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shearwater

(Encyclopedia)shearwater, common name for members of the family Procellariidae, gull-like sea birds related to the petrel and the albatross and including the fulmar. Shearwaters are found on unfrozen saltwaters all...

Cheyenne, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Cheyenne shīănˈ, –ĕnˈ [key], indigenous people of North America whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). The ...

Mexico, country, North America

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Mexico both: māˈhēkō [key], officially United Mexican States, republic (2015 est. pop. 125,891,000), 753,665 sq mi (1,952,500 sq km), S North America. It borders on the United States in the...

Strategic Defense Initiative

(Encyclopedia)Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), former U.S. government program responsible for research and development of a space-based system to defend the nation from attack by strategic ballistic missiles (se...

Gambia, river, Africa

(Encyclopedia)Gambia, river, c.700 mi (1,130 km) long, rising on the Fouta Djallon, N Guinea, W Africa, and flowing generally northwest through SE Senegal then west, bisecting The Gambia, to the Atlantic Ocean at B...

periwinkle, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)periwinkle, any of a group of marine gastropod mollusks having conical, spiral shells. Periwinkles feed on algae and seaweed. They are found at the water's edge; out of water, they resist drying by cl...

Blackbeard

(Encyclopedia)Blackbeard, d. 1718, English pirate. His name was probably Edward Teach, Thatch, or Thach. He probably began as a privateer in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14), then turned pirate. In 171...

foreign aid

(Encyclopedia)foreign aid, economic, military, technical, and financial assistance given on an international, and usually intergovernmental level. U.S. foreign aid programs have included at least three different ob...

Ungava Bay

(Encyclopedia)Ungava Bay ŭngˌgäˈvə, –gāˈ– [key], inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, N Que., Canada, extending c.200 mi (320 km) S from Hudson Strait between the N Quebec mainland and the north tip of the Labra...

Northern Cape

(Encyclopedia)Northern Cape, province (2011 pop. 1,145,861), 144,015 sq mi (372,889 sq km), NW South Africa. In 1994, under South Africa's post-apartheid constitution, Northern Cape was created from the northern po...