These 11 listings are so strange that each appears in only one of the 7 encyclopedias we compared. They include such classics as Paraldehyde, Parallel Lines, Parallels.
LELOPIPEDON, in geometry, a regular solid bounded by six plane surfaces, or parallelograms, the opposite pairs of which are similar, parallel, and equal to each other. If the parallelograms are squares, the solid is a cube.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
CoH12O3, a polymer of acetaldehyde. A water-white liquid, with a peculiar, but not unpleasant odor, and a burning, but subsequently cooling taste. Specific gravity 0.995, melting point 12.6° C. boiling point 124° C. Prepared from acetaldehyde by the action of hydrochloric acid, sulphur dioxide or zine chloride. Paraldehyde is a hypnotic, and differs fers from choral in its greater speed of action and in that it has no depressant effect on the heart. Its administration sometimes causes an outbreak on the skin, and in large doses it may cause digestive trouble. It is also used in the manufacture of dyes.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
two straight lines are parallel to each other when they lie in the same direction. Any number of straight lines are parallel to each other when they have the same direction, or when they are respectively parallel to a given straight line.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
in astronomy and geography small circles of the celestial sphere or of the surface of the earth which are parallel to the equator, having a common pole with the latter. On the earth's surface they are generally called parallels of latitude, and in the sky parallels of declination.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
(See India .)
Only in An Encyclopaedia of Occultism
in architecture, a wall raised breast high; the upper part of a house which is above the springing of a roof and guards the gutter; the upper part of a well, a bridge, a terrace, or balcony, etc. Parapets around the flat roofs of houses in the East are of very ancient date. Also a breast-high defense of earth or stone around a work for shielding troops from the enemy's fire. It is so formed that the earth of the excavation is sufficient for the ramparts and parapets. Inside is the body of the place; outside are the ditch, glacis, etc.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a free translation or rendering of a passage; a restatement of a passage, sentence, or work, in which the sense of the original is retained, but expressed in other words, and generally more fully, for the purpose of clearer and fuller explanation; a setting forth in ampler and clearer terms of the signification of a text, passage, or word. In Scotland it is applied specially to 67 versifications of Scripture passages used with psalms and hymns in divine worship.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a Persian measure of length, varying in different places from 30 to 60 stadia. According to Herodotus it was 30 stadia, i. e., about 3% English miles. Used to denote a long distance, as we say a mile.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a plant or animal that lives at the expense of another. Parasitic animals may live on the outside, as lice and ticks; or they may reside in the interior, as the tapeworm of man and beast. Parasitic plants are to be distinguished from air plants that fasten themselves to the bark of a tree and live mainly on the air or, at most, on rotten bark and plants, and from plants that feed on dead and decaying matter, but the one shades off into the other so that it is difficult to draw a fast line. A parasitic plant sends roots or absorbing branches into the sap wood of its host and feeds on the sap found there. Quite a number of flowering plants are parasites. Some are green, as mistletoe and bastard toad flax; others are waxy, as dodder and Indian pipe . Rusts, smuts, and mildews which attack crops are parasitic fungi. Originally, a parasite was a person, one who sat beside another, a hanger-on at the table of some rich patron, with the probability of winning a welcome by flattery and sycophancy. See Tapeworm ; Mistletoe ; Dodder
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
in botany, the parasites on plants are either animals or vegetables. Some of the latter are of high organization, as loranthus and orobanche among exogens, and epiphytal orchids among endogens. Many cryptogams in certain ferns, mosses, lichens, and fungals are parasites. The roots of the more highly organized parasites penetrate the substance of the herb at whose expense they feed. The lower parasites, by means of their cells, penetrate other cells to live in and on them. In mineralogy, a plumose variety of boracite occurring in the interior of crystals of the same, and resulting from their partial alteration. In zoölogy, an animal which lives in, on, or at the expense of the actual substance of another. Van Beneden divided parasites into three classes: (1) Parasites proper, living at the expense of the organic substance of the hosts, as the tapeworm; (2) commensals, who live with, or on, but not at the expense of their hosts, as sea anemones often live on shells of hermit crabs, and come in for a share of their prey; and (3) mutualists, a class not clearly defined, and now generally abandoned. Leuckhart divided parasites into ecto- and endoparasites, according as they lived on or within, their hosts. Of the latter, by far the larger number belong to the type Vermes. Vertebrate parasites are rare, but exist among the Pisces. Myxine (the hagfish or borer) penetrates the abdominal cavity of gadoids, and feeds on their flesh.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
EMILIA, COUNT- ESS OF. Spanish novelist. She was born at La Coruña, Galicia, in 1851, and after marrying José Quiroga, lived in Madrid, later journeying in several European countries. She edited a journal in Madrid, "Nuevo Teatro Crítico," and wrote essays voluminously. Her books made her a considerable figure early and she was eventually made a countess and given a responsible position in Public Instruction. Her works include: "Pascuel López"; "Un Viaje de Novios"; "Los Pazos de Ulloa"; "El Cisne de Vilamorta"; "La Madre Naturaleza"; some of them translated into English. PARDON. The pardoning power is a prerogative of the sovereign power in a state, whether representative or monarchical. In the United States the pardoning power for offenses against the general government is vested in the President, the authority being delegated by the people through the medium of the Constitution of the country. For offenses against the States the pardoning power is vested in the several governors, or as in a few cases, the governor and State legislature conjointly. The signification of pardon is to be differentiated from that of amnesty, which latter is the obliteration of a peculiar line of offenses arising on a special occasion, and does not bar prosecution for offenses other than those specified, while pardon includes all offenses of which a person may have up to date been guilty and absolves the offender entirely.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia