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simile

(Encyclopedia)simile sĭmˈəlē [key] [Lat.,=likeness], in rhetoric, a figure of speech in which an object is explicitly compared to another object. Robert Burns's poem “A Red Red Rose” contains two straightfo...

De Soto, Hernando

(Encyclopedia)De Soto, Hernando dĭsōˈtō, Span. ĕrnänˈdō dā sōˈtō [key], c.1500–1542, Spanish explorer. After serving under Pedro Arias de Ávila in Central America and under Francisco Pizarro in Peru,...

Barnes, Julian Patrick

(Encyclopedia)Barnes, Julian Patrick, English author, 1946–. During the 1970s and 80s he was a critic and editor for the New Statesman and New Review, a correspondent for The New Yorker, and a writer and editor f...

Holyrood Palace

(Encyclopedia)Holyrood Palace hŏlˈēro͞od [key] [i.e., holy cross], royal residence, Edinburgh, SE Scotland. In 1128, David I founded Holyrood Abbey on this site, where according to legend he was saved from an i...

pentathlon

(Encyclopedia)pentathlon pĕntăthˈlən [key], composite athletic event. In ancient Greece it comprised leaping, foot racing, wrestling, discus throwing, and casting the javelin. The modern pentathlon, an Olympic ...

Passionists

(Encyclopedia)Passionists: see Paul of the Cross, Saint. ...

Abu Ghraib

(Encyclopedia)Abu Ghraib or Abu Ghurayb äˈbo͞o grĕb [key], infamous prison located in the town of Abu Ghraib, c.20 mi (32 km) W of Baghdad, Iraq. Built by British contractors in the 1960s, it occupies c.280 acr...

Cruz, Juan de la

(Encyclopedia)Cruz, Juan de la: see John of the Cross, Saint. ...

Knights Hospitalers

(Encyclopedia)Knights Hospitalers, members of the military and religious Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, sometimes called the Knights of St. John and the Knights of Jerusalem. The symbol of the Orde...

snapper

(Encyclopedia)snapper, name for members of the Lutjanidae, a family of spiny-finned food and game fishes found chiefly in tropical coastal waters. Snappers are carnivorous, active, and voracious, with large mouths ...