(Encyclopedia) brownie, in Celtic folklore, household spirit associated with farmsteads. Brownies help with chores, but, if criticized, they will make mischief, such as spoiling crops. If payment…
(Encyclopedia) diminishing returns, law of, in economics, law stating that if one factor of production is increased while the others remain constant, the overall returns will relatively decrease…
(Encyclopedia) wages, payment received by an employee in exchange for labor. It may be in goods or services but is customarily in money. The term in a broad sense refers to what is received in any…
(Encyclopedia) leprechaunleprechaunlĕpˈrəkŏn [key], Irish fairy represented as a tiny old man. Leprechauns are mischievous and elusive creatures, said to possess buried crocks of gold, the location…
(Encyclopedia) Romeoville, village (1990 pop. 14,074), Will co., NE Ill., on the Des Plaines River, with access to the Illinois and Mississippi Canal and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal; inc.…
(Encyclopedia) dower, that portion of a deceased husband's real property that a widow is legally entitled to use during her lifetime to support herself and their children. A wife may claim the dower…
(Encyclopedia) ThessaloniansThessaloniansthĕsˌəlōˈnēənz [key], two letters of the New Testament. First Thessalonians was written by St. Paul from Corinth, c.a.d. 51, and addressed to the newly…
(Encyclopedia) carpe diemcarpe diemkärˈpĕ dēˈĕm [key], a descriptive term for literature that urges readers to live for the moment [from the Latin phrase “seize the day,” used by Horace]. The theme,…
(Encyclopedia) cargo cult, native religious movement found in Melanesia and New Guinea, holding that at the millennium the spirits of the dead will return and bring with them cargoes of modern goods…
