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Nobile, Umberto

(Encyclopedia)Nobile, Umberto o͞ombĕrˈtō nōˈbēlā [key], 1885–1978, Italian aeronautical engineer and arctic explorer. He designed the dirigible Norge and piloted it in the Amundsen-Ellsworth flight over t...

Ledyard, John

(Encyclopedia)Ledyard, John lĕdˈyərd [key], 1751–89, American adventurer, b. Groton, Conn. He studied at Dartmouth for year, but left college to ship as a sailor. In 1776 he joined Capt. James Cook's last expe...

Lewis, Wyndham

(Encyclopedia)Lewis, Wyndham (Percy Wyndham Lewis) wĭnˈdəm [key], 1886–1957, English author and painter, born on a ship on the Bay of Fundy. With Ezra Pound, he was cofounder and editor of Blast (1914–15), a...

Bainimarama, Frank

(Encyclopedia)Bainimarama, Frank (Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama) jōsäēˈä vôrĕnˈgĕ bīˌnēmäräˈmä [key] 1954–, Fijian naval officer and government leader. He rose through the ranks of the Royal Fijian Na...

Adams, Will

(Encyclopedia)Adams, Will (William Adams), 1564?–1620, first Englishman to visit Japan. As pilot of a Dutch ship searching for gold and trade, he reached Japan in 1600. At first imprisoned and sentenced to death,...

Whittington, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Whittington, Richard, 1358–1423, English merchant and lord mayor of London. He made his fortune as a mercer and then entered London politics to become successively councilman, alderman, sheriff, and...

shuffleboard

(Encyclopedia)shuffleboard, sport in which players use cue sticks to push disks onto a scoring diagram at either end of a concrete or terrazzo court. The court is 52 ft (15.85 m) long and 6 ft (1.83 m) wide. The ba...

Allston, Washington

(Encyclopedia)Allston, Washington ôlˈstən [key], 1779–1843, American painter and author, b. Georgetown co., S.C. After graduating from Harvard (1800), where he composed music and wrote poetry (published in 181...

iceberg

(Encyclopedia)iceberg, mass of ice that has become detached, or calved, from the edge of an ice sheet or glacier and is floating on the ocean. Because ice is slightly less dense than water about one ninth of the to...

Hennepin, Louis

(Encyclopedia)Hennepin, Louis hĕnˈəpĭn [key], 1640–1701?, French cleric and explorer in North America. A Franciscan Recollect friar, Hennepin came to Canada in 1675, meeting on the journey La Salle, who made ...