(Encyclopedia) Thayer, Abbott HandersonThayer, Abbott Handersonthâr [key], 1849–1921, American painter, b. Boston, studied in Paris with Gérôme and at the École des Beaux-Arts. Known as a painter of…
(Encyclopedia) RamadanRamadanrämädänˈ, rămˌədänˈ [key], in Islam, the ninth month of the Muslim year, during which all Muslims must fast during the daylight hours. Indulgence of any sort is forbidden…
(Encyclopedia) puffball or smokeball, fungus in which the aboveground portion is typically a stemless brownish sac with an opening at the top through which issues the dustlike mass of ripe spores.…
(Encyclopedia) Pullman, George Mortimer, 1831–97, American industrialist and developer of the railroad sleeping car, b. Brocton, N.Y. As a young man he became a cabinetmaker, and after he moved (1858…
(Encyclopedia) Tarbell, Ida Minerva, 1857–1944, American author, b. Erie co., Pa., grad. Allegheny College (B.A., 1880; M.A., 1883). One of the leading muckrakers, she is remembered for her…
(Encyclopedia) Taizé CommunityTaizé Communitytāzāˈ [key], ecumenical Christian community based in Taizē, Burgundy, France. The community was founded by Roger Schutz, 1915–2005, a Swiss Protestant…
(Encyclopedia) surfperch, any member of the family Embiotocidae, a large family of spiny-finned, carnivorous fishes of the perch order. Also known as seaperches and surf fish, most surfperches are…
(Encyclopedia) mammary gland, organ of the female mammal that produces and secretes milk for the nourishment of the young. A mammal may have from 1 to 11 pairs of mammary glands, depending on the…
(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…
(Encyclopedia) hoatzinhoatzinwätsēnˈ [key] [Aztec], common name for a peculiar marsh bird, Opisthocomus hoatzin. The hoatzin is a slender bird with a brownish plumage spotted with white above and…
