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flamenco

(Encyclopedia)flamenco, Spanish music and dance typical of the Romani (Gypsy), or gitano. Flamenco dancing is characterized by colorful costumes, intense and erotic movements, stamping of the feet (zapateado), and ...

de Bary, Wm. Theodore

(Encyclopedia)de Bary, Wm. Theodore băˈrē [key], 1919–2017, American scholar of Asian cultures, b. Bronx, N.Y., as William Theodore De Bary (he formally changed to Wm. to distinguish himself from his like-name...

Burger, Warren Earl

(Encyclopedia)Burger, Warren Earl, 1907–95, American jurist, 15th chief justice of the United States (1969–86), b. St. Paul, Minn. After receiving his law degree in 1931 from St. Paul College of Law (now Mitche...

Lao Tzu

(Encyclopedia)Lao Tzu lou dzə [key], fl. 6th cent. b.c., Chinese philosopher, reputedly the founder of Taoism. It is uncertain that Lao Tzu [Ch.,=old person or old philosopher] is historical. His biography in Ssu-...

Moore, George

(Encyclopedia)Moore, George, 1852–1933, English author, b. Ireland. As a young man he lived in Paris, studying at various art schools. Inspired by Zola, Flaubert, Turgenev, and the 19th-century French realists, M...

chaos theory

(Encyclopedia)chaos theory, in mathematics, physics, and other fields, a set of ideas that attempts to reveal structure in aperiodic, unpredictable dynamic systems such as cloud formation or the fluctuation of biol...

Adams, Abigail

(Encyclopedia)Adams, Abigail, 1744–1818, wife of President John Adams and mother of President John Quincy Adams, b. Weymouth, Mass., as Abigail Smith. A lively, intelligent woman, she married John Adams in 1764 a...

Title IX

(Encyclopedia)Title IX, clause of the Educational Amendments of 1972 that reads: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be sub...

Blue Ridge

(Encyclopedia)Blue Ridge, eastern range of the Appalachian Mts., extending south from S Pa. to N Ga.; highest mountains in the E United States. Mt. Mitchell, 6,684 ft (2,037 m) high, is the tallest peak. Beginning ...

harmony

(Encyclopedia)harmony, in music, simultaneous sounding of two or more tones and, especially, the study of chords and their relations. Harmony was the last in the development of what may be considered the basic elem...