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Ravensberg

(Encyclopedia)Ravensberg räˈvənsbĕrkh [key], former county, W Germany, now in North Rhine–Westphalia. Bielefeld was a major town in the county. In 1346, Ravensberg came under the control of the counts of Berg...

Soria

(Encyclopedia)Soria sōrˈyä [key], town (1990 pop. 32,609), capital of Soria prov., N central Spain, in Castile and León, on the Duero River. It is a food processing and timbering center in a livestock raising r...

blackjack

(Encyclopedia)blackjack, one of the world's most widely played gambling card games; also known as twenty-one or vingt-et-un. Despite contesting claims between the French and Italians, its origins are unknown. Each ...

dauphin, French title

(Encyclopedia)dauphin dôˈfĭn, Fr. dōfăNˈ [key] [Fr.,=dolphin], French title, borne first by the counts of Vienne (also called Viennois) and later by the eldest son of the king of France, or, if the dauphin ca...

blood test

(Encyclopedia)blood test, examination of blood routinely or as an aid in diagnosing a suspected disease. Tests may be performed on whole blood or on the plasma portion only. Blood typing identifies the proteins at ...

salsify

(Encyclopedia)salsify, common name for a tall, narrow-leaved biennial (Tragopogon porrifolius) of the family Asteraceae (aster family), native to S Europe but now naturalized and sometimes growing as a weed in Nort...

Loches

(Encyclopedia)Loches lôsh [key], town (1990 pop. 7,133), Indre-et-Loire dept., W central France, in Touraine, on the Indre River. Products include processed food and electronics. It is famous for its medieval buil...

Alfonso II, king of Aragón

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso II, 1152–96, king of Aragón (1162–96) and, as Raymond Berengar V, count of Barcelona (1162–96); son and successor of Raymond Berengar IV of Barcelona and Petronilla of Aragón. He inher...

Schwabe, Samuel Heinrich

(Encyclopedia)Schwabe, Samuel Heinrich zäˈmo͞oĕl hīnˈrĭkh shväbˈə [key], 1789–1875, German apothecary and amateur astronomer. In the hope of discovering a new planet between Mercury and the sun, he made...

Vivarais

(Encyclopedia)Vivarais vēvärāˈ [key], region, roughly coextensive with Ardèche dept., SE France. Its mountainous terrain rises to 5,753 ft (1,754 m) in the Mézenc. Cattle raising is the chief occupation. Silk...