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National Rifle Association of America

(Encyclopedia)National Rifle Association of America (NRA), group founded (1871) to promote shooting, hunting, firearm safety, and wildlife conservation. The NRA has more than 3 million members. The association spon...

United Mine Workers of America

(Encyclopedia)United Mine Workers of America (UMW), international labor union formed (1890) by the amalgamation of the National Progressive Union (organized 1888) and the mine locals under the Knights of Labor. It ...

Athabascan

(Encyclopedia)Athabascan both: –păsˈ– [key], group of related Native American languages forming a branch of the Nadene linguistic family or stock. In the preconquest period, Athabascan was a large and extensi...

Jogues, Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Jogues, Isaac (Saint Isaac Jogues) ēzäkˈ zhôg [key], 1607–46, French Jesuit missionary and martyr in the New World; one of the Jesuit Martyrs of North America. He arrived in Quebec in 1636 and i...

Malecite

(Encyclopedia)Malecite or Maliseet both: mălˈəsīt [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In th...

lost tribes

(Encyclopedia)lost tribes, 10 Israelite tribes that, according to the Bible, were transported to Assyria by Tiglathpileser III or Shalmaneser after the conquest of Israel in 722 b.c. Numerous conjectures have been ...

Riel, Louis

(Encyclopedia)Riel, Louis lwē rēĕlˈ [key], 1844–85, Canadian insurgent, leader of two rebellions, b. Manitoba, of French and Métis parentage. In 1869–70 he led the rebels of the Red River settlements, main...

burdock

(Encyclopedia)burdock bûrˈdäk [key], common name of any plant of the genus Arctium of the family Asteraceae (aster family), coarse biennials indigenous to temperate Eurasia and mostly weedy in North America. The...

Sarnia

(Encyclopedia)Sarnia, city (1991 pop. 74,376), S Ont., Canada, on the St. Clair River, at the south end of Lake Huron and opposite Port Huron, Mich. The two cities are connected by a railroad tunnel, and there is a...

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