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Rubicon

(Encyclopedia)Rubicon ro͞oˈbĭkŏn [key], Lat. Rubico, small stream that flows into the Adriatic and in Roman times marked the boundary between Cisalpine Gaul and ancient Italy. In 49 b.c., after some hesitation,...

S

(Encyclopedia)S, 19th letter of the alphabet, representing the common sibilant, voiceless in spur, voiced in rose. Its Greek equivalent is sigma. In former times the nonterminal s was written or printed much like a...

Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnan

(Encyclopedia)Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnan, 1896–1953, American author, b. Washington, D.C., grad. Univ. of Wisconsin, 1918. She was a journalist until 1928, when she moved to the Florida backwoods, where most of he...

Banbury

(Encyclopedia)Banbury bănˈbərē [key], town, Oxfordshire, central England, on the Cherwell River. Light ...

Tenerani, Pietro

(Encyclopedia)Tenerani, Pietro pyĕˈtrō tānāräˈnē [key], c.1789–1869, Italian sculptor. He studied with both Canova and Thorvaldsen. Of his many works on classical and Christian subjects, the best known in...

equinox

(Encyclopedia)equinox ēˈkwĭnŏks [key], either of two points on the celestial sphere where the ecliptic and the celestial equator intersect. The vernal equinox, also known as “the first point of Aries,” is t...

Saint Mark's Church

(Encyclopedia)Saint Mark's Church, Venice, named after the tutelary saint of Venice. The original Romanesque basilical church, built in the 9th cent. as a shrine for the saint's bones, was destroyed by fire in 967....

drill, tool

(Encyclopedia)drill, tool used to create a hole, usually in some hard substance, by its rotary or hammering action. Many different tools make up the drill family. The awl is a pointed instrument used for piercing s...

Glendalough

(Encyclopedia)Glendalough glĕnˈdəlōˌ [key], wooded valley, Co. Wicklow, E Republic of Ireland, W of Wicklow. It is noted for the ruins of several churches of the 11th and 12th cent. (part of the center of Iris...

Huntingdon, Henry Hastings, 3d earl of

(Encyclopedia)Huntingdon, Henry Hastings, 3d earl of, 1535–95, English nobleman. Through his mother, Catherine Pole, a great-granddaughter of the duke of Clarence (brother of Edward IV and Richard III), Hastings ...