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Albany, Louisa, countess of
(Encyclopedia)Albany, Louisa, countess of ôlˈbənē [key], 1752–1824, wife of Charles Edward Stuart (the Young Pretender), self-styled count of Albany; daughter of a German noble, the prince of Stolberg-Gedern....Gjellerup, Karl Adolf
(Encyclopedia)Gjellerup, Karl Adolf kärl äˈdôlf yĕlˈəro͝op [key], 1857–1919, Danish poet and novelist, b. Sjæland. His early novels, naturalistic and partly autobiographical, include The Young Denmark (1...bushmaster
(Encyclopedia)bushmaster, large venomous snake, Lachesis muta, of Central America and N South America. It is a member of the pit viper family, which also includes the rattlesnake. The largest New World snake, it re...borstal system
(Encyclopedia)borstal system bôrˈstəl [key], rehabilitation method formerly used in Great Britain for delinquent boys aged 16 to 21. The idea originated (1895) with the Gladstone Committee as an attempt to refor...Biringuccio, Vannocio
(Encyclopedia)Biringuccio, Vannocio vän-nôˈchō bērēn-go͞otˈchō [key], 1480–c.1539, Italian metallurgist. He is best known for his practical manual of metallurgy, De la pirotechnia (1540, tr. 1942). As a ...Torres Naharro, Bartolomé de
(Encyclopedia)Torres Naharro, Bartolomé de bärtōlōmāˈ ᵺā tôˈrās nä-äˈrō [key], fl. 1531, Spanish dramatist and lyric poet, b. Extremadura. As a young man he went to Italy and became a priest. Greatl...cuckoo
(Encyclopedia)cuckoo, common name for members of the extensive avian family Cuculidae, including the ani and the roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus), widely distributed in temperate and tropical regions. Cuckoos a...Ramadan
(Encyclopedia)Ramadan rämädänˈ, rămˌədänˈ [key], in Islam, the ninth month of the Muslim year, during which all Muslims must fast during the daylight hours. Indulgence of any sort is forbidden during the f...puffball
(Encyclopedia)puffball or smokeball, fungus in which the aboveground portion is typically a stemless brownish sac with an opening at the top through which issues the dustlike mass of ripe spores. The common puffbal...Pullman, George Mortimer
(Encyclopedia)Pullman, George Mortimer, 1831–97, American industrialist and developer of the railroad sleeping car, b. Brocton, N.Y. As a young man he became a cabinetmaker, and after he moved (1858) to Chicago h...Browse by Subject
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