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arum

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Jack-in-the-pulpit, Arisaema triphyllum, a member of the arum family arum, common name for the Araceae, a plant family mainly composed of species of herbaceous terrestrial and epiphytic plants...

bowls

(Encyclopedia)bowls, ancient sport (the bocce of Caesar's Rome is still played by Italians), especially popular in Great Britain and Australia, known as lawn bowls or bowling on the green in the United States. It w...

pompano

(Encyclopedia)pompano pŏmˈpənō [key], common name for fishes of the genus Trachinotus, members of a large and important family (Carangidae) of mackerellike fishes, abundant in warm seas around the world. They h...

vocative

(Encyclopedia)vocative vŏkˈətĭv [key] [Lat.,=calling], in the grammar of certain languages (e.g., Latin), the case referring to a person addressed. In English a special intonation expresses the vocative, as in ...

will-o'-the-wisp

(Encyclopedia)will-o'-the-wisp, phenomenon known also as ignis fatuus and jack-o'-lantern. It is seen at night as a pale, flickering light over marshland. There is no generally accepted explanation for it; it may r...

Blackfoot

(Encyclopedia)Blackfoot, Native North Americans of the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). They occupied in the early 19th cent. a large range of territory...

Watson, Tom

(Encyclopedia)Watson, Tom (Thomas Sturges Watson), 1949–, American golfer, b. Kansas City, Mo. Considered the successor to Jack Nicklaus as the game's foremost player in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Watson won...

Smith, Seba

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Seba, 1792–1868, American humorist, b. Buckfield, Maine. He founded the Portland Courier in 1829 and in it began (1830) a series of humorous letters on politics under the pen name Major Jack ...

Blackheath

(Encyclopedia)Blackheath, common, 267 acres (108 hectares) in Lewisham and Greenwich boroughs, London, England. It was the gathering place of highwaymen and of several martial groups, including the followers of Wat...

euchre

(Encyclopedia)euchre yo͞oˈkər [key], card game, played usually by four persons (two sets of partners). The game originated among the Amish and was a popular card game in America in the late 19th cent. The pack h...

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