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Decatur

(Encyclopedia)Decatur. 1 City (2020 pop. 57,938), seat of Morgan co., N Ala., on the Tennessee River; inc. 1826. It has shipyards, port traffic, and diverse ...

Vehmgericht

(Encyclopedia)Vehmgericht fāˈmĭk [key], in medieval Germany, a type of criminal tribunal. The inability of the Holy Roman emperors to exercise effective central control over their lands and the extensive feudal ...

Twain, Mark

(Encyclopedia)Twain, Mark, pseud. of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835–1910, American author, b. Florida, Mo. As humorist, narrator, and social observer, Twain is unsurpassed in American literature. His novel The Ad...

semantics

(Encyclopedia)semantics [Gr.,=significant] in general, the study of the relationship between words and meanings. The empirical study of word meanings and sentence meanings in existing languages is a branch of lingu...

James, Henry, American novelist and critic

(Encyclopedia)James, Henry, 1843–1916, American novelist and critic, b. New York City. A master of the psychological novel, James was an innovator in technique and one of the most distinctive prose stylists in En...

Lichnowsky, Karl Max, Fürst von

(Encyclopedia)Lichnowsky, Karl Max, Fürst von kärl mäks fürst fən lĭkhnôfˈskē [key], 1860–1928, German diplomat, ambassador to London (1912–14). In a privately circulated pamphlet (1916) he asserted th...

More, Paul Elmer

(Encyclopedia)More, Paul Elmer, 1864–1937, American critic, educator, and philosopher, b. St. Louis. More taught Sanskrit and classical literature and then was a newspaper editor until 1914, after which he wrote ...

Laurent, Auguste

(Encyclopedia)Laurent, Auguste ōgüstˈ lōräNˈ [key], 1808–53, French organic chemist. He devised a systematic nomenclature for organic chemistry. His studies on naphthalene and its chlorination products led ...

Daly, Augustin

(Encyclopedia)Daly, Augustin, 1838–99, American theatrical manager and dramatist, b. Plymouth, N.C. After 1859 he was drama critic for several New York City newspapers and adapted many plays from French and Germa...

Dillard, James Hardy

(Encyclopedia)Dillard, James Hardy dĭlˈərd [key], 1856–1940, American educator, b. Nansemond co., Va., grad. Washington and Lee Univ., 1876. Professor (1891–1907) of Latin at Tulane, where he was also dean (...