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basketball

(Encyclopedia)basketball, game played generally indoors by two opposing teams of five players each. Basketball was conceived in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith, a physical education instructor at the YMCA college in Spr...

hyperbola

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Hyperbola hyperbola hīpûrˈbələ [key], plane curve consisting of all points such that the difference between the distances from any point on the curve to two fixed points (foci) is the sam...

apsis

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Apsis points, or apsides, in the earth's orbit: At perihelion the earth is closest to the sun and at aphelion it is farthest from the sun. apsis (pl. apsides), point in the orbit of a body whe...

Mannerheim, Baron Carl Gustav Emil

(Encyclopedia)Mannerheim, Baron Carl Gustav Emil kärl gŭˈstäv āˈmĭl mäˈnərhām [key], 1867–1951, Finnish field marshal and president of Finland (1944–46). Of a distinguished Swedish-Finnish family in ...

trench warfare

(Encyclopedia)trench warfare. Although trenches were used in ancient and medieval warfare, in the American Civil War, and in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–5), they did not become important until World War I. The i...

Angelico, Fra

(Encyclopedia)Angelico, Fra frä änjĕlˈĭkō [key], c.1400–1455, Florentine painter, b. Vicchio, Tuscany. He was variously named Guido (his baptismal name), or Guidolino, di Pietro; and Giovanni da Fiesole. Af...

Bretton Woods Conference

(Encyclopedia)Bretton Woods Conference, name commonly given to the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, held (July 1–22, 1944) at Bretton Woods, N.H., where 730 delegates representing 44 countries en...

spectrum

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Dispersion of white light by a triangular prism spectrum, arrangement or display of light or other form of radiation separated according to wavelength, frequency, energy, or some other propert...

Tokyo

(Encyclopedia)Tokyo tōˈkēō [key], city (1990 pop. 8,163,573), capital of Japan and of Tokyo prefecture, E central Honshu, at the head of Tokyo Bay. The Tokyo-Yokohama metropolitan area is the world's most popul...

hallmark

(Encyclopedia)hallmark, mark impressed on silverwork or goldwork to signify official approval of the standard of purity of the metal, also called plate mark. The hallmark was introduced by statute in England in 130...