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perch

(Encyclopedia)perch, common name for some members of the family Percidae, symmetrical freshwater fishes of N Europe, Asia, and North America. The perches belong to the large order Perciformes (spiny-finned fishes) ...

sandpiper

(Encyclopedia)sandpiper, common name for some members of the large family Scolopacidae, small shore birds, including the snipe and the curlew. Sandpipers are wading birds with relatively long legs and long, slender...

purslane

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Purslane, Portulaca oleraceae purslane, common name for some plants of the Portulaceae, a family of herbs and a few small shrubs, chiefly of the Americas. The portulacas or purslanes (genus Po...

Caroline Affair

(Encyclopedia)Caroline Affair. In 1837 a group of men led by William Lyon Mackenzie rebelled in Upper Canada (now Ontario), demanding a more democratic government. There was much sympathy for their cause in the Uni...

cacomistle

(Encyclopedia)cacomistle kăkˈəmĭsˌəl [key], small New World mammal, genus Bassaricus, related to the raccoon. There are two species, one found in Mexico and the SW United States, the other in Central America....

Brownian movement

(Encyclopedia)Brownian movement or motion, zigzag, irregular motion exhibited by minute particles of matter when suspended in a fluid. The effect has been observed in all types of colloidal suspensions (see colloid...

Lisieux

(Encyclopedia)Lisieux lēzyöˈ [key], town (1990 pop. 24,056), Calvados dept., N France. It is one of the oldest towns in Normandy. Its modern importance dates from the canonization (1925) of St. Theresa, whose sh...

Kremenchuk

(Encyclopedia)Kremenchuk krĭmĭncho͞okˈ [key], Rus. Kremenchug, city (1989 pop. 237,000), central Ukraine, on the Dnieper River. It is the center of an industrial complex based on a hydroelectric plant; construc...

Hasbeya

(Encyclopedia)Hasbeya häsbāˈə [key], small town, S Lebanon, at the foot of Mt. Hermon. It was a center of the Druze from the 13th cent. to the 19th cent. The Khulwat el-Bujad, a sacred shrine of the Druze, is o...

Francis, Sam

(Encyclopedia)Francis, Sam, 1923–94, American painter, b. San Mateo, Calif. Educated in medicine, Francis began painting while recovering from an injury received in World War II. His mural-sized paintings are sta...