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mammoth

(Encyclopedia)mammoth, name for several large prehistoric relatives (genus Mammuthus) of modern elephants which ranged over Eurasia and North America in the Pleistocene epoch. The shoulder height of the Siberian, o...

soap plant

(Encyclopedia)soap plant, any of various plants having cleansing properties. A few are of commercial importance, but most soap plants are used locally, as in early times, for toilet and laundry purposes. The soapba...

Zapotec

(Encyclopedia)Zapotec zäˈpətĕk, säˈ– [key], indigenous people of Mexico, primarily in S Oaxaca and on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Little is known of the origin of the Zapotec. Unlike most native peoples of ...

Malinowski, Bronislaw

(Encyclopedia)Malinowski, Bronislaw brŏnēˈslŏf mălĭnŏfˈskē [key], 1884–1942, English anthropologist, b. Poland, Ph.D. Univ. of Kraków, 1908. Working in the field of cultural anthropology, he gained reno...

Oxnam, Garfield Bromley

(Encyclopedia)Oxnam, Garfield Bromley ŏkˈsnăm, –snəm [key], 1891–1963, American Methodist bishop, b. Sonora, Calif., grad. Univ. of Southern California (B.A., 1913) and Boston Univ., 1915. He was ordained i...

willow

(Encyclopedia)willow, common name for some members of the Salicaceae, a family of deciduous trees and shrubs of worldwide distribution, especially abundant from north temperate to arctic areas. The family consists ...

Wedemeyer, Albert Coady

(Encyclopedia)Wedemeyer, Albert Coady wĕdˈēmīˌər [key], 1897–1989, American general, b. Omaha, Nebr., grad. West Point, 1918. After service in China, the Philippines, and Europe, he was graduated (1936) fro...

Gibson, Bob

(Encyclopedia)Gibson, Bob (Pack Robert Gibson), 1935–2020, American baseball player, b. Omaha, Nebr. Gibson, a right-hander with a reputation for being both intense and intimidating, was one of baseball's most do...

Zapata, Emiliano

(Encyclopedia)Zapata, Emiliano āmēlyäˈnō säpäˈtä [key], c.1879–1919, Mexican revolutionary, b. Morelos. Zapata was of almost pure native descent. A tenant farmer, he occupied a social position between th...

star-of-Bethlehem, in botany

(Encyclopedia)star-of-Bethlehem, in botany, low, spring-blooming bulbous plant (Ornithogalum umbellatum) of the family Liliaceae (lily family), native to the Mediterranean region but naturalized in North America an...