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grouse

(Encyclopedia)grouse, common name for a game bird of the colder parts of the Northern Hemisphere. There are about 18 species. Grouse are henlike terrestrial birds, protectively plumaged in shades of red, brown, and...

Kilimanjaro

(Encyclopedia)Kilimanjaro kĭlˌĭmənjäˈrō [key], highest mountain of Africa, NE Tanzania. An extinct volcano, it rises in two peaks, Uhuru (Kibo; 19,340 ft/5,895 m, Africa's highest point) and Mawenzi (17,564 ...

sleet

(Encyclopedia)sleet, precipitation of small, partially melted grains of ice. As raindrops fall from clouds, they pass through layers of air at different temperatures. If they pass through a layer with a temperature...

Sommer, William

(Encyclopedia)Sommer, William, 1867–1949, American painter and lithographer, b. Detroit. He was apprenticed as a lithographer and studied drawing with Julius Melchers in Detroit and drawing and painting in Munich...

platform tennis

(Encyclopedia)platform tennis, version of lawn tennis played on an elevated wooden or aluminum court that is one fourth the size of a standard court, usually by doubles teams. Unlike lawn tennis, platform tennis al...

Przybyszewski, Stanisław

(Encyclopedia)Przybyszewski, Stanisław stänēsˈläf pshĭbĭshĕfˈskē [key], 1868–1927, Polish novelist, essayist, and dramatist. He studied in Berlin, where his friendship with a socialist led him to prison...

Himalayas

(Encyclopedia)Himalayas hĭmälˈəyəz, hĭməlāˈəz [key] [Sanskrit,=abode of snow], great Asian mountain system, extending c.1,500 mi (2,410 km) E from the Indus River in Pakistan through India, the Tibet regi...

Disney, Walt

(Encyclopedia)Disney, Walt (Walter Elias Disney) dĭzˈnē [key], 1901–66, American movie producer and pioneer in animated cartoons, b. Chicago. He grew up in Missouri, in the small town of Marceline and in Kansa...

Huila, Nevado del

(Encyclopedia)Huila, Nevado del nāväˈdō dĕl hwēˈlä [key], snow-capped volcanic mountain, 17,594 ft (5,364 m) high, on the Huila-Tolima-Cauca dept. border, S central Colombia, in the N Andes. Located c.50 mi...

Heard Island

(Encyclopedia)Heard Island, barren, uninhabited subantarctic island, 142 sq mi (368 sq km), S Indian Ocean, located some 300 mi (483 km) SE of the Kerguelen Islands. Mountainous and largely covered by snow and glac...