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Pinchot, Gifford

(Encyclopedia)Pinchot, Gifford pĭnˈshō [key], 1865–1946, American forester and public official, b. Simsbury, Conn. He studied forestry in Europe and then undertook (1892) systematic work in forestry at the Van...

Ouse

(Encyclopedia)Ouse o͞oz [key]. 1 Also Great Ouse, river, c.155 mi (250 km) long, rising in the Northampton Highlands, Northamptonshire, S central England. The Great Ouse flows generally NE past Bedford and Ely to ...

Piranesi, Giovanni Battista

(Encyclopedia)Piranesi, Giovanni Battista jōvänˈnē bät-tēˈstä pēränāˈzē [key], 1720–78, Italian etcher and architect. The greater part of his life was spent in Rome, where he made etchings of the bui...

Abdel Aziz, Mohamed Ould

(Encyclopedia)Abdel Aziz, Mohamed Ould, 1956–, Mauritanian military and political leader, president of Mauritania (2009–19). A career army officer, he rose through the ranks to become chief of staff. He was ins...

Oyster Bay

(Encyclopedia)Oyster Bay, uninc. area (1990 pop. 6,687) of the Town of Oyster Bay, Nassau co., SE N.Y., on N Long Island, on Long Island Sound; settled 1653. It is chiefly residential. Nearby is Theodore Roosevelt'...

Lascaris

(Encyclopedia)Lascaris lăsˈkərĭs [key], family name of the Greek emperors of Nicaea (see Nicaea, empire of). The empire was founded in 1204 by Theodore I, a son-in-law of Alexius III (Alexius Angelus). Theodore...

Robinson, Edwin Arlington

(Encyclopedia)Robinson, Edwin Arlington, 1869–1935, American poet, b. Head Tide, Maine, attended Harvard (1891–93). At his death, many critics considered Robinson the greatest poet in the United States. He is n...

Bavarian Succession, War of the

(Encyclopedia)Bavarian Succession, War of the, between Austria and Prussia, 1778–79. With the extinction of the Bavarian line of the house of Wittelsbach on the death of Elector Maximilian Joseph in 1777, the duc...

land tax

(Encyclopedia)land tax, impost levied upon real property. It is sometimes called a real estate tax, especially when assessed against both improved and unimproved land. Probably the earliest direct tax and formerly ...

Robert of Courtenay

(Encyclopedia)Robert of Courtenay kôrtˈnē, ko͝ortənāˈ [key], d. 1228, Latin emperor of Constantinople (1218–28). His father, Peter of Courtenay, was elected by the Latin nobles to succeed Henry of Flanders...