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Polycarp, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Polycarp, Saint pŏlˈĭkärp [key], c.a.d. 70–a.d. 156?, Greek bishop of Smyrna, Father of the Church. He was a disciple of St. John, who appointed him bishop. Thus he linked the apostles and such ...

Hyde Park, town, United States

(Encyclopedia)Hyde Park, town (2020 pop. 21,021), Dutchess co., SE N.Y., on the Hudson River; settled c.1740. It is famous as the site of the Roosevelt estate, where ...

Montpellier

(Encyclopedia)Montpellier môNpĕlyāˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 210,866), capital of Hérault dept., S France, near the Mediterranean coast. It is a great commercial center. Its industries, many of them recently dev...

Morelia

(Encyclopedia)Morelia mōrāˈlyä [key], city (1990 pop. 489,756), capital of Michoacán state, W Mexico. It is the commercial and processing center of an irrigated agricultural and cattle-raising area. Founded as...

Worcester, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Worcester, industrial city (1990 pop. 169,759), seat of Worcester co., central Mass., on the Blackstone River; inc. 1722. The canalization (1828) of the Blackstone River marked the beginning of Worces...

Urban V

(Encyclopedia)Urban V, 1310–70, pope (1362–70), a Provençal named Guillaume de Grimoard; successor of Innocent VI. He was a Benedictine renowned for his knowledge of canon law. The great event of Urban's ponti...

Uruk

(Encyclopedia)Uruk ēˈrĕk [key], ancient Sumerian city of Mesopotamia, on the Euphrates and NW of Ur (in present-day S Iraq). It is the modern Tall al Warka. Uruk, dating from the 5th millennium b.c., was the lar...

riddle

(Encyclopedia)riddle, puzzling question, specifically one that consists of a fanciful description or definition of something to be guessed. A famous riddle was asked by the Sphinx: “What goes on four legs in the ...

Regensburg

(Encyclopedia)Regensburg rāˈgənsbo͝orkh [key], city (1994 pop. 125,337), Bavaria, SE Germany, a port at the confluence of the Danube (Donau) and Regen rivers. In English it is known as Ratisbon. The city is a c...

ballad

(Encyclopedia)ballad, in literature and music, short, narrative poem or song usually relating a single, dramatic event. Two forms of the ballad are often distinguished—the folk ballad, dating from about the 12th ...