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operetta

(Encyclopedia)operetta ŏpərĕtˈə [key], type of light opera with a frivolous, sentimental story, often employing parody and satire and containing both spoken dialogue and much light, pleasant music. In the earl...

Joseph and Asenath

(Encyclopedia)Joseph and Asenath, an early Jewish work, highly regarded in Eastern and Western Christian traditions, most likely emanating from Alexandrian Egypt between 200 b.c. and a.d. 200, probably composed in ...

Magenta, town, Italy

(Encyclopedia)Magenta mäjānˈtä [key], town (1991 pop. 23,667), Lombardy, N Italy, near Milan. Manufactures include matches, textiles, and machinery. At the Ticino River nearby, the French and the Sardinians won...

self-fulfilling prophecy

(Encyclopedia)self-fulfilling prophecy, a concept developed by Robert K. Merton to explain how a belief or expectation, whether correct or not, affects the outcome of a situation or the way a person (or group) will...

engrossing

(Encyclopedia)engrossing, in English law, practice of acquiring a monopoly of goods in order to sell them at an inflated price. The offense was ordinarily limited to monopolies of foods. Related practices were fore...

Milvian Bridge

(Encyclopedia)Milvian Bridge or Mulvian Bridge, Latin Pons Milvius or Pons Mulvius. It was built by Marcus Aemilius Scaurus in 109 b.c. over the Tiber near Rome as part of the Flaminian Way. By defeating Maxentius ...

Minturnae

(Encyclopedia)Minturnae mĭntûrˈnē [key], ancient town of Latium, Italy, 7 mi (11.3 km) E of Formia. It was important because it controlled the bridge on the Appian Way over the Liris River. Founded by a people ...

Lymington and Pennington

(Encyclopedia)Lymington and Pennington lĭmˈĭngtən [key], town (1991 pop. 11,614), Hampshire, S England, on the Solent channel at the mouth of the Lymington River. It is a market town, resort, and port; coast tr...

Kattegat

(Encyclopedia)Kattegat kătˈĭgătˌ [key], strait, c.140 mi (230 km) long and from 40 to 100 mi (60–160 km) wide, between Sweden and Denmark. It is connected with the North Sea through the Skagerrak, which begi...

Plassey

(Encyclopedia)Plassey plăsˈē [key], anglicized name of Palashi, village, West Bengal state, NE India. In the battle of Plassey, Robert Clive decisively defeated (1757) the Nawab of Bengal, preparing the way for ...