(made+accidentally)

1) (to make a sharp noise by hitting or tapping, especially on a door etc to attract attention: Just then, someone knocked at the door.) χτυπώ

2) (to cause to move, especially to fall, by hitting (often accidentally): She knocked a vase on to the floor while she was dusting.) (χτυπώ και) ρίχνω

3) (to put into a certain state or position by hitting: He knocked the other man senseless.) ρίχνω

4) ((often with against, on) to strike against or bump into: She knocked against the table and spilt his cup of coffee; I knocked my head on the car door.) χτυπώ

1) (an act of knocking or striking: She gave two knocks on the door; He had a nasty bruise from a knock he had received playing football.) χτύπημα

2) (the sound made by a knock, especially on a door etc: Suddenly they heard a loud knock.) χτύπος

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- knocker

Ămalthēa, ae, f., = Amaltheia.

A nymph, daughter of Melissus, king of Crete, who fed Jupiter with goat's milk, Hyg. Fab. 139.—Acc. to others, Amalthea is the name of the goat itself, one of whose horns, accidentally broken off, was placed among the stars as the Cornu Amaltheae, or Cornu copiae, Hyg. Astr. 2, 13; 3, 12. From this horn nectar and ambrosia are said to have flowed;

hence, it was the emblem of plenty,

Ov. F. 5, 121; Hor. C. 1, 17, 14; id. C. S. 59; id. Ep. 1, 12, 28.—Hence, meton.: Ămal-thēa, ae, f., or Ămalthēum, i, n.; in Cic., the name of a library (acc. to others, an old sanctuary of Amalthea near the villa of Atticus, in Epirus, adorned with inscriptions, etc., by Atticus, in imitation of which Cicero made a similar one at Arpinum):

Amalthea mea te exspectat,

Cic. Att. 2, 1 fin.; 1, 16 fin. —

The name of the Cumœan sibyl:

Quidquid Amalthea dixit,

Tib. 2, 5, 67; cf. Lact. 1, 6; Serv. ad Verg. A. 6, 72.

Ămalthēa, ae, f., = Amaltheia.

A nymph, daughter of Melissus, king of Crete, who fed Jupiter with goat's milk, Hyg. Fab. 139.—Acc. to others, Amalthea is the name of the goat itself, one of whose horns, accidentally broken off, was placed among the stars as the Cornu Amaltheae, or Cornu copiae, Hyg. Astr. 2, 13; 3, 12. From this horn nectar and ambrosia are said to have flowed;

hence, it was the emblem of plenty,

Ov. F. 5, 121; Hor. C. 1, 17, 14; id. C. S. 59; id. Ep. 1, 12, 28.—Hence, meton.: Ămal-thēa, ae, f., or Ămalthēum, i, n.; in Cic., the name of a library (acc. to others, an old sanctuary of Amalthea near the villa of Atticus, in Epirus, adorned with inscriptions, etc., by Atticus, in imitation of which Cicero made a similar one at Arpinum):

Amalthea mea te exspectat,

Cic. Att. 2, 1 fin.; 1, 16 fin. —

The name of the Cumœan sibyl:

Quidquid Amalthea dixit,

Tib. 2, 5, 67; cf. Lact. 1, 6; Serv. ad Verg. A. 6, 72.

1. verb

1) to make a sharp noise by hitting or tapping, especially on a door etc to attract attention:

2) to cause to move, especially to fall, by hitting (often accidentally):

3) to put into a certain state or position by hitting:

4) ( often with against, ～on) to strike against or bump into:

2. noun

1) an act of knocking or striking:

2) the sound made by a knock, especially on a door etc:

1) (to make a sharp noise by hitting or tapping, especially on a door etc to attract attention: Just then, someone knocked at the door.) frapper, cogner

2) (to cause to move, especially to fall, by hitting (often accidentally): She knocked a vase on to the floor while she was dusting.) renverser

3) (to put into a certain state or position by hitting: He knocked the other man senseless.) assommer

4) ((often with against, on) to strike against or bump into: She knocked against the table and spilt his cup of coffee; I knocked my head on the car door.) se cogner, heurter

1) (an act of knocking or striking: She gave two knocks on the door; He had a nasty bruise from a knock he had received playing football.) coup

2) (the sound made by a knock, especially on a door etc: Suddenly they heard a loud knock.) coup

•

- knocker

1) (to make a sharp noise by hitting or tapping, especially on a door etc to attract attention: Just then, someone knocked at the door.) bater

2) (to cause to move, especially to fall, by hitting (often accidentally): She knocked a vase on to the floor while she was dusting.) derrubar

3) (to put into a certain state or position by hitting: He knocked the other man senseless.) golpear

4) ((often with against, on) to strike against or bump into: She knocked against the table and spilt his cup of coffee; I knocked my head on the car door.) bater

1) (an act of knocking or striking: She gave two knocks on the door; He had a nasty bruise from a knock he had received playing football.) pancada

2) (the sound made by a knock, especially on a door etc: Suddenly they heard a loud knock.) pancada

•

- knocker

crease [kri:s]

