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trill

(Encyclopedia)trill, in music, ornament consisting of the more or less rapid alternation of two adjacent notes. Indicated by any of several conventional symbols, it varies in speed and duration and in the manner of...

Constanţa

(Encyclopedia)Constanţa kônstänˈtsä [key], city, SE Romania, on the Black Sea. It is the administrative center ...

Vyborg

(Encyclopedia)Vyborg vĭˈbərk [key], Finnish Viipuri, Swed. Viborg, city (1989 pop. 81,000), NW European Russia, NW of St. Petersburg and near the Finnish border, on Vyborg Bay and the Gulf of Finland. A Baltic p...

shorthand

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Shorthand systems shorthand, any brief, rapid system of writing that may be used in transcribing, or recording, the spoken word. Such systems, many having characters based on the letters of th...

chinook, warm, dry air mass

(Encyclopedia)chinook, warm, dry air mass that descends the eastern slopes of the U.S. and Canadian Rocky Mts. after having lost moisture by condensation over the western slopes. Chinooks occur mainly in winter. Th...

Gatling, Richard Jordan

(Encyclopedia)Gatling, Richard Jordan, 1818–1903, American inventor, b. Winton, N.C. He invented agricultural implements, which he manufactured in St. Louis, and then studied medicine in Indiana and Ohio, but he ...

catch crop

(Encyclopedia)catch crop, any quick-growing crop sown between seasons of regular planting to make use of temporary idleness of the soil or to compensate for the failure of a main crop. It may be such rapid-maturing...

tarantella

(Encyclopedia)tarantella târˈəntĕlˈə [key], Neapolitan folk dance that first appeared in Taranto, Italy, in the 17th cent. It had rapid 6–8 meter with an increasing tempo and was thought to cure the bite of...

spontaneous combustion

(Encyclopedia)spontaneous combustion, phenomenon in which a substance unexpectedly bursts into flame without apparent cause. In ordinary combustion, a substance is deliberately heated to its ignition point to make ...

Perm

(Encyclopedia)Perm pyĕrm [key], city (1990 est. pop. 1,090,000), capital of Perm Territory, NE European Russia, on the Kama River. It is a transfer center for rail and river traffic and a major producer of machine...