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McMurtry, Larry

(Encyclopedia)McMurtry, Larry Jeff, 1936–2021, American novelist, b. Wichita Falls, Tx., grad. North Texas State Univ. (B.A., 1958), Rice Un...

Tyler, Wat

(Encyclopedia)Tyler, Wat, d. 1381, English rebel. His given name appears in full as Walter; his surname signifies the trade of a roof tiler. He came into prominence as the leader of the rebellion of 1381, known as ...

Vehmgericht

(Encyclopedia)Vehmgericht fāˈmĭk [key], in medieval Germany, a type of criminal tribunal. The inability of the Holy Roman emperors to exercise effective central control over their lands and the extensive feudal ...

outsider art

(Encyclopedia)outsider art, artwork created by typically unconventional and untrained artists from the margins of society and the art world. The term was coined in 1972 by British scholar and art critic Roger Cardi...

Guiana

(Encyclopedia)Guiana gēănˈə, –änˈ– [key], region, NE South America. It faces the Atlantic Ocean on the north and east and is enclosed on the west and south within a vast semicircle formed by the linked ri...

Roanoke Island

(Encyclopedia)Roanoke Island, 12 mi (19 km) long and 3 mi (4.8 km) wide, NE N.C., off the Atlantic coast between Croatan (W) and Roanoke (E) sounds in the Outer Banks. Manteo is the chief town, and tourism and fish...

sewing machine

(Encyclopedia)sewing machine, device that stitches cloth and other materials. An attempt at mechanical sewing was made in England (1790) with a machine having a forked, automatic needle that made a single-thread ch...

Dia Art Foundation

(Encyclopedia)Dia Art Foundation, American foundation that supports contemporary art and artists, est. 1974 by art dealer Heiner Friedrich and his wife, art patron Philippa de Menil. The foundation, which commissio...

El Dorado, legendary country of South America

(Encyclopedia)El Dorado ĕlˈdəräˈdō, –rāˈ– [key] [Span.,=the gilded man], legendary country of the Golden Man sought by adventurers in South America. The legend supposedly originated in a custom of the C...

Spenser, Edmund

(Encyclopedia)Spenser, Edmund, 1552?–1599, English poet, b. London. He was the friend of men eminent in literature and at court, including Gabriel Harvey, Sir Philip Sidney, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Robert Sidney,...
 

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