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amulet

(Encyclopedia)amulet ămˈyəlĭt [key], object or formula that credulity and superstition have endowed with the power of warding off harmful influences. The use of the amulet to avert danger and to dispel evil has...

Hesse, Hermann

(Encyclopedia)Hesse, Hermann hĕsˈə [key], 1877–1962, German novelist and poet. A pacifist, he went to Switzerland at the outbreak of World War I and became (1923) a Swiss citizen. The spiritual loneliness of ...

incest

(Encyclopedia)incest, sexual relations between persons to whom marriage is prohibited by custom or law because of their close kinship. Ideas of kinship, however, vary widely from group to group, hence the definitio...

hairdressing

(Encyclopedia)hairdressing, arranging of the hair for decorative, ceremonial, or symbolic reasons. Primitive men plastered their hair with clay and tied trophies and badges into it to represent their feats and qual...

Baudelaire, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Baudelaire, Charles shärl bōdlârˈ [key], 1821–67, French poet and critic. His poetry, classical in form, introduced symbolism (see symbolists) by establishing symbolic correspondences among sens...

sword

(Encyclopedia)sword, weapon of offense and defense in personal combat, consisting of a blade with a sharp point and one or two cutting edges, set in a hilt with a handle protected by a metal case or cross guard. Th...

Bourgeois, Louise

(Encyclopedia)Bourgeois, Louise bo͞orzhwäˈ [key], 1911–2010, French-American sculptor, b. Paris. She married the art historian Robert Goldwater in 1938, emigrated to the United States, and became a citizen. He...

armor

(Encyclopedia)armor, apparatus for defense of persons, horses, and such objects as vehicles, naval vessels, and aircraft. Body armor developed early as protective suits made of such materials as leather, shells, wo...

Tasaday

(Encyclopedia)Tasaday, alleged band of 25 hunter-gatherers living in the Philippine rain forest, purportedly contacted by Westerners for the first time in 1971 in southern Mindanao (Cotabato Province). They reporte...

Dhaka

(Encyclopedia)Dhaka or Dacca both: dăkˈə [key], city (2021 est. pop. 10,356,500), capital of Bangladesh, on a ...