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kratom

(Encyclopedia)kratom, drug obtained from the leaves of the tropical evergreen tree Mitragyna speciosa, also called kratom, a relative of the coffee tree found in Southeast Asia. The leaves are chewed, boiled for a ...

Salair Ridge

(Encyclopedia)Salair Ridge sələērˈ [key], range, c.200 mi (320 km) long, E Siberian Russia. Extending along the northern border of the Altai Territory, it rises to more than 2,000 ft (610 m) and forms the weste...

Shaoguan

(Encyclopedia)Shaoguan kükˈgôngˈ [key], city (1994 est. pop. 403,900), N Guangdong prov., SE China, on the Bei (North) River and the Guangzhou-Wuhan RR. It is a trade center with coal and tungsten mining, a lea...

silverpoint

(Encyclopedia)silverpoint, method of drawing whereby a silver-tipped instrument is dragged across paper prepared with ground bone dust and gum water and then tinted with a pigment. The procedure results in drawings...

thallium

(Encyclopedia)thallium thălˈēəm [key], metallic chemical element; symbol Tl; at. no. 81; interval in which at. wt. ranges 204.382–204.385; m.p. 303.5℃; b.p. about 1,457℃; sp. gr. 11.85 at 20℃; valence +...

Ferguson

(Encyclopedia)Ferguson, city (2020 pop. 20,359), St. Louis co., E Mo., a suburb of St. Louis; inc. 1894. It is primarily residential. In Aug. 2014, the shooting of an...

hunchback

(Encyclopedia)hunchback, abnormal outward curvature of the spine in the thoracic region. It is also known as kyphosis and humpback, and in its severe form a noticeable hump is evident on the back. Hunchback may be ...

Groppi, James

(Encyclopedia)Groppi, James, 1931–85, American Roman Catholic cleric and political activist, b. Milwaukee. Groppi, who grew up in the Milwaukee slums, attended St. Francis' Seminary and was ordained in 1960. In 1...

Katowice

(Encyclopedia)Katowice kätôvēˈtsĕ [key], Ger. Kattowitz, city (1993 est. pop. 366,200), capital of Śląskie prov., S Poland. One of the chief mining and industrial centers of Poland, it has industries produci...

León, city, Mexico

(Encyclopedia)León, city (1990 pop. 758,270), Guanajuato state, central Mexico. It is located in a fertile river valley c.5,600 ft (1,700 m) high, but with a mild, temperate climate. Frequent floods, which in 1888...