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Idlib

(Encyclopedia)Idlib ĭdˈlĭb [key], town (1995 est. pop. 100,000), capital of Idlib governorate, NW Syria. It is an important market center for a fertile agricultural region where grains, grapes, olives, sesame, a...

Irún

(Encyclopedia)Irún ēro͞onˈ [key], town, Gipuzkoa (Guipúzcoa) prov., N Spain, in the Basque Country nea...

Wistar, Isaac Jones

(Encyclopedia)Wistar, Isaac Jones, 1827–1905, American financier, b. Philadelphia; great-nephew of Caspar Wistar. His early manhood was spent adventurously in the West as a muleteer, trapper, and gold miner. In t...

Wither, George

(Encyclopedia)Wither, George, 1588–1667, English poet, b. Hampshire, studied at Oxford. While in prison for having written the satires Abuses Stript and Whipt (1613), he wrote five pastorals under the title The S...

Vetch, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Vetch, Samuel, 1668–1732, British soldier and colonial administrator, b. Scotland. He settled in Albany, N.Y., in 1699 and became a trader with the Native Americans. Author of a plan to capture Fren...

anomalistic year

(Encyclopedia)anomalistic year ənŏmˌəlĭsˈtĭk [key], time required for the earth to go from the perihelion point once around the sun and back to the perihelion point. It is 365 days, 6 hr, 13 min, 53.0 sec of...

clepsydra

(Encyclopedia)clepsydra klĕpˈsĭdrə [key] or water clock, ancient device for measuring time by means of the flow of water from a container. A simple form of clepsydra was an earthenware vessel with a small openi...

Morgantown

(Encyclopedia)Morgantown, city (1990 pop. 25,879), seat of Monongalia co., N W.Va., near the Pa. line, on the Monongahela River; inc. 1785. A shipping point for a coal and limestone region, it also has glass, chemi...

Johnson, Cave

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, Cave, 1793–1866, American political leader, b. Robertson co., Tenn. He practiced law in his native state and served (1829–37, 1839–45) in the U.S. House of Representatives. Johnson gave...

Hayne, Paul Hamilton

(Encyclopedia)Hayne, Paul Hamilton, 1830–86, American poet, b. Charleston, S.C., grad. Charleston College. Considered the last of the Southern literary cavaliers, he wrote a book of nature poetry (1855) and edite...