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soul

(Encyclopedia)soul, the vital, immaterial, life principle, generally conceived as existing within humans and sometimes within all living things, inanimate objects, and the universe as a whole. Religion and philosop...

Hamilton, Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Hamilton, Alexander, 1755–1804, American statesman, b. Nevis, in the West Indies. By 1780 Hamilton had outlined a plan of government with a strong central authority to replace the weak system of t...

Guise

(Encyclopedia)Guise gēz, gwēz [key], influential ducal family of France. Henri's brother Louis de Lorraine, Cardinal de Guise, 1555–88, was killed at the same time as Henri. After their deaths the leadersh...

Edinburgh

(Encyclopedia)Edinburgh ĕdˈĭnbərə [key], city (2021 pop. 542,599) and council area, royal burgh, capital of ...

Eyck, van

(Encyclopedia)Eyck, van văn īk [key], family of Flemish painters, the brothers Hubert van Eyck, c.1370–1426, and Jan van Eyck, c.1390–1441. Of the van Eycks' works that have survived, the largest is an alta...

Marshall Islands

(Encyclopedia)Marshall Islands, officially Republic of the Marshall Islands, independent nation (2015 est. pop. 53,000), in the central Pacific. The Marshalls extend over a 700-mi (1,130-km) area and comprise two m...

laissez-faire

(Encyclopedia)laissez-faire lĕsˌā fârˈ [key] [Fr.,=leave alone], in economics and politics, doctrine that an economic system functions best when there is no interference by government. It is based on the belie...

song

(Encyclopedia)song, relatively brief, simple vocal composition, usually a setting of a poetic text, often strophic, for accompanied solo voice. The song literature of Western music embodies two broad classification...

English art and architecture

(Encyclopedia)English art and architecture, the distinctive national art and architecture that art may be said to have evolved in the 12th cent. with the Norman style. Building before that time was in what is commo...

interest

(Encyclopedia)interest, charge for the use of credit or money, usually figured as a percentage of the principal and computed annually. Simple interest is computed annually on the principal. Compound interest, paid ...