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Catullus

(Encyclopedia)Catullus (Caius Valerius Catullus) kətŭlˈəs [key], 84? b.c.–54? b.c., Roman poet, b. Verona. Of a well-to-do family, he went c.62 b.c. to Rome. He fell deeply in love, probably with Clodia, sist...

bowerbird

(Encyclopedia)bowerbird, common name for any of several species of birds of the family Ptilonorhynchidae, native to Australia and New Guinea, which build, for courtship display, a bower of sticks or grasses. Usuall...

tektite

(Encyclopedia)tektite tĕktīt [key], naturally occurring, silica-rich (65%–80% SiO2) glass resembling obsidian and sometimes shale, and is normally jet black to olive green. They appear as small rounded or elong...

Sumner, William Graham

(Encyclopedia)Sumner, William Graham, 1840–1910, American sociologist and political economist, b. Paterson, N.J., grad. Yale, 1863, and studied in Germany, in Switzerland, and at Oxford. He was ordained an Episco...

ytterbium

(Encyclopedia)ytterbium ĭtûrˈbēəm [key] [for Ytterby, a town in Sweden], metallic chemical element; symbol Yb; at. no. 70; at. wt. 173.054; m.p. 819℃; b.p. about 1,194℃; sp. gr. about 7.0; valence +2 or +3...

Cantabria

(Encyclopedia)Cantabria käntäˈbrēä [key], autonomous community and coextensive prov., 2,057 sq mi (5,328 sq ...

blister beetle

(Encyclopedia)blister beetle, common name for certain soft-bodied, usually black or brown, mostly elongate and cylindrical beetles belonging to the family Meloidae. Blister beetles are common insects found feeding ...

Gore, Albert Arnold, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Gore, Albert Arnold, Jr., 1948–, Vice President of the United States (1993–2001), b. Washington, D.C., grad. Harvard, 1969. After serving in the army in Vietnam and working as a reporter, he was e...

copper, chemical element

(Encyclopedia)copper, metallic chemical element; symbol Cu [Lat. cuprum=copper]; at. no. 29; at. wt. 63.546; m.p. 1,083.4℃; b.p. 2,567℃; sp. gr. 8.96 at 20℃; valence +1 or +2. Copper and some of its alloys ha...

leafhopper

(Encyclopedia)leafhopper, common name for small, wedge-shaped leaping insects, cosmopolitan in distribution, belonging to the family Cicadellidae, which comprises some 5,500 species of insects. Some are brightly co...