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World Wildlife Fund

(Encyclopedia)World Wildlife Fund (WWF), international organization formed to raise money for conservation projects, est. 1961. The international organization, believing that its name no longer reflected the scope ...

Sherman Silver Purchase Act

(Encyclopedia)Sherman Silver Purchase Act, 1890, passed by the U.S. Congress to supplant the Bland-Allison Act of 1878. It not only required the U.S. government to purchase nearly twice as much silver as before, bu...

Stinnes, Hugo

(Encyclopedia)Stinnes, Hugo ho͞oˈgō shtĭnˈəs [key], 1870–1924, German industrialist. The son of a Westphalian mine owner, he founded his own company in 1892 and rapidly expanded his interests to build a hug...

Fitzgerald, F. Scott

(Encyclopedia)Fitzgerald, F. Scott (Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald), 1896–1940, American novelist and short-story writer, b. St. Paul, Minn. He is ranked among the great American writers of the 20th cent. Fitzgeral...

virtual currency

(Encyclopedia)virtual currency, a means of payment that is electronically created and stored, more specifically an unregulated electronic medium of exchange that operates like a currency but is created and controll...

Hogan, Ben

(Encyclopedia)Hogan, Ben hōˈgən [key], 1912–97, American golfer, b. Dublin, Tex. A former caddie, Hogan began his professional playing career in 1937. One of the game's great money winners, he won the Professi...

Aberhart, William

(Encyclopedia)Aberhart, William āˈbərhärt [key], 1878–1943, premier of Alberta, Canada, b. Ontario. He was a schoolteacher and a founder and dean of the Calgary Prophetic Bible Institute (opened 1927). About ...

Judas Iscariot

(Encyclopedia)Judas Iscariot ĭskârˈēət [key], Jesus' betrayer, possibly from the village of Kerioth, the only Judaean disciple among the Twelve, and, according to the Gospel of St. John, their treasurer. Judas...

Budgell, Eustace

(Encyclopedia)Budgell, Eustace bŭjˈəl [key], 1686–1737, English essayist. He was a cousin of Addison, through whose aid he obtained several public offices. Budgell contributed to the Tatler, the Spectator, the...

vending machine

(Encyclopedia)vending machine, coin-operated, automatic device for selling goods. Many vending machines are capable of making change, and some of the more sophisticated ones accept paper money or credit cards. The ...