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carpet beetle

(Encyclopedia)carpet beetle, name for several beetles that are highly destructive to carpets and upholstery and are classified in the same family as the larder beetles. Adult beetles of this family are pollen eater...

Catawba, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Catawba kətôˈbə [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). They have for centuries occupied a r...

Stone, Lucy

(Encyclopedia)Stone, Lucy, 1818–93, reformer and leader in the women's rights movement, b. near West Brookfield, Mass., grad. Oberlin, 1847. In 1847 she gave her first lecture on women's rights, and the following...

talc

(Encyclopedia)talc, mineral ranging in color from white through various shades of gray and green to the red and brown of impure specimens, translucent to opaque, and having a greasy, soapy feel. It is a hydrous sil...

tamarind

(Encyclopedia)tamarind tămˈərĭnd [key], tropical ornamental evergreen tree (Tamarindus indica) of the family Leguminosae (pulse family), native to Africa and probably to Asia, but now widely grown in the tropic...

sparrow

(Encyclopedia)sparrow, common name of various small brown-and-gray perching birds. New World birds called sparrows are members of the finch family. They were named for their resemblance to the English sparrow and t...

bunting

(Encyclopedia)bunting, common name for small, plump birds of the family Fringillidae (finch family). Among the American buntings are the indigo bunting, in which the summer plumage of the male reflects sunlight as ...

cavy

(Encyclopedia)cavy kāˈvē [key], name for 14 species of South American rodents of the family Caviidae, including the domestic guinea pig. The wild cavies are usually small, rounded, and tailless, with fur of a un...

Briggs, Charles Augustus

(Encyclopedia)Briggs, Charles Augustus, 1841–1913, American clergyman, theologian, and educator, b. New York City, studied at the Univ. of Virginia, Union Theological Seminary, and the Univ. of Berlin. From 1875 ...

caracal

(Encyclopedia)caracal kărˈəkəl [key] or Persian lynx, mammal of the family Felidae (cat family), native to Asia and Africa. The caracal, Caracal caracal, is reddish brown with black-tufted ears. Its total lengt...