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Kashi

(Encyclopedia)Kashi käshˈgär [key], city (1994 est. pop. 190,500), SW Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China, on the Kaxgar (Kashgar) River (a tributary of the Tarim). It is the hub of an important commercial d...

vinegar

(Encyclopedia)vinegar, sour liquid consisting mainly of acetic acid and water, produced by the action of bacteria on dilute solutions of ethyl alcohol derived from previous yeast fermentation. The coloring and flav...

Valentinus

(Encyclopedia)Valentinus văləntēˈnəs [key], fl. c.135–c.160, founder of the Valentinians, the most celebrated of the Gnostic sects (see Gnosticism) of the 2d cent. The little that is known of his life is fou...

vampire bat

(Encyclopedia)vampire bat, name for the blood-drinking bats of the family Desmodontidae, found in the New World tropics. Vampire bats feed exclusively on the blood of living animals and are thus the only true paras...

South Island

(Encyclopedia)South Island or Te Waipounamu [Maori,=the waters of greenstone] (1996 pop. 900,114), 58,093 sq mi (150,461 sq km), New Zealand. It is the larger but less populous of the two principal islands of the c...

Somerset, county, England

(Encyclopedia)Somerset, county (1991 pop. 459,100), 1,333 sq mi (3,453 sq km), SW England, on the Bristol Channel. The county seat is Taunton. The terrain is generally low and flat in the center (the location of th...

bonobo

(Encyclopedia)bonobo, smaller of two species of chimpanzee, genus Pan. Whereas the common chimpanzee, P. troglodytes, lives in forests across most of equatorial Africa, the bonobo, P. paniscus (sometimes called the...

yucca

(Encyclopedia)yucca yŭkˈə [key], any plant of the genus Yucca, stiff-leaved stemless or treelike succulents of the family Liliaceae (lily family), native chiefly to the tablelands of Mexico and the American Sout...

Adjarian Autonomous Republic

(Encyclopedia)Adjarian Autonomous Republic or Ajarian Autonomous Republic əjärˌĭstänˈ, əjärˈĭstănˌ [key], autonomous region, c.1,160 sq mi (3,000 sq km), SW Georgia...

Shanxi

(Encyclopedia)Shanxi or Shansi shänˈshēˈ [key], province (2010 pop. 35,712,111), c.60,000 sq mi (155,400 sq km), NE China. The capital is Taiyuan. It is bounded on the west and the south by the Huang He (Yellow...