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Bolger, James

(Encyclopedia)Bolger, James bōlˈjər [key], 1935–, New Zealand political leader. A sheep rancher, he entered Parliament in 1972 as a member of the National party. In Robert Muldoon's government, he served as mi...

Stratas, Teresa

(Encyclopedia)Stratas, Teresa, 1938–, Canadian soprano, b. Toronto as Anastasia Strataki, studied Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto. She made her operatic debut in 1958 with the Canadian Opera Company in an ac...

Lenya, Lotte

(Encyclopedia)Lenya, Lotte lôtˈə lĕnˈyä [key], 1898–1981, Viennese singer and character actress, b. Karoline Blamauer. The wife of the composer Kurt Weill, Lenya was the foremost singer of his songs. She an...

spinning

(Encyclopedia)spinning, the drawing out, twisting, and winding of fibers into a continuous thread or yarn. From antiquity until the Industrial Revolution, spinning was a household industry. The roughly carded fiber...

Blackburn with Darwen

(Encyclopedia)Blackburn with Darwen därˈwĭn, dărˈĕn [key], borough and unitary authority, NW England. It was formed as ...

Clouzot, Henri-Georges

(Encyclopedia)Clouzot, Henri-Georges äNrēˈ-zhôrzh clo͞ozōˈ [key], 1907–77, French film director, master of the Gallic noir cinema. His career spanned 40 years, but he was plagued by ill health and complete...

scurvy

(Encyclopedia)scurvy, deficiency disorder resulting from a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in the diet. Scurvy does not occur in most animals because they can synthesize their own vitamin C, but humans, other pri...

Fontane, Theodor

(Encyclopedia)Fontane, Theodor tāˈōdôr fôntäˈnə [key], 1819–98, German writer. Although he is primarily important as a novelist, he did not begin to write fiction until he was almost 60 years old. Thereaf...

primrose

(Encyclopedia)primrose, common name for the genus Primula of the Primulaceae, a family of low perennial herbs with species found on all continents, most frequently in north temperate regions. Among the better-known...

Ovid

(Encyclopedia)Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) ŏvˈĭd [key], 43 b.c.–a.d. 18, Latin poet, b. Sulmo (present-day Sulmona), in the Apennines. Although trained for the law, he preferred the company of the literary cote...

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