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hornpipe

(Encyclopedia)hornpipe, English folk dance known since the 16th cent., when it obtained its name from the wind instrument that accompanied it. The hornpipes of the 17th and 18th cent. have moderate 3–2 time and 4...

ape

(Encyclopedia)ape, any primate of the superfamily Hominoidea, which includes humans; this article, however, focuses on the nonhuman apes. The small apes, the gibbons and the siamang, and the orangutans, which belon...

stellar populations

(Encyclopedia)stellar populations, two broadly contrasting distributions of star types that are characteristic of different parts of a galaxy. Population I stars are young, recently formed stars, whereas population...

Browne, Thomas Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Browne, Thomas Alexander, pseud. Rolf Boldrewood rōf bôlˈdərwo͝odˌ, rôlf [key], 1826–1915, Australian author. A squatter, a magistrate, and a commissioner in the gold fields, he wrote many bo...

Rhinebeck

(Encyclopedia)Rhinebeck, village (1990 pop. 2,725), Dutchess co., SE N.Y., in the foothills of the Berkshire Mts. near the Hudson River; settled before 1700, inc. 1834. It is the site of Beekman Arms, said to be th...

disarmament, nuclear

(Encyclopedia)disarmament, nuclear, the reduction and limitation of the various nuclear weapons in the military forces of the world's nations. The atomic bombs dropped (1945) on Japan by the United States in World ...

détente

(Encyclopedia)détente, relaxation of tensions between nations, applied particularly to a period of improved relations between the United States and Soviet Union in the 1960s and 70s that resulted as the hostilitie...

Iran-contra affair

(Encyclopedia)Iran-contra affair, in U.S. history, secret arrangement in the 1980s to provide funds to the Nicaraguan contra rebels from profits gained by selling arms to Iran. The Iran-contra affair was the produc...

Faxaflói

(Encyclopedia)Faxaflói fäkˈsäflōˌē [key] or Faxa Bay, inlet, c.40 mi (60 km) long and c.55 mi (90 km) wide, W Iceland, between the Snaefellsnes and Reykjanes peninsulas. Most of Iceland's population live aro...

Anthony of Padua, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Anthony of Padua, Saint, 1195–1231, Portuguese Franciscan, Doctor of the Church, b. Lisbon. He was renowned for his eloquence. According to tradition, in a vision he received the child Jesus in his ...
 

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