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bayou

(Encyclopedia)bayou bīˈō, bīˈo͞o [key] [Louisiana Fr.; from Choctaw bayuk=small stream], term used mainly in U.S. Gulf states, especially Louisiana and Mississippi, to describe a stationary or sluggishly movi...

Taylor

(Encyclopedia)Taylor, city (1990 pop. 70,811), Wayne co., SE Mich., a suburb of Detroit adjacent to Dearborn; founded 1847 as a township, inc. as a city 1968. A small rural village until World War II, it developed ...

wigwam

(Encyclopedia)wigwam wĭgˈwäm [key], dwelling found among the Algonquian of the Eastern woodlands area of the United States. The wigwam was usually conical, arborlike, or domed. Some were small, accommodating a s...

Usumacinta

(Encyclopedia)Usumacinta o͞oˌso͞omäsēnˈtä [key], river, c.600 mi (970 km) long, formed at the Guatemala-Mexico border by the Chixoy and Pasión rivers and flowing NE through Tabasco state, Mexico, to the Bay...

whirlwind

(Encyclopedia)whirlwind, revolving mass of air resulting from local atmospheric instability, such as that caused by intense heating of the ground by the sun on a hot summer day. Examples of whirlwinds are waterspou...

tugboat

(Encyclopedia)tugboat, small, strongly built vessel, used to guide large oceangoing ships into and out of port and to tow barges, dredging and salvage equipment, and disabled vessels. Tugboats range in overall leng...

tree surgery

(Encyclopedia)tree surgery, practice of repairing damaged trees to restore their appearance and to arrest disease. Injured or diseased parts are first removed (even small cavities in the bark may harbor injurious f...

Smohalla

(Encyclopedia)Smohalla smōhălˈə [key], c.1815–1907, Native American prophet, chief of a small tribe (the Wanapun) of the Columbia River valley. He preached a religion based on a vision of returning to Native ...

Torcello

(Encyclopedia)Torcello tōrchĕlˈlō [key], village, on a small island of the same name in the Lagoon of Venice, NE Italy, NE of Venice. A prosperous town until the early Middle Ages, it has a Byzantine cathedral ...

Thunberg, Greta

(Encyclopedia)Thunberg, Greta, 2003–, Swedish climate activist. She came to public notice in 2018 when she encouraged students to skip school on Fridays to protest societal inaction on climate change. Through soc...