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harp seal

(Encyclopedia)harp seal, crested earless, or true, seal, Phoca groenlandica, found in the N Atlantic around Greenland and the White Sea. In the spring, harp seals migrate southward to assemble in large groups to br...

nonsporting dog

(Encyclopedia)nonsporting dog, classification used by breeders and kennel clubs to designate dogs that may formerly have been bred to hunt or work but that are now raised chiefly as house pets and companions. The f...

Arden, John

(Encyclopedia)Arden, John ärˈdən [key], 1930–2012, English playwright and novelist best known for his politically engaged work of the 1950s and 60s, a period during which he was considered one of Britain's maj...

Verga, Giovanni

(Encyclopedia)Verga, Giovanni jōvänˈnē vĕrˈgä [key], 1840–1922, Italian novelist, b. Sicily. He abandoned the study of law for literature and wrote several novels of passion in the style of the French real...

Saro-Wiwa, Ken

(Encyclopedia)Saro-Wiwa, Ken (Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa) säˈrō-wēˈwä [key], 1941–95, Nigerian writer and environmental activist, b. Rivers state, grad. Univ. of Ibadan, 1965. He was a government administrator...

half-timber house

(Encyclopedia)half-timber house, type of construction of the Middle Ages in N Europe, used chiefly for dwellings. Some French examples date from the 12th cent., and by the 13th cent. the building method had reached...

Harlan, John Marshall, 1899–1971, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court

(Encyclopedia)Harlan, John Marshall, 1899–1971, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1955–71), b. Chicago; grandson of John Marshall Harlan. He received his law degree from New York Law School and was a...

Gaines, Edmund Pendleton

(Encyclopedia)Gaines, Edmund Pendleton, 1777–1849, U.S. army officer, b. Culpeper co., Va.; brother of George Strother Gaines. He spent his boyhood in Tennessee and at the age of 22 joined the U.S. army. He surve...

Lowell, Francis Cabot

(Encyclopedia)Lowell, Francis Cabot, 1775–1817, pioneer American cotton manufacturer, b. Newburyport, Mass.; son of John Lowell (1743–1802). A merchant in Boston, he traveled (1810) to England, where he studied...

Caruso, Enrico

(Encyclopedia)Caruso, Enrico kəro͞oˈsō, Ital. änrēˈkō käro͞oˈzō [key], 1873–1921, Italian operatic tenor, b. Naples. The natural beauty, range, and power of his voice made him one of the greatest sing...