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marjoram

(Encyclopedia)marjoram or sweet marjoram märˈjərəm [key], Old World perennial aromatic herb (Marjorana hortensis) of the family Labiatae (mint family), cultivated in gardens for flavoring. The tops yield origan...

anhydride

(Encyclopedia)anhydride ănhīˈdrīd, –drĭd [key] [Gr.,=without water], chemical compound formed by removing water, H2O, from another compound; the anhydride can also react with water to form the original compo...

ammonium nitrate

(Encyclopedia)ammonium nitrate, chemical compound, NH4NO3, that exists as colorless, rhombohedral crystals at room temperature but changes to monoclinic crystals when heated above 32℃. It is extremely soluble in ...

isopropanol

(Encyclopedia)isopropanol, isopropyl alcohol, or 2-propanol īˌsəprōˈpənōl, īˌsəprōˈpĭl [key], (CH3)2CHOH, a colorless liquid that is miscible with water. It melts at −89℃ and boils at 82.3℃. It ...

defense mechanism

(Encyclopedia)defense mechanism, in psychoanalysis, any of a variety of unconscious personality reactions which the ego uses to protect the conscious mind from threatening feelings and perceptions. Sigmund Freud fi...

dolomite

(Encyclopedia)dolomite dōˈləmītˌ, dŏlˈə– [key]. 1 Mineral, calcium magnesium carbonate, CaMg (CO3)2. It is commonly crystalline and is white, gray, brown, or reddish in color with a vitreous to pearly lus...

Aki, Keiiti

(Encyclopedia)Aki, Keiiti, 1930–2005, American seismologist, b. Yokohama, Japan, Ph.D. Univ. of Tokyo, 1958. Associated with the Univ. of Tokyo 's Earthquake Research Institute from 1963, Aki joined the faculty o...

Fiedler, Leslie

(Encyclopedia)Fiedler, Leslie, 1917–2003, American critic, b. Newark, N.J., grad. New York Univ. (B.A. 1938), Univ. of Wisconsin (Ph.D. 1941). In his best-known and most controversial work, Love and Death in the ...

pen-based computer

(Encyclopedia)pen-based computer, computer that uses software to enable it to accept handwriting or drawing as a form of input. A stylus, which may contain special electronic circuitry, may be used to write on the ...

potentiometer

(Encyclopedia)potentiometer. 1 Manually adjustable, variable, electrical resistor. It has a resistance element that is attached to the circuit by three contacts, or terminals. The ends of the resistance element are...