Smoke, novel by Ivan Turgenev, published in Russian in 1867 as Dym. Set in Baden-Baden, Germany, it combines a sensitive love story with political satire. While waiting in fashionable Baden to meet Tanya Shestoff, his fiancée, Grigory Litvinov, the young heir to a declining Russian estate,

Paul Auster: …screenplays for several films, including Smoke (1995), and he wrote and directed the films Lulu on the Bridge (1998) and The Inner Life of Martin Frost (2007). Having witnessed a friend’s death by lightning as a teenager, he appeared in Act of God (2009), a documentary about lightning-strike survivors. Here…

balloon flight: Smoke and coal gas: Smoke balloons, without onboard fire, became popular for fairs and exhibitions as parachutes were perfected. In particular, the standard grand climax of many celebrations at the turn of the 20th century was to have a trapeze artist ascend for hundreds of…

chimney: The smoke chamber narrows uniformly toward the top; it slows down drafts and acts as a reservoir for smoke trapped in the chimney by gusts across the chimney top. The flue, the main length of the chimney, is usually of masonry, often brick, and metal-lined. Vertical…

Black Rock Desert: …Pyramid Lake is called the Smoke Creek Desert.

smoke detector, device used to warn occupants of a building of the presence of a fire before it reaches a rapidly spreading stage and inhibits escape or attempts to extinguish it. On sensing smoke the detectors emit a loud, high-pitched alarm tone, usually warbling or intermittent, and usually

Miguel Delibes: Smoke on the Ground).

artillery: Projectile, powder, and fuze: Smoke shells, filled with white phosphorus, were adopted for screening the activities of troops; illuminating shells, containing magnesium flares suspended by parachutes, illuminated the battlefield at night; gas shells, filled with various chemicals such as chlorine or mustard gas, were used against troops; incendiary shells…

Smoke Signals, American coming-of-age comedy-drama film, released in 1998, that was directed by Chris Eyre and was the first feature film written, directed, and coproduced by Native Americans. Its screenplay was adapted by author Sherman Alexie from his short story “This Is What It Means to Say

smoke tree, any of several plant species, the foliage or flowers of which suggest clouds of smoke. The name is commonly applied to two ornamental species of small trees or shrubs of the genus Cotinus in the cashew family (Anacardiaceae). Both are deciduous with attractive fall foliage and have

Michael Bloomberg: Mayor of New York City: …controversial citywide smoking ban (the Smoke-Free Air Act of 2002), revitalized tourism, and erased the city’s budget deficit.

Smohalla was a North American Indian prophet, preacher, and teacher, one of a series of such leaders who arose in response to the menace presented to Native American life and culture by the encroachment of white settlers. He founded a religious cult, the Dreamers, that emphasized traditional Native

smoking: Commercial smokehouses, usually several stories high, often use steampipes to supplement the heat of a natural sawdust fire. Hickory sawdust is the preferred fuel. Whatever the size of the smoking operation, it is imperative that a hardwood fire be used. The softwood of conifers such as…

gas-turbine engine: Origins: It was followed by the smokejack, first sketched by Leonardo da Vinci and subsequently described in detail by John Wilkins, an English clergyman, in 1648. This device consisted of a number of horizontal sails that were mounted on a vertical shaft and driven by the hot air rising from a…

warship: Armament: …began to achieve success with smokeless powder of nitrated cellulose and usually some nitroglycerin. With greater striking power available, armour-piercing projectiles became more formidable. These were originally solid shot designed simply to punch through armour plate. In the 1890s, better steel and fuses made it possible to add an explosive…

smoking: Cancer: Smokeless tobacco users, meanwhile, repeatedly expose the oral mucosa to toxins and have a substantially increased risk of getting head and neck cancers, though the risk depends in part on the period of consumption and the nature of the product. For example, Swedish smokeless tobacco…

beekeeping: Beekeeping equipment: …of the beekeeper are: the smoker to quell the bees; a veil to protect the face; gloves for the novice or the person sensitive to stings; a blunt steel blade called a hive tool, for separating the frames and other hive parts for examination; the uncapping knife, for opening the…

