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Draco, in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)Draco [Lat.,=the dragon], northern constellation lying SE of Ursa Minor and N of Lyra and Hercules. It is traditionally depicted as a dragon. Draco contains the bright star Eltanin (Gamma Draconis). T...

Guardia, Tomás

(Encyclopedia)Guardia, Tomás tōmäsˈ gwärˈdēä [key], 1832–82, president of Costa Rica. An army general, he led a revolt that eventually placed him in control and enabled him to rule the country from 1870 t...

Hankey, Maurice Pascal Alers Hankey, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Hankey, Maurice Pascal Alers Hankey, 1st Baron, 1877–1963, British soldier and civil servant. Educated at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, he served in the Royal Marines artillery (1895–1901) a...

spice

(Encyclopedia)spice, aromatic vegetable product used as a flavoring or condiment. The term was formerly applied also to pungent or aromatic foods (e.g., gingerbread and currants), to ingredients of incense or perfu...

ephemeris

(Encyclopedia)ephemeris ĭfĕmˈərĭs [key] (pl., ephemerides), table listing the position of one or more celestial bodies for each day of the year. The French publication Connaissance de Temps is the oldest of th...

Kennan, George

(Encyclopedia)Kennan, George, 1845–1924, American authority on Siberia, b. Norwalk, Ohio. In 1864 he made the first of his journeys to East Asia as an engineer. His articles on Siberia, for many years almost the ...

York University

(Encyclopedia)York University, at North York, Ont., Canada; nondenominational; coeducational; founded 1959 as an affiliate of the Univ. of Toronto, became independent 1965. It has faculties of administrative studie...

Marseilles

(Encyclopedia)Marseilles märsāˈ [key], Fr. Marseille, city (1990 pop. 807,726), capital of Bouches-du-Rhône dept., SE France, on the Gulf of Lions, an arm of the Mediterranean Sea. It is the second largest city...

iconoclasm

(Encyclopedia)iconoclasm īkŏnˈōklăzəm [key] [Gr.,=image breaking], opposition to the religious use of images. Veneration of pictures and statues symbolizing sacred figures, Christian doctrine, and biblical ev...

Timur

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Empire of Timur (1405) Timur tămˈərlān [key], c.1336–1405, Mongol conqueror, b. Kesh, near Samarkand. He is also called Timur Leng [Timur the lame]. He was the son of a tribal leader, an...