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Richards, I. A.

(Encyclopedia)Richards, I. A. (Ivor Armstrong Richards), 1893–1979, English literary critic. Richards was one of the founders of the school of interpretation known as the New Criticism, which stressed an awarenes...

personal watercraft

(Encyclopedia)personal watercraft (PWC), a lightweight vessel usually less than 16 ft (5 m) long that uses an inboard water jet pump, powered by an internal-combustion engine, as its primary source of propulsion. T...

onomatopoeia

(Encyclopedia)onomatopoeia ŏnˌəmătˌəpēˈə [key] [Gr.,=word-making], in language, the representation of a sound by an imitation thereof; e.g., the cat mews. Poets often convey the meaning of a verse through ...

Carver, George Washington

(Encyclopedia)Carver, George Washington, 1864?–1943, American agricultural chemist, b. Diamond, Mo., grad. Iowa State College (now Iowa State Univ.; B.S., 1894; M.A. 1896). Born a slave, he later, as a free man, ...

sphagnum

(Encyclopedia)sphagnum sfăgˈnəm [key] or peat moss, any species of the large and widely distributed genus Sphagnum, economically the most valuable moss. Sphagnums, the principal constituent of peat, typically gr...

bellows

(Encyclopedia)bellows, expansible, gas-tight chamber used to pump or store a gas. One of the simplest and most familiar types of bellows is the manual one used for providing a forced draft to a fire. The expansible...

microscope

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Compound microscope microscope, optical instrument used to increase the apparent size of an object. The electron microscope, which is not limited by the powers of optical lenses and light,...

Lambeth

(Encyclopedia)Lambeth lămˈbəth [key], inner borough (1991 pop. 220,100) of Greater London, SE England, on the Thames River. It is largely residential but is important as an area of governmental and commercial of...

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