1 noun

(a) (in material, paper → made on purpose) pli m; (→ accidental) faux pli m; (in skin, on face) pli m;

∎ to put a crease in a pair of trousers faire le pli d'un pantalon;

∎ in order to get rid of the creases (in shirt, blouse etc) pour le/la défroisser

(b) (in cricket) limite f du batteur

2 transitive verb

(a) (on purpose) faire les plis de; (accidentally) froisser, chiffonner;

∎ this shirt is all creased cette chemise est toute froissée;

∎ to crease one's brow froncer les sourcils

(b) (amuse)

∎ this one'll crease you celle-là va te faire mourir de rire

(c) (of bullet → scalp etc) érafler

3 intransitive verb

(clothes) se froisser, se chiffonner;

∎ his face creased with laughter son visage s'est plissé de rire

➲ crease up familiar

1 intransitive verb

se tordre de rire

2 separable transitive verb

faire mourir ou se tordre de rire;

∎ you just have to look at him and he creases you up il suffit de le regarder pour se tordre de rire

SUBJECT AREA: Chemical technology, Land transport

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Goodyear entered his father's country hardware business before setting up his own concern in Philadelphia. While visiting New York, he noticed in the window of the Roxburgh India Rubber Company a rubber life-preserver. Goodyear offered to improve its inflating valve, but the manager, impressed with Goodyear's inventiveness, persuaded him to tackle a more urgent problem, that of seeking a means of preventing rubber from becoming tacky and from melting or decomposing when heated. Goodyear tried treatments with one substance after another, without success. In 1838 he started using Nathaniel M.Hayward's process of spreading sulphur on rubber. He accidentally dropped a mass of rubber and sulphur on to a hot stove and noted that the mixture did not melt: Goodyear had discovered the vulcanization of rubber. More experiments were needed to establish the correct proportions for a uniform mix, and eventually he was granted his celebrated patent no. 3633 of 15 June 1844. Goodyear's researches had been conducted against a background of crippling financial difficulties and he was forced to dispose of licences to vulcanize rubber at less than their real value, in order to pay off his most pressing debts.

Goodyear travelled to Europe in 1851 to extend his patents. To promote his process, he designed a spectacular exhibit for London, consisting of furniture, floor covering, jewellery and other items made of rubber. A similar exhibit in Paris in 1855 won him the Grande Médaille d'honneur and the Croix de la Légion d'honneur from Napoleon III. Patents were granted to him in all countries except England. The improved properties of vulcanized rubber and its stability over a much wider range of temperatures greatly increased its applications; output rose from a meagre 31.5 tonnes a year in 1827 to over 28,000 tonnes by 1900. Even so, Goodyear profited little from his invention, and he bequeathed to his family debts amounting to over $200,000.

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SUBJECT AREA: Textiles

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James Hargreaves was first a carpenter and then a hand-loom weaver at Stanhill, Blackburn, probably making Blackburn Checks or Greys from linen warps and cotton weft. An invention ascribed to him doubled production in the preparatory carding process before spinning. Two or three cards were nailed to the same stock and the upper one was suspended from the ceiling by a cord and counterweight. Around 1762 Robert Peel (1750–1830) sought his assistance in constructing a carding engine with cylinders that may have originated with Daniel Bourn, but this was not successful. In 1764, inspired by seeing a spinning wheel that continued to revolve after it had been knocked over accidentally, Hargreaves invented his spinning jenny. The first jennies had horizontal wheels and could spin eight threads at once. To spin on this machine required a great deal of skill. A length of roving was passed through the clamp or clove. The left hand was used to close this and draw the roving away from the spindles which were rotated by the spinner turning the horizontal wheel with the right hand. The spindles twisted the fibres as they were being drawn out. At the end of the draw, the spindles continued to be rotated until sufficient twist had been put into the fibres to make the finished yarn. This was backed off from the tips of the spindles by reversing them and then, with the spindles turning in the spinning direction once more, the yarn was wound on by the right hand rotating the spindles, the left hand pushing the clove back towards them and one foot operating a pedal which guided the yarn onto the spindles by a faller wire. A piecer was needed to rejoin the yarns when they broke. At first Hargreaves's jenny was worked only by his family, but then he sold two or three of them, possibly to Peel. In 1768, local opposition and a riot in which his house was gutted forced him to flee to Nottingham. He entered into partnership there with Thomas James and established a cotton mill. In 1770 he followed Arkwright's example and sought to patent his machine and brought an action for infringement against some Lancashire manufacturers, who offered £3,000 in settlement. Hargreaves held out for £4,000, but he was unable to enforce his patent because he had sold jennies before leaving Lancashire. Arkwright's "water twist" was more suitable for the Nottingham hosiery industry trade than jenny yarn and in 1777 Hargreaves replaced his own machines with Arkwright's. When he died the following year, he is said to have left property valued at £7,000 and his widow received £400 for her share in the business. Once the jenny had been made public, it was quickly improved by other inventors and the number of spindles per machine increased. In 1784, there were reputed to be 20,000 jennies of 80 spindles each at work. The jenny greatly eased the shortage of cotton weft for weavers.

