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Martineau, Harriet

(Encyclopedia)Martineau, Harriet märˈtĭnō [key], 1802–76, English author. A journalist rather than a writer of literature, she was an enormously popular author. Her success is the more remarkable since she wa...

rudder

(Encyclopedia)rudder, mechanism for steering an airplane or a ship. In ships it is a flat-surfaced structure hinged to the stern and controlled by a helm. When the ship is on a straight course, the rudder is in lin...

St. Leger, Barry

(Encyclopedia)St. Leger, Barry, 1737–89, British officer in the American Revolution. In the French and Indian Wars he served at Louisburg (1758) and with Gen. James Wolfe at Quebec. He was given (1777) command of...

remora

(Encyclopedia)remora rĕmˈərə [key], any of the several species of warmwater fishes of the family Echeneidae, characterized by an oval sucking disk on the top of the head. With this apparatus (a modification of ...

imprinting

(Encyclopedia)imprinting, acquisition of behavior in many animal species, in which, at a critical period early in life, the animals form strong and lasting attachments. Imprinting is important for normal social dev...

Telesio, Bernardino

(Encyclopedia)Telesio, Bernardino bĕrnärdēˈnō tālāˈzyō [key], 1509–88, Italian philosopher, one of the leaders in the attack on that part of Aristotelian philosophy that had furnished the foundation for ...

adaptive radiation

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Adaptive radiation in Hawaiian honey-creepers adaptive radiation, in biology, the evolution of an ancestral species, which was adapted to a particular way of life, into many diverse species, e...

Bedouin

(Encyclopedia)Bedouin bĕdˈo͞oĭn [key] [Arab.,=desert dwellers], primarily nomad Arab peoples of the Middle East, where they form about 10% of the population. They are of the same Semitic stock as their sedentar...

Rodney, George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Rodney, George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron, 1719–92, British admiral. He served with distinction in the Seven Years War (1757–63), his most notable achievement being the capture (1762) of Martinique...

Victoria, city, Canada

(Encyclopedia)Victoria, city (1991 pop. 71,228), capital of British Columbia, SW Canada, on Vancouver Island and Juan de Fuca Strait. It is the largest city on the island and its major port and business center. In ...