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pokeweed

(Encyclopedia)pokeweed or pokeberry, tall, bushy perennial herb (Phytolacca americana) native to North America but cultivated and naturalized in Europe. The long clusters of white flowers are followed by purplish b...

bushmaster

(Encyclopedia)bushmaster, large venomous snake, Lachesis muta, of Central America and N South America. It is a member of the pit viper family, which also includes the rattlesnake. The largest New World snake, it re...

borstal system

(Encyclopedia)borstal system bôrˈstəl [key], rehabilitation method formerly used in Great Britain for delinquent boys aged 16 to 21. The idea originated (1895) with the Gladstone Committee as an attempt to refor...

Torres Naharro, Bartolomé de

(Encyclopedia)Torres Naharro, Bartolomé de bärtōlōmāˈ ᵺā tôˈrās nä-äˈrō [key], fl. 1531, Spanish dramatist and lyric poet, b. Extremadura. As a young man he went to Italy and became a priest. Greatl...

Biringuccio, Vannocio

(Encyclopedia)Biringuccio, Vannocio vän-nôˈchō bērēn-go͞otˈchō [key], 1480–c.1539, Italian metallurgist. He is best known for his practical manual of metallurgy, De la pirotechnia (1540, tr. 1942). As a ...

Santa Fe Opera

(Encyclopedia)Santa Fe Opera, summer opera festival held outside Santa Fe, N. Mex., founded 1957. Featuring outstanding young singers and musicians, it presents a wide variety of operas from the standard repertory ...

cuckoo

(Encyclopedia)cuckoo, common name for members of the extensive avian family Cuculidae, including the ani and the roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus), widely distributed in temperate and tropical regions. Cuckoos a...

Duval, William Pope

(Encyclopedia)Duval, William Pope do͞ovôlˈ, –vălˈ [key], 1784–1854, American frontiersman, territorial governor of Florida (1822–34), b. near Richmond, Va. He went to Kentucky as a young man, studied law...

Eyre, Sir James

(Encyclopedia)Eyre, Sir James, 1734–99, English jurist. As a young lawyer he was counsel (1763) for John Wilkes in the suit against the government that established the illegality of general warrants (warrants for...

Heckscher, Eli Filip

(Encyclopedia)Heckscher, Eli Filip ĕˈlē fĭlˈĭp hĕkˈshər [key], 1879–1952, Swedish economic historian. Influenced by the neoclassical economics of Alfred Marshall, Heckscher advocated the use of monetary ...