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Carter Family

(Encyclopedia)Carter Family, group of singers that specialized in traditional music of the Southern Appalachian Mountains; it consisted of A(lvin) P(leasant) Carter, 1891–1960, b. Maces Spring, Va.; his wife, Sar...

Colombo Plan

(Encyclopedia)Colombo Plan, international economic organization created in a cooperative attempt to strengthen the economic and social development of the nations of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Officially the Co...

Abraj Al-Bait

(Encyclopedia)Abraj Al-Bait, complex of seven government-owned, mixed-use buildings in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The most impressive structure, the Makkah Royal Clock Tower, is the tallest building in Saudi Arabia, at 1...

Mandalay

(Encyclopedia)Mandalay mănˌdəlāˈ, mănˈdəlāˌ [key], city (1983 pop. 532,895), capital of Mandalay region, central Myanmar, on the Ayeyarwady River. The second largest city in Myanmar, it is the terminus of...

Hancock, Herbie

(Encyclopedia) Hancock, Herbie (Herbert Jeffrey Hancock), 1940- , American jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader, b. Chicago, Il., Grinnell College (B.S.E., 1960, H...

pentameter

(Encyclopedia)pentameter pĕntămˈətər [key] [Gr.,=measure of five], in prosody, a line to be scanned in five feet (see versification). The third line of Thomas Nashe's “Spring” is in pentameter: “Cold dot...

Amana Church Society

(Encyclopedia)Amana Church Society əmănˈə [key], corporate name of a group of seven small villages in E central Iowa, clustered around the Iowa River NW of Iowa City; settled 1855 by members of the Ebenezer Soc...

Jeux Floraux, Académie des

(Encyclopedia)Jeux Floraux, Académie des äkädāmēˈ dā jö flôrōˈ [key] [Fr.,=academy of floral games], one of the oldest known literary societies. It was founded (c.1323) at Toulouse, France, by seven trou...

Savarkar, Vinayak Damodar

(Encyclopedia)Savarkar, Vinayak Damodar vĭnäˈyək däˈmōdär səvärˈkər [key], 1883–1966, Indian nationalist. Educated in Pune, he was militantly anti-British and anti-Muslim. He founded a terrorist organ...

Minos

(Encyclopedia)Minos mīˈnŏs, –nəs [key], in Greek mythology, king of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa. He was the husband of Pasiphaë, who bore him Androgeus, Glaucus, Ariadne, and Phaedra. Because Minos failed ...