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Bradford, Augustus Williamson

(Encyclopedia)Bradford, Augustus Williamson, 1806–81, Civil War governor of Maryland (1862–66), b. Bel Air, Md. As a delegate to the 1861 peace conference in Washington, he strongly pleaded for the Union and be...

prostitution

(Encyclopedia)prostitution, act of granting sexual access for payment. Although most commonly conducted by females for males, it may be performed by females or males for either females or males. Prostitution in A...

New Guinea

(Encyclopedia)New Guinea gĭnˈē [key], island, c.342,000 sq mi (885,780 sq km), SW Pacific, N of Australia; the world's second largest island after Greenland. Politically it is divided into two sections: the Indo...

engineering

(Encyclopedia)engineering, profession devoted to designing, constructing, and operating the structures, machines, and other devices of industry and everyday life. Until the Industrial Revolution there were only t...

Vanderbilt, Cornelius

(Encyclopedia)Vanderbilt, Cornelius, 1794–1877, American railroad magnate, b. Staten Island, N.Y. As a boy he ferried freight and passengers from Staten Island to Manhattan, and he soon gained control of most of ...

lightship

(Encyclopedia)lightship, moored vessel bearing lights and other signal devices to guide ships and warn of hazards to navigation. Lightships are generally stationed at points where a lighthouse cannot be erected; th...

Mayo

(Encyclopedia)Mayo, county (1991 pop. 110,696), 2,084 sq mi (5,398 sq km), W Republic of Ireland. The county seat is Castlebar. The western portion, including large Achill island, is mountainous; the eastern part i...

Melilla

(Encyclopedia)Melilla mālēˈlyä [key], autonomous city (2011 pop. 81,323), 5 sq mi (13 sq km), Spanish possession on the Mediterranean coast of Morocco, NW Africa. Administered directly by the Spanish government...

MacIver, Robert Morrison

(Encyclopedia)MacIver, Robert Morrison məkēˈvər, –kīˈvər [key], 1882–1970, Scottish-American sociologist, b. Scotland, grad. Univ. of Edinburgh and Oxford. He began teaching at Columbia Univ. in 1927. Hi...

McNaughton, Andrew George Latta

(Encyclopedia)McNaughton, Andrew George Latta məknôtˈən [key], 1887–1966, Canadian general, b. Saskatchewan. An artillery officer in World War I, he was later (1929–35) Canadian chief of staff. In World War...

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