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commonwealth

(Encyclopedia)commonwealth, form of administration signifying government by the common consent of the people. To Locke and Hobbes and other 17th-century writers the term meant an organized political community simil...

game laws

(Encyclopedia)game laws, restrictions on the hunting or capture of wild game, whether bird, beast, or fish. After the Norman Conquest (1066), England enacted stringent game laws, known as the Forest Laws, which mad...

basalt

(Encyclopedia)basalt bəsôltˈ, băsˈôlt [key], fine-grained rock of volcanic origin, dark gray, dark green, brown, reddish, or black in color. Basalt is an igneous rock, i.e., one that has congealed from a molt...

figwort

(Encyclopedia) CE5 Figwort, Scrophularia lanceolata figwort, common name for some members of the Scrophulariaceae, a family comprising chiefly herbs and small shrubs and distributed widely over all continents. T...

Tripolitan War

(Encyclopedia)Tripolitan War trĭpŏlˈĭtən [key], 1800–1815, conflict between the United States and the Barbary States. Piracy had become a normal source of income in the N African Barbary States long before t...

atlas, in geography

(Encyclopedia)atlas, in geography, collection of maps or charts. It usually includes data on various features of a country, e.g., its topography, natural resources, climate, and population, as well as its agricultu...

antipodes, in geography

(Encyclopedia)antipodes [Gr.,=having feet opposite], people or places diametrically opposite on the globe. Thus antipodes must be separated by half the circumference of the earth (180°), and one must be as far nor...

school vouchers

(Encyclopedia)school vouchers, government grants aimed at improving education for the children of low-income families by providing school tuition that can be used at public or private schools. The idea behind schoo...

Four-H

(Encyclopedia)Four-H or 4-H, organization for boys and girls, generally from 8 to 18 years of age; some states offer programs for younger children, and there are also collegiate programs. 4-H teaches young people l...
 

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