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Mishna

(Encyclopedia)Mishna mĭshˈnə [key], in Judaism, codified collection of Oral Law—legal interpretations of portions of the biblical books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy and other legal material. ...

Dickinson, Emily

(Encyclopedia)Dickinson, Emily, 1830–86, American poet, b. Amherst, Mass. She is widely considered one of the greatest poets in American literature. Her unique, gemlike lyrics are distillations of profound feelin...

Blair, Tony

(Encyclopedia)Blair, Tony (Anthony Charles Lynton Blair), 1953–, British politician, b. Edinburgh. An Oxford-educated lawyer, he was first elected to Parliament in 1983 as the Labour party candidate from a distri...

Kingsolver, Barbara

(Encyclopedia)Kingsolver, Barbara, 1955–, American writer, b. Annapolis, Md., B.S. DePauw Univ., 1977, M.S. Univ. of Arizona, 1981. She studied biology and ecology and was a science writer before completing The B...

americium

(Encyclopedia)americium ămərĭˈshēəm [key], artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Am; at. no. 95; mass no. of most stable isotope 243; m.p. about 1,175℃; b.p. about 2,600℃; sp. gr. 13....

Cowell, Henry Dixon

(Encyclopedia)Cowell, Henry Dixon kouˈəl [key], 1897–1965, American composer and pianist, b. Menlo Park, Calif., largely self-educated, studied musicology in Berlin (1931–32). Cowell experimented with new mus...

Turks and Caicos Islands

(Encyclopedia)Turks and Caicos Islands kīˈkōs [key], dependency of Great Britain (2015 est. pop. 34,000), 166 sq mi (430 sq km), West Indies. There are more than 30 cays and islands, of which eight are inhabited...

Valladolid

(Encyclopedia)Valladolid välyäᵺōlēᵺˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 333,680), capital of Valladolid prov. and the administrative center of Castile and León, N central Spain, at the confluence of the Pisuerga and ...

Jeremiah, book of the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Jeremiah a book of the Bible, comprising a collection of prophetic oracles attributed to Jeremiah, a prophet who preached (c.628–586 b.c.) in Jerusalem under King Josiah and his successors. His mess...

Haile Selassie

(Encyclopedia)Haile Selassie hīˈlē səlăsˈē, –läˈsē [key], [Amharic,=power of the Trinity], 1892–1975, emperor of Ethiopia (1930–74). He was born Tafari Makonnen, the son of a noted general and the g...