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Orchomenus

(Encyclopedia)Orchomenus ôrkŏmˈĭnəs [key], ancient city of Boeotia, central Greece, NW of Lake Copaïs. After 1600 b.c. it was an important center of the Mycenaean civilization. In later times the city was ecl...

tennis

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Tennis court tennis, game played indoors or outdoors by two players (singles) or four players (doubles) on a level court. In 1900 the international team competition known as the Davis Cup t...

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

(Encyclopedia)Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, a fundamental document of French constitutional history, drafted by Emmanuel Sieyès, adopted by the Constituent Assembly on Aug. 26, 1789, and embodied i...

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke

(Encyclopedia)Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, case decided in 1978 by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court held in a closely divided decision that race could be one of the factors considered in choos...

Achaeans

(Encyclopedia)Achaeans, people of ancient Greece, of unknown origin. In Homer, the Achaeans are specifically a Greek-speaking people of S Thessaly. Historically, they seem to have appeared in the Peloponnesus durin...

agora

(Encyclopedia)agora ăgˈərə [key] [Gr.,=market], in ancient Greece, the public square or marketplace of a city. In early Greek history the agora was primarily used as a place for public assembly; later it functi...

Eretria

(Encyclopedia)Eretria ĕrēˈtrēə [key], ancient city of Greece, in Euboea (now Évvoia), SE of Chalcis (now Khalkís), its rival. In the 7th and 6th cent. b.c., Eretria sent out many colonists to islands and coa...

gilding

(Encyclopedia)gilding, process of applying a thin layer of real or imitation gold to a surface. The process is employed on wood, metal, ivory, leather, paper, glass, porcelain, and fabrics and is used to embellish ...

Wilkinson, Charles Burnham

(Encyclopedia)Wilkinson, Charles Burnham (Bud Wilkinson), 1916–94, American football coach, b. Minneapolis, Minn. He was an all-around athlete at the Univ. of Minnesota and later was assistant football coach at S...

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