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Friml, Rudolf

(Encyclopedia)Friml, Rudolf (Charles Rudolf Friml) frĭmˈəl [key], 1879–1972, American composer, b. Prague. Friml lived in the United States after 1906. The best-known of his 33 light operas are The Firefly (19...

Jean de Meun

(Encyclopedia)Jean de Meun zhäN də möN [key], d. 1305, French poet, also known as Jean Chopinel (or Clopinel) of Meung-sur-Loire. He wrote the second part of the Roman de la Rose and made translations from Latin...

Kildare, Thomas Fitzgerald, 10th earl of

(Encyclopedia)Kildare, Thomas Fitzgerald, 10th earl of, 1513–37, Irish nobleman, called Silken Thomas. When his father, the 9th earl and lord deputy of Ireland, was summoned to London on charges of maladministrat...

Waller, Fats

(Encyclopedia)Waller, Fats, 1904–43, American jazz musician, singer, and composer, whose original name was Thomas Wright Waller, b. New York City. Waller began playing the piano as a child, and later studied with...

White, Stewart Edward

(Encyclopedia)White, Stewart Edward, 1873–1946, American author, b. Grand Rapids, Mich., grad. Univ. of Michigan, 1895. The stories collected in The Claim Jumpers (1901) and The Blazed Trail (1902) reflect his ow...

Carlyle, Jane Baillie Welsh

(Encyclopedia)Carlyle, Jane Baillie Welsh, 1801–66, English woman of letters; wife of Thomas Carlyle, whom she married in 1826. She possessed a genius for letter writing, manifest in the volumes of her published ...

Rosicrucians

(Encyclopedia)Rosicrucians rōzĭkro͞oˈshənz [key], members of an esoteric society or group of societies, who claim that their order has been in existence since the days of ancient Egypt and has over the course ...

almond

(Encyclopedia)almond, name for a small tree (Prunus amygdalus) of the family Rosaceae (rose family) and for the nutlike, edible seed of its drupe fruit. The “nuts” of sweet-almond varieties are eaten raw or roa...

Lennep, Jacob van

(Encyclopedia)Lennep, Jacob van yäˈkōp vän lĕnˈĕp [key], 1802–68, Dutch writer. He was state's attorney (1852) and served in the legislature (1853–56). He is best known for his historical novels influenc...

Montt, Manuel

(Encyclopedia)Montt, Manuel mōnt [key], 1809–80, president of Chile (1851–61). From a poverty-stricken childhood he rose to become one of Chile's most notable jurists. He held many prominent academic and gove...