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stirrup

(Encyclopedia)stirrup, foot support for the rider of a horse in mounting and while riding. It is a ring with a horizontal bar to receive the foot and is attached by a strap to the saddle. To avoid the danger of hav...

Bayreuth Festival

(Encyclopedia)Bayreuth Festival, also called the Richard Wagner Festival, annual season of performances of Wagner's works, held in the Bavarian town of Bayreuth. Around 1851, Wagner began to visualize a festival th...

Skram, Amalie

(Encyclopedia)Skram, Amalie ämäˈlēə skräm [key], 1846–1905, Norwegian writer. In Denmark, where she lived most of her life, Skram wrote Constance Ring (1885, tr. 1988), her first major novel and the first v...

Encke, Johann Franz

(Encyclopedia)Encke, Johann Franz yōˈhän fränts ĕngˈkə [key], 1791–1865, German astronomer. He was assistant (1816–22) and director (1822–25) of the observatory at Seeberg (near Gotha) and director (fr...

pelvis

(Encyclopedia)pelvis, bony, basin-shaped structure that supports the organs of the lower abdomen. It receives the weight of the upper body and distributes it to the legs; it also forms the base for numerous muscle ...

banjo

(Encyclopedia)banjo, stringed musical instrument, with a body resembling a tambourine. The banjo consists of a hoop over which a skin membrane is stretched; it has a long, often fretted neck and four to nine string...

Hebbel, Christian Friedrich

(Encyclopedia)Hebbel, Christian Friedrich krĭsˈtyän frēˈdrĭkh hĕbˈəl [key], 1813–63, German tragic dramatist. Born poor, he was largely self-educated. Hegel's historical theories influenced his work, whi...

Uranus , in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)Uranus yo͝orāˈnəs, yo͝orˈə– [key], in astronomy, 7th planet from the sun, at a mean distance of 1.78 billion mi (2.87 billion km), with an orbit lying between those of Saturn and Neptune; its...

Sauvage, Jean-Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Sauvage, Jean-Pierre, 1944–, French chemist, Ph.D. Univ. of Strasbourg, 1971. He has spent his entire career as a researcher at the National Center for Scientific Research and a professor at the Uni...

Nast, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Nast, Thomas, 1840–1902, American caricaturist, illustrator, and painter, b. Landau, Germany. He was brought to the United States in 1846. He began his career as a draftsman for Frank Leslie's Illus...