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Office of Price Administration

(Encyclopedia)Office of Price Administration (OPA), U.S. federal agency in World War II, established to prevent wartime inflation. The OPA issued (Apr., 1942) a general maximum-price regulation that made prices cha...

madroño

(Encyclopedia)madroño mədrōnˈyə [key], tree or shrub (Arbutus menziesii) of the family Ericaceae (heath family), native to the Pacific coast of North America and Mexico. It has glossy evergreen leaves, white f...

Lunt, Alfred, and Lynn Fontanne

(Encyclopedia)Lunt, Alfred, 1893–1977, b. Milwaukee, and Lynn Fontanne fŏntănˈ [key], 1887?–1983, b. Essex, England, American acting couple. Lunt made his debut in Boston (1913), toured in vaudeville, and wo...

king snake

(Encyclopedia)king snake, name for a number of species of the genus Lampropeltis, nonvenomous, egg-laying, constricting snakes of North America which show much variation in color and markings. The common king snake...

kinkajou

(Encyclopedia)kinkajou kĭngˈkəjo͞oˌ [key], nocturnal, arboreal mammal, Potos flavus, found from Mexico to Brazil and related to the raccoon. It has a long, slender body with soft, short, woolly hair of any of ...

land tax

(Encyclopedia)land tax, impost levied upon real property. It is sometimes called a real estate tax, especially when assessed against both improved and unimproved land. Probably the earliest direct tax and formerly ...

roe deer

(Encyclopedia)roe deer, small, short-horned deer, Capreolus capreolus, of Britain and Europe and as far east as China and Siberia. Its coat is golden red in summer, darkening to brown or even black in winter, with ...

Ward, John Quincy Adams

(Encyclopedia)Ward, John Quincy Adams, 1830–1910, American sculptor, b. Urbana, Ohio. He was trained under H. K. Brown, whom he assisted in the execution of the equestrian statue of George Washington in New York ...

bittern

(Encyclopedia)bittern, common name for migratory marsh birds of the family Ardeidae (heron family). The American bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus), often called “stake driver” because of a territorial male's boom...

Spokan

(Encyclopedia)Spokan or Spokane both: spōkănˈ [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Salishan branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In the early...

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