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boric acid

(Encyclopedia)boric acid, any one of the three chemical compounds, orthoboric (or boracic) acid, metaboric acid, and tetraboric (or pyroboric) acid; the term often refers simply to orthoboric acid. The acids may be...

Bishop, Elizabeth

(Encyclopedia)Bishop, Elizabeth, 1911–79, American poet, b. Worcester, Mass., grad. Vassar, 1934. During the 1950s and 60s she lived in Brazil, eventually returning to her native New England, where she taught at ...

breakfast cereal

(Encyclopedia)breakfast cereal, a food made from grain, commonly eaten in the morning. The oldest type of cereal, known as porridge or gruel, requires cooking in water or milk. The modern breakfast cereals, however...

El Niño–Southern Oscillation

(Encyclopedia)El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) ĕl nēnˈyō [key], large-scale climatic fluctuation of the tropical Pacific Ocean and the overlying atmosphere. The El Niño [Span.,=the child] is the South Am...

Butler, Benjamin Franklin, 1818–93, American politician and Union general in the Civil War

(Encyclopedia)Butler, Benjamin Franklin, 1818–93, American politician and Union general in the Civil War, b. Deerfield, N.H. He moved to Lowell, Mass., as a youth and later practiced law there and in Boston. He w...

Mediterranean Sea

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Mediterranean Sea [Lat.,=in the midst of lands], the world's largest inland sea, c.965,000 sq mi (2,499,350 sq km), surrounded by Europe, Asia, and Africa. Some of the most ancient civilizat...

Cleopatra

(Encyclopedia)Cleopatra klēəpăˈtrə, –pāˈ–, –päˈ– [key], 69 b.c.–30 b.c., queen of Egypt, one of the great romantic heroines of all time. Her name was widely used in the Ptolemaic family; she was ...

William III, king of England, Scotland, and Ireland

(Encyclopedia)William III, 1650–1702, king of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1689–1702); son of William II, prince of Orange, stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, and of Mary, oldest daughte...

Nebraska

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Nebraska nəbrăsˈkə [key], Great Plains state of the central United States. It is bordered by Iowa and Missouri, across the Missouri River (E), Kansas (S), Colorado (SW), Wyoming (NW), and S...

Labrador-Ungava

(Encyclopedia)Labrador-Ungava lăbˈrədôrˌ-əngāˈvə, –əngävˈə [key], peninsular region of E Canada, c.550,000 sq mi (1,424,500 sq km), bounded on the W by Hudson Bay, on the N by Hudson Strait and Ungav...