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Saadia ben Joseph al-Fayumi

(Encyclopedia)Saadia ben Joseph al-Fayumi säˈdēä, äl-fīyo͞oˈmē [key], 882–942, Jewish scholar, b. Egypt. He was known as Saadia Gaon. He was the head of the great Jewish Academy at Sura, Babylonia, which...

Orphic Mysteries

(Encyclopedia)Orphic Mysteries or Orphism, religious cult of ancient Greece, prominent in the 6th cent. b.c. According to legend Orpheus founded these mysteries and was the author of the sacred poems from which the...

Viollet-le-Duc, Eugène Emmanuel

(Encyclopedia)Viollet-le-Duc, Eugène Emmanuel özhĕnˈ ĕmänüĕlˈ vyôlāˈ-lə-dük [key], 1814–79, French architect and writer. He was the most prominent exponent of the Gothic revival in France, and was i...

Vatel, François

(Encyclopedia)Vatel, François fräNswäˈ vätĕlˈ [key], fl. 17th cent., French chef, famous in the time of Louis XIV. Mme Marie de Sévigné, in her letters, speaks of him as the chef of the prince of Condé an...

hedging

(Encyclopedia)hedging, in commerce, method by which traders use two counterbalancing investment strategies so as to minimize any losses caused by price fluctuations. It is generally used by traders on the commoditi...

uniformitarianism

(Encyclopedia)uniformitarianism, in geology, doctrine holding that changes in the earth's surface that occurred in past geologic time are referable to the same causes as changes now being produced upon the earth's ...

infancy

(Encyclopedia)infancy, stage of human development lasting from birth to approximately two years of age. The hallmarks of infancy are physical growth, motor development, vocal development, and cognitive and social d...

Brown, John, American abolitionist

(Encyclopedia)Brown, John, 1800–1859, American abolitionist, b. Torrington, Conn. He spent his boyhood in Ohio. Before he became prominent in the 1850s, his life ha...

Induráin, Miguel

(Encyclopedia)Induráin, Miguel (Miguel Angel Induráin Larraya) mēgĕlˈ ängˈkhāl ĭndo͞oräˈēn läˈräyä [key], 1964–, Spanish bicycle racer. In a career lasting from 1985 to 1997, he dominated Europea...

velocity

(Encyclopedia)velocity, change in displacement with respect to time. Displacement is the vector counterpart of distance, having both magnitude and direction. Velocity is therefore also a vector quantity. The magnit...