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Mayno, Juan Bautista

(Encyclopedia)Mayno or Maino, Juan Bautista hwän boutēsˈtä mīˈnō [key], 1578–1649, Spanish painter. He entered the Dominican order in Toledo, where he is thought to have studied with El Greco. He was drawi...

Kit-Cat Club

(Encyclopedia)Kit-Cat Club, London political and literary club, active c.1700–1720. The membership of some four dozen included leading Whig politicians and London's best young writers. Among them were Charles Sey...

Kiwanis International

(Encyclopedia)Kiwanis International kĭwäˈnĭs [key], community service organization of active and retired business and professional people, founded in 1915 at Detroit, Mich. Local Kiwanis clubs now exist in more...

Francesca da Rimini

(Encyclopedia)Francesca da Rimini fränchĕsˈkä dä rēˈmēnē [key], fl. 13th cent., Italian beauty, daughter of Guido da Polenta of Ravenna. She was married by proxy to the hunchbacked lord of Rimini, Gianciot...

Delaney, Shelagh

(Encyclopedia)Delaney, Shelagh shēˈlə [key], 1939–, English playwright, b. Salford, Lancashire. Her first play, written when she was only 17, was A Taste of Honey (1958), about a young working-class girl who r...

Roscius, Quintus

(Encyclopedia)Roscius, Quintus kwĭnˈtəs rŏshˈəs [key], c.126 b.c.–62 b.c., Roman actor. Born a slave at Solonium, he became the greatest comic actor of his time. From the dictator Sulla, Roscius received th...

sampler

(Encyclopedia)sampler, sample piece of needlework or embroidery, of silk, cotton, or worsted, for the preservation of some pattern or as an example of the ability of a child or a beginner. In museums and private co...

Ramsgate

(Encyclopedia)Ramsgate rămzˈgĭt [key], town (1991 pop. 36,678), in the Isle of Thanet, Kent, SE England. Ramsgate is a resort and yachting harbor. The town began as a fishing settlement, and extensive trade with...

Peter II, czar of Russia

(Encyclopedia)Peter II, 1715–30, czar of Russia (1727–30). A grandson of Peter I and the son of the czarevich Alexis, he succeeded on the death of Catherine I. He was too young to rule, but he willingly lent hi...

Stamp, Josiah Charles, 1st Baron Stamp of Shortlands

(Encyclopedia)Stamp, Josiah Charles, 1st Baron Stamp of Shortlands, 1880–1941, English economist and financier. Active in many national and international economic commissions, he had an important part in the fram...