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Monk, Meredith Jane

(Encyclopedia)Monk, Meredith Jane, 1942–, American dancer, choreographer, composer, singer, director, and filmmaker, b. Lima, Peru, grad. Sarah Lawrence College, 1964. A major figure in the avant-garde, she began...

Sturges, Preston

(Encyclopedia)Sturges, Preston stûrˈjĭs [key], 1898–1959, American film director, screenwriter, and producer, b. Chicago as Edmond Preston Biden. Educated in the United States and Europe, he turned to playwrit...

West, Nathanael

(Encyclopedia)West, Nathanael, 1903–40, American novelist, whose real name was Nathan Weinstein, b. New York City, grad. Brown Univ., 1924. An innovative, highly original author, West revealed the sterility and g...

Basho

(Encyclopedia)Basho (Matsuo Basho) mätˈso͞oō bäˈshō [key], 1644–94, Japanese poet, critic, and essayist of the early Edo period. His literary name, Basho, is derived from the plantain trees [basho] near a ...

Rossini, Gioacchino Antonio

(Encyclopedia)Rossini, Gioacchino Antonio jōäk-kēˈnō äntôˈnyō rōs-sēˈnē [key], 1792–1868, Italian operatic composer, one of the great masters of the Italian opera buffa. His parents were both musicia...

rhyme

(Encyclopedia)rhyme or rime, the most prominent of the literary artifices used in versification. Although it was used in ancient East Asian poetry, rhyme was practically unknown to the ancient Greeks and Romans. Wi...

Halloween

(Encyclopedia)Halloween säˈwĭn [key], the beginning of winter and the Celtic new year. Spirits, or fairies, were said to roam the earth on this evening, playing tricks on human beings to mark the season of dimin...

buoy

(Encyclopedia)buoy boi, bo͞oˈē [key], float anchored in navigable waters to mark channels and indicate dangers to navigation (isolated rocks, mine fields, cables, and the like). The shape, color, number, and mar...

Brant, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Brant, Joseph, 1742–1807, chief of the Mohawk. His Mohawk name is usually rendered as Thayendanegea. He served under Sir William Johnson in the French and Indian War, and Johnson sent him (1761) to ...

Uccello, Paolo

(Encyclopedia)Uccello, Paolo päˈōlō o͞ot-chĕlˈlō [key], c.1396–1475, Florentine painter. Uccello was little appreciated in his own time, and much of his work has been destroyed or is in poor condition. Al...
 

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