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Widener, Harry Elkins

(Encyclopedia)Widener, Harry Elkins wīdˈnər [key], 1885–1912, American bibliophile, b. Philadelphia. He had the greatest Robert Louis Stevenson collection in existence. Widener died at the age of 27 on the Tit...

muscular dystrophy

(Encyclopedia)muscular dystrophy dĭsˈtrōfē [key], any of several inherited diseases characterized by progressive wasting of the skeletal muscles. There are five main forms of the disease. They are classified ac...

craquelure

(Encyclopedia)craquelure krăklo͝orˈ [key], hairline surface cracking of paintings into characteristic patterns determined by age, climatic conditions, and the materials used in the work. Cracking was so common i...

Fitzsimmons, Robert L.

(Encyclopedia)Fitzsimmons, Robert L., 1863–1918, British boxer, b. Cornwall, England. Fitzsimmons began fighting professionally in Australia and New Zealand before going to the United States in 1890. He won the w...

Mswati III

(Encyclopedia)Mswati III, 1968–, king of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland). Given the title of Prince Makhosetive at an early age, he was crowned king in 1986, following a regency after his father, King Sobhuza II, d...

Krochmal, Nachman

(Encyclopedia)Krochmal, Nachman näkhˈmän krôkhˈmäl [key], 1785–1840, Jewish secular historian and writer, b. Galicia. He was a leader in the movement of the Jewish enlightenment and a pioneer of modern Jewi...

Boulder, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Boulder, city (2020 pop. 330,758), seat of Boulder co., N central Colo.; inc. 1871. A Rocky Mountain resort and a suburb of Denver, it is the seat of th...

Teasdale, Sara

(Encyclopedia)Teasdale, Sara tēzˈdāl [key], 1884–1933, American poet, b. St. Louis. She wrote several volumes of delicate and highly personal lyrics, including Helen of Troy and Other Poems (1911), Rivers to t...

Widsith

(Encyclopedia)Widsith wĭdˈsĭth [key], 7th-century Anglo-Saxon poem found in the Exeter Book. It is an account of the wanderings of a Germanic minstrel and of the legends he relates. The poem gives an excellent d...

Pickett, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Pickett, Joseph, 1848–1918, American primitive painter, b. New Hope, Pa., where he lived all his life. He worked as a carpenter, canal-boat builder, and grocer. At about age 65, Pickett turned to pa...