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playing cards

(Encyclopedia)playing cards, parts of a set or deck, used in playing various games of chance or skill. The origin of playing cards is unknown, and almost as many theories exist as there are historians of the subjec...

British Library

(Encyclopedia)British Library, national library of Great Britain, located in London; one of the world's great libraries. Long a part of the British Museum, the library collection originated in 1753 when the governm...

Jessore

(Encyclopedia)Jessore jĕsōrˈ [key], city (1991 pop. 154,000), SW Bangladesh, on the Bhairab River. Modern Jessore, a market town for rice and sugar, also has rice and oilseed mills and celluloid and plastics ind...

Lérins

(Encyclopedia)Lérins lārăNsˈ [key], group of four small islands, Alpes-Maritimes dept., SE France, in the Mediterranean Sea SE of Cannes. Sainte-Marguerite is the largest island. On Saint-Honorat is the oldest ...

Longfellow, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Longfellow, Samuel, 1819–92, American clergyman and hymn writer, b. Portland, Maine; brother and biographer of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He was a Unitarian pastor in Fall River, Mass., Brooklyn, N...

Jannequin, Clément

(Encyclopedia)Jannequin, Clément klāmäNˈ zhänəkăNˈ [key], c.1485–1558, French composer, famous for his descriptive four-part chansons about birds, battles, hunts, and other subjects. He also composed mote...

ukulele

(Encyclopedia)ukulele yo͞okəlāˈlē [key], Hawaiian musical instrument developed from the Portuguese guitar. It has a fretted fingerboard and four strings that are plucked or strummed. Patented in 1917, the ukul...

Otto, Nikolaus August

(Encyclopedia)Otto, Nikolaus August nēˈkōlous ouˈgo͝ost ôˈtō [key], 1832–91, German engineer. He was coinventor (1867) of an internal-combustion engine, and he devised (1876) the four-stroke Otto cycle, w...

Bennett, Sir William Sterndale

(Encyclopedia)Bennett, Sir William Sterndale, 1816–75, English musician. Bennett was a friend of Mendelssohn and Schumann, both of whom influenced his work. Besides composing, he was active as a pianist and condu...

Berwald, Franz

(Encyclopedia)Berwald, Franz fränts bĕrˈväld [key], 1796–1868, Swedish composer. His music, which is highly original in its use of rhythm, harmony, and orchestration, had little popular success. Best known fo...