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shoring

(Encyclopedia)shoring, placing of props or braces, called shores, against or beneath a structure for support. Shoring is often used to stabilize a building when it is to undergo structural modification or repair. C...

petrology

(Encyclopedia)petrology, branch of geology specifically concerned with the origin, composition, structure, and properties of rocks, primarily igneous and metamorphic, and secondarily sedimentary. It includes petrog...

pronoun

(Encyclopedia)pronoun, in English, the part of speech used as a substitute for an antecedent noun that is clearly understood, and with which it agrees in person, number, and gender. In English the pronouns are clas...

cellophane

(Encyclopedia)cellophane, thin, transparent sheet or tube of regenerated cellulose. Cellophane is used in packaging and as a membrane for dialysis. It is sometimes dyed and can be moisture-proofed by a thin coating...

Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Federation of

(Encyclopedia)Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Federation of, SE Africa, 1953–63, composed of the self-governing British colony of Southern Rhodesia and the British protectorates of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The ca...

Perrin, Jean Baptiste

(Encyclopedia)Perrin, Jean Baptiste zhäN bätēstˈ pĕrăNˈ [key], 1870–1942, French physicist. From 1910 to 1940 he was professor at the Univ. of Paris, and in 1941 he came to the United States. Perrin specia...

coast protection

(Encyclopedia)coast protection, methods used to protect coastal lands from erosion. Beaches can exist only where a delicate dynamic equilibrium exists between the amount of sand supplied to the beach and the inevit...

Chernobyl

(Encyclopedia)Chernobyl chĭrnōˈbyēl [key], Ukr. Chornobyl, abandoned city, N Ukraine, near the Belarus border, on the Pripyat River. Ten miles (16 km) to the north, in the town of Pripyat, is the Chernobyl nucl...

wall

(Encyclopedia)wall, in architecture, protective, enclosing, or dividing vertical structure. Its thickness is determined by the material, height, and stress. It may be of studding and lath, either boarded or plaster...

blast furnace

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Blast furnace for production of iron blast furnace, structure used chiefly in smelting. The principle involved in this means of extracting metals is that of the reduction of the ores by the ac...