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ragweed

(Encyclopedia)ragweed, any plant of the genus Ambrosia, coarse, weedy herbs belonging to the family Asteraceae (aster family), most of which are native to America. They have inconspicuous greenish flowers and soft ...

stilt

(Encyclopedia)stilt, common name for some members of the family Recurvirostridae, shore birds including the avocet. Stilts, as their name implies, have the longest legs of any bird except the flamingo. They frequen...

privet

(Encyclopedia)privet prĭvˈĭt [key], any plant of the genus Ligustrum, Old World shrubs or small trees of the family Oleaceae (olive family), some of which are common as hedge plants. Privet hedges are popular fo...

Dartmouth College Case

(Encyclopedia)Dartmouth College Case, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1819. The legislature of New Hampshire, in 1816, without the consent of the college trustees, amended the charter of 1769 to make Dartmouth...

Fert, Albert

(Encyclopedia)Fert, Albert älbârˈ fâr [key], 1938– French physicist, b. Carcassonne, France. After receiving his Ph.D. at the Univ. of Paris-Sud in 1970 Fert accepted a teaching position there and headed a re...

Huggins, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Huggins, Sir William, 1824–1910, English astronomer. Using a spectroscope, he began to study the chemical constitution of stars from the observatory attached to his home in Tulse Hill, London. He pr...

Frasconi, Antonio

(Encyclopedia)Frasconi, Antonio äntōˈnyō fräskōˈnē [key], 1919–2013, American graphic artist, b. Buenos Aires. His family moved to Uruguay weeks after his birth. Frasconi immigrated to the United States i...

Guchkov, Aleksandr Ivanovich

(Encyclopedia)Guchkov, Aleksandr Ivanovich əlyĭksänˈdər ēväˈnəvĭch go͝ochˈkôf [key], 1862–1936, Russian political leader. A prominent businessman, during the 1905 revolution he helped found the Octob...

Jenkins's Ear, War of

(Encyclopedia)Jenkins's Ear, War of, 1739–41, struggle between England and Spain. It grew out of the commercial rivalry of the two powers and led to involvement in the larger War of the Austrian Succession. The i...

Muñoz Rivera, Luis

(Encyclopedia)Muñoz Rivera, Luis lwēs mo͞onyōsˈ rēvāˈrä [key], 1859–1916, Puerto Rican journalist and nationalist. He founded La Democracia, a newspaper later edited by his son Luis Muñoz Marín. A lead...