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Kushner, Tony

(Encyclopedia)Kushner, Tony ko͝oshˈnər [key], 1956–, American playwright, b. New York City. He was a little-known off-Broadway playwright with several interesting works, e.g., Yes, Yes, No, No (1985) and A Bri...

cicada

(Encyclopedia)cicada sĭkāˈdə [key], large, noise-producing insect of the order Homoptera, with a stout body, a wide, blunt head, protruding eyes, and two pairs of membranous wings. The front wings, which are lo...

hound

(Encyclopedia)hound, classification used by breeders and kennel clubs to designate dogs bred to hunt animals. Most of the dogs in this group hunt by scent, their quarry ranging from such large game as bear or elk t...

metabolite

(Encyclopedia)metabolite, organic compound that is a starting material in, an intermediate in, or an end product of metabolism. Starting materials are substances, usually small and of simple structure, absorbed by ...

Auden, W. H.

(Encyclopedia)Auden, W. H. (Wystan Hugh Auden) ôˈdən [key], 1907–73, Anglo-American poet, b. York, England, educated at Oxford. A versatile, vigorous, and technically skilled poet, Auden ranks among the major ...

Czech language

(Encyclopedia)Czech language chĕk [key], in the past sometimes also called Bohemian, member of the West Slavic group of the Slavic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Slavic languages). The off...

microprocessor

(Encyclopedia)microprocessor, integrated circuit containing the arithmetic, logic, and control circuitry required to interpret and execute instructions from a computer program. When combined with other integrated c...

letters

(Encyclopedia)letters, in literature, written messages, ranging from those addressed to the public and those sent from lover to lover, to business letters and thank-you notes. The common quality they share is a liv...

Mencken, H. L.

(Encyclopedia)Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis Mencken) mĕngˈkən, mĕnˈ– [key], 1880–1956, American editor, author, and critic, b. Baltimore, studied at the Baltimore Polytechnic. Probably America's most influen...

shooting

(Encyclopedia)shooting, firing with rifle, shotgun, pistol, or revolver at stationary or moving targets. The term shooting is also used in Great Britain to mean small-game hunting. In the 19th cent. the sport of ri...