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Durrell, Lawrence

(Encyclopedia)Durrell, Lawrence dŭˈrəl, dûrˈəl [key], 1912–90, British author, b. India, of Irish parents. Durrell traveled widely, often serving in diplomatic positions; most of his works are set in exotic...

compact disc

(Encyclopedia)compact disc (CD), a small plastic disc used for the storage of digital data. As originally developed for audio systems, the sound signal is sampled at a rate of 44,100 times a second, then each sampl...

habeas corpus

(Encyclopedia)habeas corpus hāˈbēəs kôrˈpəs [key] [Lat.,=you should have the body], writ directed by a judge to some person who is detaining another, commanding him to bring the body of the person in his cus...

cloud computing

(Encyclopedia)cloud computing, the delivery of shared computing resources over a network in a manner that makes accessing and configuring those resources convenient and largely independent of the use of a required ...

allegiance

(Encyclopedia)allegiance, in political terms, the tie that binds an individual to another individual or institution. The term usually refers to a person's legal obligation of obedience to a government in return for...

chorionic villus sampling

(Encyclopedia)chorionic villus sampling (CVS) or chorionic villus biopsy (CVB) kōrˌē-ŏnˈĭk, kôrˌ– [key], diagnostic procedure in which a sample of chorionic villi from the developing placenta is removed f...

entail

(Encyclopedia)entail, in law, restriction of inheritance to a limited class of descendants for at least several generations. The object of entail is to preserve large estates in land from the disintegration that is...

handedness

(Encyclopedia)handedness, habitual or more skillful use of one hand as opposed to the other. Approximately 90% of humans are thought to be right-handed. It was traditionally argued that there is a slight tendency t...

Gulf War syndrome

(Encyclopedia)Gulf War syndrome, popular name for a variety of ailments experienced by veterans after the Persian Gulf War. Symptoms reported include nausea, cramps, rashes, short-term memory loss, fatigue, difficu...

gynecology

(Encyclopedia)gynecology gīnˌəkŏlˈəjē [key], branch of medicine specializing in the disorders of the female reproductive system. Modern gynecology deals with menstrual disorders, menopause, infectious diseas...