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Walloons

(Encyclopedia)Walloons wŏlo͞onzˈ [key], group of people living in S Belgium who traditionally spoke a dialect of French called Walloon, but who today for the most part speak standard French. The Walloons, number...

Muskogean

(Encyclopedia)Muskogean məskōˈgēən [key], branch of Native North American languages belonging to the Hokan-Siouan linguistic family, or stock, of North and Central America. See Native American languages. ...

Thirteen Colonies, the

(Encyclopedia)Thirteen Colonies, the, term used for the colonies of British North America that joined together in the American Revolution against the mother country, adopted the Declaration of Independence in 1776,...

Iroquoian

(Encyclopedia)Iroquoian ĭrˌəkwoiˈən [key], branch of Native North American languages belonging to the Hokan-Siouan linguistic family, or stock, of North and Central America. See Native American languages. ...

lapwing

(Encyclopedia)lapwing, common name for some members of the family Charadriidae, which includes the plovers. Lapwings are almost all inland or upland birds, found in all temperate and tropical regions except North A...

Plesiosaurus

(Encyclopedia)Plesiosaurus plēˌsēəsôrˈəs [key], genus of extinct predatory marine reptiles that arose in the Triassic period of geologic time and continued into the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Plesiosau...

Thanet, Isle of

(Encyclopedia)Thanet, Isle of thănˈĭt [key], former island forming the NE portion of Kent, SE England, bounded by the North Sea and branches of the Stour River. The isle was occupied by the Romans, who had a for...

Sulawesi

(Encyclopedia)Sulawesi sĕlˈəbēz [key], island (1990 pop. 12,511,163), c.73,000 sq mi (189,070 sq km), largest island in E Indonesia, E of Borneo, from which it is separated by the Makasar Strait. Extremely irre...

gentian

(Encyclopedia)gentian jĕnˈshən [key], common name for some members of the Gentianaceae, a family of widely distributed herbs, chiefly perennial and fall blooming. There are many types of gentians (genus Gentiana...

Epirus, despotate of

(Encyclopedia)Epirus, despotate of. When, in 1204, the army of the Fourth Crusade set up the Latin Empire of Constantinople on the ruins of the Byzantine Empire, an independent Greek state emerged in Epirus under M...