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graybird ... Great Fish River
graybird
any of numerous cuckoo-shrikes of the genus Coracina. See cuckoo-shrike.
Grayling
city, seat (1879) of Crawford county, north-central Michigan, U.S. It is located on the Au Sable River, one of the most-celebrated trout streams in the Midwest, some 50 miles (80 km) east of Traverse City. Named for the once-plentiful grayling, the city was settled in 1874 and developed first as ...
grayling
(Thymallus), any of several troutlike game fishes, family Salmonidae, found in cold, clear streams of Eurasia and northern North America. Graylings are handsome, silvery-purple fishes, which reach a length of about 40 cm (16 inches). They have rather large scales, large eyes, a small mouth with feeble teeth, and a ...
graysby
species of sea bass (q.v.).
Graz
city, capital of Bundesland (federal state) Steiermark, southeastern Austria. The country's second largest city, it lies on the Mur River between the Styrian Alps and a wide, fertile basin, the Grazerfeld, about 95 miles (155 km) south-southwest of Vienna. In the 9th century there was probably a fortress on the ...
Graziani, Rodolfo, marquess di Neghelli
Italian field marshal, administrator, and adherent of Benito Mussolini.
Graziano, Rocky
American boxer and world middleweight champion (1947-48).
Grazzini, Anton Francesco
Italian poet, playwright, and storyteller who was active in the linguistic and literary controversies of his day.
grease
thick, oily lubricant consisting of inedible lard, the rendered fat of waste animal parts, or a petroleum-derived or synthetic oil containing a thickening agent.
greasewood
(species Sarcobatus vermiculatus), North American weedy shrub of the Sarcobataceae family. Greasewood is a characteristic plant of strongly alkaline and saline soils in the desert plains of western North America. It is a much-branched, somewhat spiny shrub, up to 3 metres (10 feet) high. The small, fleshy, toothless leaves lack ...
Great Alfold
a flat, fertile lowland, southeastern Hungary, also extending into eastern Croatia, northern Serbia, and western Romania. Its area is 40,000 square miles (100,000 square km), about half in Hungary. In its natural state the Great Alfold is a steppeland broken up with floodplain groves and swamps-a southwestern projection of the ...
Great Appalachian Valley
longitudinal chain of valley lowlands of the Appalachian mountain system of North America. Extending from Canada on the northeast to Alabama, U.S., on the southwest, it includes the St. Lawrence River valley in Canada and the Kittatinny, Cumberland, Shenandoah, and Tennessee river valleys in the United States. In its southerly ...
Great Artesian Basin
one of the largest areas of artesian water in the world, underlying about one-fifth of Australia. It includes most of the Darling and Lake Eyre catchments and extends northward to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Most of its approximately 670,000 square miles (1,735,000 square km) underlie Queensland, with smaller segments extending ...
Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, Inc.
German-owned food distribution company that operates supermarket chains in the United States and Canada. Headquarters are in Montvale, New Jersey.
Great Attractor
proposed concentration of mass that influences the movement of many galaxies, including the Milky Way. In 1986 a group of astronomers observing the motions of the Milky Way and neighbouring galaxies noted that the galaxies were moving toward the Hydra-Centaurus superclusters in the southern sky with velocities significantly different from ...
great auk
flightless seabird extinct since 1844. Great auks belonged to the family Alcidae (order Charadriiformes). They bred in colonies on rocky islands off North Atlantic coasts (St. Kilda, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Funk Island off Newfoundland); subfossil remains have been found as far south as Florida, Spain, and Italy.
Great Australian Bight
wide embayment of the Indian Ocean, indenting Australia's southern coast. By definition of the International Hydrographic Bureau it extends eastward from West Cape Howe, Western Australia, to South West Cape, Tasmania. The more generally accepted boundaries are from Cape Pasley, Western Australia, to Cape Carnot, South Australia-a distance of 720 ...
Great Awakening
religious revival in the British American colonies mainly between about 1720 and the '40s. It was a part of the religious ferment that swept western Europe in the latter part of the 17th century and early 18th century, referred to as Pietism and Quietism in continental Europe among Protestants and ...
Great Bahama Bank
large shoal off The Bahamas, separated from Little Bahama Bank (north) by Northwest Providence Channel. Its shallow waters extend southeast from Miami, across the Straits of Florida, in a broad curve about 330 miles (530 km) long, between Cuba and Andros Island. The edge of the bank drops off precipitously ...
