Random Image for wacke
Image originally shown at http://z.about.com/d/geology/1/0/Y/W/graywacke.jpg
Image for wacke
Possible definitions for wacke
Wace
Anglo-Norman poet. He is known for his two verse chronicles, the Roman de Brut (1155) and the Roman de Rou (1160-74), named respectively after the reputed founders of the Britons and Normans. The Brut is a romanticized account of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia regum Britanniae. Its many fanciful additions (incl. the story of Arthur's Round Table) were important in the development of the Arthurian legend, and its literary style influenced later verse romances. The Rou, commissioned by Henry II of England, is a history of the Norman dukes c.911-1106.
Wankel
German engineer and inventor. In 1954 he completed the design of his distinctive engine, with an orbiting rotor in the shape of a curved equilateral triangle, which does the work done by the moving pistons in other internal-combustion engines. Its advantages include light weight, few moving parts, compactness, low initial cost, fewer repairs, and relatively smooth performance. The first unit was tested in 1957. The Japanese automobile company Mazda produced and developed the engine, introducing it to the U.S. market in 1971.
Acre
Seaport city (pop., 1993 est.: 44,000), NW Israel on the Mediterranean coast. First mentioned in an Egyptian text from the 19th cent. BC, it was ruled by Egyptians, Romans, Persians, and Arabs; under Phoenician rule it was called Ptolemais. It was a Syrian town under the Seljuq Turks when the crusaders captured it in 1104; the Crusaders renamed the city St. Jean d'Acre and made it their last capital (see Crusades). Except for brief intervals, it was under the rule of Ottoman Turks from 1516 until British forces took it in 1918. It was part of Palestine under the British mandate and became part of Israel in 1948. Notable structures include the Great Mosque and the Crypt of St. John.
Ake
Nigerian political scientist and activist. He received his PhD from Columbia Univ. in 1966. He founded the Center for Advanced Social Science in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and was active in efforts to uncover environmental and human-rights abuses by the Nigerian government. His books on African development and politics made him one of Africa's leading political scientists. He served as a consultant to Royal Dutch/Shell Group, but angrily resigned in 1995 to protest the execution of the activist K. Saro-Wiwa. He died the next year in a plane crash, whose cause has been disputed.
buckeye
Any of about 13 trees and shrubs of the genus Aesculus (family Hippocastanaceae), native to N. America, SE Europe, and E Asia. The name refers to the resemblance of the nut, which has a pale patch on a shiny red ground, to the eye of a deer. Buckeyes are valued as ornamental trees for their handsome candelabra-like flower clusters. Both the young foliage and the nuts are poisonous. Among the most notable is the Ohio buckeye (A. glabra), also called fetid buckeye and Amer. horse chestnut, with twigs and leaves ...
Top words beginning with W: waying, wonderful, wickyup, waterbath, withwind, wingspans, waxier, wavelengths, windjamming, woodlark, wardage, whirtle, wabbler, wheens, webfed, werewolfish, whipped, welshed, weighhouse, waterwheel
Browse the alphabet: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z