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Gildersleeve, Virginia Crocheron

(Encyclopedia)Gildersleeve, Virginia Crocheron, 1877–1965, American educator, b. New York City, grad. Columbia (B.A., Barnard, 1899; Ph.D., 1908). She was professor of English at Barnard from 1900 to 1911, when s...

Wickram, Jörg

(Encyclopedia)Wickram, Jörg yörk vĭkˈräm [key], c.1505–62, German writer. Wickram wrote Meisterlieder, farces such as Der treue Eckart [faithful Eckart] (1538), biblical drama such as Tobias (1550), and the ...

wirehaired pointing griffon

(Encyclopedia)wirehaired pointing griffon, breed of medium-sized sporting dog developed in Holland and France in the late 19th cent. It stands about 22 in. (56 cm) high at the shoulder and weighs between 45 and 60 ...

cockle

(Encyclopedia)cockle, common name applied to the heart-shaped, jumping or leaping marine bivalve mollusks, belonging to the order Eulamellibranchia. The brittle shells are of uniform size, are obliquely spherical, ...

Zoroastrianism

(Encyclopedia)Zoroastrianism zôˌrōăsˈtrēənĭzəm [key], religion founded by Zoroaster, but with many later accretions. The religion's priests, successors to the pre-Zoroastrian Magi, acquired great power b...

Ricimer

(Encyclopedia)Ricimer rĭsˈĭmər [key], d. 472, Roman general of the tribe of the Suebi. After winning (456) two victories over the Vandals, he allied with the senate and deposed (456) Emperor Avitus. Thereafter ...

quack grass

(Encyclopedia)quack grass or couch grass, Old World perennial grass (Agropyron repens), now widely distributed and in the United States a troublesome weed. It somewhat resembles a beardless wheat and has creeping, ...

polyester

(Encyclopedia)polyester, synthetic fiber, produced by the polymerization of the product formed when an alcohol and organic acid react. The outstanding characteristic of polyesters is their ability to resist wrinkli...

Peterhead

(Encyclopedia)Peterhead pētərhĕdˈ [key], town (1991 pop. 16,804), Aberdeenshire, NE Scotland, on a peninsula on the North Sea. It is the easternmost town, with a good harbor, of Scotland. Chiefly a center of he...

Larra, Mariano José de

(Encyclopedia)Larra, Mariano José de märyäˈnō hōsāˈ ᵺā läˈrä [key], 1809–37, Spanish satirist, b. Madrid. Using several pseudonyms, Larra wrote a series of satirical articles on Spanish politics and...
 

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