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taiga

(Encyclopedia)taiga tīˈgə [key], northern coniferous-forest belt of Eurasia, bordered on the north by the treeless tundra and on the south by the steppe. This vast belt, comprising about one third of the forest ...

Billings, William

(Encyclopedia)Billings, William, 1746–1800, American hymn composer, b. Boston. A tanner by trade, he was one of the earliest American-born composers. He wrote popular hymns and sacred choruses of great vitality u...

metonymy

(Encyclopedia)metonymy mĭtŏnˈəmē [key], figure of speech in which an attribute of a thing or something closely related to it is substituted for the thing itself. Thus, “sweat” can mean “hard labor,” an...

minutemen

(Encyclopedia)minutemen, in the American Revolution, colonial militiamen or armed citizens who agreed to turn out for service at a minute's notice. The term minutemen is used especially for the men who were enrolle...

Veterans' Day

(Encyclopedia)Veterans' Day, holiday formerly observed in the United States as Armistice Day in commemoration of the signing of the Armistice ending World War I. Nov. 11 officially became Veterans' Day on May 24, 1...

Cimarron, Territory of

(Encyclopedia)Cimarron, Territory of, now the Panhandle of Okla. It was settled in the early 1800s by cattle ranchers, many of them squatters. To protect their claims they attempted, in 1887, to create a separate t...

Ljubljana

(Encyclopedia)Ljubljana lyo͞oˈblyänä [key], Ger. Laibach, city (1991 pop. 267,008), capital of Slovenia, on the Sava River. An industrial and transportation center, it has industries that manufacture textiles, ...

Macri, Mauricio

(Encyclopedia)Macri, Mauricio, 1959–, Argentinian political leader. After graduating from the Catholic Univ. of Argentina, he was active in his family's businesses in the 1980s and 90s before becoming president o...

Ríos Montt, José Efraín

(Encyclopedia)Ríos Montt, José Efraín hōsāˈ ĕfräēnˈ rēˈōs mōnt [key], 1926–2018, Guatemalan general and politician. A career army officer, he became head of the Guatamalan army in 1970. As a Christi...