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Baring

(Encyclopedia)Baring bârˈĭng [key], British family of bankers. Sir Francis Baring (1740–1810) founded (1763) the John and Francis Baring Company, which he renamed Baring Brothers and Company in 1806. At first ...

Beane, Billy

(Encyclopedia)Beane, Billy (William Lamar Beane 3d), 1962–, American baseball player and general manager, b. Orlando, Fla. An outfielder with a lifetime average of .219, he had a short, unimpressive career with t...

vorticism

(Encyclopedia)vorticism vôrˈtĭsĭzəm [key], short-lived 20th-century art movement related to futurism. Its members sought to simplify forms into machinelike angularity. Its principal exponent was a French sculp...

Crane, Hart

(Encyclopedia)Crane, Hart (Harold Hart Crane), 1899–1932, American poet, b. Garrettsville, Ohio. He published only two volumes of poetry during his lifetime, but those works established Crane as one of the most o...

Drake's Bay

(Encyclopedia)Drake's Bay, inlet of the Pacific Ocean, formed by the San Andreas fault, W Calif., NW of San Francisco. Point Reyes forms its outer arm. The bay was visited by Sir Francis Drake in 1579. ...

Head, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Head, Richard, c.1637–c.1686, English writer. His best-known work is The English Rogue (1665), a collection of crude picaresque stories. Sequels to this work were written by Francis Kirkman. Among h...

lewisite

(Encyclopedia)lewisite lo͞oˈəsītˌ [key], liquid chemical compound used as a poison gas. Like mustard gas and nitrogen mustard, it is a blistering agent; when inhaled, it is a powerful respiratory irritant. The...

Morris, Richard Valentine

(Encyclopedia)Morris, Richard Valentine, 1768–1815, American naval officer, b. Morrisania, N.Y. (now part of the Bronx); son of Lewis Morris (1726–98). After the American Revolution he entered the navy and was ...

Russell, Charles Marion

(Encyclopedia)Russell, Charles Marion, 1864–1926, American painter, b. Oak Hill, Mo. He was one of the two greatest and most popular painters of the American West (the other was Frederic Remington). A stalwart in...

Coues, Elliott

(Encyclopedia)Coues, Elliott kouz [key], 1842–99, American ornithologist, b. Portsmouth, N.H., grad. Columbian College, later Columbian Univ. and now George Washington Univ. (B.A., 1861; M.D., 1863; Ph.D., 1869)....

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