Great Bahama Canyon
submarine canyon in the Atlantic Ocean off the Bahamas, one of the greatest yet discovered. It lies northeast of the Great Bahama Bank, between Great Abaco and Eleuthera islands. Two main branches, the Tongue of the Ocean and Northwest Providence, merge to form the canyon itself. The vertical rock walls ...
Great Barrier Island
island marking the northeastern corner of Hauraki Gulf, eastern North Island, New Zealand. Separated from the Coromandel Peninsula (south) by Colville Channel, it is the largest island off North Island, with a total land area of 110 square miles (285 square km). Its mountainous surface rises to volcanic Mount Hobson ...
Great Barrier Reef
complex of coral reefs, shoals, and islets in the Pacific Ocean off the northeastern coast of Australia. It extends in roughly a northwest-southeast direction for more than 1,250 miles (2,000 km), at an offshore distance ranging from 10 to 100 miles (16 to 160 km), and has an area of ...
Great Barrington
town (township), Berkshire county, southwestern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies along the Housatonic River, in the Berkshire Hills, 19 miles (31 km) south of Pittsfield, and includes the communities of Great Barrington and Housatonic. Settled in 1726, the site was set off from Sheffield and incorporated in 1761. It was probably ...
Great Basin
distinctive natural feature of western North America that is equally divided into rugged, north-south-trending mountain blocks and broad intervening valleys. It covers an arid expanse of about 190,000 square miles (492,000 square km) and is bordered by the Sierra Nevada range on the west, the Wasatch Mountains on the east, ...
Great Basin Indian
member of any of the indigenous North American peoples inhabiting the traditional culture area comprising almost all of the present-day states of Utah and Nevada as well as substantial portions of Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado and smaller portions of Arizona, Montana, and California. Great Basin topography includes many small ...
Great Basin National Park
scenic region in eastern Nevada, U.S., just west of Baker and about 40 miles (65 km) southeast of Ely. The area, previously part of Humboldt National Forest, was made into a national park in 1986. It has an area of 121 square miles (313 square km).
Great Bear Lake
lake, in northern Fort Smith region and southeastern Inuvik region, Northwest Territories, Canada, lying astride the Arctic Circle. It was discovered before 1800 by North West Company traders and later named for the bears that inhabited its shores. Irregular in shape and containing many small islands, Great Bear Lake is ...
Great Belt
strait between the Danish islands of Funen (Fyn) and Langeland (west) and Zealand (Sjaelland) and Lolland (east). It is about 40 miles (64 km) long and connects the Baltic Sea with the Kattegat (an arm of the North Sea between Jutland [Denmark] and Sweden).
Great Bend
city, seat (1872) of Barton county, central Kansas, U.S. Great Bend lies on the Arkansas River where the High Plains begin to shade into tallgrass prairie. Situated in the alleged locality of the mythical city of Quivira sought by Francisco Coronado in the 16th century, the site was visited by ...
Great Blizzard of 1888
winter storm that pummeled the Atlantic coast of the United States, from the Chesapeake Bay to Maine, in March 1888. The blizzard caused more than $20 million in property damage in New York City alone and killed more than 400 people, including about 100 seamen, across the eastern seaboard.
Great Britain
island lying off the western coast of Europe and consisting of England, Scotland, and Wales (qq.v.). The term is often used as a synonym for the United Kingdom (q.v.), which also includes Northern Ireland (q.v.) and a number of offshore islands.
Great Britain
first Atlantic ocean liner that was built of iron and had screw propulsion. It was the world's largest ship at the time of its launching (1843) and was 322 feet (98 m) long with a tonnage of 3,270. Designed by the British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel originally as a paddle ...
Great Chain of Being
conception of the nature of the universe that had a pervasive influence on Western thought, particularly through the ancient Greek Neoplatonists and derivative philosophies during the European Renaissance and the 17th and early 18th centuries. The term denotes three general features of the universe: plenitude, continuity, and gradation. The principle ...
great circle route
the shortest course between two points on the surface of a sphere. It lies in a plane that intersects the sphere's centre and was known by mathematicians before the time of Columbus. Until the 19th century ships generally sailed along rhumb lines, which made use of prevailing winds and fixed ...
