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thistle

(Encyclopedia)thistle, popular name for many spiny and usually weedy plants, but especially applied to members of the family Asteraceae (aster family) that have spiny leaves and often showy heads of purple, rose, w...

Shaw, George Bernard

(Encyclopedia)Shaw, George Bernard, 1856–1950, Irish playwright and critic. He revolutionized the Victorian stage, then dominated by artificial melodramas, by presenting vigorous dramas of ideas. The lengthy pref...

miracle play

(Encyclopedia)miracle play or mystery play, form of medieval drama that came from dramatization of the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. It developed from the 10th to the 16th cent., reaching its height in the ...

Carroll, Paul Vincent

(Encyclopedia)Carroll, Paul Vincent, 1900–1968, Irish playwright. His plays, vigorous commentaries on the conflicts of village life in Ireland, include Shadow and Substance (1937), The White Steed (1939), The Wis...

Dunsinane

(Encyclopedia)Dunsinane dŭnˌsĭnānˈ [key], westernmost of the Sidlaw Hills, 1,012 ft (308 m) high, Perth and Kinross, central Scotland. On its summit are ruins of a fort, called Macbeth's Castle; it is the trad...

Godfrey, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Godfrey, Thomas, 1736–63, American poet and playwright, b. Philadelphia. The son of Thomas Godfrey, who invented the quadrant, he became apprenticed to a watchmaker after his father's early death. G...

Spectral Classes for Main Sequence Stars (table)

(Encyclopedia)Characteristics of Spectral Classes for Main Sequence Stars ...

Harfleur

(Encyclopedia)Harfleur ärflörˈ [key], town (1993 est. pop. 9,221), Seine-Maritime dept., N France, at the mouth of the Seine River on the English Channel. It was a flourishing port during the later Middle Ages b...

Gravelot, Hubert

(Encyclopedia)Gravelot, Hubert übĕrˈ grävlōˈ [key], 1699–1772, French engraver. Gravelot was instrumental in introducing the French rococo pictorial tradition to England. The books he illustrated include th...

Kazinczy, Ferencz

(Encyclopedia)Kazinczy, Ferencz fĕˈrĕnts kŏˈzĭntsē [key], 1759–1831, Hungarian author and critic. The influence of Kazinczy's works made him a leading reformer of the Hungarian language. He was imprisoned ...