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tap dance

(Encyclopedia)tap dance, theatrical dance form in which the dancer, wearing shoes with metal heel and toe taps, beats out complex, syncopated rhythms on the floor. After a slump in popularity in the 1960s, tap ...

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor

(Encyclopedia)Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 1772–1834, English poet and man of letters, b. Ottery St. Mary, Devonshire; one of the most brilliant, versatile, and influential figures in the English romantic movement. ...

satire

(Encyclopedia)satire, term applied to any work of literature or art whose objective is ridicule. It is more easily recognized than defined. From ancient times satirists have shared a common aim: to expose foolishne...

Henry II, king of England

(Encyclopedia)Henry II, 1133–89, king of England (1154–89), son of Matilda, queen of England, and Geoffrey IV, count of Anjou. He was the founder of the Angevin, or Plantagenet, line in England and one of the a...

common law

(Encyclopedia)common law, system of law that prevails in England and in countries colonized by England. The name is derived from the medieval theory that the law administered by the king's courts represented the co...

balloon

(Encyclopedia)balloon, lighter-than-air craft without a propulsion system, lifted by inflation of one or more containers with a gas lighter than air or with heated air. During flight, altitude may be gained by disc...

French language

(Encyclopedia)CEE French language, member of the Romance group of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Romance languages). It is spoken as a first language by more than 70 million p...

Edward I

(Encyclopedia)Edward I, 1239–1307, king of England (1272–1307), son of and successor to Henry III. Even more important than Edward's military exploits were the legal and constitutional developments of his rei...

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

(Encyclopedia)Emerson, Ralph Waldo ĕmˈərsən [key], 1803–82, American poet and essayist, b. Boston. Through his essays, poems, and lectures, the “Sage of Concord” established himself as a leading spokesman...

sewerage

(Encyclopedia)sewerage, system for the removal and disposal of chiefly liquid wastes and of rainwater, which are collectively called sewage. The average person in the industrialized world produces between 60 and 14...