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Giacosa, Giuseppe

(Encyclopedia)Giacosa, Giuseppe jo͞ozĕpˈpā jäkôˈzä [key], 1847–1906, Italian dramatic poet. After Una partita a scacchi [a game of chess] (1873) won him his first success, he devoted himself to playwritin...

Compton-Burnett, Dame Ivy

(Encyclopedia)Compton-Burnett, Dame Ivy kŏmˈtən-bûrˈnət [key], 1892–1969, English novelist. Educated at the Univ. of London, she lived quietly in London for most of her life. She was named a Dame Commander ...

Cumberland, William Augustus, duke of

(Encyclopedia)Cumberland, William Augustus, duke of, 1721–65, British general; third son of George II. Entering the army shortly before the outbreak (1740) of the War of the Austrian Succession, he was defeated b...

Abdul-Mahdi, Adel

(Encyclopedia)Abdul-Mahdi, Adel, 1942–, Iraqi political leader. Born into a prominent Shiite family, he joined the Ba'ath party in the early 1960s, then left the party and went into self-exile in France in 1969. ...

Ezekiel

(Encyclopedia)Ezekiel ēzēˈkēĕl [key], prophetic book of the Bible. The book is a collection of oracles emanating from the career of the priest Ezekiel, who preached to Jews of the Babylonian captivity from 593...

Schulberg, Budd

(Encyclopedia)Schulberg, Budd (Budd Wilson Schulberg), 1914–2009, American writer, b. New York City, grad. Dartmouth (1936). Because his father was an executive at Paramount Studios, Schulberg could observe the c...

Rockingham, Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2d marquess of

(Encyclopedia)Rockingham, Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2d marquess of rŏkˈĭng-əm [key], 1730–82, British statesman. In the early years of the reign of George III he became a leading opponent of the “king's fri...

Beeckman, Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Beeckman, Isaac bākˈmən [key], 1588–1637, Dutch physicist. An early proponent of mathematical reasoning and experimental verification in natural philosophy, he contributed to the modern conceptio...

nutcracker

(Encyclopedia)nutcracker, common name for a small crow of the genus Nucifraga in the family Corvidae (crow family). The Old World nutcracker (N. caryocatactes) is found throughout the colder regions of Europe, incl...

Williams, Jody

(Encyclopedia)Williams, Jody, 1950–, American social activist, b. Putney, Vt., grad. Univ. of Vermont (B.A., 1972), School for International Training, Brattleboro, Vt. (M.A., 1976), Johns Hopkins (M.A., 1984). Af...