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windmill

(Encyclopedia)windmill, apparatus that harnesses wind power for a variety of uses, e.g., pumping water, grinding corn, driving small sawmills, and driving electrical generators. Windmills were probably not known in...

bramble

(Encyclopedia)bramble, name for plants of the genus Rubus [Lat.,=red, for the color of the juice]. This complex genus of the family Rosaceae (rose family), with representatives in many parts of the world, includes ...

blue crab

(Encyclopedia)blue crab, common name for a crustacean, Callinectes sapidus, found on the S Atlantic and Gulf coasts of North America. The blue crab is a member of the family of swimming crabs known as the Portunida...

sunfish

(Encyclopedia)sunfish, common name for members of the family Centrachidae, comprising numerous species of spiny-finned, freshwater fishes with deep, laterally flattened bodies found in temperate North America. All ...

supply and demand

(Encyclopedia)supply and demand, in classical economics, factors that are said to determine price, by correlating the amount of a given commodity producers hope to sell at a certain price (supply), and the amount o...

tree shrew

(Encyclopedia)tree shrew, small, arboreal mammal of the family Tupaiidae, found in S Asia. The 17 known species of tree shrews are classified as the order Tupaioidea or Scandentia. Tree shrews superficially resembl...

banana

(Encyclopedia)banana, name for several species of the genus Musa and for the fruits these produce. The banana plant—one of the largest herbaceous plants—is native to tropical Asia but now cultivated throughout ...

latitude

(Encyclopedia)latitude, angular distance of any point on the surface of the earth north or south of the equator. The equator is latitude 0°, and the North Pole and South Pole are latitudes 90°N and 90°S, respect...

snow

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Snow occurs in many different forms. Among the various recognized classes of forms are (A) needles; (B) columns and groups of columns; (C) plates; (D) branched, or dendritic, plates; (E) combin...

stratosphere

(Encyclopedia)stratosphere strătˈəsfēr [key], second lowest layer of the earth's atmosphere. The level from which it extends outward varies with latitude; it begins c.51⁄2 mi (9 km) above the poles, c.6 or 7 ...