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Laval, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Laval, Pierre lävälˈ [key], 1883–1945, French politician. Elected (1914) to the chamber of deputies as a Socialist, he held various cabinet posts and in 1926 became a senator as an Independent, ...

Bruno, Giordano

(Encyclopedia)Bruno, Giordano jōrdäˈnō bro͞oˈnō [key], 1548–1600, Italian philosopher, b. Nola. The son of a professional soldier, he entered the Dominican order early in his youth and was ordained a pries...

Zardari, Asif Ali

(Encyclopedia)Zardari, Asif Ali äˈsĭf äˈlē zärdäˈrē [key], 1955–, Pakistani politician, president of Pakistan (2008–13), b. Nawabshah. From a wealthy, prominent family, he studied at St. Patrick's Col...

treason

(Encyclopedia)treason, legal term for various acts of disloyalty. The English law, first clearly stated in the Statute of Treasons (1350), originally distinguished high treason from petit (or petty) treason. Petit ...

Bacon, Francis, English philosopher and statesman

(Encyclopedia)Bacon, Francis, 1561–1626, English philosopher, essayist, and statesman, b. London, educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and at Gray's Inn. He was the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, lord keeper to Qu...

De Lancey

(Encyclopedia)De Lancey də lănˈsē [key], family of political leaders, soldiers, and merchants prominent in colonial New York. Étienne De Lancey or Stephen De Lancey, 1663–1741, b. Caen, France, was among the...

Alcibiades

(Encyclopedia)Alcibiades ălsĭbīˈədēz [key], c.450–404 b.c., Athenian statesman and general. Of the family of Alcmaeonidae, he was a ward of Pericles and was for many years a devoted attendant of Socrates. H...

etching

(Encyclopedia)etching, the art of engraving with acid on metal; also the print taken from the metal plate so engraved. In hard-ground etching the plate, usually of copper or zinc, is given a thin coating or ground ...

Hastings, Warren

(Encyclopedia)Hastings, Warren, 1732–1818, first governor-general of British India. Employed (1750) as a clerk by the East India Company, he soon became manager of a trading post in Bengal. When Calcutta (now Kol...

Girondists

(Encyclopedia)Girondists zhērôNdăNˈ [key], political group of moderate republicans in the French Revolution, so called because the central members were deputies of the Gironde dept. Girondist leaders advocated ...