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John Maurice of Nassau

(Encyclopedia)John Maurice of Nassau, 1604–79, Dutch general and colonial administrator, a prince of the house of Nassau-Siegen; grandnephew of William the Silent. The Dutch West India Company appointed him (1636...

John the Baptist, Saint

(Encyclopedia)John the Baptist, Saint, d. c.a.d. 28–a.d. 30, Jewish prophet, considered by Christians to be the forerunner of Jesus. He was the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, who was also a kinswoman of Mary, th...

Huntington, Collis Potter

(Encyclopedia)Huntington, Collis Potter, 1821–1900, American railroad builder, b. near Torrington, Conn. A storekeeper of Oneonta, N.Y., before he went West in the gold rush of 1849, he became a storekeeper in Ca...

Ronaldo, Cristiano

(Encyclopedia)Ronaldo, Cristiano (Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro), 1985–, Portuguese soccer player. A forward, he began professional play in 2001 with Sporting Portugal. With Manchester United from 2003, he ...

Owens, Jesse

(Encyclopedia)Owens, Jesse, 1913–80, U.S. track star, b. Alabama. He was also called John Cleveland Owens, although his original name was said to be simply J. C. Owens. After his family moved to Cleveland he exce...

Vivaldi, Antonio

(Encyclopedia)Vivaldi, Antonio äntôˈnyō vēvälˈdē [key], 1678–1741, Italian composer. He was the greatest master of Italian baroque, particularly of violin music and the concerto grosso. Vivaldi received h...

Suzuki, Ichiro

(Encyclopedia)Suzuki, Ichiro, 1973–, Japanese baseball player. He began playing full-time in the Japanese big leagues in 1994, with the Orix BlueWave, and led the Pacific League with 210 hits and a .385 average d...

rhyme

(Encyclopedia)rhyme or rime, the most prominent of the literary artifices used in versification. Although it was used in ancient East Asian poetry, rhyme was practically unknown to the ancient Greeks and Romans. Wi...

Halloween

(Encyclopedia)Halloween säˈwĭn [key], the beginning of winter and the Celtic new year. Spirits, or fairies, were said to roam the earth on this evening, playing tricks on human beings to mark the season of dimin...

Schütz, Heinrich

(Encyclopedia)Schütz, Heinrich hīnˈrĭkh shüts [key], 1585–1672, German composer. A pupil of Giovanni Gabrieli, he later worked with Monteverdi. Often considered the greatest German composer of the 17th cent....