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Peary, Robert Edwin

(Encyclopedia)Peary, Robert Edwin pērˈē [key], 1856–1920, American arctic explorer, b. Cresson, Pa. In 1881 he entered the U.S. navy as a civil engineer and for several years served in Nicaragua, where he was ...

methadone

(Encyclopedia)methadone mĕthˈədōnˌ, –dŏnˌ [key], synthetic narcotic similar in effect to morphine. Synthesized in Germany, it came into clinical use after World War II. It is sometimes used as an analgesic...

Condé, French family

(Encyclopedia)Condé kôNdāˈ [key], family name of a cadet branch of the French royal house of Bourbon. The name was first borne by Louis I de Bourbon, prince de Condé, 1530–69, Protestant leader and general. ...

Chirac, Jacques René

(Encyclopedia)Chirac, Jacques René zhäk rənāˈ shēräkˈ [key], 1932–2019, French political leader, president of France (1995–2007), b. Paris. He attended the National School of Administration, joined the ...

fashion

(Encyclopedia)fashion, in dress, the prevailing mode affecting modifications in costume. Styles in Asia have been characterized by freedom from change, and ancient Greek and Roman dress preserved the same flowing l...

Emilia-Romagna

(Encyclopedia)Emilia-Romagna āmēˈlyä-rōmäˈnyä [key], region, 8,542 sq mi (22,124 sq km), N central Italy, bordering on ...

Turgot, Anne Robert Jacques

(Encyclopedia)Turgot, Anne Robert Jacques än rōbĕrˈ zhäk türgōˈ [key], 1727–81, French economist, comptroller general of finances (1774–76). The son of a rich merchant, he showed precocious ability at s...

Ojibwa

(Encyclopedia)Ojibwa chĭpˈəwäˌ, –wə [key], group of Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). Their ...

Stendhal

(Encyclopedia)Stendhal märē äNrēˈ bĕl [key], 1783–1842, French writer, recognized as one of the great French novelists. He grew up in Grenoble hating his father and the Jesuit, Royalist atmosphere in his ho...

folktale

(Encyclopedia)folktale, general term for any of numerous varieties of traditional narrative. The telling of stories appears to be a cultural universal, common to pre-industrial, ancient, and more modern and develop...