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purification

(Encyclopedia)purification, in religion, the ceremonial removal of what the religion deems unclean. The usual agents of purification are water (as in baptism), bodily alteration (as in circumcision), and fire. The ...

Balfour, Sir James

(Encyclopedia)Balfour, Sir James, d. 1583, Scottish judge and politician. Captured (1547) at St. Andrews after the murder of Cardinal Beaton, he served a sentence in the French galleys and on his release (1549) abj...

Saunders, Dame Cicely

(Encyclopedia)Saunders, Dame Cicely (Cicely Mary Strode Saunders), 1918–2005, British physician, a pioneer in the modern hospice movement. She left Oxford during World War II to become a nurse (1944) and, after w...

pseudonym

(Encyclopedia)pseudonym so͞oˈdənĭm [key] [Gr.,=false name], name assumed, particularly by writers, to conceal identity. A writer's pseudonym is also referred to as a nom de plume (pen name). Famous examples in ...

Argyll, Archibald Campbell, 1st duke of

(Encyclopedia)Argyll, Archibald Campbell, 1st duke of ärgīlˈ [key], d. 1703, Scottish nobleman; eldest son of the 9th earl of Argyll. Having unsuccessfully sought favor with James II in order to recover the esta...

Lasker, Albert Davis

(Encyclopedia)Lasker, Albert Davis, 1880–1952, American advertising executive, sometimes called the founder of modern advertising, b. Freiburg, Germany. He came to the United States as an infant and entered adver...

Leavenworth

(Encyclopedia)Leavenworth lĕvˈənwûrthˌ [key], city (1990 pop. 38,495), seat of Leavenworth co., NE Kans., on the Missouri River; inc. 1855. It is the commercial center of a farm and livestock region, with flou...

Lake, Kirsopp

(Encyclopedia)Lake, Kirsopp kûrˈsəp [key], 1872–1946, noted English biblical scholar. He was curate of St. Mary the Virgin (Oxford) until 1904, when he became a professor at the Univ. of Leiden (until 1913). A...

Hildebert of Lavardin

(Encyclopedia)Hildebert of Lavardin hĭlˈdəbərt, lăvˈərdĭn; lävärdăNˈ [key], c.1056–1133, French churchman, bishop of Le Mans (1096–1125), and archbishop of Tours (1125–33). He was taken prisoner w...

Newburgh

(Encyclopedia)Newburgh no͞oˈbərg, nyo͞oˈ– [key], city (1990 pop. 26,454), Orange co., SE N.Y., on the west bank of the Hudson River, opposite Beacon; settled 1709 by Palatine Germans, inc. 1800. The city has...
 

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