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Larbaud, Valery

(Encyclopedia)Larbaud, Valery välārēˈ lärbōˈ [key], 1881–1957, French novelist, poet, critic, and translator. A wealthy and cosmopolitan scholar and poet, Larbaud learned six languages and produced notable...

sky

(Encyclopedia)sky, apparent dome over the earth, background of the clouds, sun, moon, and stars. The blue color of the clear daytime sky results from the selective scattering of light rays by the minute particles o...

Puget, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Puget, Pierre pyĕr püzhāˈ [key], 1622–94, French painter and sculptor. At 17 he went on foot to Italy, where he worked for Pietro da Cortona on the ceilings of the Barberini and Pitti palaces. M...

volcano

(Encyclopedia)volcano, vents or fissures in the earth's crust through which gases, molten rock, or lava, and solid fragments are discharged. Their study is called volcanology. The term volcano is commonly applied b...

British Empire

(Encyclopedia)British Empire, overseas territories linked to Great Britain in a variety of constitutional relationships, established over a period of three centuries. The establishment of the empire resulted primar...

Heilongjiang

(Encyclopedia)Heilongjiang or Heilungkiang both: hāˈlo͝ongˈjyängˈ [key] [Chin.,=black dragon rive...

Wagner, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Wagner, Richard vägˈnər [key], 1813–83, German composer, b. Leipzig. Wagner's second wife, Cosima Wagner, 1837–1930, was the daughter of Liszt and the comtesse d'Agoult. From 1857 to 1870 sh...

globe

(Encyclopedia)globe, spherical map of the earth (terrestrial globe) or the sky (celestial globe). The terrestrial globe provides the only graphic representation of the areas of the earth without significant distort...

Cumberland Gap

(Encyclopedia)Cumberland Gap, natural passage through the Cumberland Mts., near the point where Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee meet. The gap was formed by the erosive action of a stream that once flowed there. I...

Golden Legend, The

(Encyclopedia)Golden Legend, The, collection of saints' lives written in the 13th cent. by Jacobus da Varagine. Originally entitled Legenda sanctorum [readings in the lives of the saints], it soon came to be called...
 

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