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absinthe

(Encyclopedia)absinthe ăbˈsĭnth [key], an emerald-green liqueur distilled from wormwood and other aromatics, including angelica root, sweet-flag root, star anise, and dittany, which have been macerated and steep...

Hassam, Childe

(Encyclopedia)Hassam, Childe (Frederick Childe Hassam) chīld hăsˈəm [key], 1859–1935, American painter and printmaker, b. Boston, studied in Paris. With their flickering light and airy palette, Hassam's sprig...

Wolcott, Oliver, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury

(Encyclopedia)Wolcott, Oliver, 1760–1833, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury (1795–1800), b. Litchfield, Conn; son of Oliver Wolcott. Admitted to the bar in 1781, he served as Connecticut comptroller (1788–89), a...

symbol

(Encyclopedia)symbol, sign representing something that has an independent existence. The most important use of symbols is in language. To say so, however, does not solve the perennial philosophical questions as to ...

Confederate cruisers

(Encyclopedia)Confederate cruisers, in U.S. history, warships constituting the South's seagoing navy. At the outbreak of the Civil War the United States ranked next to Great Britain in merchant marine. Since almost...

Duerk, Alene Bertha

(Encyclopedia)Duerk, Alene Bertha, 1920–2018, American rear admiral, b. Defiance, Ohio, grad. Toledo Hospital School of Nursing, 1941. Enlisting in the Navy Nurse Corps (1943), she was posted to naval hospitals i...

Vallejo, Mariano Guadalupe

(Encyclopedia)Vallejo, Mariano Guadalupe, 1807–90, Mexican-American political and military leader, b. Monterey, Calif. He entered the Mexican military in 1824 and was appointed to the territorial legislature in 1...

Alvarado, Juan Bautista

(Encyclopedia)Alvarado, Juan Bautista hwän boutēsˈtä älväräˈᵺō [key], 1809–82, governor of Alta California (1836–42), b. Monterey, Calif. Out of the chaotic times in the neglected Mexican province of...

White, E. B.

(Encyclopedia)White, E. B. (Elwyn Brooks White), 1899–1985, American writer, b. Mt. Vernon, N.Y., grad. Cornell, 1921. A witty, satiric observer of contemporary society, White was a member of the staff of the ear...

Mountain Meadows

(Encyclopedia)Mountain Meadows, small valley in extreme SW Utah, where in 1857 a party of some 140 emigrants bound for California were massacred. It was a period when friction between Mormons and non-Mormons was ac...