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soliloquy

(Encyclopedia)soliloquy, the speech by a character in a literary composition, usually a play, delivered while the speaker is either alone addressing the audience directly or the other actors are silent. It is most ...

Ruef, Abraham

(Encyclopedia)Ruef, Abraham (Abe Ruef) ro͞of [key], 1864–1936, American political boss, b. San Francisco. He practiced law in San Francisco after 1886 and became a familiar figure in San Francisco ward politics....

Villeroi, François de Neufville, duc de

(Encyclopedia)Villeroi, François de Neufville, duc de fräNswäˈ də növēlˈ dük də vēlrwäˈ [key], 1644–1730, marshal of France and favorite of King Louis XIV. In the War of the Grand Alliance, he succee...

Connors, Jimmy

(Encyclopedia)Connors, Jimmy (James Scott Connors, Jr.), 1952–, American tennis player, b. East St. Louis, Ill. A volatile, controversial, and fiercely competitive player, Connors was known for his theatrical con...

Christus, Petrus

(Encyclopedia)Christus or Cristus, Petrus both: pēˈtrəs krĭsˈtəs [key], fl. 1444–c.1473, Flemish painter; a follower and probably a pupil of the Van Eycks. In 1444 he became a free citizen of Bruges, where ...

Chalfie, Martin

(Encyclopedia)Chalfie, Martin, 1947–, American biologist, b. Chicago, Ph.D. Harvard, 1977. In 1982 Chalfie joined the faculty at Columbia, where he is now the William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Biological Scienc...

Cleveland, Barbara Villiers, duchess of

(Encyclopedia)Cleveland, Barbara Villiers, duchess of vĭlˈərz, vĭlˈyərz [key], 1641–1709, mistress of King Charles II of England. She became Charles's mistress at Breda in 1660 and returned with him to Engl...

John II, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)John II (John Comnenus) kŏmnēˈnəs [key], 1088–1143, Byzantine emperor (1118–43), son and successor of Alexius I. He was crowned despite the intrigues of his sister, Anna Comnena, and of his mo...

Miantonomo

(Encyclopedia)Miantonomo mēănˌtənōˈmō, mīănˌ– [key], d. 1643, chief of the Narragansett; nephew of another chief, Canonicus. In 1637 he aided the English colonists in the Pequot War. The following year ...

Morgan, Edmund Sears

(Encyclopedia)Morgan, Edmund Sears, 1916–2013, U.S. historian, b. Minneapolis. After receiving his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1942, he taught at the Univ. of Chicago (1945–46) and at Brown (1946–55) before becomin...

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