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squill

(Encyclopedia)squill, common name for two genera of Old World bulbous plants of the family Liliaceae (lily family). The horticulturists' squill is any plant of the genus Scilla, mostly spring-blooming low herbs wit...

Grateful Dead, The

(Encyclopedia)Grateful Dead, The, American rock music group formed in 1965 by guitarists Jerry Garcia, 1942–95, and Bob Weir, 1947–, harmonica player Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, 1945–73, bassist Phil Lesh, 194...

fault

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Types of faults fault, in geology, fracture in the earth's crust in which the rock on one side of the fracture has measurable movement in relation to the rock on the other side. Faults on othe...

Anderson, Margaret C.

(Encyclopedia)Anderson, Margaret C., 1886–1973, American author, editor, and publisher, b. Indianapolis, Ind. As editor and publisher of The Little Review (1914–29), one of the most famous of the American littl...

Ferrar, Nicholas

(Encyclopedia)Ferrar, Nicholas fĕrˈər [key], 1592–1637, English theologian. He was associated (1618–23) with the Virginia Company and, with his brother John, played a notable role in its affairs. He retired ...

Stead, Christina

(Encyclopedia)Stead, Christina, 1902–83, Australian novelist, b. Rockdale, New South Wales. She worked in the United States in the 1940s, emigrated to England in 1953, then returned to Australia in 1974. Her nove...

McCay, Winsor

(Encyclopedia)McCay, Winsor, b. 1867 or 1869, d. 1934, American newspaper cartoonist and film animator, b. Canada or Spring Lake, Mich. McCay began painting signs and posters in Chicago, later drawing and writing f...

botanical garden

(Encyclopedia)botanical garden, public place in which plants are grown both for display and for scientific study. An arboretum is a botanical garden devoted chiefly to the growing of woody plants. The plants in bot...

mole, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)mole, in zoology, common name for the small, burrowing, insectivorous mammals of the family Talpidae, found throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere. Moles are trapped as pests, although they prob...

Emigrant Aid Company

(Encyclopedia)Emigrant Aid Company, organization formed in 1854 to promote organized antislavery immigration to the Kansas territory from the Northeast. Eli Thayer conceived the plan as early as Feb., 1854, even be...