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Laffite, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Laffite, Jean zhäN läfētˈ [key], c.1780–1826?, leader of a band of privateers and smugglers. The name is often spelled Lafitte. He and his men began operating (1810) off the Baratarian coast S o...

Addams, Jane

(Encyclopedia)Addams, Jane, 1860–1935, American social worker, b. Cedarville, Ill., grad. Rockford College, 1881. In 1889, with Ellen Gates Starr, she founded Hull House in Chicago, one of the first social settle...

Beck, Aaron Tempkin

(Encyclopedia) Beck, Aaron Tempkin, 1921-2021, American psychiatrist, b. Providence, R.I., Brown Univ. (B.A., 1942), Yale Univ. (M.D., 1946). Following earning his me...

Randolph, Asa Philip

(Encyclopedia)Randolph, Asa Philip, 1889–1979, U.S. labor leader, b. Crescent City, Fla., attended the College of the City of New York. As a writer and editor of the black magazine The Messenger, which he helped ...

crane, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)crane, large wading bird found in marshes in the Northern Hemisphere and in Africa. Although sometimes confused with herons, cranes are more closely related to rails and limpkins. Cranes are known for...

chinch bug

(Encyclopedia)chinch bug, small North American bug, Blissus leucopterus, of the seed bug family. It feeds on small grains, corn, and other grasses, sucking the plant juices and doing much damage to crops, particula...

inchworm

(Encyclopedia)inchworm, name for the larvae of moths of the family Geometridae, a large, cosmopolitan group with over 1,200 species indigenous to North America. Also called measuring worms, spanworms, and loopers, ...

honey badger

(Encyclopedia)honey badger or ratel rātˈəl [key], carnivore, Mellivora capensis, of the forest and brush country of Africa, the Middle East, and India; it is a member of the badger and skunk family. Related to t...

guillemot

(Encyclopedia)guillemot gĭlˈəmŏtˌ [key], northern sea bird, genus Cephas, of the auk family. The black guillemot, or trystie, Cephus grylle, is about 13 in. (33 cm) long and is very striking in its breeding pl...

gull

(Encyclopedia)gull, common name for an aquatic bird of the family Laridae, which also includes the tern and the jaeger. It is found near all oceans and many inland waters. Gulls are larger and bulkier than terns, a...