Howlin’ Wolf: Influence and later life and career: His 1956 recording of “Smokestack Lightning” reached the British singles charts in 1964 (the same year he toured Europe for the American Folk Blues Festival), and its impact was substantial. The following year he appeared on the music variety show Shindig! at the insistence of fellow guests the Rolling…

Burt Reynolds: …driver in the comic romp Smokey and the Bandit (1977) made the movie such a hit that two sequels (1980 and 1983) followed. Other films included The Cannonball Run and Sharky’s Machine, which he also directed (both 1981), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), and Stroker Ace

Burt Reynolds: …hit that two sequels (1980 and 1983) followed. Other films included The Cannonball Run and Sharky’s Machine, which he also directed (both 1981), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), and Stroker Ace (1983).

Paul Williams: Career as a singer, songwriter, and actor in the 1960s–80s: …Bandit films (1977, 1980, and 1983) and starred in the pilot episode of his own television comedy, The Paul Williams Show (1979), though it was not picked up as a series. Williams guest starred on many television shows during the 1970s and ’80s and was a frequent guest on The…

Smokey Bear, an official mascot of the USDA Forest Service, created in 1944 as part of a national campaign to educate campers and others on forest fire prevention and safety; it is the longest-running public service advertising campaign in U.S. history. A black bear cub that survived a New Mexico

the Coasters: 9” and “Smokey Joe’s Cafe”). In 1955, with a change in personnel (most notably the loss of Richard Berry, who would later write the rock classic “Louie, Louie”), they became the Coasters. The group had a series of rock-and-roll hits—largely for Atlantic Records’ subsidiary label Atco—with witty…

Great Smoky Mountains, western segment of the high Appalachian Mountains in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina, U.S. The Great Smokies lie between Knoxville, Tennessee (just to the west), and Asheville, North Carolina (just to the east), blending into the Blue Ridge escarpment to the east

Jason Bateman: Later life and career: …Hutch (2004), The Break-Up (2006), Smokin’ Aces (2006), Juno (2007), Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008), Hancock (2008), Couples Retreat (2009), The Switch (2010), Horrible Bosses (2011), and Bad Words (2013), which he also directed.

smoking, in food processing, the exposure of cured meat and fish products to smoke for the purposes of preserving them and increasing their palatability by adding flavour and imparting a rich brown colour. The drying action of the smoke tends to preserve the meat, though many of the chemicals

smoking, the act of inhaling and exhaling the fumes of burning Nicotiana plant material. A variety of plant materials are smoked, including marijuana and hashish, but the act is most commonly associated with tobacco (Nicotiana) as smoked in a cigarette, cigar, or pipe. Tobacco contains nicotine, an

cigarette: …the United States led to bans on smoking in a number of public places including on airplanes (1990). In 1995, California became the first state to ban smoking in restaurants. As of 2023, 35 states now have bans. The result has been a decrease in the percentage of Americans who…

smoking: Smoking cessation: The starting point for “kicking the habit” is awareness of the harm smoking can cause. For example, after the U.S. surgeon general’s report in 1964 brought to public awareness a link between smoking and cancer, smoking rates in the United States dropped precipitously.…

smoky bat, (family Furipteridae), either of two bat species found in the Central and South American tropics and classified as a family unto themselves. Amorphochilus schnablii is the smoky bat, whereas Furipterus horrens is also commonly called the thumbless bat. Small and delicately built, both

smoky bat: Amorphochilus schnablii is the smoky bat, whereas Furipterus horrens is also commonly called the thumbless bat. Small and delicately built, both species range in size from about 3.7 to 5.8 cm (1.5 to 2.3 inches), have tails about 2.4 to 3.6 cm (1 to 1.4 inches) in length, and…

Smoky Hill River, river formed by two headstreams (North and South forks) that rise north of Cheyenne Wells, Cheyenne county, in eastern Colorado, U.S., and flow east into Kansas, continuing past Wallace to unite near Russell Springs. The main stream then continues in a generally eastward direction

