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Wilde, Oscar

(Encyclopedia)Wilde, Oscar (Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde), 1854–1900, Irish author and wit, b. Dublin. He is most famous for his sophisticated, brilliantly witty plays, which were the first since the come...

Oscar I

(Encyclopedia)Oscar I, 1799–1859, king of Sweden and Norway (1844–59), son and successor of Charles XIV. His reign was one of social and economic advance. His book on the reform of criminal law and prisons had ...

paradox

(Encyclopedia)paradox, statement that appears self-contradictory but actually has a basis in truth, e.g., Oscar Wilde's Ignorance is like a delicate fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. Many New Critics maintaine...

Queensberry, John Sholto Douglas, 8th marquess of

(Encyclopedia)Queensberry, John Sholto Douglas, 8th marquess of, 1844–1900, British nobleman, originator of the code of rules that governs modern boxing. He served in the British army and navy and later was a mem...

Langtry, Lillie

(Encyclopedia)Langtry, Lillie, 1853–1929, English actress, b. Jersey, Channel Islands; known as the Jersey Lily. One of the first English women of elevated social rank to go on the stage, she made her debut at th...

Hertwig, Oscar

(Encyclopedia)Hertwig, Oscar ôs´kär hrt´vkh [key], 1849–1922, German embryologist. He studied medicine with Haeckel and Gegenbaur. In 1875 he established the fact that fertilization consists of the union ...

Robertson, Oscar

(Encyclopedia)Robertson, Oscar, 1938–, U.S. basketball player, b. Charlotte, Tenn. Passionately devoted to basketball as a youth, Robertson led his high school team to 45 consecutive victories. After an athletica...

Lewis, Oscar

(Encyclopedia)Lewis, Oscar, 1914–70, American anthropologist, b. New York City, grad. City College of New York (B.S.S., 1936) and Columbia (Ph.D., 1940). He was a professor of anthropology at Washington Univ. (St...

Hammerstein, Oscar

(Encyclopedia)Hammerstein, Oscar hm´rstn [key], 1846–1919, German-American operatic impresario. In 1888 he built the Harlem Opera House, and in 1906 the Manhattan Opera House, where he gave noteworthy prod...

Oscar II

(Encyclopedia)Oscar II, 1829–1907, king of Sweden (1872–1907) and Norway (1872–1905), younger son of Oscar I. He succeeded his brother, Charles XV. He refused to concede to Norway its own consular representat...