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Adams, John Quincy

(Encyclopedia)Adams, John Quincy, 1767–1848, 6th President of the United States (1825–29), b. Quincy (then in Braintree), Mass.; son of John Adams and Abigail Adams and father of Charles Francis Adams (1807–8...

composition, in ancient and medieval law

(Encyclopedia)composition, in ancient and medieval law, a sum of money paid by a guilty party as satisfaction to the family of the person who was injured or killed. Failure to make the payment might justify retalia...

heraldry

(Encyclopedia)heraldry, system in which inherited symbols, or devices, called charges are displayed on a shield, or escutcheon, for the purpose of identifying individuals or families. In the Middle Ages the herald,...

Hermitage, museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

(Encyclopedia)Hermitage ĕrˌmētäzhˈ [key], museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, one of the world's foremost houses of art, consisting of six buildings along the embankment of the Neva River. Its central building, ...

Kadare, Ismail

(Encyclopedia)Kadare, Ismail ēsmäēlˈ kädärĕˈ [key], 1936–, Albanian novelist and poet, widely regarded as his country's most important contemporary writer, b. Gjirokastër, studied Univ. of Tiranë, Gorky...

National Gallery of Art

(Encyclopedia)National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, established by an act of Congress, 1937. Andrew W. Mellon donated funds for construction of the building as well...

parent and child

(Encyclopedia)parent and child, legal relationship, created by biological (birth) relationship or by adoption, that confers certain rights and duties on parent and child; in some states the courts have given the no...

Marietta

(Encyclopedia)Marietta mârēĕtˈə [key]. 1 City (1990 pop. 44,129), seat of Cobb co., NW Ga.; inc. 1834. The principal manufactures of this suburb of Atlanta are related to aircraft production. At the foot of Ke...

central bank

(Encyclopedia)central bank, financial institution designed to regulate and control the money supply of a nation, with the goal of fostering economic growth without inflation. Although central banking systems have v...