battista

(Encyclopedia)Giraldi, Giovanni Battista jōvänˈnē bät-tēsˈtä jērälˈdē [key], 1504–73, Italian author, known also as Cinthio, Cintio, Cinzio, or Cyntius. He wrote tragedies, lyric verse, and tales. Som...

drought

(Encyclopedia)drought, abnormally long period of insufficient rainfall. Drought cannot be defined in terms of inches of rainfall or number of days without rain, since it is determined by such variable factors as th...

Kansas State University

(Encyclopedia)Kansas State University, main campus at Manhattan; coeducational; land-grant and state supported; chartered and opened 1863. There is an additional campus at Salina. Among the university's research fa...

Ixtapa

(Encyclopedia)Ixtapa ēshtäˈpä [key], resort town, Guerrero, SW Mexico, on the Pacific. Its broad bay was largely untouched until the late 1960s. In 1972 the Mexican government began developing a planned, strict...

Babeldaob

(Encyclopedia)Babeldaob or Babelthuap, volcanic island, 143 sq mi (370 sq km), largest island of Palau, in the W Caroline Islands, W Pacific. In 2006, Palau's capital was moved from the island of Oreor (Koror) to M...