French scholar and writer whose major contribution was to the development of the study of comparative literature and to the revival of interest in literary-historical studies.
hero of one of the most durable legends in Western folklore and literature, the story of a German necromancer or astrologer who sells his soul to the devil in exchange ...
style of painting that flourished in France around the turn of the 20th century. Fauve artists used pure, brilliant colour aggressively applied straight from the paint tubes to create a ...
musical texture prevalent during the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, produced by three voices proceeding primarily in parallel motion in intervals corresponding to the first inversion of the triad. ...
town, Agrigento province, south central Sicily, Italy, just east of Agrigento city. The name of the town is believed to be of Arabic origin. It is the site of a ...
town ("parish"), Swale district, administrative and historic county of Kent, southeastern England. Faversham grew first as a port on the River Swale near Watling Street. It was assessed in 1086 ...
a hereditary disorder involving an allergic-like reaction to the broad, or fava, bean (Vicia faba). Susceptible persons may develop a blood disorder (hemolytic anemia) by eating the beans, or even ...
extinct genus of corals found as fossils in marine rocks from the Ordovician to the Permian periods (between 505 and 245 million years old). Favosites is easily recognized by its ...
letters of the alphabet appearing at the beginning of 29 of the surahs (chapters) of the Muslim sacred scripture, the Qur'an. The 14 letters thus designated occur singly and in ...
nee Garrett leader for 50 years of the movement for woman suffrage in England. From the beginning of her career she had to struggle against almost unanimous male opposition to ...
in India, under the Mughals, an executive head of a district (sarkar). The fawjdar was responsible for law and order, held police powers and criminal jurisdiction, and commanded irregular levies ...
British soldier and best-known participant in the Gunpowder Plot. Its object was to blow up the Parliament building, while James I and his chief ministers met within, in reprisal for ...
inlet of the North Atlantic Ocean on the southwestern coast of Iceland. It indents the coast for 30 miles (50 km) and extends for 50 miles (80 km) between the ...
Buddhist monk whose pilgrimage to India in 402 initiated Sino-Indian relations and whose writings give important information about early Buddhism. After his return to China he translated into Chinese the ...
oasis town, northern Chad, north central Africa. It lies in the Sahara at the northern tip of the Bodele depression, 490 mi (790 km) northeast of the capital, N'Djamena. Originally ...
(Arabic: "emanation"), in Islamic philosophy, the emanation of created things from God. The word is not used in the Qur'an (Islamic scripture), which uses terms such as khalq ("creation") and ...
county, southwestern Pennsylvania, U.S., bounded to the north by Jacobs Creek; to the east by Laurel Hill, the Youghiogheny River, and Youghiogheny River Lake; to the south by Maryland and ...
city, seat of Cumberland county, south-central North Carolina, U.S. It lies on the Cape Fear River at the head of navigation, about 70 miles (113 km) south of Raleigh. The ...
city, seat of Washington county, northwestern Arkansas, U.S., in the Ozarks on the White River, adjacent to Springdale (north). No settlement existed there when the site, on the Overland Mail ...
island of Kuwait, lying in the Persian Gulf near the entrance to Kuwait Bay; it has an area of 15 square miles (39 square km). Inhabited since prehistoric times, it ...
foremost among the early English Tudor composers, noted principally for his masses and motets written in a style less florid than that of his predecessors. He is distinguished from his ...
king of Saudi Arabia from 1964 to 1975, an influential figure of the Arab world who was a critic not only of Israel but of Soviet influence in the Middle ...
any of the funerary portraits dating from the Roman period (1st to the 4th century) found in Egyptian tombs throughout Egypt but particularly at the oasis of al-Fayyum. Depictions of ...
capital of al-Fayyum muhafazah (governorate), Egypt. The town is located in the southeastern part of the governorate, on the site of the ancient centre of the region, called Shedet in ...
muhafazah (governorate) of Upper Egypt, in a great depression of the Western Desert southwest of Cairo. Extending about 50 miles (80 km) east-west and about 35 miles (56 km) north-south, ...
Buddhist monk usually considered to be the founder of the Huayan school of Buddhism in China because he systematized its doctrines. Basically, the Huayan school taught that all phenomena are ...
large plantation in Brazil, comparable to the slave-based plantations of the Caribbean and the United States. In the colonial period (16th-18th century) the plantation owners (fazendeiros) ruled ...
mining village, north-central Mauritania, western Africa, just west of Zouirat. It is important as the base for the exploitation of extensive iron-ore deposits in the nearby Mount Ijill. The iron ...
day or period of time set aside to commemorate, ritually celebrate or reenact, or anticipate events or seasons-agricultural, religious, or sociocultural-that give meaning and cohesiveness to an individual and to ...
the component structure of the outer covering and flight surfaces of all modern birds. Unique to birds, feathers apparently evolved from the scales of birds' reptilian ancestors. The many different ...
