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Collins, Anthony

(Encyclopedia)Collins, Anthony, 1676–1729, English theologian; a friend of John Locke. He set forth the position of the deists and defended the cause of rational theology. His Discourse of Free Thinking (1713) wa...

Faneuil Hall

(Encyclopedia)Faneuil Hall fănˈəl, fănˈyəl [key], public market and hall in Boston, Mass. Given to the city by the merchant Peter Faneuil in 1742, the building burned in 1761 but was rebuilt. The scene of Rev...

curfew

(Encyclopedia)curfew [O.Fr.,=cover fire], originally a signal, such as the ringing of a bell, to damp the fire, extinguish all lights in the dwelling, and retire for the night. The custom originated as a precaution...

flügelhorn

(Encyclopedia)flügelhorn flüˈgəlhôrnˌ [key], three-valved brass instrument similar in size and shape to the trumpet but having a conical rather than a cylindrical bore and possessing a larger bell. Because of...

Banks, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Banks, Thomas, 1735–1805, English neoclassical sculptor, studied at the Royal Academy. A traveling scholarship enabled him to study in Rome from 1772 to 1779. In 1781 he went to Russia, where Cather...

pun

(Encyclopedia)pun, use of words, usually humorous, based on (a) the several meanings of one word, (b) a similarity of meaning between words that are pronounced the same, or (c) the difference in meanings between tw...

Shannon, Claude Elwood

(Encyclopedia)Shannon, Claude Elwood, 1916–2001, American applied mathematician, b. Gaylord, Michigan. A student of Vannevar Bush at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he was the first to propose th...

Rawls, John Bordley

(Encyclopedia)Rawls, John Bordley, 1921–2002, American philosopher and political theorist, b. Baltimore, grad. Princeton (A.B., 1943; Ph.D., 1950). He taught at Princeton (1950–52), Cornell (1953–59), and the...

Falmouth, town, United States

(Encyclopedia)Falmouth, town (2020 pop. 32,517), Barnstable co., SE Mass., on Cape Cod; settled c.1660, inc. 1686. Once a whaling and boatbuilding center, the town ha...

Giralda

(Encyclopedia)Giralda hērälˈdä [key], the famous tower adjoining the Cathedral of Seville, Spain. It was built (1163–84) to serve as minaret to the main mosque of Seville, on the site of which the cathedral n...