Great Smoky Mountains, western segment of the high Appalachian Mountains in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina, U.S. The Great Smokies lie between Knoxville, Tennessee (just to the west), and Asheville, North Carolina (just to the east), blending into the Blue Ridge escarpment to the east

smoky quartz, very common coarse-grained variety of the silica mineral quartz that ranges in colour from nearly black through smoky brown. No distinct boundary exists between smoky and colourless quartz. Its abundance causes it to be worth considerably less than either amethyst or citrine. Heating

Smolensk, oblast (region), western Russia. The oblast lies mostly in the upper Dnieper River basin. The terminal moraines of the Smolensk-Moscow Upland lie east-west across the oblast, rising to 1,050 feet (320 m) and dividing the Dnieper, Volga, and Western Dvina basins. Easy portages between

Smolensk, city and administrative center of Smolensk oblast (region), western Russia. The city stands on both banks of the Dnieper River, 260 miles (418 km) west of Moscow. Smolensk is one of the oldest and most historic of Russian cities, dating back to the 9th century, but the ravages of war

Moscow: The middle zone: …Novodevichy Convent, with its beautiful Smolensk Cathedral, whose tall bell tower (1690) dominates the churches and buildings within the crenellated walls and towers of the convent. The cathedral now houses the Novodevichy Convent Museum, and the complex includes a cemetery where Khrushchev and other prominent figures from Soviet history are…

Smolensk Upland, ridge of high land, western Russia, running in a west-southwest to east-northeast direction across the Russian Plain from Orsha, southwest of Smolensk, to Yuryev-Polsky, northeast of Moscow, a distance of 420 miles (680 km). Marking the southern limit of the last glaciation, it

Battle of Smolensk, engagement of the Napoleonic Wars fought in eastern Russia on August 16–18, 1812, and the first large-scale battle of the French campaign in Russia. When Napoleon invaded Russia in June 1812, he led a multinational army of more than half a million soldiers. He needed a rapid and

Smolensk Upland, ridge of high land, western Russia, running in a west-southwest to east-northeast direction across the Russian Plain from Orsha, southwest of Smolensk, to Yuryev-Polsky, northeast of Moscow, a distance of 420 miles (680 km). Marking the southern limit of the last glaciation, it

Smolensk Upland, ridge of high land, western Russia, running in a west-southwest to east-northeast direction across the Russian Plain from Orsha, southwest of Smolensk, to Yuryev-Polsky, northeast of Moscow, a distance of 420 miles (680 km). Marking the southern limit of the last glaciation, it

Hebrew literature: Romanticism: Peretz Smolenskin created in six novels a kaleidoscope of Jewish life in which he rejected the westernized Jew as much as orthodox reactionaries did.

Smolensk Upland, ridge of high land, western Russia, running in a west-southwest to east-northeast direction across the Russian Plain from Orsha, southwest of Smolensk, to Yuryev-Polsky, northeast of Moscow, a distance of 420 miles (680 km). Marking the southern limit of the last glaciation, it

Greece: Central Greece: the Píndos Mountains: The range’s highest point, Mount Smólikas, 8,652 feet (2,637 metres) high, is found in the north.

Tobias Smollett was a Scottish satirical novelist, best known for his picaresque novels The Adventures of Roderick Random (1748) and The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (1751) and his epistolary novel The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771). Smollett came of a family of lawyers and soldiers, Whig

Tobias Smollett was a Scottish satirical novelist, best known for his picaresque novels The Adventures of Roderick Random (1748) and The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (1751) and his epistolary novel The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771). Smollett came of a family of lawyers and soldiers, Whig

St. Petersburg: The rise to splendour: …belong the Winter Palace, the Smolny Convent, and the Vorontsov and Stroganov palaces, among others; outside the city were built the summer palaces of Peterhof and of Tsarskoye Selo (now Pushkin). After a transitional period dominated by the architecture of Jean-Baptiste M. Vallin de la Mothe and Aleksandr Kokorinov, toward…

St. Petersburg: The rise to splendour: Isaac’s cathedrals, the Smolny Institute, the new Admiralty, the Senate, and the Mikhaylovsky Palace (now the State Russian Museum) are representative of the splendid buildings of this period.