(Ptilium, formerly Hypnum, crista-castrensis), widely distributed plant of the order Bryales that forms dense, light-green mats on rocks, rotten wood, or peaty soil, especially in mountain forests of the Northern ...
any of the 550 living species of crinoid marine invertebrates of the phylum Echinodermata lacking a stalk. The arms, which have feathery fringes, usually number five. Feather stars usually attach ...
British trade unionist who led the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in its confrontations with governments over industrial-relations legislation from 1969 to 1973.
any large, segmented marine worm of the family Sabellidae (class Polychaeta, phylum Annelida). The name is also occasionally applied to members of the closely related family Serpulidae. Sabellids live in ...
any of the approximately 350 insect species of the widely distributed family Ptiliidae (Trichopterygidae) of the order Coleoptera, characterized by long fringes of hair on the long, narrow hindwings. Most ...
labour union practices that require the employer to pay for the performance of what he considers to be unnecessary work or for work that is not in fact performed or ...
decorative use of ornamental feathers, especially the feather mosaic needlework of Victorian England. Feathers have been used for adornment since prehistoric times. The Anasazi Indians constructed a turkey-feather and yucca-cord ...
second month of the Gregorian calendar. It was named after Februalia, the Roman festival of purification. Originally, February was the last month of the Roman calendar. See month and the ...
(March 8-12 [Feb. 24-28, old style], 1917), the first stage of the Russian Revolution of 1917, in which the monarchy was overthrown and replaced by the Provisional Government. This government, ...
French historian of the early modern period and organizer of major national and international intellectual projects. In his books and editorial efforts, Febvre embraced a "global" history that rejected all ...
seaside resort and fishing port of northern France, Seine-Maritime departement, Haute-Normandie region, northeast of Le Havre. It lies at the opening of the valley of the Valmont River, between high ...
solid bodily waste discharged from the large intestine through the anus during defecation. Feces are normally removed from the body one or two times a day. About 100 to 250 ...
German physicist and philosopher who was a key figure in the founding of psychophysics, the science concerned with quantitative relations between sensations and the stimuli producing them.
a term used in Islamic cultures to describe a devotee of a religious or national group willing to engage in self-immolation to attain a group goal. The term first appeared ...
extensive valley glacier, situated in the Central Asian Pamirs range, central Tajikistan. The world's largest glacier found outside the polar regions, it is about 45 miles (70 km) long and ...
one of several Italian companies performing commedia dell'arte (improvised popular comedy) at the beginning of the 17th century. The name means "company of the faithful." The Fedeli was a successor ...
principal investigative agency of the federal government of the United States. The bureau is responsible for conducting investigations in cases where federal laws may have been violated, unless another agency ...
in Germany, special court for the review of judicial and administrative decisions and legislation to determine whether they are in accord with the Basic Law (constitution) of the country. Although ...
independent U.S. government corporation created under authority of the Banking Act of 1933 (also known as the Glass-Steagall Act), with the responsibility to insure bank deposits in eligible banks against ...
district in central Mexico, the seat of the national government, in a territory that includes a large portion of the Mexico City metropolitan area. The district averages well over 8,000 ...
central banking authority of the United States. It acts as a fiscal agent for the U.S. government, is custodian of the reserve accounts of commercial banks, makes loans to commercial ...
Russian internal security and counterintelligence service created in 1994 as one of the successor agencies of the Soviet-era KGB. It is responsible for counterintelligence, antiterrorism, and surveillance of the military. ...
American revival of Roman architecture, especially associated with Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Latrobe. It flourished from 1785 to 1820 and later in governmental building. The Federal style had definite philosophical ...
mode of political organization that unites separate states or other polities within an overarching political system in such a way as to allow each to maintain its own fundamental political ...
series of 85 essays on the proposed new Constitution of the United States and on the nature of republican government, published between 1787 and 1788 by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, ...
early U.S. national political party, which advocated a strong central government and held power from 1789 to 1801. The term federalist was first used in 1787 to describe the supporters ...
partisan of the Commune of Paris of 1871 (see Paris, Commune of). Many Communards called themselves Federates because they believed in a federal system for France.
trophy representing the women's amateur team-tennis championship of the world, inaugurated in 1963 by the International Lawn Tennis Federation in observance of its 50th anniversary. The first competition, an elimination ...
federation of French workers' organizations (bourses) established in 1892. The bourse was a combination of a labour exchange (dealing with job placement), a workers' club and cultural centre, and a ...
