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Possible definitions for qr

Arab
Any member of the Arabic-speaking peoples of the Middle East and N. Africa. Before the spread of Islam in the 630s, the term referred to the largely nomadic Semitic peoples of the Arabian Peninsula; it came to apply to Arabic-speaking peoples from Africa's Mauritanian and Moroccan coasts east to Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula and south to N Sudan after their acceptance and promotion of Islam. Traditionally, some Arabs are desert-dwelling pastoral nomads (see Bedouin), whereas others live by oases and in small, isolated farming villages. While most Arabs are Muslims, some are Christian. The term may also be used today in an ethnic ("the Arab nation") or sociolinguistic sense.


Aram
Ancient country, SW Asia. It extended from the Lebanon Mtns. to beyond the Euphrates River. It was named after the Aramaeans, who emerged from the Syrian desert to invade Syria and Upper Mesopotamia (c.14th cent. BC) and who built numerous city-kingdoms, incl. Damascus. It lends its name to the Aramaic language.


arch
Curved structure that spans the opening between two piers or columns and supports loads from above. The masonry arch provides the stepping stone from the post-and-beam system to the evolution of the vault, and was first widely used by the Romans. Its construction depends on a series of wedge-shaped blocks (voussoirs) set side by side in a semicircular curve or along two intersecting arcs (as in a pointed arch). The central voussoir is called the keystone, and the two points where the arch rests on its supports are known as the spring points. An arch can carry a much greater load than a horizontal beam of the same size and material, because downward pressure forces the voussoirs together instead of apart. The resulting outward thrust must be resisted by the arch's supports. Present-day lightweight monolithic (one-piece) arches of steel, concrete, or laminated wood are highly rigid, and thereby minimize horizontal thrust.


Ards
District (pop., 1995 est.: 67,000), Northern Ireland. Formerly part of Co. Downs, Ards was established as a district in 1973. Much of its land is devoted to crops and pasture. Newtownards, settled c.1608 by Scots, is its administrative seat and manufacturing center. Donaghadee is a popular resort town.


Ares
Greek god of war. Unlike his Roman counterpart, Mars, his worship was not extensive. From the time of Homer, he was one of the Olympian deities, the son of Zeus and Hera, but disliked by the other gods. His worship occurred largely in N Greece. He was associated from early times with Aphrodite, occasionally portrayed as his legitimate wife and at other times his lover. He was accompanied in battle by his sister Eris (strife) and by two of his children by Aphrodite, Phobos and Deimos (Panic and Rout).


aria
Solo song with instrumental accompaniment in opera, cantata, or oratorio. The strophic or stanzaic aria, in which ...

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