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opal

(Encyclopedia)opal ōˈpəl [key], a mineral consisting of poorly crystalline to amorphous silica, SiO2·nH2O; the water content is quite variable but usually ranges from 3% to 10%. Common opal is usually colorless...

Tandy, James Napper

(Encyclopedia)Tandy, James Napper, 1740–1803, Irish revolutionary. Originally a small tradesman in Dublin, he gained attention by his attacks on municipal corruption and his proposal to boycott English goods as a...

sweet pea

(Encyclopedia)sweet pea, annual climbing plant (Lathyrus odoratus) of the family Leguminosae (pulse family), a legume native to S Europe but, since its introduction to horticulture c.1700, widely cultivated for its...

Bonneville, Benjamin Louis Eulalie de

(Encyclopedia)Bonneville, Benjamin Louis Eulalie de bŏnˈvĭl [key], 1796–1878, American army officer and trader who blazed portions of the Oregon Trail, b. France, grad. West Point, 1815. Acquainted with the fu...

Borlaug, Norman Ernest

(Encyclopedia)Borlaug, Norman Ernest bôrˈlôg [key], 1914–2009, U.S. agronomist, b. near Saude, Iowa, grad. Univ. of Minn. (Ph.D., 1942). He worked as researcher with the E. I. du Pont Company until 1944, when ...

blenny

(Encyclopedia)blenny, common name of various species of extremely numerous small fishes belonging to the suborders Blennioidei (blennies) and Notothenioidei (Antarctic blennies). They are characterized by elongated...

Betjeman, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Betjeman, Sir John bĕtˈjəmən [key], 1906–84, English poet, b. London. Traditional in rhyme and meter, his verse combined a witty appraisal of the English present with nostalgia for England's pas...

Weir, Julian Alden

(Encyclopedia)Weir, Julian Alden wēr [key], 1852–1919, b. West Point, N.Y., American painter. He studied with his father Robert Walter Weir, a landscape painter of the Hudson River school, at the National Academ...

leaf

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Microscopic cross section of the leaf blade CE5 Types of leaves leaf, chief food-manufacturing organ of a plant, a lateral outgrowth of the growing point of stem. The typical leaf consist...

Lear, Norman

(Encyclopedia)Lear, Norman, 1922–2023, American television and film producer, director, and writer, b. New Haven, Conn. He wrote for comedians and television shows ...