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nursery rhymes

(Encyclopedia)nursery rhymes, verses, generally brief and usually anonymous, for children. The best-known examples are in English and date mostly from the 17th cent. A popular type of rhyme is used in “counting-o...

colophon

(Encyclopedia)colophon kŏlˈəfŏnˌ [key] [Gr.,=finishing stroke]. Before the use of printing in Western Europe a manuscript often ended with a statement about the author, the scribe, or the illuminator. The firs...

Chufut-Kale

(Encyclopedia)Chufut-Kale cho͞ofo͞otˈ-kəlyĕˈ [key] [Turk.,=Jews' city], ruined fortress and town, S Crimea (Ukraine, occupied and annexed by Russia in 2014). While under Turkish rule (1475–1783), it was the...

Troubetzkoy, Paul, Prince

(Encyclopedia)Troubetzkoy, Paul, Prince tro͞obĕtskoiˈ, tro͞obĕtsˈkoi, Rus. tro͞obyĭtskoiˈ [key], 1866–1938, Russian sculptor, b. Italy. The son of a Russian nobleman and an American woman, Troubetzkoy wo...

Pappus

(Encyclopedia)Pappus păpˈəs [key], fl. c.300, Greek mathematician of Alexandria. He recorded and enlarged on the results of his predecessors, including Euclid and Apollonius of Perga, in his Mathematical Collect...

Joel, book of the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Joel, prophetic book of the Bible. It is a collection of the oracles of an otherwise unknown prophet, dated variously from the 9th to the 3d cent. b.c., though a date in c.400 b.c. is likely. A locust...

Asser, Tobias Michael Carel

(Encyclopedia)Asser, Tobias Michael Carel tōbēˈäs mēˈkhāl käˈrəl äsˈər [key], 1838–1913, Dutch jurist. He was a delegate to many international conferences, including the Hague Conference of 1899, and...

versification

(Encyclopedia)versification, principles of metrical practice in poetry. In different literatures poetic form is achieved in various ways; usually, however, a definite and predictable pattern is evident in the langu...

median

(Encyclopedia)median. 1 In statistics, a type of average. In a group of numbers as many numbers of the group are larger than the median as are smaller. In the group 4, 5, 6, 9, 13, 14, 19, the median is 9, three nu...

Christian IX

(Encyclopedia)Christian IX, 1818–1906, king of Denmark (1863–1906). A member of the cadet line of Sonderburg-Glücksburg, he succeeded Frederick VII, last of the direct line of Oldenburg. The London Conference ...