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corvette

(Encyclopedia)corvette, small warship, classed between a frigate and a sloop-of-war. Corvettes usually were flush-decked and carried fewer than 28 guns. They were widely employed in escorting convoys and attacking ...

Lorraine

(Encyclopedia)Lorraine lôrĕnˈ [key], Ger. Lothringen, former province and former administrative region, NE France, bordering in the N on Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany, in the E on Alsace, in the S on Franche-...

MacLennan, Hugh

(Encyclopedia)MacLennan, Hugh məklĕnˈən [key], 1907–90, Canadian writer, b. Glace Bay, N. S. From his vantage at McGill Univ. in Montreal where he taught from 1951 to 1981, MacLennan wrote novels and essays t...

Arcaro, Eddie

(Encyclopedia)Arcaro, Eddie (George Edward Arcaro) ärkârˈō [key], 1916–97, American jockey, b. Cincinnati. In a thirty-year career (1931–62), he won 4,779 races and his mounts won $30,039,543 in purses, lea...

turnpike

(Encyclopedia)turnpike, road paid for partly or wholly by fees collected from travelers at tollgates. It derives its name from the hinged bar that prevented passage through such a gate until the toll was paid. See ...

Ironside, William Edmund Ironside, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Ironside, William Edmund Ironside, 1st Baron, 1880–1959, British general. After serving with distinction in the South African War and World War I, he was chosen (1918) to command the Allied forces a...

Schwerin, Kurt Christoph, Graf von

(Encyclopedia)Schwerin, Kurt Christoph, Graf von ko͝ort krĭsˈtôf gräf fən shvārēnˈ [key], 1684–1757, Prussian field marshal. He was one of the most brilliant lieutenants of King Frederick II of Prussia i...

Patay

(Encyclopedia)Patay pätāˈ [key], village (1990 pop. 1,953), Loiret dept., N central France. At Patay, in 1429, Joan of Arc defeated the English—one of the most serious English defeats in the Hundred Years War....

Stark, Harold Raynsford

(Encyclopedia)Stark, Harold Raynsford, 1880–1972, American admiral, b. Wilkes-Barre, Pa. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, he was commissioned (1905) an ensign in the navy. After service in World...

Davis, Elmer

(Encyclopedia)Davis, Elmer, 1890–1958, American newspaperman, radio commentator, and author, b. Aurora, Ind. Davis was a Rhodes scholar (1910–13) at Oxford. For 10 years (1914–24) he was on the staff of the N...