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puffin

(Encyclopedia)puffin, common name for a diving bird of the family Alcidae (auk family). Its large, triangular bill, brilliantly colored in yellow, blue, and vermilion, is adapted to carrying several fish at one tim...

Shelby, Carroll Hall

(Encyclopedia)Shelby, Carroll Hall, 1923–2012, automobile racer and designer, b. Leesburg, Tex. After serving as a flight instructor in World War II, he began (1952) a career as a race-car driver. He was Sports I...

Stewart, Jimmy

(Encyclopedia)Stewart, Jimmy (James Maitland Stewart), 1908–97, American actor, b. Indiana, Pa. He began his film career in 1935 and soon gained popularity for his lanky good looks, slow drawl and shy, homespun c...

hawk

(Encyclopedia)hawk, name generally applied to the smaller members of the Accipitridae, a heterogeneous family of diurnal birds of prey, such as the eagle, the kite, and the Old World vulture. Hawks belong to the sa...

Christian, Charlie

(Encyclopedia)Christian, Charlie (Charles Henry Christian), 1916–42, African-American jazz guitarist, b. Bonham, Tex. The son of a singer-guitarist father and pianist mother, he grew up in Oklahoma City, where he...

Hou Hsiao-hsien

(Encyclopedia)Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1947–, Taiwanese film director, b. Guangdong, China. His first feature film, Cute Girl (1980), and subsequent ones were generally saccharine romances until the semibiographical A Ti...

Hedin, Sven Anders

(Encyclopedia)Hedin, Sven Anders svĕn änˈdərs hĕdēnˈ [key], 1865–1952, Swedish explorer in central Asia. Following soon after Przhevalsky, Hedin explored Tibet, Xinjiang, and the Kunlun and Trans-Himalaya ...

Hailsham of Saint Marylebone, Quintin McGarel Hogg, Baron

(Encyclopedia)Hailsham of Saint Marylebone, Quintin McGarel Hogg, Baron məgârˈəl, hālˈshəm əv sənt mârˈĭbōnˌ [key], 1907–2001, British politician, b. London. A lawyer, he served (1938–50) as a Con...

epinephrine

(Encyclopedia)epinephrine ĕpˌənĕfˈrīn [key], hormone important to the body's metabolism, also known as adrenaline. Epinephrine, a catecholamine, together with norepinephrine, is secreted principally by the me...