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dormouse

(Encyclopedia)dormouse, name for Old World nocturnal rodents of the family Gliridae. There are many dormouse species, classified in several genera. Many resemble small squirrels. Dormice sleep deeply during the day...

date

(Encyclopedia)date, name for a palm (Phoenix dactylifera) and for its edible fruit. Probably native to Arabia and North Africa, it has from earliest times been a principal food in many desert and tropical regions. ...

Faiyum, El

(Encyclopedia)Faiyum, El fīyo͞omˈ [key], region, coextensive with El Faiyum governorate, N Egypt, W of the Nile River, a depression (entirely below sea level) in the Libyan (or Western) Desert. It is an irrigat...

Fazzan

(Encyclopedia)Fazzan fĕz– [key], historic region, SW Libya. Marzuq, Sabhha, Brak, and Zawilah, all situated in oases in the Sahara Desert, are the chief settlements. The population is largely Arab, with Berber a...

Antonioni, Michelangelo

(Encyclopedia)Antonioni, Michelangelo mëkālänˈjālō äntōnyôˈnē [key], 1912–2007, Italian film director and scriptwriter, b. Ferrara, Italy. In the 1940s he made documentaries that contributed to the dev...

Freeport, cities, United States

(Encyclopedia)Freeport. 1 City (2020 pop. 23,973), seat of Stephenson co., NW Ill., on the Pecatonica River; inc. 1850. It is a trade and manufacturing center in a ...

growing season

(Encyclopedia)growing season, period during which plant growth takes place. In temperate climates the growing season is limited by seasonal changes in temperature and is defined as the period between the last killi...

Amu Darya

(Encyclopedia)Amu Darya or Amudarya both: ämo͞oˈ däryäˈ, äˈmo͞o därˈyə [key], river, c.1,600 mi (2,580 km) long, formed by the junction of the Vakhsh and Pandj rivers, which rise in the Pamir Mts. of ce...

Galilee, Sea of

(Encyclopedia)Galilee, Sea of, Lake Tiberias kĭnˈərĕtˌ [key], lake, 64 sq mi (166 sq km), 14 mi (23 km) long, and 3 to 7 mi (4.8–11.3 km) wide, NE Israel; its surface is c.700 ft (210 m) below sea level. Th...

Juárez

(Encyclopedia)Juárez, officially Heroica Ciudad Juárez, city (1990 pop. 789,522) Chihuahua state, N Mexico, on the Rio Grande opposite El Paso, Tex. Connected with the United States by three international bridges...