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Dakar

(Encyclopedia)Dakar dəkärˈ, dä– [key], city (1988 pop. 672,991), capital of Senegal, W Senegal, on Cape Verde Peninsula, a port on the Atlantic Ocean. Situated in a market-gardening region, Dakar is Senegal's...

alimony

(Encyclopedia)alimony, in law, allowance for support that an individual pays to his or her former spouse, usually as part of a divorce settlement. It is based on the common law right of a wife to be supported by he...

Eve, in genetics

(Encyclopedia)Eve, in genetics, popular term for a theoretical female ancestor of all living people, also known as Mitochondrial Eve. In 1987 biochemist Allan C. Wilson proposed that all living human beings had inh...

premenstrual syndrome

(Encyclopedia)premenstrual syndrome (PMS), any of various symptoms experienced by women of childbearing age in the days immediately preceding menstruation. It is most common in women in their twenties and thirties....

insanity

(Encyclopedia)insanity, mental disorder of such severity as to render its victim incapable of managing his affairs or of conforming to social standards. Today, the term insanity is used chiefly in criminal law, to ...

Jarrett, Keith

(Encyclopedia) Jarrett, Keith , 1945- , American jazz pianist and composer, b. Allentown, Pa. A child prodigy on the piano, Jarrett was exposed to contemporary jazz d...

Sirleaf, Ellen Johnson

(Encyclopedia)Sirleaf, Ellen Johnson sĭrlēfˈ [key], 1938–, Liberian economist and political leader. Educated in the United States (M.P.A. Harvard, 1971), she worked in the Liberian government (1964–67, 1977�...

Piero della Francesca

(Encyclopedia)Piero della Francesca pyĕˈrō dĕlˈlä fränchāsˈkä [key], c.1420–1492, major Italian Renaissance painter, b. Borgo San Sepolcro (modern Sansepolcro). All his masterpieces were created in town...

Plath, Sylvia

(Encyclopedia)Plath, Sylvia, 1932–63, American poet, b. Boston. Educated at Smith College and Cambridge, Plath published poems even as a child and won many academic and literary awards. Her first volume of poetry...

Weyden, Roger van der

(Encyclopedia)Weyden, Roger van der vän dər vīˈdən [key], c.1400–1464, major early Flemish master, known also as Roger de la Pasture. He is believed to have studied with Robert Campin. His early works also s...