|
decathlon
decathlon , in modern Olympic games , a contest for men held over two days and composed of 10 track-and-field events. It consists of the long jump; the high jump; the discus throw; the shot putt; the javelin throw; the 100-, 400-, and 1,500-meter races; the 110-meter hurdle race; and the pole vault...
Read more
|
|
pentathlon
pentathlon , composite athletic event. In ancient Greece it comprised leaping, foot racing, wrestling, discus throwing, and casting the javelin. The modern pentathlon, an Olympic games event for men since 1912, comprises a cross-country horseback ride, a cross-country run, a swimming race, é...
Read more
|
|
discus throwing
discus throwing gymnastic exercise of the ancient Greeks, revived in modern times, especially as part of the Olympic games (in which it is an event of the decathlon ) and as an event of most other track and field meets. The discus used to be thrown with either hand, the arm extended backward and...
Read more
|
|
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...
Read more
|
|
boomerang
boomerang , special form of throwing stick, used mainly by the aborigines of Australia. Other forms of throwing sticks were used by the peoples of ancient Egypt, Ethiopia, and India and by the indigenous peoples of the SW United States. The boomerang is sickle-shaped with arms slightly curved in opp...
Read more
|
|
sports
sports athletic games or tests of skill undertaken primarily for the diversion of those who take part or those who observe them. The range is great; usually, however, the term is restricted to any play, pastime, exercise, game, or contest performed under given rules, indoors or outdoors, on an indi...
Read more
|
|
dice
dice [plural of die ], small cubes used in games. They are usually made of ivory, bone, wood, plastic, or similar materials. The six sides are numbered by dots from 1 to 6, so placed that the sum of the dots on opposite sides equals 7. Dice much like those used today were found in ancient Egyptian...
Read more
|
|
switch
switch electrical device having two states: on, or closed; and off, or open. Ideally a switch offers a zero impedance to a current when it is closed, and it offers infinite impedance when open. Mechanical switches, which operate by moving contacts together and apart, are often classified by the n...
Read more
|
|
Roberto Walker Clemente
Roberto Walker Clemente , 1934-72, Puerto Rican baseball player, b. Carolina, Puerto Rico. He played his entire major league career with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1955-72) and was the mainspring of their successes for 18 years. He reached the 3,000-hit plateau in 1972. A right fielder, Clemente was ca...
Read more
|
|
Doves Press
Doves Press , one of the leaders in the revival of the art and craft of making books that occurred in the late 19th and early 20th cent. It was founded at Hammersmith, London, in 1900 by T. J. Cobden-Sanderson and Emery Walker, both of whom had been associated with William Morris in the work of the ...
Read more
|