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fraternity and sorority

(Encyclopedia)fraternity and sorority, in American colleges, a student society formed for social purposes, into which members are initiated by invitation and occasionally by a period of trial known as hazing. Frate...

sorority

(Encyclopedia)sorority: see fraternity.

Greek-letter society

(Encyclopedia)Greek-letter society: see fraternity. ...

Phi Beta Kappa

(Encyclopedia)Phi Beta Kappa: see fraternity.

Knights of Columbus

(Encyclopedia)Knights of Columbus, American Roman Catholic society for men, founded (1882) at New Haven, Conn. (where its headquarters are still located), by Father Michael J. McGivney. Its mission is to encourage ...

W and Z particles

(Encyclopedia)W and Z particles, elementary particles that mediate, or carry, the fundamental force associated with weak interactions. The discovery of the W and Z particles at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland, in the...

Stephen, Sir James Fitzjames

(Encyclopedia)Stephen, Sir James Fitzjames, 1829–94, English jurist and journalist; brother of Sir Leslie Stephen. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge and was admitted to the bar in 1854. After 1855 he wrote ma...

sans-culottes

(Encyclopedia)sans-culottes säN-külôtˈ [key] [French,=without knee breeches], a term loosely applied to the lower classes in France during the French Revolution. The name was derived from the fact that these pe...

demand and supply

(Encyclopedia)demand and supply: see supply and demand. ...

Daman and Diu

(Encyclopedia)Daman and Diu dəmänˈ, dēˈo͞o [key], union territory (2001 provisional pop. 158,059), 50 sq mi (130 sq km), W India, on the Arabian Sea, composed of two former Portuguese colonies seized by India...