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blackthorn

(Encyclopedia)blackthorn or sloe, low, spreading, thorny bush or small tree (Prunus spinosa) of the plum genus of the family Rosaceae (rose family), having black bark, white flowers, and deep blue fruits, usually r...

Tyre

(Encyclopedia)Tyre tīr [key], ancient city of Phoenicia, S of Sidon. It is the present-day Sur in Lebanon, a small town on a peninsula jutting into the Mediterranean from the mainland of Syria S of Beirut. It was ...

Valencia, autonomous community, Spain

(Encyclopedia)Valencia välānˈthēä [key], autonomous community (2011 pop. 5,009,931), 8,980 sq mi (23,257 sq km), and former kingdom, E Spain, on the Mediterranean. It now comprises the provinces of Alicante/Al...

Davy Jones

(Encyclopedia)Davy Jones, personification or spirit of the sea. The name is best known in the expression “Davy Jones's locker,” meaning the bottom of the sea, to which drowned sailors go. ...

Oligocene epoch

(Encyclopedia)Oligocene epoch ŏlˈəgōsēnˌ [key], third epoch of the Tertiary period in the Cenozoic era of geologic time, lasting from 38 to 24 million years ago. More of North America was dry land during the ...

Kiel Canal

(Encyclopedia)Kiel Canal, artificial waterway, 61 mi (98 km) long, in Schleswig-Holstein, N central Germany, connecting the North Sea with the Baltic Sea. At sea level, the canal extends from Kiel on the Baltic to ...

Kerch Strait

(Encyclopedia)Kerch Strait, shallow channel, c.25 mi (40 km) long, connecting the Sea of Azov with the Black Sea and separating Crimea in the west from Russia's Taman Peninsula in the east. Its northern end, openin...

mastic

(Encyclopedia)mastic, resin obtained from the small mastic tree Pistacia lentiscus (of the sumac family), found chiefly in Mediterranean countries. When the bark of the tree is injured, the resin exudes in drops. I...

sanctuary

(Encyclopedia)sanctuary, sacred place, especially the most sacred part of a sacred place. In ancient times and in the Middle Ages, a sanctuary served as asylum, a place of refuge for persons fleeing from violence o...

savory

(Encyclopedia)savory, name for any plant of the genus Satureja, aromatic herbs and subshrubs of the family Labiatae (mint family). Commonly cultivated as border ornamentals or potherbs are two species of the Medite...