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fan tan

(Encyclopedia)fan tan, card game for three to eight players using a regular deck. All cards are dealt after each player antes (pays) one chip into a pool. Play rotates to the left and if a player cannot play a card...

Smith, Seba

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Seba, 1792–1868, American humorist, b. Buckfield, Maine. He founded the Portland Courier in 1829 and in it began (1830) a series of humorous letters on politics under the pen name Major Jack ...

Basilides

(Encyclopedia)Basilides bəsĭlˈĭdēz [key], fl. 120–145, Gnostic teacher of Alexandria. He wrote Exegitica (his personal gospel with 24 books of commentary) and poems. He claimed to possess a secret tradition ...

saprophyte

(Encyclopedia)saprophyte săpˈrəfītˌ [key], any plant that depends on dead plant or animal tissue for a source of nutrition and metabolic energy, e.g., most fungi (molds) and a few flowering plants, such as Ind...

Genscher, Hans Dietrich

(Encyclopedia)Genscher, Hans Dietrich hänsˈ dēˈtrĭk gĕnˈshər [key], 1927–2016, German political leader. A lawyer and Liberal party member in East Germany, he left the East in 1952, joining the Free Democr...

Oñate, Juan de

(Encyclopedia)Oñate, Juan de hwän dā ōnyäˈtā [key], fl. 1595–1614, Spanish explorer in the American Southwest, possibly b. New Spain. In 1598 he led an expedition north from New Spain, took possession of N...

Montreux Jazz Festival

(Encyclopedia)Montreux Jazz Festival, international music festival held in Montreux, Switzerland, founded in 1967 by Chuck Nobs. Held annually for two weeks in July, it began as a purely jazz event and has evolved ...

Merodach-baladan

(Encyclopedia)Merodach-baladan mĕrˈōdăk-bălˈədăn [key], fl. 722–702 b.c., Chaldaean prince, who usurped (721) the Babylonian throne. Sargon of Assyria put down the allies of Merodach-baladan in Syria and ...

Horatius

(Encyclopedia)Horatius (Horatius Cocles) hōrāˈshəs, hə– [key], legendary Roman hero. With two companions he held Lars Porsena's Etruscan army at bay while the Romans cut down the Sublician Bridge (connecting...

Hardin, John Wesley

(Encyclopedia)Hardin, John Wesley, 1853–95, American desperado, b. Bonham, Tex. In the lawless violence of the frontier the boy early became a gambler and a gunman, but was able by his shooting skill and the help...