St. Petersburg: The rise to splendour: …belong the Winter Palace, the Smolny Convent, and the Vorontsov and Stroganov palaces, among others; outside the city were built the summer palaces of Peterhof and of Tsarskoye Selo (now Pushkin). After a transitional period dominated by the architecture of Jean-Baptiste M. Vallin de la Mothe and Aleksandr Kokorinov, toward…

Atlanta Braves: Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz: John Smoltz—each of whom won at least one Cy Young Award with the Braves—and hitters including David Justice, Chipper Jones, and Andruw Jones.

Smolyan, town, southern Bulgaria, on the Cherna River in the southeastern Rhodope Mountains. Its elevation, 3,300 feet (1,000 metres), makes it the highest town in Bulgaria. It is a local agricultural centre, with a timber industry and, more recently, mining. It is picturesquely located among

Smon-lam chen-mo, (Tibetan: “Great Prayer”), most important Tibetan Buddhist celebration of the year, held annually as part of the New Year festivities in Lhasa at least up until 1959, when the People’s Republic of China abolished the government of the Dalai Lama. Smon-lam was established in 1409

George Smoot was an American physicist who was corecipient, with John C. Mather, of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2006 for discoveries supporting the big-bang model. Smoot received a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1970. The following year he joined the faculty

George Smoot was an American physicist who was corecipient, with John C. Mather, of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2006 for discoveries supporting the big-bang model. Smoot received a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1970. The following year he joined the faculty

Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act: …from its chief sponsors, Senator Reed Smoot of Utah, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Representative Willis Hawley of Oregon, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. It was the last legislation under which the U.S. Congress set actual tariff rates.

Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, U.S. legislation (June 17, 1930) that raised import duties to protect American businesses and farmers, adding considerable strain to the international economic climate of the Great Depression. The act takes its name from its chief sponsors, Senator Reed Smoot of Utah,

Carlos Santana: …of the year for “Smooth.”

azalea: Major species: …North American kinds include the smooth, or sweet, azalea (R. arborescens), a fragrant white-flowering shrub 3 to 6 metres (about 10 to 20 feet) high; the flame azalea (R. calendulaceum), a shrub 0.5 to 2 metres (1.5 to 6.5 feet) high; and the pinxter flower (R. periclymenoides), a shrub 1…

bromegrass: …forage and pasture grass, and smooth brome (B. inermis), a perennial native to Eurasia and introduced into the northern United States as a forage plant and soil binder, are economically important bromegrasses. The common weed chess (B. secalinus), sometimes known as cheat, is found along roadsides and in grain fields.…

crabgrass: …hairy crabgrass (Digitaria sanguinalis) and smooth crabgrass (D. ischaemum), are very troublesome weeds in lawns, fields, and waste spaces because they have decumbent stems that root at the joint and form tenacious patches. Arizona cottontop (D. californica) is a useful forage grass in southwestern North America.

smooth hound, any of a number of small sharks of the family Triakidae, among them the well-known smooth dogfish. See

smooth endoplasmic reticulum (SER), meshwork of fine disklike tubular membrane vesicles, part of a continuous membrane organelle within the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells, that is involved in the synthesis and storage of lipids, including cholesterol and phospholipids, which are used in the

smooth endoplasmic reticulum (SER), meshwork of fine disklike tubular membrane vesicles, part of a continuous membrane organelle within the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells, that is involved in the synthesis and storage of lipids, including cholesterol and phospholipids, which are used in the

ribes: Major species: …or European, gooseberry (Ribes uva-crispa); American gooseberry (R. hirtellum); black currant (R. nigrum); buffalo currant (R. odoratum); downy, or Nordic, currant (R. spicatum); and common, or garden or red, currant (R. rubrum).

green snake: The smooth green snake (Opheodrys vernalis), sometimes called green grass snake, is about 50 cm (20 inches) long. The rough, or keeled (ridged), green snake (O. aestivus), often called vine snake, is about 75 cm (23 inches) long.

