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Veda

(Encyclopedia)Veda vāˈdə, vēˈdə [key] [Sanskrit,=knowledge, cognate with English wit, from a root meaning know], oldest scriptures of Hinduism and the most ancient religious texts in an Indo-European language...

domestic service

(Encyclopedia)domestic service, work performed in a household by someone who is not a member of the family. It was performed by slaves in many early civilizations, e.g., in Greece and Rome. Under the feudal system ...

encomienda

(Encyclopedia)encomienda ānkōmyānˈdä [key] [Span. encomendar=to entrust], system of tributory labor established in Spanish America. Developed as a means of securing an adequate and cheap labor supply, the enco...

zero

(Encyclopedia)zero, that number which, when added to any number, leaves the latter unchanged; its symbol is 0. The introduction of zero into the decimal system was the most significant achievement in the developmen...

subtreasury

(Encyclopedia)subtreasury. After President Andrew Jackson vetoed (July 10, 1832) the bill to recharter the Second Bank of the United States, the deposits were removed and placed in state banks that came to be calle...

school vouchers

(Encyclopedia)school vouchers, government grants aimed at improving education for the children of low-income families by providing school tuition that can be used at public or private schools. The idea behind schoo...

sundial

(Encyclopedia)sundial, instrument that indicates the time of day by the shadow, cast on a surface marked to show hours or fractions of hours, of an object on which the sun's rays fall. Although any object whose sha...

Gabelsberger, Franz Xaver

(Encyclopedia)Gabelsberger, Franz Xaver fränts ksävĕrˈ gäˈbəlsbĕrˌgər [key], 1780–1849, German stenographer. He invented a popular German shorthand system. ...

neuron

(Encyclopedia)neuron, specialized cell in animals that, as a unit of the nervous system, carries information by receiving and transmitting electrical impulses. ...

Reed College

(Encyclopedia)Reed College, at Portland, Oreg.; coeducational; inc. 1908, opened 1911 through a bequest from Mr. and Mrs. Simeon G. Reed. Reed is noted for its program of natural sciences and for its system of tuto...