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Douglas, William Orville

(Encyclopedia)Douglas, William Orville, 1898–1980, American jurist, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1939–75), b. Maine, Minn. He received his law degree from Columbia in 1925 and later was professo...

vacuum

(Encyclopedia)vacuum, theoretically, space without matter in it. A perfect vacuum has never been obtained; the best human-generated vacuums contain less than 100,000 gas molecules per cc, compared to about 30 billi...

Shaanxi

(Encyclopedia)Shaanxi shĕnˈsēˈ [key] [west of the mountain passes], province (2010 pop. 37,327,378), c.76,000 sq mi (196,840 sq km), N central China. Xi'an is the capital. From north to south Shaanxi has four m...

pump

(Encyclopedia)pump, device to lift, transfer, or increase the pressure of a fluid (gas or liquid) or to create a vacuum in an enclosed space by the removal of a gas (see vacuum pumps under vacuum). The centrifugal ...

Dexippus

(Encyclopedia)Dexippus (Publius Herennius Dexippus) dĕksĭpˈəs [key], fl. 253–276, Greek historian of the Roman period. He commanded Greek troops in an unsuccessful attempt to halt a Gothic invasion in 262. Hi...

Dessie

(Encyclopedia)Dessie, Dessye, or Dese all: dĕsˈyā [key], town, capital of Wallo prov., central Ethi...

Annapolis, river, Canada

(Encyclopedia)Annapolis, river, c.75 mi (120 km) long, rising in W Nova Scotia, Canada, and flowing SW past Annapolis Royal to Annapolis Basin, an arm of the Bay of Fundy. The entrance to the basin, bordered by cli...

Ghat

(Encyclopedia)Ghat or Gat both: gät [key], walled town, SW Libya, in an oasis in the Sahara, near the Algerian border. It formerly was an important caravan center. Ghat was captured by the Ottoman Turks in 1875, b...

Kazbek, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Kazbek, Mount kŏzbĕkˈ, Rus. kəzbyĕkˈ [key], peak, 16,541 ft (5,042 m) high, N Georgia, in the Greater Caucasus. An extinct volcano, it rises above the Daryal gorge and the Georgian Military Road...

King Horn

(Encyclopedia)King Horn, probably the earliest English-language romance, written c.1250 and containing about 1,500 lines. It is by an anonymous author and is based on an earlier work in French. Emphasizing action a...