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gaillardia

(Encyclopedia)gaillardia gālärˈdēə [key], any plant of the genus Gaillardia of the Asteaceae family (aster family), including annual, biennial, and perennial herbs with showy heads of red and/or yellow ray flo...

sweetbrier

(Encyclopedia)sweetbrier, sweetbriar, or eglantine ĕgˈləntīn, –tēn [key] [O. Fr. from Lat.,=needle], wild rose of Europe (Rosa eglanteria), cultivated and now naturalized in the United States. The bush has ...

canna

(Encyclopedia)canna [Lat.,=cane], any plant of the genus Canna, tropical and subtropical perennials, grown in temperate regions in parks and gardens for the large foliage and spikelike, usually red or yellow blosso...

celery

(Encyclopedia)celery, biennial plant (Apium graveolens) of the family Umbelliferae (parsley family), of wide distribution in the wild state throughout the north temperate Old World and much cultivated also in Ameri...

Bethlem Royal Hospital

(Encyclopedia)Bethlem Royal Hospital bĕthˈləm [key], the oldest institution for the care and confinement of the mentally ill in England, and one of the oldest in Europe. A priory in 1247, the building was conver...

Pynchon, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Pynchon, Thomas pĭnˈchən [key], 1937–, American novelist, b. Glen Cove, N.Y., grad. Cornell, 1958. Pynchon is noted for his amazingly fertile imagination, his wild sense of humor, and the teeming...

rabies

(Encyclopedia)rabies hīˌdrəfōˈbēə [key], acute viral infection of the central nervous system in dogs, bats, foxes, raccoons, skunks, and other animals, and in humans. The virus is transmitted from an animal ...

oryx

(Encyclopedia)oryx ôrˈĭks [key], name for several small, horselike antelopes, genus Oryx, found in deserts and arid scrublands of Africa and Arabia. They feed on grasses and scrub and can go without water for lo...

Noll, Chuck

(Encyclopedia)Noll, Chuck (Charles Henry Noll), 1932–2014, American professional football coach, b. Cleveland, B.S. Univ. of Dayton, 1953. A guard and linebacker in college and with the Cleveland Browns (1953–5...

Lecompton

(Encyclopedia)Lecompton ləkŏmpˈtən [key], small town, Douglas co., NE Kans., on the Kansas River between Lawrence and Topeka. The pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution was formulated (Sept., 1857) there, and was r...