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tower

(Encyclopedia)tower, structure, the greatest dimension of which is its height. Towers have belonged to two general types. The first embodies practical uses such as defense (characteristic of the Middle Ages), to ca...

rhyme

(Encyclopedia)rhyme or rime, the most prominent of the literary artifices used in versification. Although it was used in ancient East Asian poetry, rhyme was practically unknown to the ancient Greeks and Romans. Wi...

sharecropping

(Encyclopedia)sharecropping, an agricultural system in which a landowner allows a tenant to use their land in return for a share of the crop produced. In the United S...

Chase, Salmon Portland

(Encyclopedia)Chase, Salmon Portland, 1808–73, American public official and jurist, 6th chief justice of the United States (1864–73), b. Cornish, N.H. Admitted to the bar in 1829, he defended runaway blacks so ...

Fillmore, Millard

(Encyclopedia)Fillmore, Millard, 1800–1874, 13th President of the United States (July, 1850–Mar., 1853), b. Locke (now Summer Hill), N.Y. Because he was compelled to work at odd jobs at an early age to earn a l...

Priestley, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Priestley, Joseph, 1733–1804, English theologian and scientist. He prepared for the Presbyterian ministry and served several churches in England as pastor but gradually rejected orthodox Calvinism a...

Pan-Africanism

(Encyclopedia)Pan-Africanism, general term for various movements in Africa that have as their common goal the unity of Africans and the elimination of colonialism and white supremacy from the continent. However, on...

Weill, Kurt

(Encyclopedia)Weill, Kurt ko͝ortˈ vīl [key], 1900–1950, German-American composer, b. Dessau, studied with Humperdinck and Busoni in Berlin. He first became known with the production of two short satirical surr...

Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de

(Encyclopedia)Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de sərvănˈtēz, Span. mēgĕlˈ dā thĕrvänˈtās säˌävāᵺrä [key], 1547–1616, Spanish novelist, dramatist, and poet, author of Don Quixote de la Mancha, b. Alc...

bourgeoisie

(Encyclopedia)bourgeoisie bo͝orzhwäzēˈ [key], originally the name for the inhabitants of walled towns in medieval France; as artisans and craftsmen, the bourgeoisie occupied a socioeconomic position between the...