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Briggs, Le Baron Russell

(Encyclopedia)Briggs, Le Baron Russell, 1855–1934, American educator, b. Salem, Mass., grad. Harvard (B.A., 1875; M.A., 1882). As a teacher at Harvard he developed, with Barrett Wendell, a prescribed and widely i...

Britton, Nathaniel Lord

(Encyclopedia)Britton, Nathaniel Lord, 1859–1934, American botanist, grad. Columbia School of Mines, 1879. He taught geology and botany at Columbia, 1879–96. He was the New York Botanical Garden's first directo...

black-eyed Susan

(Encyclopedia)black-eyed Susan or yellow daisy, North American daisylike wildflower (Rudbeckia hirta) of the family Asteraceae (aster family) with yellow rays and a dark brown center. It is a weedy biennial or annu...

Timaeus , Greek historian

(Encyclopedia)Timaeus tīmēˈəs [key], c.356–c.260 b.c., Greek historian of Tauromenium (now Taormina), Sicily. Son of the tyrant of the city, he was banished by Agathocles either in 317 or 312 b.c. and lived f...

sphalerite

(Encyclopedia)sphalerite sfălˈərīt, sfāˈ– [key], mineral composed of zinc sulfide, usually containing some iron and a little cadmium. It occurs in crystals of the isometric system but more generally in clea...

Liberal Republican party

(Encyclopedia)Liberal Republican party, in U.S. history, organization formed in 1872 by Republicans discontented at the political corruption and the policies of President Grant's first administration. Other disaffe...

woodpecker

(Encyclopedia)woodpecker, common name for members of the Picidae, a large family of climbing birds found in most parts of the world. Woodpeckers typically have sharp, chisellike bills for pecking holes in tree trun...

sun grebe

(Encyclopedia)sun grebe, common name for a tropical, mainly aquatic bird of the family Heliornithidae. Sun grebes, also called finfoots, are remarkable for their colorful, puffy-toed, webbed feet, which may serve a...

soup

(Encyclopedia)soup, liquid food in which different kinds of solid food have been cooked, e.g., meat, fish, fowl, vegetables, cereals, or fruit. Many soups are peculiar to certain localities, e.g., the pot-au-feu of...

oryx

(Encyclopedia)oryx ôrˈĭks [key], name for several small, horselike antelopes, genus Oryx, found in deserts and arid scrublands of Africa and Arabia. They feed on grasses and scrub and can go without water for lo...
 

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