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wind

(Encyclopedia)wind, flow of air relative to the earth's surface. A wind is named according to the point of the compass from which it blows, e.g., a wind blowing from the north is a north wind. The diurnal, or dai...

Abaco Islands

(Encyclopedia)Abaco Islands ăbˈəkō [key], island group, c.780 sq mi (2,020 sq km), most northerly of the Bahamas. Also known as Abaco and Cays, the Abacos include Great Abaco (the largest), Little Abaco, and th...

antelope brush

(Encyclopedia)antelope brush, low, deciduous shrub (Purshia tridentata) of the family Rosaceae (rose family), widely distributed in the W United States where it is a characteristic constituent of the vegetation on ...

grape hyacinth

(Encyclopedia)grape hyacinth, any plant of the genus Muscari of the family Liliaceae (lily family), low plants with dense spikelike clusters of small, nodding flowers that are usually deep blue. Of more than 50 Old...

furze

(Encyclopedia)furze, any plant of the genus Ulex of the family Leguminosae (pulse family), low, densely branched shrubs with spiny leaves (when present) and fragrant yellow blossoms. U. europaeus, the common furze ...

ice plant

(Encyclopedia)ice plant, low, fleshy plant (Cryophytum crystalinum) of warm, dry, barren regions. It is cultivated chiefly as a curiosity because of its leaves, densely coated with small, glistening, bladder-shaped...

Dewar flask

(Encyclopedia)Dewar flask [for Sir James Dewar], container after which the common thermos bottle is patterned. It consists of two flasks, one placed inside the other, with a vacuum between. The vacuum prevents the ...

Dee, river, Wales

(Encyclopedia)Dee, Welsh Dyfrdwy, river, c.70 mi (110 km) long, rising in the Cambrian Mts., Gwynedd, NW Wales, and flowing NE through Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake), then meandering through a picturesque course NE, N, and...

Tolman, Edward Chace

(Encyclopedia)Tolman, Edward Chace, 1886–1959, American psychologist, b. West Newton, Mass., grad. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1911; Ph. D. Harvard, 1915. He spent most of his academic career at the Un...

Taconic Mountains

(Encyclopedia)Taconic Mountains təkŏnˈĭk [key], range of the Appalachian Mts., extending c.150 mi (240 km) north-south between the Green Mts. and the Hudson Valley along parts of New York's border with Vermont,...