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Dunkirk, town, France

(Encyclopedia)Dunkirk dŭnˈkûrk [key], Fr. Dunkerque, town, Nord dept., N France, on the North Sea. It is...

Connery, Sean

(Encyclopedia) Connery, Sean, 1930-2020, Scottish film actor, b. Edinburgh, Scotland. Connery joined the Royal Navy in 1946, serving for three years until he was dis...

Shalmaneser I

(Encyclopedia)Shalmaneser I shălmənēˈzər [key], d. 1290 b.c., king of Assyria. He restored the temple at Assur, established a royal residence at Nineveh, and removed the capital from Assur to Calah, c.18 mi (2...

Porter, George, Baron Porter of Luddenham

(Encyclopedia)Porter, George, Baron Porter of Luddenham, 1920–2002, British chemist, b. Stainforth, England, grad. Leeds Univ., Ph.D. Cambridge, 1949. After serving as a radar officer during World War II, he did ...

palm

(Encyclopedia)palm, common name for members of the Palmae, a large family of chiefly tropical trees, shrubs, and vines. Most species are treelike, characterized by a crown of compound leaves, called fronds, termina...

Ormerod, Eleanor Anne

(Encyclopedia)Ormerod, Eleanor Anne ôrˈmərŏd [key], 1828–1901, English economic entomologist. She aided the Royal Horticultural Society in forming a collection of insect farm pests and was awarded the Flora m...

Lusignan

(Encyclopedia)Lusignan lüzēnyäNˈ [key], French noble family. The name is derived from a castle in Poitou, built, according to legend, by Mélusine. The family was powerful in the Middle Ages and ruled (13th–1...

Bo Xilai

(Encyclopedia)Bo Xilai, 1949–, Chinese political leader. The son of Bo Yibo, a Communist revolutionary leader, he joined the Communist party in 1980. Bo studied history at Peking Univ. and earned (1982) a master'...

flycatcher

(Encyclopedia)flycatcher, common name for various members of the Old World family Muscicapidae, insectivorous songbirds including the kingbirds, phoebes, and pewees. Flycatchers vary in color from drab to brilliant...

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