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caisson

(Encyclopedia)caisson kāˈsən, –sŏn [key] [Fr.,=big box], in engineering, a chamber, usually of steel but sometimes of wood or reinforced concrete, used in the construction of foundations or piers in or near a...

Symington, William Stuart

(Encyclopedia)Symington, William Stuart, 1901–88, U.S. senator (1953–76), b. Amherst, Mass. He interrupted a successful business career in 1941 to accept a War Department assignment involving a study of airplan...

thallium

(Encyclopedia)thallium thălˈēəm [key], metallic chemical element; symbol Tl; at. no. 81; interval in which at. wt. ranges 204.382–204.385; m.p. 303.5℃; b.p. about 1,457℃; sp. gr. 11.85 at 20℃; valence +...

Eastman, George

(Encyclopedia)Eastman, George, 1854–1932, American inventor, industrialist, and philanthropist, b. Waterville, N.Y. By mass production of his photographic inventions, Eastman enormously stimulated the development...

Ipswich, town, United States

(Encyclopedia)Ipswich, town (2020 pop. 13,785), Essex co., NE Mass., on the Ipswich River and Ipswich Bay; inc. 1634. Ipswich clams are found there. Tourism and the p...

whirlwind

(Encyclopedia)whirlwind, revolving mass of air resulting from local atmospheric instability, such as that caused by intense heating of the ground by the sun on a hot summer day. Examples of whirlwinds are waterspou...

avalanche

(Encyclopedia)avalanche, rapidly descending large mass of snow, ice, soil, rock, or mixtures of these materials, sliding or falling in response to the force of gravity. Avalanches, which are natural forms of erosio...

smoke

(Encyclopedia)smoke, visible gaseous product of incomplete combustion. Smoke varies with its source, but it usually comprises hot gas and suspended particles of carbon and tarry substances, or soot. To reduce the a...

Grand Banks

(Encyclopedia)Grand Banks, submarine plateau rising from the continental shelf, c.36,000 sq mi (93,200 sq km), off SE Newfoundland, N.L., Canada. It is c.300 mi (480 km) long and c.400 mi (640 km) wide; depths rang...

pidgin

(Encyclopedia)pidgin pĭjˈən [key], a lingua franca that is not the mother tongue of anyone using it and that has a simplified grammar and a restricted, often polyglot vocabulary. The earliest documented pidgin i...