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Hollar, Václav

(Encyclopedia)Hollar, Václav or Wenzel vätsˈläf, vĕnˈtsəl hôlˈər [key], 1607–77, Bohemian etcher. He studied with Merian and after a period in Strasbourg and Cologne, he settled in England, working for ...

amnesty

(Encyclopedia)amnesty ămˈnəstē [key], in law, exemption from prosecution for criminal action. It signifies forgiveness and the forgetting of past actions. Amnesties are usually extended to a group of persons du...

Gasquet, Francis Aidan

(Encyclopedia)Gasquet, Francis Aidan găsˈkĭt [key], 1846–1929, English prelate and scholar, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, a Benedictine. In historical studies of English religious and social life in t...

Jay, William

(Encyclopedia)Jay, William, 1789–1858, American jurist and reformer, b. New York City; son of John Jay. For most of the period from 1818 to 1843 he served as judge of the county court of Westchester co., N.Y. An ...

Mufaddaliyat

(Encyclopedia)Mufaddaliyat mō– [key], great Arabic anthology compiled by the celebrated philologist Al Mufaddal ad-Dabbi (d. c.775). It contains 126 poems, some complete odes, others fragmentary. They are all of...

Molech

(Encyclopedia)Molech mōˈlŏk [key], Canaanite god of fire to whom children were offered in sacrifice; he is also known as an Assyrian god. He is attested as early as the 3d millennium b.c., although most known re...

Naumburg

(Encyclopedia)Naumburg än dər zäˈlə [key], city (1994 pop. 29,846), Saxony-Anhalt, E central Germany, on the Saale River. Manufactures of this industrial city include machine tools, processed food, textiles, a...

Ogata Kenzan

(Encyclopedia)Ogata Kenzan ōgäˈtä kĕnˈzän [key] 1663–1743, Japanese potter and painter; younger brother of Ogata Korin. A follower of the Rimpa school, he set up kilns for the production of ceramics in the...

nuclear winter

(Encyclopedia)nuclear winter, theory holding that the smoke and dust produced by a large nuclear war would result in a prolonged period of cold on the earth. The earliest version of the theory, which was put forwar...

ornament, in music

(Encyclopedia)ornament, in music, notes added to a melodic line for the purpose of embellishment or decoration, often called graces. Ornamentation was practiced as early as the Middle Ages by the singers of plainso...