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Choiseul, Étienne François, duc de

(Encyclopedia)Choiseul, Étienne François, duc de dük də shwäzölˈ [key], 1719–85, French statesman. After successful service in the army he entered the diplomatic service and gained support from Mme de Pom...

cane, walking stick

(Encyclopedia)cane, walking stick. Probably used first as a weapon, it gradually took on the symbolism of strength and power and eventually authority and social prestige. Ancient Egyptian rulers carried the symboli...

Vendôme, César, duc de

(Encyclopedia)Vendôme, César, duc de sāzärˈ dük də väNdōmˈ [key], 1594–1665, French general and politician; son of King Henry IV and his mistress Gabrielle d'Estrées. Legitimized in 1595, he was made d...

Astaire, Fred

(Encyclopedia)Astaire, Fred əstârˈ [key], 1899–1987, American dancer, actor, and singer, b. Omaha, Nebr., as Frederick Austerlitz. After 1911 he and his sister Adele (1896–1981), b. Adele Marie Austerlitz, f...

Meredith, George

(Encyclopedia)Meredith, George, 1828–1909, English novelist and poet. One of the great English novelists, Meredith wrote complex, often comic yet highly cerebral works that contain striking psychological characte...

Parma, city, Italy

(Encyclopedia)Parma pärˈmä [key], city (1991 pop. 170,520), capital of Parma prov., in Emilia-Romagna, N Italy, on the Parma River and on the Aemilian Way. It is a rich agricultural market, a transportation junc...

Villepin, Dominique de

(Encyclopedia)Villepin, Dominique de (Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin) dômēnēkˈ märēˈ fräNswäˈ rənāˈ gälo͞ozōˈ də vēlpănˈ [key], 1953–, French diplomat and government of...

Louis XV, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Louis XV, 1710–74, king of France (1715–74), great-grandson and successor of King Louis XIV, son of Louis, titular duke of Burgundy, and Marie Adelaide of Savoy. The domestic abuses of Louis XIV...

Marquette, Jacques

(Encyclopedia)Marquette, Jacques zhäk märkĕtˈ [key], 1637–75, French missionary and explorer in North America, a Jesuit priest. He was sent to New France in 1666 and studied Native American languages under a ...

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