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Updike, John

(Encyclopedia)Updike, John, 1932–2009, American author, one of the nation's most distinguished 20th-century men of letters, b. Shillington, Pa., grad. Harvard, 1954. In his many novels and stories, written in a w...

Rabelais, François

(Encyclopedia)Rabelais, François răbˈəlā, Fr. fräNswäˈ räblāˈ [key], c.1490–1553, French writer and physician, one of the great comic geniuses in world literature. His father, a lawyer, owned several e...

Hazlitt, William

(Encyclopedia)Hazlitt, William, 1778–1830, English essayist. The son of a reform-mindeed Unitarian minister, he abandoned the idea of entering the clergy and took up painting, philosophy, and later journalism. He...

Jonson, Ben

(Encyclopedia)Jonson, Ben, 1572–1637, English dramatist and poet, b. Westminster, London. The high-spirited buoyancy of Jonson's plays and the brilliance of his language have earned him a reputation as one of the...

Netanyahu, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Netanyahu, Benjamin or Binyamin bēnˈyəmēnˌ nĕtənyäˈho͞o [key], 1949–, Isr...

sequoia

(Encyclopedia)sequoia sĭkwoiˈə [key], name for the redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and for the big tree, or giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), both huge, coniferous evergreen trees of the bald cypress fami...

shopping center

(Encyclopedia)shopping center, a concentration of retail, service, and entertainment enterprises designed to serve the surrounding region. The modern shopping center differs from its antecedents—bazaars and marke...

Champagne, historic region and former province, France

(Encyclopedia)Champagne shäNpäˈnyə [key], historic region and former province, NE France, consisting mainly of Aube, Marne, Haute-Marne, and Ardennes depts., which formed the modern administrative region of Cha...

erosion

(Encyclopedia)erosion ĭrōˈzhən [key], general term for the processes by which the surface of the earth is constantly being worn away. The principal agents are gravity, running water, near-shore waves, ice (most...

Gallic Wars

(Encyclopedia)Gallic Wars gălˈĭk [key], campaigns in Gaul led by Julius Caesar in his two terms as proconsul of Cisalpine Gaul, Transalpine Gaul, and Illyricum (58 b.c.–51 b.c.). Caesar's first campaign was to...