hammerhead shark: lewini) and smooth hammerhead (S. zygaena), form large schools that may be segregated by sex or age.

hawthorn: Common species: …hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) and the smooth hawthorn, also known as whitethorn, (C. laevigata). The smooth hawthorn has given rise to several cultivated varieties with showier flower clusters in pink and red, though it and other ornamental species often suffer from leaf spot, fire blight, and cedar hawthorn rust, which cause…

smooth hound, any of a number of small sharks of the family Triakidae, among them the well-known smooth dogfish. See

otter: Conservation and classification: perspicillata(smooth-coated otter) Genus Pteronura 1 species found in South America. Species P. brasiliensis(giant otter)

jazz: Jazz at the turn of the 21st century: …included the emergence of “smooth jazz,” so-called for its polished, radio-friendly sounds and commercial appeal. Its quality ranged from bland “elevator music” to soulful and sublime recordings by such performers as American singers Al Jarreau and Anita Baker and Nigerian-born British singer Sade. Traditional jazz

Dutch elm disease: …susceptible in varying degrees, the smooth leaf (Ulmus carpinifolia), Chinese (U. parvifolia), and Siberian (U. pumila) elms have shown good resistance, and experiments with hybrids of American and Asiatic elms have met with much success.

smooth muscle, muscle that shows no cross stripes under microscopic magnification. It consists of narrow spindle-shaped cells with a single, centrally located nucleus. Smooth muscle tissue, unlike striated muscle, contracts slowly and automatically. It constitutes much of the musculature of

Sade: …Love Is King” and “Smooth Operator,” both tracks from the group’s debut album Diamond Life (1984), which earned Sade and her bandmates a Grammy Award for best new artist. A second album, Promise (1985), enjoyed similar popularity and was followed by a world tour. The album featured the hit…

otter: Conservation and classification: perspicillata(smooth-coated otter) Genus Pteronura 1 species found in South America. Species P. brasiliensis(giant otter)

Mercury: Character of the surface: …some sparsely cratered regions called smooth plains, many of which surround the most prominent impact structure on Mercury, the immense impact basin known as Caloris, only half of which was in sunlight during the Mariner 10 encounters but which was fully revealed by Messenger during its first flyby of Mercury…

smooth snake, (Coronella austriaca), moderately abundant, nonvenomous snake occurring from western Europe to the Caucasus, belonging to the family Colubridae. It has smooth, glossy scales and is usually not more than 70 cm (28 inches) long. It eats lizards, other small vertebrates, and insects.

sumac: The smooth, or scarlet, sumac (Rhus glabra), native to the eastern and central United States, is a common species. It grows to a height of 6 metres (20 feet), with an open, flattened crown and a few stout spreading branches. A cultivated variety has much-dissected fernlike…

Laura Dern: Blue Velvet, Jurassic Park, and Ellen: …exploring her sexual power in Smooth Talk (1985), but her breakthrough performance was as an innocent young woman in David Lynch’s deeply unsettling Blue Velvet (1986). She starred with Nicolas Cage and Ladd in Lynch’s Wild at Heart (1990). Dern and Ladd also starred in the acclaimed and sweetly nostalgic…

ani: The common, or smooth-billed, ani (C. ani), found from southern Florida to Argentina, is a bird 36 cm (14 inches) long that looks like a huge-beaked grackle. The great ani (C. major) is common in swamplands of South America, chiefly east of the Andes. The groove-billed…

Brussels griffon: …Brussels griffon is called a petit Brabançon.

otter: Conservation and classification: perspicillata(smooth-coated otter) Genus Pteronura 1 species found in South America. Species P. brasiliensis(giant otter)

caiman: palpebrosus) known as smooth-fronted caimans.

