first U.S. secretary of the interior (1849-50), who was also a senator from Ohio (1831-37; 1850-51) and secretary of the treasury (1841). He was both the adoptive father (never formally) ...
law that retroactively makes criminal conduct that was not criminal when performed, increases the punishment for crimes already committed, or changes the rules of procedure in force at the time ...
type of differential equation that can be solved directly without the use of any of the special techniques in the subject. A first-order differential equation (of one variable) is called ...
in law, the interrogation of a witness by attorneys or by a judge. In Anglo-American proceedings an examination usually begins with direct examination (called examination in chief in England) by ...
in Arthurian legend, King Arthur's sword. As a boy Arthur alone was able to draw the sword out of a stone in which it had been magically fixed. This account ...
any machine, usually self-powered, that is used in digging or earth-moving operations of some kind; the power shovel, bulldozer, and grader (qq.v.) are examples.
until the discovery of the Cullinan diamond in 1905, the world's largest-known uncut diamond. When found by a worker loading a truck in the De Beers mine at Jagersfontein, Orange ...
city, astride the Ray-Clay county line, western Missouri, U.S., 12 miles (19 km) northeast of Kansas City. Founded in 1880, it developed as a health resort noted for its mineral ...
a tax levied on profits in excess of a stipulated standard of "normal" income. There are two principles governing the determination of excess profits. One, known as the war-profits principle, ...
governmental restrictions on private transactions in foreign exchange (foreign money or claims on foreign money). The chief function of most systems of exchange control is to prevent or redress an ...
form of marriage involving an arranged and reciprocal exchange of spouses between two groups. In societies that associate a doctrine of unilineal descent with a consistent rule of postmarital residence, ...
the price of a country's money in relation to another country's money. An exchange rate is "fixed" when countries use gold or another agreed-upon standard, and each currency is worth ...
short-term negotiable financial instrument consisting of an order in writing addressed by one person (the seller of goods) to another (the buyer) requiring the latter to pay on demand (a ...
in British history, the government department that was responsible for receiving and dispersing the public revenue. The word derives from the Latin scaccarium, "chessboard," in reference to the checkered cloth ...
in physics, the addition of a discrete amount of energy (called excitation energy) to a system-such as an atomic nucleus, an atom, or a molecule-that results in its alteration, ordinarily ...
the combination of an electron and a positive hole (an empty electron state in a valence band), which is free to move through a nonmetallic crystal as a unit.
in U.S. law, the principle that evidence seized by police in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution may not be used against a criminal defendant at trial.
in Australian history, member of the sociopolitical faction of free settlers, officials, and military officers of the convict colony of New South Wales, formed in the late 18th and early ...
form of ecclesiastical censure by which a person is excluded from the communion of believers, the rites or sacraments of a church, and the rights of church membership, but not ...
the process by which animals rid themselves of waste products and of the nitrogenous by-products of metabolism. Through excretion organisms control osmotic pressure-the balance between inorganic ions and water-and maintain ...
river in southwest England, rising from its source on Exmoor in Somerset, only 5 mi (8 km) from the Bristol Channel, and flowing southward 60 mi across Devon to its ...
an agreement between the United States and a foreign government that is less formal than a treaty and is not subject to the constitutional requirement for ratification by two-thirds of ...
in law, person designated by a testator-i.e., a person making a will-to direct the distribution of his estate after his death. The system is found only in countries using Anglo-American ...
in architecture, semicircular or rectangular niche with a raised seat; more loosely applied, the term also refers to the apse (q.v.) of a church or to a niche therein.
the critical interpretation of the biblical text to discover its intended meaning. Both Jews and Christians have used various exegetical methods throughout their history, and doctrinal and polemical intentions have ...
Greek potter and painter who, with the Amasis Painter, is considered the finest of black-figure masters of the mid-6th century BC and is one of the major figures in the ...
short tale originally incorporated by a medieval preacher into his sermon to emphasize a moral or illustrate a point of doctrine. Fables, folktales, and legends were gathered into collections, such ...
city (district), administrative and historic county of Devon, England, on the River Exe about 10 miles (16 km) above the river's entry into the English Channel. Exeter is the county ...
town (township), seat of Rockingham county, southeastern New Hampshire, U.S., on the Exeter River at the falls of the Squamscott River (tidal), southwest of Portsmouth. The town was founded in ...
the largest extant collection of Old English poetry. Copied c. 975, the manuscript was given to Exeter Cathedral by Bishop Leofric (died 1072). It begins with some long religious poems: ...
separation of successive thin shells, or spalls, from massive rock such as granite or basalt; it is common in regions that have moderate rainfall. The thickness of individual sheet or ...
generalized redness and scaling of the skin that usually arises as a complication of a preexisting skin disease or of an allergy. More rarely, it may be indicative of a ...
in mathematics, technique invented by the classical Greeks to prove propositions regarding the areas and volumes of geometric figures. Although it was a forerunner of the integral calculus, the method ...
derivation of sexual gratification through compulsive display of one's genitals. Like voyeurism (q.v.), sexual display is almost universal as a prelude to sexual activity in animals, including humans; it is ...
