(Encyclopedia) AlcestisAlcestisălsĕsˈtĭs [key], in Greek mythology, daughter of Pelias. She was won in marriage by Admetus, who fulfilled her father's condition that her suitor come for her in a…
(Encyclopedia) charleston, social dance of the United States popular in the mid-1920s. The charleston is characterized by outward heel kicks combined with an up-and-down movement achieved by bending…
(Encyclopedia) fauvismfauvismfōˈvĭzəm [key] [Fr. fauve=wild beast], name derisively hurled at and cheerfully adopted by a group of French painters, including Matisse, Rouault, Derain, Vlaminck,…
(Encyclopedia) Rocky Mountain spotted fever, infectious disease caused by a rickettsia. The bacterium is harbored by wild rodents and other animals and is carried by infected ticks of several species…
(Encyclopedia) soapberry, common name for the plant family Sapindaceae, a primarily tropical family of trees, shrubs, lianas, and herbaceous climbers, as well as a genus, Sapindus, in that family…
(Encyclopedia) phlox, common name for plants of the genus Phlox and for members of the Polemoniaceae, a family of herbs (and some shrubs and vines) found chiefly in the W United States. The family…
(Encyclopedia) tigernut, nearly cosmopolitan perennial (Cyperus esculentum) of the family Cyperaceae (sedge family) of the same genus as the papyrus plant. The tigernut has been cultivated since…
(Encyclopedia) Töpffer, RodolpheTöpffer, Rodolpherôdôlfˈ töpˈfər [key], 1799–1846, Swiss artist and writer, b. Geneva. Often called the father of the comic strip (or the graphic novel), he wanted to…
(Encyclopedia) Queen Anne's lace or wild carrot, herb (Daucus carota) of the family Umbelliferae (carrot family), native to the Old World but naturalized and often weedy throughout North America.…
(Encyclopedia) Benét, William Rose, 1886–1950, American poet and editor, b. Brooklyn, grad. Yale, 1907; brother of Stephen Vincent Benét. He was associated as editor or assistant editor with the…
