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Hoffman, Dustin

(Encyclopedia)Hoffman, Dustin hŏfˈmən, hôfˈ– [key], 1937–, American actor, b. Los Angeles. Not glamorous in the manner of earlier stars, Hoffman began on Broadway, but gained widespread popularity with his...

intermezzo

(Encyclopedia)intermezzo ĭntərmĕtˈsō, –mĕdˈzō [key]. 1 Any theatrical entertainment of a light nature performed between the divisions of a longer, more serious work. 2 In the 17th and 18th cent., a short ...

Keaton, Buster

(Encyclopedia)Keaton, Buster (Joseph Francis Keaton), 1895–1966, American movie actor, b. Piqua, Kans. Considered one of the greatest comic actors in film history, Keaton used his considerable acrobatic skills, w...

Mother Lode

(Encyclopedia)Mother Lode, belt of gold-bearing quartz veins, central Calif., along the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada. The term is sometimes limited to a strip c.70 mi (110 km) long and from 1 to 61⁄2 mi...

Maceió

(Encyclopedia)Maceió məsāôˈ [key], city (1991 pop. 629,041), capital of Alagoas state, E Brazil, on a narrow strip of land between a lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean. Its port is at Jaraguá. Industries include s...

Gadsden Purchase

(Encyclopedia)Gadsden Purchase gădzˈdən [key], strip of land purchased (1853) by the United States from Mexico. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) had described the U.S.-Mexico boundary vaguely, and Presiden...

Groningen, province, Netherlands

(Encyclopedia)Groningen grōˈnĭng-ən [key], province, c.900 sq mi (2,330 sq km), NE Netherlands, bordering on ...

Judaea

(Encyclopedia)Judaea or Judea both: jo͞odēˈə [key] [Lat. from Judah], region, Greco-Roman name for S Palestine. It varied in size in different periods. In the time of Jesus it was both part of the province of S...

Fielding, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Fielding, Henry, 1707–54, English novelist and dramatist. Born of a distinguished family, he was educated at Eton and studied law at Leiden. Settling in London in 1729, he began writing comedies, fa...

music hall

(Encyclopedia)music hall. In England, the Licensing Act of 1737 confined the production of legitimate plays to the two royal theaters—Drury Lane and Covent Garden; the demands for entertainment of the rising lowe...