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Orontes

(Encyclopedia)Orontes ōrŏnˈtēs [key], Arab. Nahr al-Asi, river, c.250 mi (400 km) long, rising in the northern part of the Al Biqa valley, Lebanon, and flowing generally N through Syria, then W into S Turkey an...

Perry, Rick

(Encyclopedia)Perry, Rick (James Richard Perry), 1950–, American politician, governor of Texas (2000–2015), b. Haskell, Tex. A fifth-generation Texan from the state's agricultural western plains, he attended Te...

coup

(Encyclopedia)coup ko͞o [key] [Fr.,=blow], among Native North Americans of the Plains culture, a war honor, awarded for striking an enemy in such a way that it was considered an extreme act of bravery. Generally, ...

Gallegos, Rómulo

(Encyclopedia)Gallegos, Rómulo rōˈmo͞olō gäyāˈgōs [key], 1884–1969, Venezuelan novelist and statesman. Gallegos lived in Spain in voluntary exile from the Venezuelan dictatorship from 1931 until 1935. He...

floodplain

(Encyclopedia)floodplain, level land along the course of a river formed by the deposition of sediment during periodic floods. Floodplains contain such features as levees, backswamps, delta plains, and oxbow lakes. ...

Murray, James

(Encyclopedia)Murray, James, 1721?–94, British general, first civil governor of Canada, b. Scotland. He went to Canada as an army officer in 1757 and was prominent at the siege of Louisburg (1758) and in the cruc...

Matanzas, province, Cuba

(Encyclopedia)Matanzas mätänˈsäs [key], province (1990 pop. 601,500), W central Cuba. Matanzas is the capital. The northern coast is lined with ports and bays and contains one of the world's finest beaches, at ...

sod house

(Encyclopedia)sod house, house with walls made of strips of sod laid horizontally in courses like bricks. Sod houses were common in the frontier days on the western plains of the United States, where wood and stone...

Scott, Hugh Lenox

(Encyclopedia)Scott, Hugh Lenox, 1853–1934, U.S. army officer, b. Danville, Ky., grad. West Point, 1876. He was assigned (1876) to military service in the West and took part in the Sioux, Nez Percé, and Cheyenne...

ranch

(Encyclopedia)ranch, large farm devoted chiefly to raising and breeding cattle, horses, sheep, and goats. The cattle ranch was introduced from Latin America to Texas and the plains of the W United States and Canada...