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exile, in politics and government

(Encyclopedia)exile, removal of a national from his or her country, or the civilized parts of it, for a long period of time or for life. Exile may be a forceful expulsion by the government or a voluntary removal by...

Harijans

(Encyclopedia)Harijans hârˈĭjănzˌ [key] [children of God], in India, individuals who are at the bottom of or outside the Hindu caste system. They were traditionally sweepers, washers of clothes, leatherworkers...

Epirus

(Encyclopedia)Epirus ĕpīˈrəs [key], ancient country of Greece, on the Ionian Sea and W of Macedon and Thessaly, a region now occupied by NW Greece and S Albania. At the time of Homer, Epirus was known as the ho...

poker

(Encyclopedia)poker, card game, believed to have originated in Asia and first played in the United States in the 19th cent. A traditional cutthroat gambling game at first, it is now also an internationally popular ...

haiku

(Encyclopedia)haiku hīˈko͞o [key], an unrhymed Japanese poem recording the essence of a moment keenly perceived, in which nature is linked to human nature. It usually consists of 17 jion (Japanese symbol-sounds)...

Cluny

(Encyclopedia)Cluny klo͞oˈnē, Fr. klünēˈ [key], former abbey, E France, in the present Saône-et-Loire dept., founded (910) by St. Berno, a Burgundian monk and reformer. Cluny was one of the chief religious a...

Pentapolis

(Encyclopedia)Pentapolis pĕntăˈpəlĭs [key] [Gr.,=five cities], collective name anciently applied to several groups of five cities. The chief cities of Cyrenaica on the northern coast of Africa (Apollonia, Arsi...

Balakirev, Mili Alekseyevich

(Encyclopedia)Balakirev, Mili Alekseyevich meˈlyĭ əlyĭksyāˈyəvĭch bələkēˈryĕf [key], 1837–1910, Russian composer and conductor, leader of the group called the Five. He founded (1862) the Free School ...

Torah

(Encyclopedia)Torah tôrˈə [key] [Heb.,=teachings or learning], Hebrew name for the five books of Moses—the Law of Moses or the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. The Torah is believed by Orthodox J...

carambola

(Encyclopedia)carambola kărˌəmbōˈlə [key], orange fleshy fruit of Averrhoa carambola, a small shrub in the wood sorrel family (Oxalidaceae). The fruits have five very prominent ridges, and in transverse secti...