any plant of the class Magnoliopsida (magnoliatae, Dicotyledones), the larger of the two great groups (the smaller is the Liliopsida, or Monocotyledones) of flowering plants, or angiosperms. There are about ...
device for recording, storage (usually brief), and subsequent reproduction (usually by typewriter or word-processing system) of spoken messages. Dictating machines may be either mechanical or magnetic and may record the ...
in the Roman Republic, a temporary magistrate with extraordinary powers, nominated by a consul on the recommendation of the Senate and confirmed by the Comitia Curiata (a popular assembly). The ...
form of government in which one person or a small group possesses absolute power without effective constitutional limitations. The term dictatorship comes from the Latin title dictator (q.v.), which in ...
in Marxism, rule by the proletariat-the economic and social class consisting of industrial workers who derive income solely from their labour-during the transitional phase between the abolition of capitalism and ...
choice of words, especially with regard to correctness, clearness, or effectiveness. Any of the four generally accepted levels of diction-formal, informal, colloquial, or slang-may be correct in a particular context ...
reference book that lists words in order and gives their meanings. In dictionaries of Western languages, the words are given in alphabetical order. In addition to its basic function of ...
four-volume dictionary designed to define usage of words and phrases in American English as it differed from usage in England and other English-speaking countries, as well as to show how ...
two-volume dictionary of words and expressions that originated in the United States or that were first borrowed into the English language in the United States. Edited by the American scholar ...
the famous dictionary of Samuel Johnson, published in London in 1755; its principles dominated English lexicography for more than a century. This two-volume work surpassed earlier dictionaries not in bulk ...
authoritative dictionary of the Irish language that continues, starting with the letter D, the work of Kuno Meyer's Contributions to Irish Lexicography (1906-07), which covered A-C.
(French: "Alphabetical and Analogical Dictionary of the French Language"), scholarly historical dictionary of the French language, which supplies for each entry etymology, definition, antonyms, synonyms, and cross-references.
author of a pseudo-chronicle of the Trojan War. Dictys was supposed to have accompanied the Cretan leader Idomeneus from Knossos to the siege of Troy and to have written a ...
extinct genus of therapsid reptiles, which once were dominant mammallike land vertebrates, found in Upper Permian deposits (i.e., those roughly 245 to 258 million years old) in southern Africa, Europe, ...
the oldest surviving Christian church order, probably written in Egypt or Syria in the 2nd century. In 16 short chapters it deals with morals and ethics, church practice, and the ...
of literature or other art, intended to convey instruction and information. The word is often used to refer to texts that are overburdened with instructive or factual matter to the ...
the instruction or training of the chorus in ancient Greek drama. The word is from the Greek didaskalia, "teaching or instruction." The Greek plural noun didaskaliai ("instructions") came to refer ...
French man of letters and philosopher who, from 1745 to 1772, served as chief editor of the Encyclopedie, one of the principal works of the Age of Enlightenment.
wind instrument in the form of a straight wooden trumpet. The instrument is made from eucalyptus wood and is about 5 feet (1.5 metres) long. Decorated ceremonial varieties, however, may ...
ancient sanctuary and seat of an oracle of Apollo, located south of Miletus in modern Turkey. Before being plundered and burned by the Persians (c. 494 BC), the sanctuary was ...
order of dicotyledonous flowering plants comprising the family Didymelaceae, with one genus (Didymeles) and two species, both of which are trees of Madagascar with very simple, primitive flowers. The plants ...
genus of graptolites (an extinct group of colonial animals related to primitive chordates) found as fossils in Early and Middle Ordovician marine rocks (the Ordovician Period occurred from 505 to ...
Greek scholar and grammarian, one of the chief links between ancient and modern classical scholarship. His industry, as the reputed author of 3,500 books, earned him the nickname of Chalcenterus ...
tool or device for imparting a desired shape, form, or finish to a material. Examples include a perforated block through which metal or plastic is drawn or extruded, the hardened ...
forming metal objects by injecting molten metal under pressure into dies, or molds. An early and important use of the technique was in the Mergenthaler Linotype machine (1884) to give ...
common symptom or name of disease, especially of woody plants, characterized by progressive death of twigs, branches, shoots, or roots, starting at the tips. Staghead is a slow dieback of ...
coral atoll, largest and southernmost member of the Chagos Archipelago, in the central Indian Ocean. Occupying an area of about 10.5 square miles (27 square km), it consists of a ...
a group of Yuman-speaking Indians who originally inhabited large areas extending on both sides of what is now the U.S.-Mexican border in California and Baja California. They were named after ...
genus of extinct brachiopods, or lamp shells, that occur as fossils in rocks deposited in marine environments of Carboniferous to Permian age (between 360 and 245 million years old). The ...
insulating material or a very poor conductor of electric current. When dielectrics are placed in an electric field, practically no current flows in them because, unlike metals, they have no ...
property of an electrical insulating material (a dielectric) equal to the ratio of the capacitance of a capacitor filled with the given material to the capacitance of an identical capacitor ...
method by which the temperature of an electrically nonconducting (insulating) material can be raised by subjecting the material to a high-frequency electromagnetic field. The method is widely employed industrially for ...
German organic chemist who with Kurt Alder was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1950 for their joint work in developing a method of preparing cyclic organic compounds.
the decisive engagement in the first Indochina War (1946-54). It consisted of a struggle between French and Viet Minh (Vietnamese Communist and nationalist) forces for control of a small mountain ...
father and son, members of a large family of German architects, who were among the leading builders in Bohemian Baroque. Among their joint works are the Church of St. Nicholas ...
town and seaport, northern France, Seine-Maritime departement, Haute-Normandie region, on the English Channel, north of Rouen and northwest of Paris. It stands at the mouth of the Arques River in ...
(Latin: "Day of Wrath"), the opening words of a Latin hymn on the Last Judgment, ascribed to Thomas of Celano (d. c. 1256) and forming part of the office for ...
any internal-combustion engine in which air is compressed to a temperature sufficiently high to ignite fuel injected into the cylinder, where combustion and expansion actuate a piston. It converts the ...
German thermal engineer who invented the internal-combustion engine that bears his name. He was also a distinguished connoisseur of the arts, a linguist, and a social theorist.
meeting of the Diet (assembly) of the Holy Roman Empire held at Worms, Germany, in 1521 that was made famous by Martin Luther's appearance before it to respond to charges ...
any of the prescriptions as to what may or may not be eaten under particular conditions. These prescriptions and proscriptions are sometimes religious; often they are secular; frequently, they are ...
synthetic anthelmintic drug effective against certain parasitic filarial worms, which are endemic throughout most of the subtropical and tropical regions of the world. These parasites infect the blood and lymph ...
nonsteroidal synthethic estrogen used as a drug and formerly used to promote growth of livestock. Unlike natural estrogens, DES remains active following oral administration. It is also administered as vaginal ...
regulating one's food intake for the purpose of improving one's physical condition, especially for the purpose of reducing obesity, or what is conceived to be excess body fat. Dieting plans ...
German-American motion-picture actress whose beauty, voice, aura of sophistication, and languid sensuality made her one of the world's most glamorous film stars.
French archaeologist and civil engineer who excavated the palaces of the ancient Persian kings Darius I the Great and Artaxerxes II at Susa (modern Shush, Iran) in 1885 and gathered ...
