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Possible definitions for haafs

Haas
U.S. linguist. Born in Richmond, Ind., she studied with E. Sapir at Yale Univ. Her dissertation was on Tunica, a moribund Amer. Indian language, and she continued her fieldwork on and comparative studies of Amer. Indian languages, especially of the SE U.S., incl. Natchez and Muskogean languages, for the rest of her life. She directed the Survey of California Indian Languages while on the UC-Berkeley faculty (1945-77). Her many students have done invaluable descriptive work on languages heading rapidly for extinction.


Haarlem
City (pop., 1995 est.: 148,000), W Netherlands. It lies along the Spaarne River, west of Amsterdam. By the 12th cent. it had become a fortified town and the residence of the counts of Holland. It was chartered in 1245, and incorporated in the United Netherlands in 1577. Its prosperity peaked in the 17th cent., when it was a refuge for Huguenots and also an artistic center. An industrial city now, it is also the center for a tulip-growing region. Sites of interest include the 13th-cent. town hall and the 14th-cent. Great Church.


Hades
Greek god of the underworld. He was also known as Pluto; his Roman equivalent was Dis. Hades was the son of the Titans Rhea and Cronus and the brother of Zeus and Poseidon. His queen was Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, whom he kidnapped from earth and carried off to the underworld. Stern and pitiless, unmoved by prayer or sacrifice, he presided over the trial and punishment of the wicked after death. His name was also sometimes used to designate the dwelling place of the dead, and it later became a synonym for Hell.


hagfish
Any of about 30 species of primitive jawless fishes in two families of the class Agnatha. The Myxinidae are found in every ocean; the Eptatretidae are found everywhere but the N. Atlantic. Hagfishes are eel-like, scaleless, and soft-skinned and have paired thick barbels on the end of the snout. Species grow to 16-32 in. (40-80 cm) long. They have a cartilaginous skeleton. The mouth is a slitlike, sucking opening with horny teeth. Found in cold seawater, to depths of over 4,000 ft (1,200 m), they habitually lie buried in burrows on soft bottoms. They eat invertebrates and dead or crippled fishes, and may bore their way into the bodies of fish caught on lines or in nets and eat the fish from the inside. They secrete extraordinary amounts of slime when handled. See also lamprey.


Haifa
City (pop., 1997 est.: 255,000) and chief port, NW Israel. Located on the Bay of Haifa overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, it is first mentioned in the Talmud (c.1st-4th cent. AD). Conquered in 1100 by the Crusaders, it was taken by Napoleon in 1799, and by Egyptian general Ibrahim Pasha in 1839. Occupied by British forces in 1918, it became part of mandated Palestine. It came under Israeli control in 1948, during the Arab-Israeli War. Situated on the N slopes of Mt. Carmel, with the exception of ...

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