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Varangians

(Encyclopedia)Varangians vərănˈjēənz [key], name given by Slavs and Byzantine Greeks to Scandinavians who began to raid the eastern shores of the Baltic and penetrate Eastern Europe by the 9th cent. Their lead...

Aymer of Valence

(Encyclopedia)Aymer of Valence āˈmər, vəlĕnsˈ, väläNsˈ [key], d. 1260, bishop of Winchester; son of Isabella (widow of King John of England) and Hugh X, count of La Marche. He was thus half-brother of King...

Orbiting Astronomical Observatory

(Encyclopedia)Orbiting Astronomical Observatory (OAO), series of four orbiting observatories (see observatory, orbiting) launched between 1966 and 1972 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to...

Pachycephalosaurus

(Encyclopedia)Pachycephalosaurus păkˌĭsĕfˌəlōsôrˈəs [key] [Gr., = thick-headed lizard], bipedal herbivorous dinosaur of the late Cretaceous period, approximately 68–65 million years ago. Its disting...

Packard, David

(Encyclopedia)Packard, David, 1912–96, American business executive, b. Pueblo, Colo., grad. Stanford (B.A., 1934; M.S., 1939). He and classmate William R. Hewlett opened a garage-based business, which became (193...

Panipat

(Encyclopedia)Panipat päˈnēpət [key], town (1991 pop. 191,212), Haryana state, NW India, on the Western Yamuna Canal. It has saltpeter refining plants and manufactures electrical appliances, bricks, glass, and ...

parable

(Encyclopedia)parable, the term translates the Hebrew word “mashal”—a term denoting a metaphor, or an enigmatic saying or an analogy. In the Greco-Roman rhetorical tradition, however, “parables” were illu...

Patinir, Joachim de

(Encyclopedia)Patinir, Patenier, or Patiner, Joachim de all: yōˈäkhĭm də pätĭnērˈ [key], d. 1524, Flemish landscape and religious painter. He probably studied with Gerard David in Bruges. In 1515 he was a ...

Fort Donelson

(Encyclopedia)Fort Donelson dŏnˈəlsən [key], Confederate fortification in the Civil War, on the Cumberland River at Dover, Tenn., commanding the river approach to Nashville, Tenn. After capturing Fort Henry, on...

Ibn Batuta

(Encyclopedia)Ibn Batuta ĭˈbən bäto͞oˈtä [key], 1304?–1378?, Muslim traveler, b. Tangier. No other medieval traveler is known to have journeyed so extensively. In 30 years (from c.1325) he made a series of...