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Gossec, François Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Gossec, François Joseph fräNswäˈ zhôzĕfˈ gôsĕkˈ [key], 1734–1829, Belgian composer; pupil of Rameau. In 1784 he organized the École Royale de Chant and taught (1795–1816) composition at...

Watauga

(Encyclopedia)Watauga wŏtôˈgə [key], river, 60 mi (97 km) long, rising in the Blue Ridge Mts., NW N.C., and flowing NW to the south fork of the Holston River near Kingsport, Tenn. Watauga Dam (completed 1949), ...

Nostradamus

(Encyclopedia)Nostradamus nŏsˌtrədāˈməs [key], 1503–66, French astrologer and physician, whose real name was Michel de Nostredame. He is reputed to have effected remarkable cures during outbreaks of the pla...

Graupner, Christoph

(Encyclopedia)Graupner, Christoph krĭsˈtôf groupˈnər [key], 1693–1760, German composer, studied at Leipzig with Johann Heinichen and Johann Kuhnau. After playing harpsichord at the Hamburg opera (1706–9) u...

Manning, Olivia

(Encyclopedia)Manning, Olivia, 1911–80, English novelist, b. Portsmouth, Hampshire. During World War II she served as a journalist in the Middle East. She is best known for her “Balkan trilogy”: The Great For...

fasti

(Encyclopedia)fasti făsˈtī [key], in ancient Rome, dies fasti were days on which public business could be transacted without impiety. The word also came to be used for the calendars and almanacs that contained s...

Appian

(Encyclopedia)Appian ăpˈēən [key], fl. 2d cent., Roman historian. He was a Greek, born in Alexandria. He held various offices in Alexandria, was an advocate in Rome, and then imperial procurator in Egypt. His h...

ice skating

(Encyclopedia)ice skating, gliding along an ice surface on keellike runners known as ice skates. The earliest skates (c.9th cent.), made of bone, were found in Sweden. Wooden skates with iron facings appeared in ...

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...

Ward, Artemus

(Encyclopedia)Ward, Artemus, pseud. of Charles Farrar Browne, 1834–67, American humorist, b. Waterford, Maine. As a reporter on the Cleveland Plain Dealer, he began in 1858 a series of “Artemus Ward's Letters�...