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evil eye

(Encyclopedia)evil eye, principally Sicilian and Mesoamerican superstition, although it is known in other cultures. According to the Native American version, a person who stares fixedly at a pregnant woman or a chi...

Fyt, Jan

(Encyclopedia)Fyt, Jan yän fīt [key], 1611–61, Flemish animal and still-life painter and etcher. A pupil of Frans Snyders, Fyt spent 10 years in France and Italy. Returning to Antwerp in 1641, he enjoyed consid...

incantation

(Encyclopedia)incantation, set formula, spoken or sung, for the purpose of working magic. An incantation is normally an invocation to beneficent supernatural spirits for aid, protection, or inspiration. It may also...

Lipton, Seymour

(Encyclopedia)Lipton, Seymour, 1903–86, American sculptor, b. New York City. Self-taught as a sculptor, Lipton worked directly in sheet metals and molten alloys, creating organically twisting forms with richly br...

diphosgene

(Encyclopedia)diphosgene dīˌfŏzˈjēn [key], colorless liquid developed as a military poison. It boils at 128℃; its vapors have the odor of phosgene. Diphosgene is a lung irritant but is only slightly lachrima...

Stockton, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Stockton, Richard, 1730–81, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. near Princeton, N.J. A successful lawyer in New Jersey, he tried to find means ...

Bacon, Nathaniel

(Encyclopedia)Bacon, Nathaniel, 1647–76, leader of Bacon's Rebellion in colonial Virginia. An aristocrat (he was kin to Francis Bacon, had been educated at Cambridge and Gray's Inn, and was a member of the govern...

Biber, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von

(Encyclopedia)Biber, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von hīnˈrĭkh ĭgˈnäts fränts fən bēˈbər [key], 1644–1704, Austrian musician. Biber was one of the first notable Central European violinists and may have been th...

environmental impact statement

(Encyclopedia)environmental impact statement, analysis of the impact that a proposed development, usually industrial, will have on the natural and social environment. It includes assessment of long- and short-term ...

antianxiety drug

(Encyclopedia)antianxiety drug, drug administered for the relief of anxiety. Although their action is not fully understood, most antianxiety medications appear to affect the action of neurotransmitters in the brain...