|
gegenschein
gegenschein or counterglow, a slight brightening of the night sky in the region of the zodiac directly opposite the sun, i.e., 180° from the sun. Discovered by the Danish astronomer Theodor Brersen in 1854, its nature and cause are still unknown. It may be caused by reflection of sunlight...
Read more
|
|
hamster
hamster Old World rodent , related to the voles, lemmings, and New World mice. There are many hamster species, classified in several genera. All are solitary, burrowing, nocturnal animals, with chunky bodies, short tails, soft, thick fur, and large external cheek pouches used for holding food. Som...
Read more
|
|
|
mare's-tail
mare's-tail any plant of the genus Hippuris, perennial, submerged aquatic herbs of temperate and frigid regions. Mare's-tails have an erect stem bearing whorls of small leaves, so they resemble some of the horsetails (which are also sometimes called mare's-tails); however, unlike horsetails, they...
Read more
|
|
e-commerce
e-commerce commerce conducted over the Internet , most often via the World Wide Web . E-commerce can apply to purchases made through the Web or to business-to-business activities such as inventory transfers. A customer can order items from a vendor's Web site, paying with a credit card (the cus...
Read more
|
|
|
flycatcher
flycatcher common name for various members of the Old World family Muscicapidae, insectivorous songbirds including the kingbirds, phoebes, and pewees. Flycatchers vary in color from drab to brilliant, as in the crested monarch and paradise flycatchers of Asia and Africa. The New World family Tyrann...
Read more
|
|
|
monsters and imaginary beasts
monsters and imaginary beasts The mythologies and legends of ancient and modern cultures teem with an enormous variety of monsters and imaginary beasts. A great number of these are composites of different existing animals and of human beings and animals. Among the animal composites are the Babyloni...
Read more
|
|
|
rat
rat name applied to various stout-bodied rodents , usually having a pointed muzzle, long slender tail, and dexterous forepaws. It refers particularly to the two species of house rat, Rattus norvegicus, the brown, or Norway, rat and R. rattus, the black, roof, or Alexandrine, rat. Both species ...
Read more
|
|
tadpole
tadpole larval, aquatic stage of any of the amphibian animals. After hatching from the egg, the tadpole, sometimes called a polliwog, is gill-breathing and legless and propels itself by means of a tail. During the period of metamorphosis it develops the lungs, legs, and other organs of the adult ...
Read more
|
|
gnu
gnu or wildebeest , large African antelope , genus Connochaetes. Its heavy head and humped shoulders resemble those of a buffalo, while the compact hindquarters are like those of a horse. The gnu has a beard, a short, erect mane, and a long, flowing tail. Members of both sexes have large horn...
Read more
|
|
|
stoat
stoat , European name for the short-tailed weasel , Mustela erminea, also called ermine when in its white winter phase.
...
Read more
|
