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Mitford, Nancy

(Encyclopedia)Mitford, Nancy, 1904–73, English novelist and biographer, b. London. She managed a London bookshop during World War II and moved to Paris in 1945. Mitford and her five celebrated and politically div...

La Paz, city, Bolivia

(Encyclopedia)La Paz lä päs [key], city (1992 pop. 713,378), W Bolivia, administrative capital (since 1898) and largest city of Bolivia. The constitutional capital is Sucre. La Paz, the highest capital in the wor...

Székely

(Encyclopedia)Székely sāˈkəlē [key], ethnic group of Transylvania and of present-day Romania. Except in a few isolated communities, where the ancient customs of the Székely have survived, there is little diff...

von Braun, Wernher

(Encyclopedia)von Braun, Wernher vôn broun [key], 1912–77, German-American rocket scientist and astronautics engineer, b. Germany, grad. Berlin Technological Institute (B.S., 1932), Univ. of Berlin (Ph.D., 1934)...

Marshall Plan

(Encyclopedia)Marshall Plan or European Recovery Program, project instituted at the Paris Economic Conference (July, 1947) to foster economic recovery in certain European countries after World War II. The Marshall ...

Attlee, Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl

(Encyclopedia)Attlee, Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl ătˈlē [key], 1883–1967, British statesman. Educated at Oxford, he was called to the bar in 1905. His early experience as a social worker in London's East ...

neuralgia

(Encyclopedia)neuralgia no͝orălˈjə, nyo͝o– [key], acute paroxysmal pain along a peripheral sensory nerve. Unlike neuritis, there is no inflammation or degeneration of nerve tissue. Neuralgia occurs commonly ...

macular degeneration

(Encyclopedia)macular degeneration, eye disorder causing loss of central vision. The affected area, the macula, lies at the back of the retina and is the part that produces the sharpest vision. The most serious vis...

cramp

(Encyclopedia)cramp, painful uncontrollable contraction of a muscle or group of muscles. The type that results from cold, strain, or disturbance of circulation (as experienced by swimmers) is eased by massage and t...

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