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track and field athletics
track and field athletics sports of foot racing, hurdling, jumping, vaulting, and throwing varied weights and objects. They are usually separated into two categories: track, the running and hurdling events; and field, the throwing, jumping, and vaulting events. "Meets" are traditionally conduct...
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railroad
railroad or railway, form of transportation most commonly consisting of steel rails, called tracks, on which freight cars, passenger cars, and other rolling stock are drawn by one locomotive or more. However, there are other types of railways, including those whose units consist of single sel...
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Auteuil
Auteuil , old town between the Seine and the Bois de Boulogne, absorbed (1860) into Paris, France. A favorite resort for writers (Molière, La Fontaine, Boileau) in the 17th cent., it is now the site of a popular steeplechase track.
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dog racing
dog racing trials of speed between dogs. Now contested on oval tracks, the sport developed from the ancient practice of coursing, in which specially trained dogs chase game animals in the open field. Whippets chased live rabbits until the protests of humane groups had the practice outlawed. Artific...
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ice skating
ice skating gliding along an ice surface on keellike runners known as ice skates.
Skating as a Sport
Skating, besides being an important form of winter recreation and the essential skill in the game of ice hockey (see hockey, ice ) has developed into three different sports—speed sk...
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abominable snowman
abominable snowman or yeti , humanlike creature so named because it is associated with the perpetual snow region of the Himalayas. A figure unknown except through tracks ascribed to it and through alleged encounters, it is described as being 6 to 8 ft (1.8 to 2.4 m) tall and covered with long, d...
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monorail
monorail railway system that uses cars that run on a single rail. Typically the rail is run overhead and the cars are either suspended from it or run above it. Driving power is transmitted from the cars to the track by means of wheels that rotate horizontally, making contact with the rail between i...
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parimutuel betting
parimutuel betting , system of cooperative wagering invented (c.1870) in France by Pierre Oller. According to the system, the holders of winning tickets divide the total amount of money bet on a race (the pool), after deductions for tax and racetrack expenses. The uniqueness of parimutuel betting li...
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Baltimore & Ohio Railroad
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O), first U.S. public railroad, chartered in 1827 by a group of Baltimore businessmen to regain trans-Allegheny traffic lost to the newly opened Erie Canal . Construction began in 1828, and the first division opened in May, 1830, between Baltimore and Ellicott'...
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videocassette recorder
videocassette recorder (VCR), device that can record television programs or the images from a video camera on magnetic tape (see tape recorder ); it can also play prerecorded tapes. A VCR converts the separate audio and video portions of a television or video camera signal to magnetic flux variati...
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