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Vendôme, Louis Joseph, duc de

(Encyclopedia)Vendôme, Louis Joseph, duc de dük də väNdōmˈ [key], 1654–1712, marshal of France; grandson of César de Vendôme and son of Laura Mancini. He fought in the War of the Grand Alliance. In the W...

Melba, Dame Nellie

(Encyclopedia)Melba, Dame Nellie, 1861–1931, Australian soprano, whose name originally was Helen Porter Mitchell. After study with Mathilde Marchesi in Paris, she made her operatic debut in Brussels in 1887. Famo...

Hoccleve, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Hoccleve or Occleve, Thomas hŏkˈlēv, ŏkˈ– [key], c.1368–c.1450, English poet, an imitator of Chaucer. He was a clerk in the office of the Privy Seal. His longest work, The Regiment of Princes...

Veblen, Thorstein

(Encyclopedia)Veblen, Thorstein thôrˈstīn vĕbˈlən [key], 1857–1929, American economist and social critic, b. Cato Township, Wis. Of Norwegian parentage, he spent his first 17 years in Norwegian-American far...

McConnell, Mitch

(Encyclopedia)McConnell, Mitch (Addison Mitchell McConnell, Jr.), 1942–, U.S. politician, b. Tuscumbia, Ky., grad. Univ. of Louisville (B.A. 1964), Univ. of Kentucky Law School (J.D., 1967). A conservative Republ...

Patterson, Elizabeth

(Encyclopedia)Patterson, Elizabeth, 1785–1879, American wife of Jérôme Bonaparte, b. Baltimore. On a visit to America, Jérôme Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, met and married her (1803). Jérôme was...

Horton, Lester

(Encyclopedia)Horton, Lester, 1906–53, American modern dancer, choreographer, and teacher, b. Indianapolis. Moving to California in 1928, Horton formed his own company in Los Angeles and also performed in theater...

Laughlin, James Laurence

(Encyclopedia)Laughlin, James Laurence lŏfˈlĭn [key], 1850–1933, American economist, b. Deerfield, Ohio, Ph.D. Harvard, 1876. He was a distinguished teacher, and as head of the department of political economy ...

Gregg, William

(Encyclopedia)Gregg, William, 1800–1867, American industrialist, known as the “father of Southern cotton manufacture,” b. Monongalia co., Va. (now W.Va.). He devoted his life to building up Southern industry....

Cape Town, City of

(Encyclopedia)Cape Town, City of, metropolitan municipality (2021 est. pop. 4,710,000), Western Cape prov., South Africa, on the Atlantic Ocean. Cape Town is the ...