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ice skating

(Encyclopedia)ice skating, gliding along an ice surface on keellike runners known as ice skates. The earliest skates (c.9th cent.), made of bone, were found in Sweden. Wooden skates with iron facings appeared in ...

Bennington College

(Encyclopedia)Bennington College, at Bennington, Vt.; coeducational (originally for women); chartered 1925, opened 1932. Its curriculum is based on individual interests and needs. All students are required to devot...

gay-rights movement

(Encyclopedia)gay-rights movement, organized efforts to end the criminalization of homosexuality and protect the civil rights of homosexuals. While there was some organized activity on behalf of the rights of homos...

Taylor, Elizabeth, Anglo-American film actress

(Encyclopedia)Taylor, Elizabeth, 1932–2011, Anglo-American film actress, b. London. Regarded as one of the world's most beautiful women, Taylor went from child star and typical teenager roles to a series of ladyl...

Grisons

(Encyclopedia)Grisons grēsŏnzˈ, Fr. grēzôNˈ [key], Ger. Graubünden, Ital. Grigioni, Romansch Gri...

amendment

(Encyclopedia)amendment, in law, alteration of the provisions of a legal document. The term usually refers to the alteration of a statute or a constitution, but it is also applied in parliamentary law to proposed c...

Brandes, Georg Morris Cohen

(Encyclopedia)Brandes, Georg Morris Cohen bränˈ dəs [key], 1842–1927, Danish literary critic. His influence brought the wide currents of contemporary European thought to Danish and other Scandinavian literatur...

temperance movements

(Encyclopedia)temperance movements, organized efforts to induce people to abstain—partially or completely—from alcoholic beverages. Such movements occurred in ancient times, but ceased until the wide use of dis...

Hanaford, Phoebe Ann (Coffin)

(Encyclopedia)Hanaford, Phoebe Ann (Coffin) hănˈəfərd [key], 1829–1921, American Universalist minister. She was the first woman ordained (1868) in New England. Hanaford was the author of fiction, history, and...

Kuwait

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Kuwait or Kowait ko͝owātˈ [key], officially State of Kuwait, constitutional emirate (2015 est. pop. 3,936,000), 6,177 sq mi (16,000 sq km), NE Arabian peninsula, at the head of the Persian G...