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Wayne, John

(Encyclopedia)Wayne, John, 1907–79, American movie actor, b. Winterset, Iowa, as Marion Michael Morrison. An enduringly popular movie star from his debut in 1930, Wayne combined the toughness necessary to play we...

Aden, Gulf of

(Encyclopedia)Aden, Gulf of äˈdən, āˈ– [key], western arm of the Arabian Sea, 550 mi (885 km) long, lying between Yemen and Somalia; connected with the Red Sea by the Bab el Mandeb. The gulf is on the great ...

Ts'ao Hsüeh-ch'in

(Encyclopedia)Ts'ao Hsüeh-ch'in tsouˈ shyĕˈchĭnˈ [key], 1715–63, Chinese novelist. He is the author of Story of the Stone (or A Dream of Red Mansions), which is considered China's greatest novel. After his ...

Tukhachevsky, Mikhail Nikolayevich

(Encyclopedia)Tukhachevsky or Toukhachevski, Mikhail Nikolayevich both: mēkhəyēlˈ nyĭkəlīˈəvĭch to͞okhəchĕfˈskē [key], 1893–1937, Soviet marshal. An officer in the czarist army from 1914, he joined...

Zinsser, Hans

(Encyclopedia)Zinsser, Hans zĭnsˈər [key], 1878–1940, American bacteriologist, b. New York City, grad. Columbia (B.A., 1899; M.D., 1903). He was professor of bacteriology at Stanford (1911–13), Columbia (191...

Yastrzemski, Carl Michael

(Encyclopedia)Yastrzemski, Carl Michael, 1939–, American baseball player, b. Southampton, N.Y. A career-long member of the Boston Red Sox, “Yaz” was signed in 1959, brought up to the majors in 1961 (replacing...

Zao Wou-Ki

(Encyclopedia)Zao Wou-Ki or Chao Wu-chi, 1920–2013, Chinese-French painter who combined a traditional Asian sensibility with Western abstraction. He studied ink painting and calligraphy as well as Western art tec...

benzoin

(Encyclopedia)benzoin bĕnzoinˈəm [key], balsamic resin, the dried exudation from the pierced bark of various species of the benzoin tree (Styrax) native to Sumatra, Java, and Thailand; appearing as red-brown to ...

Swammerdam, Jan

(Encyclopedia)Swammerdam, Jan yän väˈmərdäm [key], 1637–80, Dutch naturalist. He was a pioneer in the use of the microscope. Before he turned to religious contemplation his chief interest was the study of in...

trogon

(Encyclopedia)trogon trōˈgŏn [key], family of tropical jungle birds related to the roadrunners and including the quetzal. Trogons are sedentary arboreal birds, 10 to 14 in. (25.4–35.6 cm) long, with short roun...
 

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