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Blest Gana, Alberto

(Encyclopedia)Blest Gana, Alberto älbārˈtō blĕst gäˈnä [key], 1830–1920, Chilean novelist. He is considered the principal 19th-century Spanish-American realist. Although as a diplomat he spent much of his...

Synge, Richard Laurence Millington

(Encyclopedia)Synge, Richard Laurence Millington, 1914–94, British biochemist, Ph.D. Cambridge, 1941. Synge was a researcher at the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, London, from 1943 to 1948 and at the Ro...

Netherlands Antilles

(Encyclopedia)Netherlands Antilles, former autonomous country in the Kingdom of the Netherlands consisting of several islands in the West Indies. Earlier known as the Dutch West Indies and Netherlands West Indies, ...

lacquer

(Encyclopedia)lacquer, solution of film-forming materials, natural or synthetic, usually applied as an ornamental or protective coating. Quick-drying synthetic lacquers are used to coat automobiles, furniture, text...

Albany Regency

(Encyclopedia)Albany Regency, name given, after 1820, to the leaders of the first political machine, which was developed in New York state by Martin Van Buren. The name derived from the charge that Van Buren's prin...

holiday

(Encyclopedia)holiday [altered from holy day], day set aside for the commemoration of an important event. Holidays are often accompanied by public ceremonies, such as parades and carnivals, and by religious observa...

zirconium

(Encyclopedia)zirconium zərkōˈnēəm [key], metallic chemical element; symbol Zr; at. no. 40; at. wt. 91.224; m.p. about 1,852℃; b.p. 4,377℃; sp. gr. 6.5 at 20℃; valence +2, +3, or +4. Zirconium is a very ...

McGill, Ralph Emerson

(Encyclopedia)McGill, Ralph Emerson məgĭlˈ [key], 1898–1969, American journalist and publisher, b. E Tenn. A proponent of civil rights, he was expelled from Vanderbilt Univ. for expressing his beliefs. Beginni...

Pezuela, Joaquín de la

(Encyclopedia)Pezuela, Joaquín de la hwäkēnˈ dā lä pāswāˈlä [key], d. 1830, Spanish general, viceroy of Peru (1816–21). During the South American wars of independence from Spain he fought against the in...

etiquette

(Encyclopedia)etiquette, name for the codes of rules governing social or diplomatic intercourse. These codes vary from the more or less flexible laws of social usage (differing according to local customs or taboos)...
 

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