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Nore, the

(Encyclopedia)Nore, the, sandbank in the Thames estuary, SE England, 3 mi (4.8 km) E of Sheerness. At the east end is Nore Lightship. The name is also applied to part of the Thames estuary, a famous anchorage. A mu...

Adams, John, 2d President of the United States

(Encyclopedia)Adams, John, 1735–1826, 2d President of the United States (1797–1801), b. Quincy (then in Braintree), Mass., grad. Harvard, 1755. John Adams and his wife, Abigail Adams, founded one of the most di...

Sheppey, Isle of

(Encyclopedia)Sheppey, Isle of, c.30 sq mi (80 sq km), Kent, SE England, at the mouth of the Thames, separated from the mainland by The Swale, a narrow strait. It is largely flat, with wave-eroded cliffs to the nor...

Wash, The

(Encyclopedia)Wash, The, inlet of the North Sea, 20 mi (32 km) long and 15 mi (24 km) wide, between Lincolnshire and Norfolk, E England. It receives the Witham, Wellend, Nene, and Ouse rivers. It is mostly shallow ...

Charles of Blois

(Encyclopedia)Charles of Blois (Charles of Châtillon) blwä, shätēyôNˈ [key], c.1319–1364, duke of Brittany; nephew of Philip VI of France. He was one of the chief participants in the War of the Breton Succe...

Timon of Phlius

(Encyclopedia)Timon of Phlius flīˈəs [key], c.320–c.230 b.c., Greek skeptic philosopher, chief disciple of Pyrrho. Timon denied the possibility of certain knowledge and, like his master, taught that the philos...

Tonkin, Gulf of

(Encyclopedia)Tonkin, Gulf of, NW arm of the South China Sea, c.300 mi (480 km) long and 150 mi (240 km) wide, between Vietnam and China. The shallow gulf (less than 200 ft/60 m deep) receives the Red River. Haipho...

Mexico, Gulf of

(Encyclopedia)Mexico, Gulf of, arm of the Atlantic Ocean, c.700,000 sq mi (1,813,000 sq km), SE North America. The Gulf stretches more than 1,100 mi (1,770 km) from west to east and c.800 mi (1,290 km) from north t...

mother-of-pearl

(Encyclopedia)mother-of-pearl or nacre nāˈkər [key], the iridescent substance that forms the lining of the shells of some fresh-water and some salt-water mollusks. Like the pearl it is a secretion of the mantle,...

Dubuque, Julien

(Encyclopedia)Dubuque, Julien dəbyo͞okˈ [key], 1762–1810, pioneer settler of Iowa, b. Nicolet co., Que. Setting out at a young age for the West, Dubuque reached Prairie du Chien, in what is now Wisconsin, by 1...