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edelweiss

(Encyclopedia)edelweiss āˈdəlvīs [key], perennial aster plant (genus Leontopodium) found at high altitudes in the mountains of Europe, Asia, and South America. It is about 6 in. (15.2 cm) tall with woolly-white...

thunder

(Encyclopedia)thunder, sound produced along a path of a lightning flash, caused by the rapid heating and expansion of the adjacent air; lightning can heat air to temperatures as much as five times hotter than those...

timberline

(Encyclopedia)timberline, elevation above which trees cannot grow. Its location is influenced by the various factors that determine temperature, including latitude, prevailing wind directions, and exposure to sunli...

Pyatigorsk

(Encyclopedia)Pyatigorsk pyĭtyēgôrskˈ [key], city (1989 pop. 129,500), Stavropol Territory, SE European Russia, on the Podkumok River in the N Caucasus. The administrative center of the North Caucasian federal ...

Virunga

(Encyclopedia)Virunga vēro͝ongˈgä [key], volcanic range of mountains, E Congo, N Rwanda, and SW Uganda, central Africa, NE of Lake Kivu. It extends along the eastern rim of the Great Rift Valley and separates t...

Vosges, mountain range, France

(Encyclopedia)Vosges vōzh [key], mountain range, E France, between the Alsatian plain in the east and the plateau of S Lorraine in the west. It extends generally north and parallel to the Rhine River for c.120 mi ...

Taichung

(Encyclopedia)Taichung or T'ai-chung both: tīˈjo͞ongˈ [key], special municipality (2010 pop. 2,731,056), 855 sq mi (2,214 sq km), W central Taiwan. It was created in 2010 by merging the city of Taichung with Ta...

Whittingham, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Whittingham, Charles hwĭtˈĭnjəm, –ĭng-əm [key], 1767–1840, English printer. He established a printery in London in 1789, removing to Chiswick and founding the Chiswick Press in 1810. He was ...

Armstrong, Lance

(Encyclopedia)Armstrong, Lance, 1971–, American cyclist, b. Dallas, Tex. He won (1991) the U.S. amateur cycling championship, turned professional (1992), and by the mid-1990s had won the Tour DuPont twice and was...

Melbourne, city, Australia

(Encyclopedia)Melbourne, city (2016 pop. 47,285, Greater Melbourne 2016 pop. 4,485,211), capital of Victoria, SE Australia, on Port Phillip Bay at the mouth of the Yarra River. Melbourne, Australia's second largest...