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Ashdown Forest

(Encyclopedia)Ashdown Forest, area of heathland and forest, c.10 sq mi (2,500 ha), East Sussex, SE England, famous as the setting for the Winnie the Pooh books by A. A. Milne. E. H. Shepard's evocative illustration...

Asherah

(Encyclopedia)Asherah -rŏth [key], Canaanite fertility goddess and the wooden cult symbol that represented her. She is the consort of El in the Ugaritic texts. Several passages in the Bible may refer to the planti...

Mandan, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Mandan mănˈdăn, –dən [key], city (1990 pop. 15,177), seat of Morton co., S N.Dak., on the Missouri River opposite Bismarck; inc. 1881. A railroad division point, it is the distribution center fo...

Martinsburg

(Encyclopedia)Martinsburg, industrial city (1990 pop. 14,073), seat of Berkeley co., NE W.Va., in the Eastern Panhandle; settled 1732, inc. as a city 1859. It is a railroad center in a region that grows apples and ...

kerosene

(Encyclopedia)kerosene or kerosine, colorless, thin mineral oil whose density is between 0.75 and 0.85 grams per cubic centimeter. A mixture of hydrocarbons, it is commonly obtained in the fractional distillation o...

castanets

(Encyclopedia)castanets kăsˌtənĕtsˈ [key], percussion instruments known to the ancient Egyptians and Greeks, possibly of Middle Eastern origin, now used primarily in Spanish dance music or imitations of it. Th...

Wausau

(Encyclopedia)Wausau wôˈsô [key], city (1990 pop. 37,060), seat of Marathon co., central Wis., on the Wisconsin River; settled 1839, inc. 1872. It is an industrial, commercial, insurance, and agricultural city i...

Rauma

(Encyclopedia)Rauma rouˈmä [key], Swed. Raumo, city (1996 pop. 37,914), Western Finland prov., SW Finland, on the Gulf of Bothnia. It is Finland's leading western port and has wood, paper, chemical, leather, muni...

Ross, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Ross, Robert, 1766–1814, British general. He served against the French in the Netherlands, in Egypt, and in the Peninsular War. In the War of 1812 he defeated a U.S. force at Bladensburg, and on the...

Croker, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Croker, Richard, 1841–1922, American politician, head of Tammany Hall from 1886 to 1902, b. Co. Cork, Ireland. He became prominent as Democratic leader of New York City's East Side and as an aide of...