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Possible definitions for abaff

abacus
Calculating instrument that uses beads that slide along a series of wires or rods set in a frame to represent the decimal places. Probably of Babylonian origin, it is the ancestor of the modern digital calculator. Used by merchants in the Middle Ages throughout Europe and the Arabic world, it was gradually replaced by arithmetic based on Hindu-Arabic numerals. Though rarely used in Europe past the 18th cent., it is still used in the Middle East, China, and Japan.


abalone
Any of several marine snail species (genus Haliotis, family Haliotidae), found in warm seas worldwide. The outer surface of the single shell has a row of small holes, most of which fill in as the animal grows; some remain open as outlets for waste products. Abalones range from 4 to 10 in. (10-25 cm) across and up to 3 in. (8 cm) deep. The largest is the 12 in. (30 cm) abalone (H. rufescens). The shell's lustrous, iridescent interior is used in ornaments, and the large muscular foot is eaten as a delicacy. Commercial abalone fisheries exist in California, Mexico, Japan, and S. Africa.


Acuff
U.S. singer, songwriter, and fiddler. Born in Maynardsville, Tenn., he turned to music after an aborted baseball career and gained immediate popularity with "The Great Speckled Bird" and "The Wabash Cannonball." Reasserting the mournful musical traditions of Southeastern rural whites, he becoming a national radio star on the Grand Ole Opry. In 1942 he and F. Rose founded Acuff-Rose Publishing, the first publishing house exclusively for country music. In 1962 Acuff was elected the first living member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.


Amalfi
Town (pop., 1993 est.: 5,600), S Italy, on the Gulf of Salerno. It was of little importance until the mid-6th cent., when it fell under Byzantine control. It grew into one of the first Italian maritime republics in the 9th cent., becoming a rival of Venice and Genoa. Annexed by Roger II of Sicily in 1131, it was sacked by Pisa in 1135 and 1137 and rapidly declined in importance, though its maritime code, the Tavola Amalfitano, was recognized in the Mediterranean until 1570. Amalfi is now a notable tourist resort.


Arafat
Palestinian leader. Born in Jerusalem, he graduated from the Univ. of Cairo as a civil engineer and served in the Egyptian army during the 1956 war with Israel. That year, working as an engineer in Kuwait, he cofounded the guerrilla organization Fatah, which became the leading military component of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which he led from 1969. In 1974 the PLO was formally recognized by the U.N., and Arafat became the first leader of a nongovernmental organization to address the U.N. In 1988 he acknowledged Israel's right to exist, and in 1993 he formally recognized Israel during direct talks regarding land controlled by Israel since the Six-Day War. In 1994 he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Y. Rabin and S. Peres. In ...

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