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Pleiad

(Encyclopedia)Pleiad plēˈăd [key] [from Pleiades], group of seven tragic poets of Alexandria who flourished c.280 b.c. under Ptolemy II Philadelphus. Of the works of the men usually given in lists of the Pleiad ...

Freeport, cities, United States

(Encyclopedia)Freeport. 1 City (2020 pop. 23,973), seat of Stephenson co., NW Ill., on the Pecatonica River; inc. 1850. It is a trade and manufacturing center in a ...

Kingsolver, Barbara

(Encyclopedia)Kingsolver, Barbara, 1955–, American writer, b. Annapolis, Md., B.S. DePauw Univ., 1977, M.S. Univ. of Arizona, 1981. She studied biology and ecology and was a science writer before completing The B...

oils

(Encyclopedia)oils, term commonly used to indicate a variety of greasy, fluid substances that are, in general, viscous liquids at ordinary temperatures, less dense than water, insoluble in water but soluble in alco...

paint

(Encyclopedia)paint, mixture of a pigment and a binding medium, usually thinned with a solvent to form a liquid vehicle. The term includes lacquer, portland cement paint, printing ink, calcimine, and whitewash. Pai...

weevil

(Encyclopedia)weevil, common name for certain beetles of the snout beetle family (Curculionidae), small, usually dull-colored, hard-bodied insects. The mouthparts of snout beetles are modified into down-curved snou...

tracer

(Encyclopedia)tracer, an identifiable substance used to follow the course of a physical, chemical, or biological process. In chemistry the ideal tracer has the same chemical properties as the molecule it replaces a...

folk medicine

(Encyclopedia)folk medicine, methods of curing by means of healing objects, herbs, or animal parts; ceremony; conjuring, magic, or witchcraft; and other means apart from the formalized practice of medical science. ...

ladybird beetle

(Encyclopedia)ladybird beetle or ladybug, member of a cosmopolitan beetle family with over 4,000 species, including 350 species in the United States. Ladybird beetles are mostly under 1⁄4 in. (6 mm) long and are ...

water lily

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Fragrant water lily, Nymphaea odorata water lily, common name for some members of the Nymphaeaceae, a family of freshwater perennial herbs found in most parts of the world and often characteri...

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