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Louvre

(Encyclopedia)Louvre lo͞oˈvrə [key], foremost French museum of art, located in Paris. The building was a royal fortress and palace built by Philip II in the late 12th cent. In 1546 Pierre Lescot was commissioned...

Palatinate

(Encyclopedia)Palatinate pəlătˈĭnātˌ [key], Ger. Pfalz, two regions of Germany. They are related historically, but not geographically. The Rhenish or Lower Palatinate (Ger. Rheinpfalz or Niederpfalz), often c...

boxing

(Encyclopedia)boxing, sport of fighting with fists, also called pugilism and prizefighting. Amateur boxing, while not free from debate, has in recent decades taken steps to ensure safety and objective judging. Th...

Zen Buddhism

(Encyclopedia)Zen Buddhism, Buddhist sect of China and Japan. The name of the sect (Chin. Ch'an, Jap. Zen) derives from the Sanskrit dhyana [meditation]. In China the school early became known for making its centra...

terra-cotta

(Encyclopedia)terra-cotta tĕrˈə kŏtˈə [key] [Ital.,=baked earth], form of hard-baked pottery, widely used in the decorative arts, especially as an architectural material, either in its natural red-brown color...

satire

(Encyclopedia)satire, term applied to any work of literature or art whose objective is ridicule. It is more easily recognized than defined. From ancient times satirists have shared a common aim: to expose foolishne...

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...

saint, in Christianity

(Encyclopedia)saint [O.Fr., from Latin sanctus=holy], in Christianity, a person who is recognized as worthy of veneration. Accounts of saints' lives have been favorite reading material for many, and at times thei...

chivalry

(Encyclopedia)chivalry shĭvˈəlrē [key], system of ethical ideals that arose from feudalism and had its highest development in the 12th and 13th cent. Chivalric ethics originated chiefly in France and Spain and ...

furniture

(Encyclopedia)furniture, properly such movables as chairs, tables, and beds; it is extended to include draperies, rugs, mirrors, lamps, and other furnishings. In its gradual evolution from periods of earliest civil...