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brier

(Encyclopedia)brier or briar, name sometimes given any thorny plant, more specifically the sweetbrier, and the greenbrier. French brier, or brierroot, is a name for the root of the European white heath so widely us...

whitewash

(Encyclopedia)whitewash, white fluid commonly used as an inexpensive, impermanent coating for walls, fences, stables, and other exterior structures. It varies in composition, being generally a mixture of lime (quic...

Nicholson, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Nicholson, Sir William, 1872–1949, English woodcut artist, illustrator, and painter. The striking contrasts of black and white of his woodcutting technique were used to great effect on posters, on w...

Knyphausen, Wilhelm, Baron von

(Encyclopedia)Knyphausen, Wilhelm, Baron von vĭlˈhĕlm bärônˈ fən kənüpˈhouzən [key], 1716–1800, German general in British service in the American Revolution. He served in the army of Frederick the Grea...

San Clemente

(Encyclopedia)San Clemente săn klĭmĕnˈtē [key], city (1990 pop. 41,100), Orange co., S Calif., on the Pacific coast; inc. 1928. Camp Pendleton, a large U.S. marine base, adjoins the city, which is chiefly resi...

Reid, Thomas Mayne

(Encyclopedia)Reid, Thomas Mayne (Mayne Reid), 1818–83, British novelist, b. Ireland. He emigrated to the United States in 1840 and after various adventures in the West served as a lieutenant in the Mexican War. ...

Tarawera Mountain

(Encyclopedia)Tarawera Mountain täˌräwârˈə [key], volcanic peak, 3,646 ft (1,111 m) high, on the North Island, New Zealand, in Rotorua. Its eruption in 1886 destroyed villages and the unique silica Pink and W...

Collins, Eddie

(Encyclopedia)Collins, Eddie (Edward Trowbridge Collins), 1887–1951, American baseball player, b. Millerton, N.Y., grad. Columbia, 1907. One of the game's great second basemen, he was active in the American Leagu...

Estremoz

(Encyclopedia)Estremoz ĕshtrəmôshˈ [key], town, Évora dist., S central Portugal, in Alto Alentejo. It ...

Dare, Virginia

(Encyclopedia)Dare, Virginia, b. 1587, first white child of English parents to be born in America. She was the daughter of Ananias and Elenor Dare, members of Sir Walter Raleigh's ill-fated colony that settled Roan...