More than one of these 7 encyclopedias carries each of the following subjects — but every one of them treats it in a sentence or two and then moves on. They are gathered here so the different accounts can sit side by side.
Stake
The Encyclopedia of Founding: A foundry device for guiding flasks, drawbacks, and other portions of a mould, independent of either pins, slides, or hinges, and for all of which modes the stake is a substitute. For instance, a cope is employed to cover the mould which is bedded in the sand floor; a stake driven into the floor at each corner against a suitably provided guide-piece furnishes the means for closing exactly similar to an ordinary slide in a flask part. Iron stakes close better than wood, and may be from 1 inch to 2 inches square or round. If not firm enough when driven down and rammed, they are readily stiffened by driving a short wooden one of larger diameter behind. See FLASKS; PIN.
American Watchmaker and Jeweler: An anvil. To fasten by means of a stake.
Covered by The Encyclopedia of Founding and American Watchmaker and Jeweler
Stencil
Aiton's Encyclopedia: in the arts, a thin sheet or plate in which letters, figures, or a pattern have been formed by cutting through the plate. By laying the stencil on a surface and applying ink, paint, or other color with a brush, the desired pattern may be transferred to the surface in question. In this way signs may be lettered, shipping directions may be printed, boxes may be labeled, and patterns as for embroidery may be transferred to fabrics. The wall decorator uses stencils in ornamenting borders of ceilings and the like. Many teachers of primary departments provide themselves with a set of stencils by means of which and large sheets of manila paper they are enabled to print interesting and fresh reading charts.
Collier's New Encyclopedia: a thin plate of metal, cardboard, leather or other material (brass generally), out of which patterns, numbers, or letters have been cut. The plate is laid on the surface to be painted or marked, and a brush dipped in ink or color is then rubbed over it, the surface receiving the color only through the parts cut out of the plate.
Covered by Aiton's Encyclopedia and Collier's New Encyclopedia
Stentor
Collier's New Encyclopedia: the name of a herald in the Trojan war, famous for the loudness of his voice, which was said to equal that of 50 other men together; hence, a person having a very loud strong voice. STEPHANITE (after the Archduke Stephan of Austria), an ore of silver occurring both in crystals and massive; crystallization, orthorhombic; hardness, 2-2.5; sp. gr. 6.269; luster, metallic; color and streak, iron-black. Composition: Sulphur, 16.2; antimony, 15.3; silver, 68.5 = 100, corresponding with the formula 5AgS+Sb2S3. Occurs with other silver ores in lodes in various localities.
1000 Classical Characters: One of the Greeks who went to the Trojan war. He was noted for the loudness of his voice, and from him the term "stentorian" has become proverbial.
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and 1000 Classical Characters
Steppe
Aiton's Encyclopedia: step, an old world term corresponding in a measure to the prairies of North America and the pampas of South America . A vast tract extending eastward from southeastern Russia is known as the steppe region. It is to be distinguished from forest, mountain, desert, and tundra. A steppe is a fairly level, treeless plain,more or less covered with rich grasses, and affording pasturage for flocks in early summer. Southwestern Siberia, between the parallels of 50 deg. and 55 deg. and as far as the Obi, is an extensive steppe. Similar steppes are found east of the Altai Mountains and in the great river valleys of eastern Tibet. The steppes pass insensibly into deserts. They are inhabited by nomadic people who move their tents and flocks with the season. Summer drouth is so general that agriculture is practiced only in irrigated districts. The total steppe or semi-arid area of the world is estimated at 13,901,000 square miles. See Mongolians; Cossacks ; Rain ; Desert
Collier's New Encyclopedia: a term applied to one of those extensive plains which, with the occasional interpolation of low ranges of hills, stretch from the Dnieper across the S. E. of European Russia, round the shores of Altai and Ural chains, and occupy the low lands of Siberia. In spring they are covered with verdure, but for the great Breater part of the year they are dry and barren. There are three different kinds of steppe, viz., grass, salt, and sand steppes, each maintaining peculiar forms of vegetation.
Covered by Aiton's Encyclopedia and Collier's New Encyclopedia
Stereotyping
The Encyclopedia of Founding: The art of obtaining metal plates about 3/16 inch in thickness from pages of type previously set up in the ordinary manner. The art was invented by William Ged of Edinburgh, 1725. The forms of type are first laid on a smooth table, face upwards, oiled, and after the frame or flask which regulates the depth of plaster has been placed around, the surface is covered and swept off even. This cast is then dried, and afterwards turned face down on an iron floater, and the whole is placed within the dipping-pan, the lid of which fits the pan except at each corner, where provision is made for the entrance of the fluid metal. A clamp stretching across the pan serves to bind all together, and furnishes means for suspending and lowering into the bath, where it is immersed well down, to create a pressure, which causes the metal to spread and fill every cavity precisely, the thickness being regulated by an adjustment between the plaster-cast and floating-plate. The metal used for this purpose is various; some use type metal; others, lead 100, antimony 15; and, again, lead 4, antimony 1, tin 1; but generally the alloys contain from 4 to 8 lead to 1 of antimony, according to hardness required. It must be understood that antimony acts to neutralize the contraction of lead, and causes the alloy to give a correct impression of the mould. See TYPE-METAL.
Aiton's Encyclopedia: . See Printing
Covered by The Encyclopedia of Founding and Aiton's Encyclopedia
Stesichorus
Collier's New Encyclopedia: one of the nine great lyric poets of antiquity; is said to have been born in 632 b. c., either in Himera in Sicily, or Metaurus in Magna Græcia, and to have died about 556, but nothing certain is known concerning him. His own name, Tisias, he changed to Stesichorus ("leader of choirs") as the inventor of strophe, antistrophe, and epode, and with his predecessor Aleman he stands at the head of Dorian choral poets. His fragments include erotic, pastoral, and mythological pieces, fables and elegies, hymns, pæans, and epithalmia, and are collected in Bergk's "Poeta Lyrici Græci."
1000 Classical Characters: A celebrated Greek poet, of Himera, in Sicily. Stesichorus was one of the nine chiefs of lyric poetry recognized by the ancients. He stands, with Alcman, at the head of one branch of the lyric art, the choral poetry of the Dorians. 2026 Editor's Note: Ranked among the nine canonical lyric poets of ancient Greece, Stesichorus is credited with bridging the gap between Homeric epic and later lyric forms. Though much of his work was lost to time, modern understanding has been significantly expanded by the discovery of the Lille Stesichorus , a papyrus fragment recovered in the 20th century. He is also remembered for the legend of his blindness, which was allegedly cured only after he composed a poem recanting his previous insults toward Helen of Troy. (Ed: BR 2026-07-09)
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and 1000 Classical Characters