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myxedema

(Encyclopedia)myxedema mĭksədēˈmə [key], condition associated with severe hypothyroidism and lack of thyroid hormone in the adult. In the child it is known as cretinism. Symptoms include a dry swelling of the ...

ice skating

(Encyclopedia)ice skating, gliding along an ice surface on keellike runners known as ice skates. The earliest skates (c.9th cent.), made of bone, were found in Sweden. Wooden skates with iron facings appeared in ...

Proctor, Redfield

(Encyclopedia)Proctor, Redfield, 1831–1908, American industrialist and political leader, b. Proctorsville, Vt. He studied law, practiced in Boston, and served in the Union army in the Civil War. After he returned...

Murphy, Frank

(Encyclopedia)Murphy, Frank, 1890–1949, American political figure, associate justice of the Supreme Court (1940–49), b. Harbor Beach, Mich. After serving as a U.S. attorney (1919–20) and as a judge of recorde...

Saussure, Ferdinand de

(Encyclopedia)Saussure, Ferdinand de fĕrdēnäNˈ də sōsürˈ [key], 1857–1913, Swiss linguist. One of the founders of modern linguistics, he established the structural study of language, emphasizing the arbit...

Hand, Learned

(Encyclopedia)Hand, Learned lûrˈnəd [key], 1872–1961, American jurist, b. Albany, N.Y. He received his law degree from Harvard in 1896. He was a judge of the U.S. District Court for New York's Southern Distric...

Momus

(Encyclopedia)Momus mōˈməs [key], figure in Greek mythology. He was the personification of censure and mockery. ...

Austin, John Langshaw

(Encyclopedia)Austin, John Langshaw, 1911–60, British philosopher. A graduate of Oxford, he was a fellow of All Souls (1933–35) and Magdalen (1935–52) colleges before he became White's professor of moral phil...

Ezra, persons in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Ezra, in the Bible. 1 Central figure of the book of Ezra. 2 Priest who returned with Zerubbabel. ...