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mugwumps

(Encyclopedia)mugwumps mŭgˈwŭmpsˌ [key], slang term in U.S. political history for the Republicans who in 1884 deserted their party nominee, James G. Blaine, to vote for the Democratic nominee, Grover Cleveland....

Marie de France

(Encyclopedia)Marie de France də fräNs [key], fl. 1155–90, poet. Born in France, she spent her adult life in England in aristocratic circles and wrote in Anglo-Norman. She is best known for some dozen lais; sev...

Neopaganism

(Encyclopedia)Neopaganism, polytheistic religious movement, practiced in small groups by partisans of pre-Christian religious traditions such as Egyptian, Greek, Norse, and Celtic. Neopagans fall into two broad cat...

Detaille, Jean Baptiste Édouard

(Encyclopedia)Detaille, Jean Baptiste Édouard zhäN bäptēstˈ ādwärˈ dətäyˈ [key], 1848–1912, French painter. He studied under J. L. E. Meissonier and served in the Franco-Russian war. From this backgrou...

curry

(Encyclopedia)curry [Malayalam], condiment much used in India and elsewhere in Asia and the Middle East, in combination with rice, meat, and a variety of other dishes. It is compounded of such spices as turmeric, f...

El Cordobés

(Encyclopedia)El Cordobés ĕl kōrdōvāsˈ [key], 1936?–, Spanish bullfighter, b. Manuel Benítez Pérez. The predominant matador of the 1960s, he brought an unorthodox acrobatic and theatrical style to the rin...

Home Owners' Loan Corporation

(Encyclopedia)Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC), former U.S. government agency established in 1933 to help stabilize real estate that had depreciated during the depression and to refinance the urban mortgage deb...

Ralston, James Layton

(Encyclopedia)Ralston, James Layton rôlˈstən [key], 1881–1948, Canadian cabinet minister, b. Nova Scotia. In the first Mackenzie King administration, he was minister of national defense (1926–30); in the sec...

Roget, Peter Mark

(Encyclopedia)Roget, Peter Mark rōzhāˈ [key], 1779–1869, English physician and lexicographer. For 50 years while he practiced medicine and was secretary of the Royal Society (1827–49), Roget prepared his The...

Rand Corporation

(Encyclopedia)Rand Corporation, research institution in Santa Monica, Calif.; founded 1948 and supported by federal, state, and local governments, as well as by foundations and corporations. Its principal fields of...
 

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