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Nye, Edgar Wilson

(Encyclopedia)Nye, Edgar Wilson nī [key], known as Bill Nye, 1850–96, American humorist and journalist, b. Shirley Mills, Maine. He lived in Wisconsin from 1852 to 1876, when he went to Wyoming. There he was adm...

Fort Hood

(Encyclopedia)Fort Hood, U.S. army post, 209,000 acres (84,580 hectares), central Tex., near Killeen; est. 1942 on the site of old Fort Gates and named for Confederate Gen. John Hood. It is one of the army's larges...

geranium

(Encyclopedia)geranium, common name for some members of the Geraniaceae, a family of herbs and small shrubs of temperate and subtropical regions. Their long, beak-shaped fruits give them the popular names crane's-b...

Pillars of Hercules

(Encyclopedia)Pillars of Hercules, ancient mythological name for promontories flanking the east entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. They are usually identified with Gibraltar in Europe and with Mt. Acha at Ceuta i...

Derbent

(Encyclopedia)Derbent dyĭrbyĕntˈ [key], city, SE European Russia, in Dagestan, on the Caspian Sea. It st...

Graham, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Graham, Robert, later Robert Cunninghame Graham, c.1735–1797, Scottish poet and politician. He is best known for the lyric “If Doughty Deeds My Lady Please.” He inherited sizable estates and ser...

Kohat

(Encyclopedia)Kohat kōˈhät [key], town (1981 pop. 55,832), N Pakistan, on the Kohat Toi River. The town, enclosed by a wall with 14 gates, is noted for its cotton fabrics and lungis. Kohat contains a 19th-centur...

Volterra

(Encyclopedia)Volterra, town (1991 pop. 12,879), Tuscany, central Italy. A powerful Etruscan town, it later (12th–13th cent.) was a free commune and passed to Florence in the 14th cent. Of note are well-preserved...

lock, canal

(Encyclopedia)lock, canal, stretch of water enclosed by gates, one at each end, built into a canal or river for the purpose of raising or lowering a vessel from one water level to another. A lock may also be built ...

Hekla

(Encyclopedia)Hekla hĕkˈlä [key], volcano, 4,892 ft (1,491 m) high, SW Iceland. Since the early 11th cent. more than 20 eruptions have been recorded; the worst occurred in 1766 and the most recent in 1947. Hekla...