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Cebu

(Encyclopedia)Cebu sābo͞oˈ [key], island, 1,702 sq mi (4,408 sq km), one of the Visayan Islands, the Philippines, between Leyte and Negros. The coastal plains are intensely cultivated and densely populated. The ...

Shepard, Sam

(Encyclopedia)Shepard, Sam, 1943–2017, one of the major American playwrights and actors of his era, b. Fort Sheridan, Ill., as Samuel Shepard Rogers 3d. A product of the 1960s counterculture and an important figu...

spinal column

(Encyclopedia)spinal column, bony column forming the main structural support of the skeleton of humans and other vertebrates, also known as the vertebral column or backbone. It consists of segments known as vertebr...

Oliveros, Pauline

(Encyclopedia)Oliveros, Pauline, 1932–2016, American composer and musician, b. Houston, Tex., studied Univ. of Houston, San Francisco State College (B.A., 1957). She began playing the accordion as a child, and it...

Reni, Guido

(Encyclopedia)Reni, Guido gwēˈdō rĕˈnē [key], 1575–1642, Italian painter and engraver, b. Bologna. As a child he entered the studio of the Flemish painter Denis Calvaert. He was for a short time (c.1595) a ...

Reed, Ishmael Scott

(Encyclopedia) Reed, Ishmael Scott, 1938- , African-American novelist, poet, and social critic, b. Chattanooga, Tn. When he was a child, Reed’s family moved ...

family, in sociology

(Encyclopedia)family, a basic unit of social structure, the exact definition of which can vary greatly from time to time and from culture to culture. How a society defines family as a primary group, and the functio...

cruelty, prevention of

(Encyclopedia)cruelty, prevention of. In the 19th cent. many laws were passed in Great Britain and the United States to protect the helpless, especially children, lunatics, and domestic animals, from willful and ma...

heir

(Encyclopedia)heir, person designated by law to succeed to the ownership of property of another if that owner does not make a contrary disposition of it by will. A person who takes property left to him by will is n...
 

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