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conceit

(Encyclopedia)conceit, in literature, fanciful or unusual image in which apparently dissimilar things are shown to have a relationship. The Elizabethan poets were fond of Petrarchan conceits, which were conventiona...

Holland House

(Encyclopedia)Holland House, residence of the Holland family in Kensington, London, made famous in the first 40 years of the 19th cent. by the hospitality of Henry Fox, 3d Baron Holland, and his wife. Built in 1606...

glee

(Encyclopedia)glee, in music, an unaccompanied song for three or more solo voices in harmony. The word glee [Anglo-Saxon, gligge or gliw=music] has been associated with vocal music from the time of the medieval gle...

Gibeon

(Encyclopedia)Gibeon gĭbˈēən [key], ancient town, 5 mi (8 km) NNW of Jerusalem. The Book of Joshua relates that its inhabitants established a treaty with the invading Israelites, resulting in their servitude to...

Merab

(Encyclopedia)Merab mĭrˈăb [key], in the Bible, daughter of Saul and husband of Adriel. In Second Samuel, the sons of Adriel are, depending on the translation, either born to or brought up by Michal, Saul's youn...

Uncle Sam

(Encyclopedia)Uncle Sam, name used to designate the U.S. government. The origins of the term are unclear. The term was believed to have arisen in the War of 1812, when it seems to have been used at first derisively...

Richelieu

(Encyclopedia)Richelieu rĭshˈəlo͞o [key], river, c.75 mi (120 km) long, issuing from the north end of Lake Champlain, near the N.Y.–Que. border, and flowing N across S Que. to the St. Lawrence River at Sorel....

zoology

(Encyclopedia)zoology, branch of biology concerned with the study of animal life. From earliest times animals have been vitally important to man; cave art demonstrates the practical and mystical significance animal...

Shawnee, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Shawnee shôˈwənō [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). Their earliest known hom...

Hurt, John

(Encyclopedia)Hurt, John (Sir John Vincent Hurt), 1940–2017, English actor, b. Chesterfield, Derbyshire, grad. Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (1962). Known for his sympathetic portrayal of unusual, often unappeali...