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trillium

(Encyclopedia)trillium or wake-robin trĭlˈēəm [key], any plant of the large genus Trillium, attractive spring wildflowers of the family Liliaceae (lily family), native to North America and E Asia. The leaves, p...

silicon carbide

(Encyclopedia)silicon carbide, chemical compound, SiC, that forms extremely hard, dark, iridescent crystals that are insoluble in water and other common solvents. Widely used as an abrasive, it is marketed under su...

cameo

(Encyclopedia)cameo kămˈēō [key], small relief carving, usually on striated precious or semiprecious stones or on shell. The design, often a portrait head, is commonly cut in the light-colored vein, and the dar...

Piranesi, Giovanni Battista

(Encyclopedia)Piranesi, Giovanni Battista jōvänˈnē bät-tēˈstä pēränāˈzē [key], 1720–78, Italian etcher and architect. The greater part of his life was spent in Rome, where he made etchings of the bui...

Azawakh

(Encyclopedia)Azawakh, breed of long-legged, swift hound from the Sahel region of West Africa, particularly Burkino Faso, Mali, and Niger. Slim and elegant with a narrow, chiseled head, it stands from 23 to 29 in. ...

Nez Percé

(Encyclopedia)Nez Percé nĕz pûrs, nā pĕrsāˈ [key] [Fr.,=pierced nose], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Sahaptin-Chinook branch of the Penutian linguistic stock (see Native American langu...

sunspots

(Encyclopedia)sunspots, dark, usually irregularly shaped spots on the sun's surface that are actually solar magnetic storms. The spots are darker because the temperature of the spots is lower than that of the surro...

diner

(Encyclopedia)diner, restaurant resembling the railroad dining car. In the mid-19th cent., the first dining cars that appeared on trains were nothing more than an empty car with a fastened-down table. George M. Pul...

chariot

(Encyclopedia)chariot, earliest and simplest type of carriage and the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples. The chariot was known among the Babylonians before the introduction of horses c.2000 b.c. and was first d...

Highet, Gilbert Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Highet, Gilbert Arthur məkĭnˈəs [key], 1907–85, b. Glasgow, is noted for her fast-paced, intricately plotted novels of espionage, including Above Suspicion (1941), While Still We Live (1944), De...