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hunger strike

(Encyclopedia)hunger strike, refusal to eat as a protest against existing conditions. Although most often used by prisoners, others have also employed it. For example, Mohandas Gandhi in India and César Chávez in...

Eddy, Mary Baker

(Encyclopedia)Eddy, Mary Baker, 1821–1910, founder of the Christian Science movement, b. Bow, N.H. As physical frailty prevented her regular school attendance, she spent the early part of her education learning a...

Vulgate

(Encyclopedia)Vulgate vŭlˈgāt [key] [Lat. Vulgata editio=common edition], most ancient extant version of the whole Christian Bible. Its name derives from a 13th-century reference to it as the “editio vulgata....

troubadours

(Encyclopedia)troubadours tro͞oˈbədôrz [key], aristocratic poet-musicians of S France (Provence) who flourished from the end of the 11th cent. through the 13th cent. Many troubadours were noblemen and crusader ...

quasicrystal

(Encyclopedia)quasicrystal kwāˈzīkrĭsˌtəl, kwäzˈē– [key] or quasiperiodic solid, solid body that exhibits such crystalline features as symmetry and repeating patterns of unit cells (regular arrangements ...

Doctorow, E. L.

(Encyclopedia)Doctorow, E. L. (Edgar Lawrence Doctorow) dŏkˈtərōˌ [key], 1931–2015, American novelist, b. New York City. The author of a dozen novels, Doctorow is known for his skillful blending of fiction a...

Aramaic

(Encyclopedia)Aramaic ârəmāˈĭk [key], language belonging to the West Semitic subdivision of the Semitic subfamily of the Afroasiatic family of languages (see Afroasiatic languages). At some point during the se...

megalithic monument

(Encyclopedia)megalithic monument mĕgəlĭthˈĭk [key] [Gr.,=large stone], in archaeology, a construction involving one or several roughly hewn stone slabs of great size; it is usually of prehistoric antiquity. T...

Seven Days battles

(Encyclopedia)Seven Days battles, in the American Civil War, the week-long Confederate counter-offensive (June 26–July 2, 1862) near Richmond, Va., that ended the Peninsular campaign. After the battle of Fair Oak...

Provençal literature

(Encyclopedia)Provençal literature, vernacular literature of S France. Provençal, or Occitan, as the language is now often called, appears to have been the first vernacular tongue used in French commerce and lite...
 

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