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Carey, Hugh Leo

(Encyclopedia)Carey, Hugh Leo, 1919–2011, American politician, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. St. John's Univ. (1942), St. John's Univ. School of Law (1951). A liberal Democrat, Carey was elected to Congress in 1960 an...

Wergeland, Henrik

(Encyclopedia)Wergeland, Henrik hĕnˈrĭk vĕrˈgəlän [key], 1808–45, Norwegian writer and patriot. A champion of liberty, democracy, and international cooperation, he worked zealously for popular education an...

schooner

(Encyclopedia)schooner sko͞oˈnər [key], sailing vessel, rigged fore-and-aft, with from two to seven masts. Schooners can lie closer to the wind than square-rigged sailing ships, need a smaller crew, and are very...

Adams, Samuel Hopkins

(Encyclopedia)Adams, Samuel Hopkins, 1871–1958, American author, b. Dunkirk, N.Y., grad. Hamilton College, 1891. He was a reporter for the New York Sun (1891–1900) and then joined McClure's Magazine, where he g...

Sillanpää, Frans Eemil

(Encyclopedia)Sillanpää, Frans Eemil fräns āˈmĭl sĭlˈlänpăˌ [key], 1888–1964, Finnish novelist. As a young man Sillanpää studied natural science at Helsinki and came under the influence of an artisti...

Tijuana

(Encyclopedia)Tijuana tēhwäˈnä [key], city (1990 pop. 698,752), Baja California state, NW Mexico, just south of the U.S. border. It is a gaudy border resort, noted for its racetracks and bullfights. An irrigate...

de Candolle, Augustin Pyrame

(Encyclopedia)de Candolle, Augustin Pyrame də käNdōlˈ [key], 1778–1841, Swiss botanist. Considered the most important Swiss botanist of his era, de Candolle wrote on a wide variety of botanical topics, from m...

Chao K'uang-yin

(Encyclopedia)Chao K'uang-yin jou kwäng-yĭn [key], Chinese emperor (960–79), founder of the Sung dynasty. A leading general during the short-lived Later Chou dynasty (951–60), he usurped the throne, and by th...

Allegheny

(Encyclopedia)Allegheny ălˈəgāˌnē, ălˈəgäˌnē [key], river, 325 mi (523 km) long, rising in N central Pa., and flowing NW into N.Y., then SW through Pa. to the Monongahela, with which it forms the Ohio R...

Miletus

(Encyclopedia)Miletus mīlēˈtəs [key], ancient seaport of W Asia Minor, in Caria, on the mainland not far from Sámos. It was occupied by Greeks in the settlement of the E Aegean (c.1000 b.c.) and became one of ...

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