| aardvark |
a large mammal with a long snout, long ears, a long tail, and with long fur mostly around its legs. Aardvarks are active at night, when they use their powerful claws to dig open ant or termite nests. They catch their food with their long, sticky tongue. Aardvarks live in southern and central Africa. Although they are sometimes called anteaters, aardvarks are not closely related to any other kind of mammal. |
| albatross |
a very large sea bird found mostly in the Southern Hemisphere. Albatrosses have webbed feet, long narrow wings, and hooked beaks. |
| Algeria |
Algeria is the largest country in Africa. It lies along the shore of a sea called the Mediterranean. Algeria has big cities, beaches, and mountains in the north, but the southern part of Algeria is all desert. It is part of the Sahara Desert, the biggest desert in the world. |
| Alps |
a high mountain range that goes from southern France through Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and Austria and into the countries along the Adriatic Sea down to Albania. |
| antarctic |
(capitalized) the region surrounding the South Pole, including the Southern Ocean and the land mass of Antarctica (preceded by "the"). [1/2 definitions] |
| Antarctic Ocean |
the waters surrounding Antarctica where the southern parts of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans meet; Southern Ocean. |
| Appalachia |
a region in the United States that stretches from southwestern Pennsylvania to northwestern Georgia and includes the southern Appalachian Mountains. |
| Argentina |
a country in southern South America. Buenos Aires is the capital of Argentina. |
| armadillo |
a mammal whose body is protected by hard, bony plates. Armadillos live in Central and South America, and the southern United States. Some kinds of armadillos are only six inches long; other kinds grow up to four feet in length. They eat mostly insects and are related to sloths and anteaters. |
| aurora australis |
bands of light that appear in the skies at night near the South Pole; southern lights. |
| Bangladesh |
a country in central, southern Asia. Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh. |
| bayou |
a stream that moves slowly through a swamp or marsh. Bayous are found in the southern United States. |
| bluegrass |
country music of the southern United States played on instruments that have strings, such as the banjo, fiddle, and mandolin. [1/2 definitions] |
| bobcat |
a wild cat with red-brown fur, tufted ears, and a short tail. Bobcats are about twice the size of a house cat. They are a kind of lynx and live in southern Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Bobcats are carnivorous mammals. |
| Botswana |
a country in central, southern Africa. The capital of Botswana is Gaborone. |
| brier2 |
a shrub of southern Europe. The brier's woody root is used in making tobacco pipes. |
| Chad |
Chad is a country in Africa. It is between Niger and Sudan. The northern part of Chad is in the Sahara desert. The southern part of Chad has plains with lots of grass. Many people in Chad raise cattle or grow peanuts or wheat. Most people in Chad speak Arabic or French. |
| cheetah |
a large, wild cat of Africa and southern Asia that has solid black spots on its fur. Cheetahs have long legs and are the fastest animal on land. Sometimes they are trained for hunting game. |
| Chicago |
a city in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is near the southern tip of Lake Michigan. |
| Chile |
a country in southern South America. Santiago is the capital of Chile. |
| civil war |
(cap.)The U.S. war (1861-1865) between the Northern states (Union) and the Southern states (Confederacy), which was caused by a conflict over the governing rights of individual states and the practice of slavery. [1/2 definitions] |