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Venantius Fortunatus, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Venantius Fortunatus, Saint (Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus) vēnănˈshəs fôrˌtyo͞onāˈtəs [key], d. c.600, Latin poet, b. near Treviso, Italy. A priest in Gaul and later bishop of ...

Blest Gana, Alberto

(Encyclopedia)Blest Gana, Alberto älbārˈtō blĕst gäˈnä [key], 1830–1920, Chilean novelist. He is considered the principal 19th-century Spanish-American realist. Although as a diplomat he spent much of his...

lacquer

(Encyclopedia)lacquer, solution of film-forming materials, natural or synthetic, usually applied as an ornamental or protective coating. Quick-drying synthetic lacquers are used to coat automobiles, furniture, text...

holiday

(Encyclopedia)holiday [altered from holy day], day set aside for the commemoration of an important event. Holidays are often accompanied by public ceremonies, such as parades and carnivals, and by religious observa...

Albany Regency

(Encyclopedia)Albany Regency, name given, after 1820, to the leaders of the first political machine, which was developed in New York state by Martin Van Buren. The name derived from the charge that Van Buren's prin...

Netherlands Antilles

(Encyclopedia)Netherlands Antilles, former autonomous country in the Kingdom of the Netherlands consisting of several islands in the West Indies. Earlier known as the Dutch West Indies and Netherlands West Indies, ...

Hepworth, Dame Barbara

(Encyclopedia)Hepworth, Dame Barbara, 1903–75, English sculptor. Hepworth's smooth, usually nonfigurative sculptures recall those of Jean Arp. Working in Cornwall, she consistently sought perfection of form and s...

Chodowiecki, Daniel Nikolaus

(Encyclopedia)Chodowiecki, Daniel Nikolaus däˈnēĕl nēˈkōlous khôdôvyĕtsˈkē [key], 1726–1801, German painter and engraver, b. Danzig. He was the most popular illustrator of his day in Prussia. The Depa...

Port Royal Sound

(Encyclopedia)Port Royal Sound, arm of the Atlantic Ocean, between St. Helena and Parris islands to the north and Hilton Head Island to the south, in S S.C.; it receives the Broad River. The sound was named in 1562...

Slezak, Leo

(Encyclopedia)Slezak, Leo slāˈzäk [key], 1873–1946, Czech tenor, pupil of Jean de Reszke. After his debut as Lohengrin at Brno in 1896, he sang in Vienna, Berlin, and later at the Metropolitan Opera, New York ...