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curlew

(Encyclopedia)curlew kûrˈlo͞o [key], common name for large shore birds of both hemispheres, generally brown and buff in color and with decurved bills. There are eight species, belonging to the genus Numenius. Th...

Coleman, William Thaddeus, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Coleman, William Thaddeus, Jr., 1920–2017, African-American lawyer and U.S. cabinet official, b. Philadelphia, grad. Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1941, Harvard Law School, 1946. He clerked for Justice Fra...

Alaska Peninsula

(Encyclopedia)Alaska Peninsula, SW Alaska, extending 500 mi (800 km) SW from the mainland, separating Bristol Bay and the Bering Sea from Cook Inlet, the Shelikof Strait, and Pacific Ocean. The Aleutian Range, runn...

chernozem

(Encyclopedia)chernozem chĕrˈnəzĕmˌ [key] or black earth, variety of soil rich in organic matter in the form of humus. It is generally a modified type of loess. True chernozem is black in color, but there are ...

chalcedony

(Encyclopedia)chalcedony kălsĕdˈənē [key] [from Chalcedon], form of quartz the crystals of which are so minute that its crystalline structure cannot be seen except with the aid of a microscope. Chalcedony has ...

Clinton, George

(Encyclopedia) Clinton, George, 1941- , American singer, songwriter, producer, and bandleader, b. Kannapolis, N.C. Although born in North Carolina, Clinton was ...

ipecac

(Encyclopedia)ipecac ĭpˈĭkăk [key], drug obtained from the dried roots of a creeping shrub, Cephaelis (or Psychotria) ipecacuanha, native to Brazil but cultivated in other tropical climates. There are three var...

Harte, Bret

(Encyclopedia)Harte, Bret (Francis Brett Harte) härt [key], 1836–1902, American writer of short stories and humorous verse, b. Albany, N.Y. At 19 he went to California, where he tried his hand at teaching, clerk...

Goodrich, Leland Matthew

(Encyclopedia)Goodrich, Leland Matthew, 1899–1990, American political scientist, b. Lewiston, Maine, grad. Bowdoin College, 1920, and Harvard (M.A., 1921; Ph.D., 1925). He taught political science at Brown Univ. ...

Jackson, Mahalia

(Encyclopedia)Jackson, Mahalia məhălˈyə [key], 1911–72, American gospel singer, b. New Orleans. She sang in church choirs during her childhood. Moving (1927) to Chicago, she worked at various menial jobs and ...