Great Dane
breed of working dog developed at least 400 years ago in Germany, where it was used for boar hunting. The Great Dane is typically a swift, alert dog noted for courage, friendliness, and dependability. It has a massive, square-jawed head and body lines that give it an elegant appearance. Its ...
Great Depression
worldwide economic downturn that began in 1929 and lasted until about 1939. It was the longest and most severe depression ever experienced by the industrialized Western world, sparking fundamental changes in economic institutions, macroeconomic policy, and economic theory. Although it originated in the United States, the Great Depression caused drastic ...
Great Dictator, The
American comedy film, released in 1940, that Charlie Chaplin both acted in and directed. Satirizing Adolf Hitler and Nazism and condemning anti-Semitism, it was Chaplin's most successful film at the box office.
Great Dionysia
ancient dramatic festival in which tragedy, comedy, and satyric drama originated; it was held in Athens in March in honour of Dionysus, the god of wine. Tragedy of some form, probably chiefly the chanting of choral lyrics, was introduced by the tyrant Peisistratus when he refounded the festival (534/531 BC), ...
Great Dismal Swamp
marshy region on the Coastal Plain of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, U.S., between Norfolk, Virginia, and Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It is densely forested and contains scattered natural elevations of 10 to 20 feet (3 to 6 metres) above sea level. Along the western margin the Pamlico Formation ...
Great Dividing Range
main watershed of eastern Australia; it comprises a series of plateaus and low mountain ranges roughly paralleling the coasts of Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria for 2,300 miles (3,700 km). Geologically and topographically complex, the range begins in the north on Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. Within that state the ...
Great Drought
climatic interval of the Holocene Epoch that affected much of what is now the western United States and had a profound influence upon the plants, animals, and prehistoric Native American cultures of the region. The Holocene began about 11,700 years ago and continues to the present. The region affected by ...
Great Dyke
narrow series of long, low ridges and hills in Zimbabwe, trending for about 320 miles (515 km). Consisting of four igneous complexes, they increase in height northward to about 1,500 feet (460 m) above the plateau surface in the Umvukwe Range, west of Harare (formerly Salisbury), the Zimbabwean capital. Minerals ...
Great Eastern
steamship considered to be the prototype of the modern ocean liner. Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and John Scott Russell for the Eastern Navigation Company to carry cargo and passengers between England and India, it was the largest ship in the world at the time of its launching (1858), displacing ...
Great Escape, The
American war film, released in 1963, that was loosely based on the true story of an ambitious escape by Allied prisoners of war during World War II. Widely considered a classic, the movie was especially known for the direction by John Sturges and for a cast that included Steve McQueen ...
Great Escarpment
plateau edge of southern Africa that separates the region's highland interior plateau from the fairly narrow coastal strip. It lies predominantly within the Republic of South Africa and Lesotho but extends northeastward into eastern Zimbabwe (where it separates much of that country from Mozambique) and northwestward into Namibia and Angola ...
Great Expectations
British dramatic film, released in 1946, that was based on the Charles Dickens novel of the same name.
Great Expectations
novel by Charles Dickens, first published serially in All the Year Round in 1860-61 and issued in book form in 1861. The novel was one of its author's greatest critical and popular successes.
Great Falls
city, seat (1887) of Cascade county, west-central Montana, U.S. It lies along the Missouri River, near the falls (96 feet [29 metres] high) for which it was named. In 1805 the explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark observed the falls and nearby Giant Springs, one of the world's largest freshwater ...
Great Fear
(1789) in the French Revolution, a period of panic and riot by peasants and others amid rumours of an "aristocratic conspiracy" by the king and the privileged to overthrow the Third Estate. The gathering of troops around Paris provoked insurrection, and on July 14 the Parisian rabble seized the Bastille. ...
Great Fire of London
(September 2-5, 1666), the worst fire in London's history. It destroyed a large part of the City of London, including most of the civic buildings, old St. Paul's Cathedral, 87 parish churches, and about 13,000 houses.
Great Fish River
river in the Cape Midlands, Eastern province, southern South Africa. The Great Fish River has a length of 430 miles (692 km) and a drainage area of 11,900 square miles (30,800 square km). Its main northern tributary, the Great Brak River, rises in 7,000-foot- (2,100-metre-) high mountains 30 miles (48 ...