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John III, king of Poland

(Encyclopedia)John III (John Sobieski) sôbyĕˈskē [key], 1624–96, king of Poland (1674–96), champion of Christian Europe against the Ottomans. Born to an ancient noble family, he was appointed (1668) command...

Sicilian Vespers

(Encyclopedia)Sicilian Vespers, in Italian history, name given the rebellion staged by the Sicilians against the Angevin French domination of Sicily; the rebellion broke out at Palermo at the start of Vespers on Ea...

MacLeish, Archibald

(Encyclopedia)MacLeish, Archibald məklēshˈ [key], 1892–1982, American poet and public official, b. Glencoe, Ill., grad. Yale, 1915, LL.B Harvard, 1919. He practiced law for only three years and during the 1920...

Kellogg, Frank Billings

(Encyclopedia)Kellogg, Frank Billings, 1856–1937, American lawyer, U.S. senator (1917–23), and cabinet member, b. Potsdam, N.Y. As a child, he moved to Olmstead co., Minn. He later studied law and held several ...

porpoise

(Encyclopedia)porpoise, small whale of the family Phocaenidae, allied to the dolphin. Porpoises, like other whales, are mammals; they are warm-blooded, breathe air, and give birth to live young, which they suckle w...

Adams, Abigail

(Encyclopedia)Adams, Abigail, 1744–1818, wife of President John Adams and mother of President John Quincy Adams, b. Weymouth, Mass., as Abigail Smith. A lively, intelligent woman, she married John Adams in 1764 a...

Battery, the

(Encyclopedia)Battery, the, park, 21 acres (8.5 hectares), southern tip of Manhattan island, New York City; site of former Dutch and English fortifications. Castle Clinton, a fort built in 1808 for the defense of N...

rammed earth

(Encyclopedia)rammed earth, material consisting chiefly of soil of sufficiently stiff consistency that has been placed in forms and pounded down. It has been used for buildings and walls since ancient times and was...

Troup, George Michael

(Encyclopedia)Troup, George Michael, 1780–1856, governor of Georgia (1823–27), b. McIntosh Bluff, on the Tombigbee River, Ala. (then a part of Georgia). As governor, he was an extreme supporter of states' right...

Sovern, Michael Ira

(Encyclopedia)Sovern, Michael Ira, 1931–2020, American lawyer and educator, president of Columbia Univ. (1980–93), b. New York City. He graduated from the Columbia Univ. Law School in 1955 and after 1957 he was...
 

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