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prune

(Encyclopedia)prune, popular name for a dried plum. Fruits of the many varieties of Prunus domestica, which are firm-fleshed and dry easily without removal of the stone, are gathered after falling from the tree, di...

Västerås

(Encyclopedia)Västerås vĕsˌtərōsˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 98,303), capital of Västmanland co., E Sweden, a port on Lake Mälaren at the mouth of the Svartån River. It is the main center of the Swedish elect...

bonefish

(Encyclopedia)bonefish, common name for a fish belonging to several species in the two genera of the family Albulidae. Albula vulpes, the bonefish, is widespread in warm, shallow marine waters; it is the only bonef...

Aso, Taro

(Encyclopedia)Aso, Taro täˈrō äˈsō [key], 1940–, Japanese politician, prime minister of Japan (2008–9). Grandson of Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida and son of a successful industrialist, he attended Gakush...

sociobiology

(Encyclopedia)sociobiology, controversial field that studies how natural selection, previously used only to explain the evolution of physical characteristics, shapes behavior in animals and humans. The theory has c...

Rákóczy

(Encyclopedia)Rákóczy räˈkôtsĭ [key], noble Hungarian family that played an important role in the history of Transylvania and Hungary in the 17th and 18th cent. Sigismund Rákóczy, 1544–1608, was elected (...

Schulze-Delitzsch, Hermann

(Encyclopedia)Schulze-Delitzsch, Hermann hĕrˈmän sho͝olˈtsə-dāˈlĭch [key], 1808–83, German liberal politician and economic reformer. Believing in economic self-help by cooperative associations, he founde...

Fairchild, David Grandison

(Encyclopedia)Fairchild, David Grandison, 1869–1954, American botanist and agricultural explorer, b. East Lansing, Mich. He entered the service of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, where he organized (1895) and late...

Carlsbad Decrees

(Encyclopedia)Carlsbad Decrees, 1819, resolutions adopted by the ministers of German states at a conference at Carlsbad that was convened and dominated by Prince Metternich following the murder of August von Kotzeb...

pinworm

(Encyclopedia)pinworm, roundworm, Enterobius vermicularis, worldwide in distribution and the most common source of worm infestation of humans in the United States. Children are more commonly infested than adults. A...