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Gregg, Josiah

(Encyclopedia)Gregg, Josiah, 1806–50, American trader and historian of the Santa Fe Trail, b. Overton co., Tenn. He moved with his family to Illinois (1809) and then to Missouri (1812). He gained wide knowledge f...

Grant, Cary

(Encyclopedia)Grant, Cary, 1904–86, British movie actor, b. Bristol as Archibald Alexander Leach. He began on stage in 1923 and made his first film in 1932. An almost immediate hit, Grant was a leading star until...

Valera, Diego de

(Encyclopedia)Valera, Diego de dyāˈgō dā välāˈrä [key], 1412?–1488?, Spanish adventurer and writer. Reared at the Castilian court, he was page to John II and later became one of his diplomatic agents. He ...

Baird, Spencer Fullerton

(Encyclopedia)Baird, Spencer Fullerton, 1823–87, American zoologist, b. Reading, Pa., grad. Dickinson College, 1840. He was professor of natural history at Dickinson from 1846 to 1850. While at the Smithsonian In...

Ozanam, Antoine Frédéric

(Encyclopedia)Ozanam, Antoine Frédéric äNtwänˈ frādārēkˈ ōzänämˈ [key], 1813–53, French Roman Catholic scholar. In 1831 he first achieved notice with his pamphlet against the Saint-Simonians. In Pari...

Hari Rud

(Encyclopedia)Hari Rud häˈrē ro͞od [key], river, c.700 mi (1,130 km) long, rising in the Kuh-e Baba range, central Afghanistan, and flowing west and then north into the steppes S of the Kara Kum desert in Turkm...

Harunobu

(Encyclopedia)Harunobu (Suzuki Harunobu) so͞ozo͞oˈkē häro͞oˈnōˈbo͞o [key], 1724–70, Japanese color-print artist of the ukiyo-e school. He was the first to use a wide range of colors effectively in print...

Arawak

(Encyclopedia)Arawak äˈräwäk [key], linguistic stock of indigenous people who came from South America and, at the time of the Spanish Conquest, occupied the islands of the Greater Antilles, the Bahamas, Trinida...

bazooka

(Encyclopedia)bazooka, in warfare, portable, lightweight metal tube from which rockets are launched, usually operated by two men. It is used by infantry as an antitank weapon and also for attacking pillboxes and bu...

Skagit

(Encyclopedia)Skagit skăjˈĭt [key], river, c.150 mi (240 km) long, rising in the Cascade Range, British Columbia, and flowing SW through Wash. into Puget Sound. Gorge High Dam, Diablo Dam, and Ross Dam provide e...