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Scriabin, Aleksandr Nikolayevich

(Encyclopedia)Scriabin, Aleksandr Nikolayevich əlyĭksänˈdər nyēkəlīˈəvĭch skrēäbēnˈ, skrēäˈbĭn [key], 1872–1915, Russian composer and pianist. The name is sometimes spelled Skriabin or Skryabin...

probate

(Encyclopedia)probate prōˈbāt [key], in law, the certification by a court that a will is valid. Probate, which is governed by various statutes in the several states of the United States, is required before the w...

round

(Encyclopedia)round, in music, a perpetual canon on a tune that returns to its beginning in which all the voices enter at the unison or the octave. An example is Sumer Is Icumen In. Rounds were popular in 17th-cent...

Chinese exclusion

(Encyclopedia)Chinese exclusion, policy of prohibiting immigration of Chinese laborers to the United States; initiated in 1882. From the time of the U.S. acquisition of California (1848) there had been a large infl...

Lateran Treaty

(Encyclopedia)Lateran Treaty, concordat between the Holy See and the kingdom of Italy signed in 1929 in the Lateran Palace, Rome, by Cardinal Gasparri for Pius XI and by Benito Mussolini for Victor Emmanuel III. On...

drypoint

(Encyclopedia)drypoint, an intaglio printing process in which the lines are scratched directly into a metal plate with a needle; also, the print made from such a plate. Although it is often used in combination with...

Compton, Arthur Holly

(Encyclopedia)Compton, Arthur Holly, 1892–1962, American physicist, b. Wooster, Ohio, grad. College of Wooster (B.S., 1913), Ph.D. Princeton, 1916. He was professor and head of the department of physics at Washin...

credit, letter of

(Encyclopedia)credit, letter of, commercial instrument through which a bank or other financial institution instructs a correspondent institution to advance a specified sum of money to the bearer. The document is ca...

circuit breaker

(Encyclopedia)circuit breaker, electric device that, like a fuse, interrupts an electric current in a circuit when the current becomes too high. The advantage of a circuit breaker is that it can be reset after it h...

colchicine

(Encyclopedia)colchicine kŏlˈchəsēnˌ [key], alkaloid extracted from plants of the genus Colchicum and especially from the corms of the autumn crocus, Colchicum autumnale (see meadow saffron). The metabolic eff...