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Portalis, Jean Étienne Marie

(Encyclopedia)Portalis, Jean Étienne Marie zhäN ātyĕnˈ märēˈ pôrtälēsˈ [key], 1746–1807, French statesman and lawyer. A moderate, he was suspected of royalist sympathies during the French Revolution b...

ductility

(Encyclopedia)ductility, ability of a metal to plastically deform without breaking or fracturing, with the cohesion between the molecules remaining sufficient to hold them together (see adhesion and cohesion). Duct...

combing

(Encyclopedia)combing, process that follows carding in the preparation of fibers for spinning, lays the fibers parallel, and removes noils (short fibers). The modern combing machine is a specialized carding machine...

Bonnke, Reinhard

(Encyclopedia)Bonnke, Reinhard, 1940–2019, German evangelist, b. Königsburg (now Kaliningrad, Russia). After studying at the Bible College of Wales (now the Trinity School of Ministry) he became a Pentecostal pr...

Sewell, Jonathan

(Encyclopedia)Sewell, Jonathan, 1766–1839, Canadian jurist, b. Cambridge, Mass. He was educated in England and emigrated to Canada in 1785. A lawyer, he became attorney general of Lower Canada (Quebec) in 1795 an...

Santerre, Jean Baptiste

(Encyclopedia)Santerre, Jean Baptiste zhäN bätēstˈ säNtĕrˈ [key], 1651–1717, French figure and portrait painter. He was known for allegorical portraits and his rococo use of nude figures. He founded a draw...

polka

(Encyclopedia)polka, ballroom dance for couples in 2/4 time. Originated by Bohemian peasants about 1830 from steps of the schottische and other dances, the polka by 1835 reached the drawing rooms of Prague, from wh...

bezique

(Encyclopedia)bezique bəzēkˈ [key], card game usually played with 128 cards by two players. Bezique developed in France and England in the 1860s and originally required only 64 cards; later there were variations...

horsepower

(Encyclopedia)horsepower, unit of power in the English system of units. It is equal to 33,000 foot-pounds per minute or 550 foot-pounds per second or approximately 746 watts. The term horsepower originated with Jam...

Graf, Urs

(Encyclopedia)Graf or Graff, Urs o͝ors [key], c.1485–1528, Swiss wood engraver, etcher, painter, and goldsmith, studied at Basel. He was influenced by the work of Dürer and Hans Baldung. One of the first to emp...