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Montferrat

(Encyclopedia)Montferrat mŏntfərătˈ, –rätˈ [key], Ital. Monferrato, historic region of Piedmont, NW Italy, south of the Po River, now mostly in Alessandria prov. It is largely hilly, and wine, fruit, and ce...

Saxe-Meiningen

(Encyclopedia)Saxe-Meiningen săks-mīnˈĭng-ən [key], Ger. Sachsen-Meiningen, former duchy, Thuringia, central Germany. The capital was Meiningen. A possession of the Ernestine branch of the house of Wettin, it ...

moa

(Encyclopedia)moa mōˈə [key] [Maori], common name for an extinct flightless bird of New Zealand related to the kiwi, the emu, the cassowary, and the ostrich. The various species ranged in size from that of a tur...

Prometheus, in Greek mythology

(Encyclopedia)Prometheus prōmēˈthēəs [key], in Greek mythology, great benefactor of mankind. He was the son of the Titan Iapetus and of Clymene or Themis. Because he foresaw the defeat of the Titans by the Oly...

mammoth

(Encyclopedia)mammoth, name for several large prehistoric relatives (genus Mammuthus) of modern elephants which ranged over Eurasia and North America in the Pleistocene epoch. The shoulder height of the Siberian, o...

kagu

(Encyclopedia)kagu käˈgo͞o [key], common name for a long-legged, heronlike bird, Rhynochetos jubatus. It has a loose, gray plumage with darker bandings; broad, rounded wings marked with white, black, and red; an...

Bernhard, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Bernhard, Thomas, 1931–89, Austrian novelist and playwright. A literary descendent of Kafka and Beckett, Bernhard wrote dense, intensely pessimistic and provocative works. Typically, his novels are ...

dinosaur

(Encyclopedia)dinosaur dīˈnəsôr [key] [Gr., = terrible lizard], extinct land reptile of the Mesozoic era. The dinosaurs, which were egg-laying animals, ranged in length from 21⁄2 ft (91 cm) to about 127 f...

solenodon

(Encyclopedia)solenodon sōlēˈnədŏn [key], venomous insectivorous mammal, genus Solenodon, found in the West Indies. Related to moles and shrews, the solenodon resembles a rat with an elongated snout and coarse...

nirvana

(Encyclopedia)nirvana nērväˈnə [key], in Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism, a state of supreme liberation and bliss, contrasted to samsara or bondage in the repeating cycle of death and rebirth. The word in Sansk...