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McKean, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)McKean, Thomas məkānˈ, –kēnˈ [key], 1734–1817, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. New London, Pa. He settled at New Castle, Del., and b...

Randolph, Edmund

(Encyclopedia)Randolph, Edmund, 1753–1813, American statesman, b. Williamsburg, Va.; nephew of Peyton Randolph. He studied law under his father, John Randolph, a Loyalist who went to England at the outbreak of th...

Schuyler, Philip John

(Encyclopedia)Schuyler, Philip John skīˈlər [key], 1733–1804, American Revolutionary general, b. Albany, N.Y. He was a member of one of the wealthiest colonial New York families. After serving in the French an...

Lofoten and Vesterålen

(Encyclopedia)Lofoten vĕstˈərôlən [key], two contiguous island groups (1995 est. pop. 56,700), Nordland and Troms counties, NW Norway, in the Norwegian Sea. Situated within the Arctic Circle, the islands exten...

Daughters of the American Revolution

(Encyclopedia)Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), a Colonial patriotic society in the United States, open to women having one or more ancestors who aided the cause of the Revolution. The society was organiz...

chinook, warm, dry air mass

(Encyclopedia)chinook, warm, dry air mass that descends the eastern slopes of the U.S. and Canadian Rocky Mts. after having lost moisture by condensation over the western slopes. Chinooks occur mainly in winter. Th...

Sogn og Fjordane

(Encyclopedia)Sogn og Fjordane sôngˈnə ô fyôrˈdänə [key], county (1995 pop. 107,612), c.7,150 sq mi (18,500 sq km), W Norway, bordering on the Atlantic Ocean in the west. Hermansverk is the capital. The cou...

Wolcott, Oliver, signer of the Declaration of Independence

(Encyclopedia)Wolcott, Oliver, 1726–97, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. South Windsor (then in Windsor), Conn.; son of Roger Wolcott. He fought in King G...

island

(Encyclopedia)island, relatively small body of land surrounded entirely by water. (As the oceans form a continuous mass of water on the earth's surface, all continents are islands in the strict sense of the word.) ...

Mosley, Sir Oswald Ernald

(Encyclopedia)Mosley, Sir Oswald Ernald mōzˈlē [key], 1896–1980, British fascist leader. He entered (1918) Parliament as a Conservative, became (1922) an independent, and then joined (1924) the Labour party. H...