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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...

Balmont, Konstantin Dmitrieyevich

(Encyclopedia)Balmont, Konstantin Dmitrieyevich kənstəntyēnˈ dəmēˈtrēəvĭch bälˈmônt [key], 1867–1943, Russian poet and translator. After first hailing the Bolshevik revolution, he repudiated it and l...

Achernar

(Encyclopedia)Achernar āˈkərnärˌ [key], brightest star in the constellation Eridanus; Bayer designation α Eridani; 1992 position R.A. 1h37.4m, Dec. −57°16′. A bluish-white white star with apparent magnit...

Adhara

(Encyclopedia)Adhara ădhârˈə [key], bright star in the constellation Canis Major; Bayer designation ε Canis Majoris; 1992 position R.A. 6h58.3m, Dec. −31°54′. A bluish-white giant (spectral class B2 II) w...

Adams, Samuel Hopkins

(Encyclopedia)Adams, Samuel Hopkins, 1871–1958, American author, b. Dunkirk, N.Y., grad. Hamilton College, 1891. He was a reporter for the New York Sun (1891–1900) and then joined McClure's Magazine, where he g...

Mendip Hills

(Encyclopedia)Mendip Hills, range of hills, c.25 mi (40 km) long, across N Somerset, SW England, extending SE from the vicinity of Hutton to the Frome valley. Primarily limestone, the hills have numerous caves (Woo...

Minnesota, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Minnesota, river, 332 mi (534 km) long, rising in Big Stone Lake at the W boundary of Minnesota and flowing SE to Mankato, then NE to the Mississippi S of Minneapolis. Earlier called the St. Peter or ...

Moesia

(Encyclopedia)Moesia mēˈshə [key], ancient region of SE Europe, south of the lower Danube River. Inhabited by Thracians, it was captured by the Romans in 29 b.c. It was later organized as a Roman province, compr...

Llewellyn, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Llewellyn, Richard lo͞oĕlˈĭn [key], 1907–83, Welsh novelist. He is best known as the author of How Green Was My Valley (1939), a story of life in the S Wales mining areas, and None but the Lonel...

Johnston, Mary

(Encyclopedia)Johnston, Mary, 1870–1936, American novelist, b. Buchanan, Va. Her books combine romance with history. She is chiefly remembered for To Have and to Hold (1900), a story of colonial Virginia, and its...