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Dubuque, Julien

(Encyclopedia)Dubuque, Julien dəbyo͞okˈ [key], 1762–1810, pioneer settler of Iowa, b. Nicolet co., Que. Setting out at a young age for the West, Dubuque reached Prairie du Chien, in what is now Wisconsin, by 1...

fur

(Encyclopedia)fur, hairy covering of an animal, especially the skins of animals that have thick, soft, close-growing hair next to the skin itself and coarser protective hair above it. The underhair is frequently ca...

Cook, James

(Encyclopedia)Cook, James, 1728–79, English explorer and navigator. The son of a Yorkshire agricultural laborer, he had little formal education. After an apprenticeship to a firm of shipowners at Whitby, he joine...

Yuman

(Encyclopedia)Yuman yo͞oˈmən [key], branch of Native American languages belonging to the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock, or family, of North America (including Mexico) and Central America. See Native American lan...

Iroquoian

(Encyclopedia)Iroquoian ĭrˌəkwoiˈən [key], branch of Native North American languages belonging to the Hokan-Siouan linguistic family, or stock, of North and Central America. See Native American languages. ...

Muskogean

(Encyclopedia)Muskogean məskōˈgēən [key], branch of Native North American languages belonging to the Hokan-Siouan linguistic family, or stock, of North and Central America. See Native American languages. ...

Thirteen Colonies, the

(Encyclopedia)Thirteen Colonies, the, term used for the colonies of British North America that joined together in the American Revolution against the mother country, adopted the Declaration of Independence in 1776,...

scarab beetle

(Encyclopedia)scarab beetle or scarab, name for members of a large family of heavy-bodied, oval beetles (the Scarabaeidae), with about 30,000 species distributed throughout most of the world and over 1,200 in North...

Savigny, Friedrich Karl von

(Encyclopedia)Savigny, Friedrich Karl von frēˈdrĭkh kärl fən säˈvĭnyē [key], 1779–1861, German jurist and legal historian, a founder of the historical school of jurisprudence. He taught (1810–42) Roman...

gentian

(Encyclopedia)gentian jĕnˈshən [key], common name for some members of the Gentianaceae, a family of widely distributed herbs, chiefly perennial and fall blooming. There are many types of gentians (genus Gentiana...