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puberty

(Encyclopedia)puberty pyo͞oˈbərtē [key], period during which the onset of sexual maturity occurs. It usually takes place between the ages of 10 and 15 in both sexes but sometimes occurs as early as 7 or 8 years...

Cursor Mundi

(Encyclopedia)Cursor Mundi kûrˈsôr mŭnˈdī [key], a long religious epic in Middle English relating the history of the world as recorded in the Old and New Testaments. This anonymous poem (written c.1300) is a ...

Giesebrecht, Wilhelm von

(Encyclopedia)Giesebrecht, Wilhelm von vĭlˈhĕlm fən gēˈzəbrĕkht [key], 1814–89, German historian. A gifted student of Ranke, he later taught at the Univ. of Königsberg. His Geschichte der deutschen Kaise...

Fitzpatrick, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Fitzpatrick, Benjamin, 1802–69, governor of Alabama (1841–45), b. Greene co., Ga. As a youth, he moved to Alabama (then still part of Mississippi Territory), where after two terms as governor, he ...

jingoism

(Encyclopedia)jingoism jĭngˈgōĭzəm [key], advocacy of a policy of aggressive nationalism. The term was first used in connection with certain British politicians who sought to bring England into the Russo-Turki...

New Red Sandstone

(Encyclopedia)New Red Sandstone, name for the thick red layer of the Triassic formation in Great Britain (see Triassic period). It is many thousands of feet thick and is composed chiefly of red sandstones, clays, a...

Lynn, Loretta

(Encyclopedia)Lynn, Loretta, 1932–2022, American country singer and songwriter, b. Butcher Hollow, Ky. One of the most successful singers in modern country music, s...

La Tuque

(Encyclopedia)La Tuque lä tük [key], town (1991 pop. 10,003), S Que., Canada, on the St. Maurice River, NW of Quebec. La Tuque, in a lumbering and farming region, was established as a trading post in the French p...

Beth-zur

(Encyclopedia)Beth-zur bĕth-zûrˈ [key], town, ancient Palestine, N of Hebron, on the Jerusalem road. It is the modern Khirbat Tubaygah, the West Bank. Excavations (1924, 1931, 1957) have revealed settlements fro...

Varchi, Benedetto

(Encyclopedia)Varchi, Benedetto bānādĕtˈtō värˈkē [key], 1502?–1565, Italian poet and historian. A protégé of Filippo Strozzi and Cosimo de' Medici, he was commissioned to write the history of Florence....