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brant

(Encyclopedia)brant or brant goose, common name for a species of wild sea goose. The American brant, Branta bernicla, breeds in the Arctic and winters along the Atlantic coast. The head, neck, and tail are black, t...

phosphorus

(Encyclopedia)phosphorus fŏsˈfərəs [key] [Gr.,=light-bearing], nonmetallic chemical element; symbol P; at. no. 15; at. wt. 30.97376; m.p. 44.1℃; b.p. about 280℃; sp. gr. 1.82 at 20℃; valence −3, +3, or ...

Shelley, Percy Bysshe

(Encyclopedia)Shelley, Percy Bysshe bĭsh [key], 1792–1822, English poet, b. Horsham, Sussex. He is ranked as one of the great English poets of the romantic period. Most of Shelley's poetry reveals his philos...

sun grebe

(Encyclopedia)sun grebe, common name for a tropical, mainly aquatic bird of the family Heliornithidae. Sun grebes, also called finfoots, are remarkable for their colorful, puffy-toed, webbed feet, which may serve a...

muslin

(Encyclopedia)muslin, general name for plain woven fine white cottons for domestic use. It is believed that muslins were first made at Mosul (now a city of Iraq). They were widely made in India, from where they wer...

peccary

(Encyclopedia)peccary pĕkˈərē [key], small wild pig, genus Tayassu, the only pig native to the Americas. Although similar in appearance to Old World pigs, peccaries are classified in a family of their own becau...

porcelain

(Encyclopedia)porcelain [Ital. porcellana], white, hard, permanent, nonporous pottery having translucence which is resonant when struck. Porcelain was first made by the Chinese to withstand the great heat generated...

Duchamp, Marcel

(Encyclopedia)Duchamp, Marcel märsĕlˈ düshäNˈ [key], 1887–1968, French painter, brother of Raymond Duchamp-Villon and half-brother of Jacques Villon. Duchamp is noted for his cubist-futurist painting Nude D...

Banville, John

(Encyclopedia)Banville, John, 1945–, Irish novelist. His novels, which stress language over plot and narrative, are written in a dense, elaborate, and highly original blend of poetry and prose. They are allusive,...

Samoyed

(Encyclopedia)Samoyed sămˈəyĕd [key], breed of hardy, muscular working dog developed in N Siberia many centuries ago. It stands from 19 to 23.5 in. (48.3–59.7 cm) high at the shoulder and weighs from 35 to 65...