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camera
camera lightproof box or container, usually fitted with a lens, which gathers incoming light and concentrates it so that it can be directed toward the film (in an optical camera) or the imaging device (in a digital camera) contained within. Today there are many different types of camera in use, all...
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frijole
frijole [Span. fríjol ], in Mexico and the Spanish American countries, any cultivated bean of the genus Phaseolus. The term frijole refers to the small, flat, black bean that ranks next to corn in importance in the diet of most Latin American countries. It is probably of South A...
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Macclesfield
Macclesfield , town (1991 pop. 46,832), Cheshire, W England. Silk manufacture, of which Macclesfield is the principal center in England, was introduced in the town in 1756. Other manufactures are clothing, shoes, electrical appliances, and paper. The Church of St. Michael dates from 1278 and the gra...
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koto
koto , a Japanese string instrument related in structure to the zither . It consists of an elongated rectangular wooden body, strung lengthwise with 7 to 13 silk strings. The uniformly long strings are tuned to one of several standard tunings by moveable wooden bridges. The koto is placed horizonta...
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umbrella
umbrella a small canopy used as a protection against the sun in China, Egypt, and elsewhere in remote antiquity. It was often an emblem of rank. During the Middle Ages the umbrella became almost extinct in Europe; its usefulness was not rediscovered until the late 16th cent., when it was introduced...
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Michael
Michael (Michael Romanov), 1596-1645, czar of Russia (1613-45), founder of the Romanov dynasty; grandnephew of Anastasia, first wife of Ivan IV. His election as czar, following successive appearances of false pretenders (see Dmitri ), ended the so-called Time of Troubles, a period of social and ...
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Robert Field Stockton
Robert Field Stockton 1795-1866, American naval officer, b. Princeton, N.J. He left the College of New Jersey (now Princeton) to enter the U.S. Navy at 16 and served in the War of 1812 and in the subsequent campaigns against the Barbary pirates. He negotiated (1821) a territorial concession on the ...
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sweet potato
sweet potato trailing perennial plant ( Ipomoea batatas ) of the family Convolvulaceae ( morning glory family), native to the New World tropics. Cultivated from ancient times by the Aztecs for its edible tubers, it was introduced into Europe in the 16th cent. and later spread to Asia. It is now th...
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harpsichord
harpsichord stringed musical instrument played from a keyboard. Its strings, two or more to a note, are plucked by quills or jacks. The harpsichord originated in the 14th cent. and by the 16th cent. Venice was the center of its manufacture. At that time its prevailing shape was winglike, similar to...
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canary
canary , common name for a familiar cage bird of the family Ploceidae (Old World finch family), descended from either the wild serin finch or from the very similar wild canary, Serinus canarius, of the Canary Islands, Madeira, and the Azores and introduced into Europe in the late 15th or early 1...
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