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Gildas, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Gildas, Saint gĭlˈdəs [key], d. 570, British historian, possibly a Welsh monk. Shortly before 547 he wrote the De excidio et conquestu Britanniae, a Latin history of Britain dealing with the Roman ...

Gouthière, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Gouthière, Pierre pyĕr go͞otyĕrˈ [key], 1732?–c.1813, French metalworker. The greatest artist of ornamental bronzes of the period of Louis XVI, he produced a vast number of superb cast and chis...

Decorated style

(Encyclopedia)Decorated style, name applied to the second period of English Gothic architecture from the late 13th to the mid-14th cent. The basic structural elements developed during the Early English style (late ...

Firishta

(Encyclopedia)Firishta or Ferishta both: fĭrĭshtăˈ [key], c.1560–c.1620, Indian Muslim historian. His given name was Muhammad Kasim Hindu Shah. Under the patronage of the shah of Bijapur, he wrote a history o...

Greville, Charles Cavendish Fulke

(Encyclopedia)Greville, Charles Cavendish Fulke grĕvˈĭl [key], 1794–1865, English diarist. As clerk of the Council in Ordinary (1821–59), he was closely associated with Wellington, Palmerston, and other poli...

Grand-Pré

(Encyclopedia)Grand-Pré grăn-prā, Fr. gräN-prā [key] [Fr.,=large field], village, W central N.S., Canada, on an arm of the Bay of Fundy. The area is famous for having been an early settlement of the Acadians, ...

velocity

(Encyclopedia)velocity, change in displacement with respect to time. Displacement is the vector counterpart of distance, having both magnitude and direction. Velocity is therefore also a vector quantity. The magnit...

prelude

(Encyclopedia)prelude prāˈlo͞od [key], musical composition of no universal style, usually for the keyboard. It was originally used to precede a ceremony and later a second, often larger piece. Early preludes rep...

Preti, Mattia

(Encyclopedia)Preti, Mattia mät-tēˈä prĕˈtē [key], 1613–99, Italian baroque painter, called Il Calabrese for his birthplace. Preti went to Rome c.1630 and studied with Lanfranco. His most dramatic works we...

gargoyle

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Gargoyle gargoyle gärˈgoil [key], waterspout used in medieval Europe to draw rainwater from church and cathedral roofs. Gargoyles were fashioned imaginatively in the form of human grotesques...