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Manning, Olivia

(Encyclopedia)Manning, Olivia, 1911–80, English novelist, b. Portsmouth, Hampshire. During World War II she served as a journalist in the Middle East. She is best known for her “Balkan trilogy”: The Great For...

Bridgman, Frederic Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Bridgman, Frederic Arthur, 1847–1927, American painter of genre and of scenes of Middle Eastern antiquity, b. Tuskegee, Ala. He studied under Gérôme in Paris, where he remained as an important fig...

chinoiserie

(Encyclopedia)chinoiserie shēnwäzrēˈ [key], decorative work produced under the influence of Chinese art, applied particularly to the more fanciful and extravagant manifestations. Intimations of Eastern art reac...

Villanova University

(Encyclopedia)Villanova University vĭlˌənōˈvə [key], at Villanova, Pa., near Philadelphia; Roman Catholic; est. 1842 as a men's school, coeducational since 1967. It has schools of arts and sciences, engineeri...

dulcimer

(Encyclopedia)dulcimer dŭlˈsĭmər [key], stringed musical instrument. It is a wooden box with strings stretched over it that are struck with small mallets. The number of strings may vary. The dulcimer is related...

monotheism

(Encyclopedia)monotheism mŏnˈəthēĭzəm [key] [Gr.,=belief in one God], in religion, a belief in one personal god. In practice, monotheistic religion tends to stress the existence of one personal god that unifi...

Key, David McKendree

(Encyclopedia)Key, David McKendree, 1824–1900, American politician and jurist, b. Greene co., Tenn. He practiced law in Chattanooga, Tenn., from 1853 to 1870, except during the Civil War, when he was an officer i...

castanets

(Encyclopedia)castanets kăsˌtənĕtsˈ [key], percussion instruments known to the ancient Egyptians and Greeks, possibly of Middle Eastern origin, now used primarily in Spanish dance music or imitations of it. Th...

Spezia, La

(Encyclopedia)Spezia, La lä spĕtˈsyä [key], city (1991 pop. 101,442), capital of La Spezia prov., in Liguria, NW Italy, on the Gulf of La Spezia (an arm of the Ligurian Sea) and at the eastern end of the Rivier...

Maan

(Encyclopedia)Maan məänˈ [key], town (1996 est. pop. 18,000), S Jordan. It is the terminus of the country's main rail line (which extends to Damascus, Syria) and carries on trade in agricultural produce. Importa...