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Vitus, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Vitus, Saint vīˈtəs [key], 4th cent.?, Sicilian martyr. Vitus is invoked against diseases including epilipsy, nervous disorders, and St. Vitus' Dance (Sydenham's chorea). He is one of the Fourteen ...

week

(Encyclopedia)week, period of time shorter than the month, commonly seven days. The ancient Egyptians used a 10-day period, as did the French under the short-lived French Revolutionary calendar. In many regions a f...

circumpolar star

(Encyclopedia)circumpolar star, star whose diurnal circle lies completely above or completely below an observer's horizon. A star whose diurnal circle lies above the horizon never sets, even though it cannot be see...

Israëls, Jozef

(Encyclopedia)Israëls, Jozef yōˈzəf ēsˈräĕls [key], 1824–1911, Dutch genre painter. In Amsterdam he painted somber and moving scenes from the life of the Dutch fishermen and peasantry, for which he soon b...

Galli-Curci, Amelita

(Encyclopedia)Galli-Curci, Amelita ämālēˈtä gälˈlē-ko͞orˈchē [key], 1889–1963, Italian coloratura soprano. She studied piano at the Milan Conservatory and meanwhile trained her own voice. From the time...

Sorokin, Vladimir Georgevich

(Encyclopedia)Sorokin, Vladimir Georgevich, 1955–, Russian writer. Trained as an engineer, he turned to Moscow's underground writing world in the 1980s. His iconoclastic work was banned by the Soviets; his first ...

shamrock

(Encyclopedia)shamrock, a plant with leaves composed of three leaflets. According to legend it was used by St. Patrick in explaining the doctrine of the Trinity; it is now used as the emblem of Ireland. An artifici...

Nestor, Russian chronicler

(Encyclopedia)Nestor nĕsˈtər [key], d. 1115?, Russian chronicler. A monk in a Kiev monastery, he wrote a life of saints Boris and Gleb and of the prior of his monastery St. Feodosi. Until recently the authorship...

Marabouts

(Encyclopedia)Marabouts mârˈəbo͞ots [key] [Arab.,=devotee hermit], members of a Muslim religious and military community, precursors of the Almoravids. They spread from NW Africa into Spain in the 11th and 12th ...

Santería

(Encyclopedia)Santería sănˌtərēˈə, sänˌ– [key], religion originating in W Africa, developed by Yoruba slaves in Cuba, and practiced by an estimated one million people in the United States. Blending Afric...