prolonged absence from one's country imposed by vested authority as a punitive measure. Exile and banishment probably originated among early peoples as a means of punishment. The offender was made ...
any of the various philosophies dating from about 1930 that have in common an interpretation of human existence in the world that stresses its concreteness and its problematic character.
high moorland in northwestern Somerset and northern Devon, England, that forms a national park 268 square miles (693 square km) in extent. It borders the Bristol Channel on the north ...
town, East Devon district, administrative and historic county of Devon, England, on the east side of the mouth of the River Exe on the English Channel. Its fort, commanding the ...
inlet of the Indian Ocean in Western Australia, between North West Cape and the mainland. It is 55 miles (90 km) long north to south and 30 miles across the ...
a branch of biology that deals with the search for extraterrestrial life (q.v.), especially intelligent life, outside the solar system. The word exobiology was coined by the American geneticist Joshua ...
the liberation of the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt in the 13th century BC, under the leadership of Moses; also, the Old Testament book of the same name. ...
practices controlling the relation of the sexes and the selection of marital partners. Exogamous groups enjoin their members to marry outside the group, sometimes even specifying the outside group into ...
extinct molluscan genus common in shallow-water marine deposits of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods (from 208 to 66.4 million years ago). Exogyra is characterized by its very thick shell, which ...
abnormal protrusion of one or both eyeballs. The condition in most cases results from accumulation of fluid in the fatty tissues that cushion the eyeball in its socket, or orbit. ...
an adjuration addressed to evil spirits to force them to abandon an object, place, or person; technically, a ceremony used in both Jewish and Christian traditions to expel demons from ...
in literature, the beginning or introduction, especially the introductory part of a discourse or composition. The term originally referred specifically to one of the traditional divisions of a speech established ...
rigid or articulated envelope that supports and protects the soft tissues of certain animals. The term includes the calcareous housings of sessile invertebrates such as clams but is most commonly ...
outermost region of a planet's atmosphere, where molecular densities are low and the probability of collisions between molecules is very small. The base of the exosphere is called the critical ...
a poisonous substance secreted by certain bacteria. In their purest form they are the most potent poisons known and are the active agents in diphtheria, tetanus, and botulism. The term ...
dynamic state of the extragalactic realm, the discovery of which has transformed 20th-century cosmology. The development of general relativity and its application to cosmology by Albert Einstein, Wilhelm de Sitter, ...
a method of studying psychological phenomena and processes. The experimental method in psychology attempts to account for the activities of animals (including humans) and the functional organization of mental processes ...
a computer program that uses artificial intelligence to solve problems within a specialized domain that ordinarily requires human expertise. The first expert system was developed in 1965 by Edward Feigenbaum ...
a method of literary criticism involving a detailed examination of each part of a work, such as structure, style, and imagery, and an exposition of the relationship of these parts ...
in bookmaking, a device added to the end of some manuscripts and incunabula by the author or scribe and providing such information as the title of the work and the ...
the investigation of the Earth for scientific, commercial, or military purposes. By the close of the 20th century, virtually all of the Earth's surface had been explored, and attention was ...
any of the largest series of unmanned U.S. spacecraft, consisting of 55 scientific satellites launched between 1958 and 1975. Explorer 1 (launched Jan. 31, 1958), the first space satellite orbited ...
any substance or device that can be made to produce a volume of rapidly expanding gas in an extremely brief period. There are three fundamental types: mechanical, nuclear, and chemical. ...
in mathematics, a relation of the form y = ax, with the independent variable x ranging over the entire real line, as exponent (exp) of positive a. Probably the most ...
one of the principal government-funded Japanese financial institutions, which provides a wide range of services to support and encourage Japanese trade and overseas investment. Headquarters are in Tokyo.
one of the principal agencies of the U.S. government in international finance, originally incorporated as the Export-Import Bank of Washington on February 12, 1934, to assist in financing the export ...
photographic auxiliary device that measures the intensity of light and indicates proper exposure (i.e., the combination of aperture and shutter speed) for film of a specific sensitivity. Modern instruments are ...
artistic style in which the artist seeks to depict not objective reality but rather the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse in him. He accomplishes his aim ...
major arterial divided highway that features two or more traffic lanes in each direction, with opposing traffic separated by a median strip; elimination of grade crossings; controlled entries and exits; ...
in mineralogy, process through which an initially homogeneous solid solution separates into at least two different crystalline minerals without the addition or removal of any materials. In most cases, it ...
an expansion of the nuclear family (parents and dependent children), usually built around a unilineal descent group (i.e., a group in which descent through either the female or the male ...
in agricultural economics, system of crop cultivation using small amounts of labour and capital in relation to area of land being farmed. The crop yield in extensive agriculture depends primarily ...
any of the muscles that increase the angle between members of a limb, as by straightening the elbow or knee or bending the wrist or spine backward. The movement is ...
Nazi German concentration camp that specialized in the mass annihilation (Vernichtung) of unwanted persons in the Third Reich and conquered territories. The camps' victims were mostly Jews ...
(foaled 1915), American racehorse (Thoroughbred), a dependable and durable horse who won 50 of 100 races in eight seasons. Because of the length of his career and his extraordinary ability ...
