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laburnum

(Encyclopedia)laburnum ləbûrˈnəm [key] or golden chain, small tree (Laburnum anagyroides) of the family Leguminosae (pulse family) with decorative dark green leaves and sprays of bright yellow flowers. It is na...

Arciniegas, Germán

(Encyclopedia)Arciniegas, Germán hĕrmänˈ ärsēnyāˈgäs [key], 1900–1999, Colombian historian and diplomat. A leading Latin American intellectual, he gained prominence as a journalist and publisher. A criti...

turquoise

(Encyclopedia)turquoise, hydrous phosphate of aluminum and copper, Al2(OH)3PO4·H2O+Cu, used as a gem. It occurs rarely in crystal form, but is usually cryptocrystalline. Turquoise is opaque and has a waxy luster; ...

watercress

(Encyclopedia)watercress, hardy perennial European herb (Nasturtium officinale) of the family Cruciferae (or Brassicaceae; mustard family), widely naturalized in North America, found in or around water. Often culti...

Bennington

(Encyclopedia)Bennington, town (2020 pop. 15,333), seat of Bennington co., SW Vt.; chartered 1749, settled 1761. It includes the villages of North Bennington and Old ...

cabbage looper

(Encyclopedia)cabbage looper, moth larva, Trichoplusia ni, that feeds by night on the leaves of cabbage and related plants and is a serious agricultural pest. Like the inchworms (of another moth family), cabbage lo...

Brown, Helen Gurley

(Encyclopedia)Brown, Helen Gurley, 1922–2012, American writer and editor, b. Green Forest, Ark. A child of poverty, she became a successful advertising copywriter and wrote the best-selling Sex and the Single Gir...

bluegrass

(Encyclopedia)bluegrass, any species of the large and widely distributed genus Poa, chiefly range and pasture grasses of economic importance in temperate and cool regions. In general, bluegrasses are perennial with...

soapstone

(Encyclopedia)soapstone or steatite stēˈətīt [key], metamorphic rock of which the characteristic and usually chief mineral is talc, but which also contains varying parts of chlorite, mica, tremolite, quartz, ma...

Stiegel, Henry William

(Encyclopedia)Stiegel, Henry William stēˈgəl [key], 1729–85, American iron and glass manufacturer, b. Germany. He emigrated to America, arriving in Philadelphia (1750). In 1758 he purchased his father-in-law's...