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SUBJECT AREA: Metallurgy

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Merica graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1908. Before proceeding to the University of Berlin, he spent some time teaching in Wisconsin and in China. He obtained his doctorate in Berlin in 1914, and in that year he joined the US National Bureau of Standards (NBS) in Washington. During his five years there, he investigated the causes of the phenomenon of age-hardening of the important new alloy of aluminium, Duralumin.

This phenomenon had been discovered not long before by Dr Alfred Wilm, a German research metallurgist. During the early years of the twentieth century, Wilm had been seeking a suitable light alloy for making cartridge cases for the Prussian government. In the autumn of 1909 he heated and quenched an aluminium alloy containing 3.5 per cent copper and 0.5 per cent magnesium and found its properties unremarkable. He happened to test it again some days later and was impressed to find its hardness and strength were much improved: Wilm had accidentally discovered age-hardening. He patented the alloy, but he made his rights over to Durener Metallwerke, who marketed it as Duralumin. This light and strong alloy was taken up by aircraft makers during the First World War, first for Zeppelins and then for other aircraft.

Although age-hardened alloys found important uses, the explanation of the phenomenon eluded metallurgists until in 1919 Merica and his colleagues at the NBS gave the first rational explanation of age-hardening in light alloys. When these alloys were heated to temperatures near their melting points, the alloying constituents were taken into solution by the matrix. Quenching retained the alloying metals in supersaturated solid solution. At room temperature very small crystals of various intermetallic compounds were precipitated and, by inserting themselves in the aluminium lattice, had the effect of increasing the hardness and strength of the alloy. Merica's theory stimulated an intensive study of hardening and the mechanism that brought it about, with important consequences for the development of new alloys with special properties.

In 1919 Merica joined the International Nickel Company as Director of Research, a post he held for thirty years and followed by a three-year period as President. He remained in association with the company until his death.

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   1) The Catalyst to Darwin's Discovery of the Principle of Natural Selection

   In October 1838 that is, fifteen months after I had begun my systematic enquiry, I happened to read for amusement "Malthus on Population," and being well prepared to appreciate the struggle for existence which everywhere goes on from long-continued observation of the habits of animals and plants, it at once struck me that under these circumstances favorable variations would tend to be preserved, and unfavorable ones to be destroyed. (Darwin, 1911, p. 68)

   2) Insight in the Chimpanzee

   The insight of the chimpanzee shows itself to be principally determined by his optical apprehension of the situation. (KoЁhler, 1925, p. 267)

   3) Brevity, Suddenness and Immediate Certainty

   Then I turned my attention to the study of some arithmetical questions apparently without much success and without a suspicion of any connection with my preceding researches. Disgusted with my failure, I went to spend a few days at the seaside, and thought of something else. One morning, walking on the bluff, the idea came to me, with just the same characteristics of brevity, suddenness and immediate certainty, that the arithmetic transformations of indeterminate ternary quadratic forms were identical with those of non-Euclidean geometry. (Poincareґ, 1929, p. 388)

   4) Insight Is Not a Mysterious Mental Agent

   The direct awareness of determination... may also be called insight. When I once used this expression in a description of the intelligent behavior of apes, an unfortunate misunderstanding was, it seems, not entirely prevented.... Apparently, some readers interpreted this formulation as though it referred to a mysterious mental agent or faculty which was made responsible for the apes' behavior. Actually, nothing of this sort was intended... the concept is used in a strictly descriptive fashion. (KoЁhler, 1947, pp. 341-342)

   5) Insight in Animal Problem- Solving

   The task must be neither so easy that the animal solves the problem at once, thus not allowing one to analyze the solution; nor so hard that the animal fails to solve it except by rote learning in a long series of trials. With a problem of such borderline difficulty, the solution may appear out of a blue sky. There is a period first of fruitless effort in one direction, or perhaps a series of attempted solutions. Then suddenly there is a complete change in the direction of effort, and a cleancut solution of the task. This then is the first criterion of the occurrence of insight. The behavior cannot be described as a gradual accretion of learning; it is evident that something has happened in the animal at the moment of solution. (What happens is another matter.) (Hebb, 1949, p. 160)

   6) An Explanation of Sudden Insight

   If the subject had not spontaneously solved the problem [of how to catch hold at the same time of two strings hung from the ceiling so wide apart that he or she could only get hold of one at a time, when the only available tool was a pair of pliers, by tying the pliers to one string and setting it into pendular motion] within ten minutes, Maier supplied him with a hint; he would "accidentally" brush against one of the strings, causing it to swing gently. Of those who solved the problem after this hint, the average interval between hint and solution was only forty-two seconds.... Most of those subjects who solved the problem immediately after the hint did so without any realization that they had been given one. The "idea" of making a pendulum with pliers seemed to arise spontaneously. (Osgood, 1960, p. 633)

   7) Flashes of Insight Do Not Explain Problem- Solving

   There seems to be very little reason to believe that solutions to novel problems come about in flashes of insight, independently of past experience.... People create solutions to new problems by starting with what they know and later modifying it to meet the specific problem at hand. (Weisberg, 1986, p. 50)