alligator lizard: …largest alligator lizard is the smooth-headed alligator lizard (G. liocephalus), and its body alone can reach 20 cm (8 inches). Although many alligator lizards are dull brown or gray, some are brightly coloured. Cope’s arboreal alligator lizard (A. aurita), for example, is mottled green with scales on the head and…

slickhead, any of several deep-sea fishes, family Alepocephalidae (order Salmoniformes), found in almost all oceans at depths up to 5,500 m (17,800 feet) or more. Slickheads are dark, soft, and herringlike; species vary greatly in structure, and a few possess light-producing organs. Some common

celestial mechanics: Numerical solutions: In this process, called regularization, the encounter is traversed in less computer time while preserving reasonable accuracy. This process is impractical when n is large, so accelerations are usually artificially bounded on close approaches to prevent instabilities in the numerical calculation and to prevent slowing the calculation. For example,…

hand tool: Plane: …23 cm (9 inches)—were called smoothing planes for the final finish they produced.

J.B. Smoove is an American actor and comedian best known for portraying the quick-witted and profane character Leon Black in the improvisation-based comedy television series Curb Your Enthusiasm (2007– ). He is also known for playing the role of Ray, a television station cameraman, in the situation

smorgasbord, in Swedish cuisine, buffet offering a variety of fish dishes, cheeses, and hot and cold foods. In the country districts of Sweden, it was customary for guests to contribute to the fare at large gatherings. The foods were set out on long tables from which the diners helped themselves.

sandwich: Scandinavian smørrebrød are served open-faced, with artfully composed toppings of fish, sliced meats, and salads. In France, hollowed-out rolls are a popular base. The United States contributed elaborate sandwich formulas, two of the most successful being the club sandwich of sliced chicken or turkey, bacon, lettuce

smother crop, crop sown to suppress persistent weeds. Among the most effective smothering crops is alfalfa, which competes successfully against many weeds for growth space. Sometimes the desired crop plant can be planted so densely that it shades and “chokes out” weedy growth. Annual weeds are

Most terrestrial areas of Earth experience some form of drought on occasion. Whether the drought is permanent, as in deserts and other drylands, or more temporary, as in other environments during unusual stagnant dry periods, drought can take a toll on the plants, animals, and other living things

coral reef: Other threats: “Smothering,” as this is called, may prevent reef plants from obtaining adequate sunlight or may promote the growth of harmful algal blooms.

Rob Reiner: Early life and career: …hired as a writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967–68). In 1971 he married director and actress Penny Marshall. (They divorced in 1979.)

Bezalel Smotrich is a far-right Israeli politician and the head of the Religious Zionism party. In a coalition deal with Benjamin Netanyahu in 2022, he became finance minister, gained oversight of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and pushed a controversial attempt at judicial reform that led

Smohalla was a North American Indian prophet, preacher, and teacher, one of a series of such leaders who arose in response to the menace presented to Native American life and culture by the encroachment of white settlers. He founded a religious cult, the Dreamers, that emphasized traditional Native

small modular reactor (SMR), any nuclear reactor designed to have a lower energy output and a relatively small physical footprint compared with those of a conventional nuclear reactor. SMRs are intended to be less expensive while also easier and faster to build than a typical nuclear plant. They

Paul Milgrom: …their best-known innovations, called the Simultaneous Multiple Round Auction (SMRA), was developed in the 1990s after the U.S. government had tried unsuccessfully to allocate radio frequency bands tied to specific geographic areas. In 1994, in its first use of the SMRA format, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auctioned off single…

Fichtel Hills, mountains in northeastern Bavaria Land (state), southeastern Germany. They lie at the Czech border between the Franconian Forest in the northwest, the Ore Mountains (in German, Erzgebirge; in Czech, Krušné Hory) in the northeast, and the Upper Palatinate Forest (a section of the

Władysław Orkan was a Polish poet and writer who eloquently portrayed the people of the Tatra Mountains. Born into a family of poor highlanders, Orkan received an incomplete education. During World War I he volunteered in the Polish legions. Most of his works are set in the region of his birth and

Smriti, that class of Hindu sacred literature based on human memory, as distinct from the Vedas, which are considered to be Shruti (literally “What Is Heard”), or the product of divine revelation. Smriti literature elaborates, interprets, and codifies Vedic thought but, being derivative, is