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Kane, Elisha Kent

(Encyclopedia)Kane, Elisha Kent, 1820–57, American physician and arctic explorer, b. Philadelphia. Seeking adventure after medical school, Kane entered naval service and before he was 30 had seen many parts of th...

Southampton, Henry Wriothesley, 3d earl of

(Encyclopedia)Southampton, Henry Wriothesley, 3d earl of rŏtˈslē [key], 1573–1624, English nobleman and patron of letters. He succeeded to his title in 1581, was educated at Cambridge, and gained favor at the ...

spinal column

(Encyclopedia)spinal column, bony column forming the main structural support of the skeleton of humans and other vertebrates, also known as the vertebral column or backbone. It consists of segments known as vertebr...

Beyoncé

(Encyclopedia)Beyoncé, 1981- , American popular singer, songwriter, and actress, b. Beyoncé Giselle Knowles, Houston, Tx. Beyoncé first gained fame as the lead si...

bone

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Bone bone, hard tissue that forms the skeleton of the body in vertebrate animals. In the very young, the skeleton is composed largely of cartilage and is therefore pliable, reducing the incide...

neurosis

(Encyclopedia)neurosis, in psychiatry, a broad category of psychological disturbance, encompassing various mild forms of mental disorder. Until fairly recently, the term neurosis was broadly employed in contrast wi...

thorium

(Encyclopedia)thorium thôrˈēəm [key] [from Thor], radioactive chemical element; symbol Th; at. no. 90; mass number of most stable isotope 232; m.p. about 1,750℃; b.p. about 4,790℃; sp. gr. 11.7 at 20℃; va...

food poisoning

(Encyclopedia)food poisoning, acute illness following the eating of foods contaminated by bacteria, bacterial toxins, natural poisons, or harmful chemical substances. It was once customary to classify all such illn...

Obregón, Álvaro

(Encyclopedia)Obregón, Álvaro älˈvärō ōbrāgōnˈ [key], 1880–1928, Mexican general and president (1920–24). A planter in Sonora, he supported Francisco I. Madero in the revolution against Porfirio Díaz...

octane number

(Encyclopedia)octane number, figure of merit representing the resistance of gasoline to premature detonation when exposed to heat and pressure in the combustion chamber of an internal-combustion engine. Such detona...