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Atbara

(Encyclopedia)Atbara ătˈbärä [key], river, NE Africa, rising in NW Ethiopia and flowing c.500 mi (800 km) to the Nile at Atbarah, Sudan; before entering Sudan it forms the Eritrean-Ethiopian border. There are f...

Hildebrand, Lay of

(Encyclopedia)Hildebrand, Lay of, fragment of an epic in mixed Low and Old High German composed c.800 in the monastery of Fulda. Hildebrand, armorer of Dietrich of Bern (Theodoric the Great), returns home after man...

gentrification

(Encyclopedia)gentrification, the rehabilitation and settlement of decaying urban areas by middle- and high-income people. Beginning in the 1970s and 80s, higher-income professionals, drawn by low-cost housing and ...

fireball

(Encyclopedia)fireball, very bright meteor leaving a trail in the sky that can remain visible for several minutes; often a distinct sound, perhaps caused by very low frequency radio waves, is associated with it. A ...

type metal

(Encyclopedia)type metal, alloy of lead with antimony, tin, and sometimes copper, so named because of its one time extensive use for making printing type. Expanding upon solidification, the alloy takes a fine and c...

Randall, Samuel Jackson

(Encyclopedia)Randall, Samuel Jackson, 1828–90, American politician, b. Philadelphia. A Democrat, he was a U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania from 1863 until his death. As speaker (1876–81), he presided over...

Aves Island

(Encyclopedia)Aves Island äˈvĕs [key] or Bird Island, Span. Isla de Aves, small, low-lying sand and coral island, a dependency of Venezuela, in the E Caribbean Sea 380 mi (610 km) N of the Venezuelan mainland. V...

Nunivak

(Encyclopedia)Nunivak no͞oˈnĭvăk [key], island, c.1,700 sq mi (4,400 sq km), off W Alaska, in the Bering Sea. It is the second largest island in the Bering Sea. Fogbound most of the year, Nunivak is covered wit...

ocarina

(Encyclopedia)ocarina ŏkərēˈnə [key], musical wind instrument with eight finger holes and two thumb holes, rather egg-shaped, and made of metal, terra-cotta or plastic. Unlike other wind instuments, it produce...

Nieuwpoort

(Encyclopedia)Nieuwpoort or Nieuport both: nēˈo͝opôrt [key], town (1991 pop. 9,572), West Flanders prov., W Belgium, on the North Sea at the mouth of the Yser River. It is a fishing port, an industrial center, ...