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Francis I, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Francis I, 1494–1547, king of France (1515–47), known as Francis of Angoulême before he succeeded his cousin and father-in-law, King Louis XII. The king also had some notable political achievem...

interjection

(Encyclopedia)interjection, English part of speech consisting of exclamatory words such as oh, alas, and ouch. They are marked by a feature of intonation that is usually shown in writing by an exclamation point (se...

Smith, Seba

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Seba, 1792–1868, American humorist, b. Buckfield, Maine. He founded the Portland Courier in 1829 and in it began (1830) a series of humorous letters on politics under the pen name Major Jack ...

Croswell case

(Encyclopedia)Croswell case krôzˈwəl, krôsˈwĕl [key], U.S. court case involving freedom of the press. In 1803, Harry Croswell, the editor of the Wasp of Hudson, N.Y., was convicted of libeling President Thoma...

jargon

(Encyclopedia)jargon, pejorative term applied to speech or writing that is considered meaningless, unintelligible, or ugly. In one sense the term is applied to the special language of a profession, which may be unn...

Hampshire, Sir Stuart Newton

(Encyclopedia)Hampshire, Sir Stuart Newton, 1914–2004, British philosopher, grad. Oxford. He taught at Oxford, University College (London), London Univ., and Princeton before joining (1984, emeritus after 1990) t...

Setesdal

(Encyclopedia)Setesdal sāˈtəsdäl [key], narrow valley, S Norway, in Aust-Agder co. It is drained by the Otra River (150 mi/241 km long) and contains several lakes. Communication with the rest of the country has...

Lewis, John Robert

(Encyclopedia)Lewis, John Robert, 1940–2020, African-American politician and civil-rights leader, b. near Troy, Ala., B.A. American Baptist Theological Seminary, 19...

phonology

(Encyclopedia)phonology, study of the sound systems of languages. It is distinguished from phonetics, which is the study of the production, perception, and physical properties of speech sounds; phonology attempts t...

MacBeth, George

(Encyclopedia)MacBeth, George, 1932–92, Scottish poet, grad. Oxford, 1955. He was until 1976 a producer for the BBC. His best poetry, such as The Broken Places (1963), often treats violent subjects in a combinati...