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marine engine

(Encyclopedia)marine engine, machine for the propulsion of watercraft. The earliest marine power plants, reciprocating steam engines, were used almost exclusively until the early 1900s. In later ship construction t...

plow

(Encyclopedia)plow or plough, agricultural implement used to cut furrows in and turn up the soil, preparing it for planting. The plow is generally considered the most important tillage tool. Its beginnings in the B...

Declaration of Independence

(Encyclopedia)Declaration of Independence, full and formal declaration adopted July 4, 1776, by representatives of the Thirteen Colonies in North America announcing the separation of those colonies from Great Brita...

Guevara, Che

(Encyclopedia)Guevara, Che (Ernesto Guevara) chā gāväˈrä, ārnĕsˈtō [key], 1928–67, Cuban revolutionary and political leader, b. Argentina. Trained as a physician at the Univ. of Buenos Aires, he took par...

Synge, John Millington

(Encyclopedia)Synge, John Millington sĭng [key], 1871–1909, Irish poet and dramatist, b. near Dublin, of Protestant parents. He was an important figure in the Irish literary renaissance. As a young man he studie...

Ali, Muhammad

(Encyclopedia)Ali, Muhammad məhămˈəd älēˈ [key], 1942–2016, American boxer, b. Louisville, Ky. Born Cassius Marcellus Clay, he was a 1960 Olympic gold medalist. Shortly after upsetting Sonny Liston in 1964...

Code Napoléon

(Encyclopedia)Code Napoléon sēvēlˈ [key], first modern legal code of France, promulgated by Napoleon I in 1804. The work of J. J. Cambacérès and a commission of four appointed by Napoleon I in 1800 was import...

fan

(Encyclopedia)fan, device for agitating air or gases or moving them from one location to another. Mechanical fans with revolving blades are used for ventilation, in manufacturing, in winnowing grain, to remove dust...

Knights of the Golden Circle

(Encyclopedia)Knights of the Golden Circle, secret order of Southern sympathizers in the North during the Civil War. Its members were known as Copperheads. Dr. George W. L. Bickley, a Virginian who had moved to Ohi...

Lumumba, Patrice Emergy

(Encyclopedia)Lumumba, Patrice Emergy pətrēsˈ ĕmârzhēˈ lo͞omo͞omˈbä [key], 1925–61, pr...