(Encyclopedia) saxophone, musical instrument invented in the 1840s by Adolphe Sax. Although it uses the single reed of the clarinet family, it has a conical tube and is made of metal. By 1846 there…
(Encyclopedia) musical instruments are classified in various ways, but the system devised in 1914 by Kurt Sachs and E. M. von Hornbostel has been accorded recognition by both anthropologists and…
(Encyclopedia) Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr.Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr.vŏnˈəgət [key] 1922–2007, American novelist, b. Indianapolis. After serving in World War II, he worked as a police reporter and wrote short…
(Encyclopedia) limerick, type of humorous verse. It is always short, often nonsensical, and sometimes ribald. Of unknown origin, the limerick is popular rather than literary and has even been used in…
(Encyclopedia) Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act, 1930, passed by the U.S. Congress; it brought the U.S. tariff to the highest protective level yet in the history of the United States. President Hoover desired…
(Encyclopedia) Betti, UgoBetti, Ugo&oomacr;ˈgō bətˈtē [key], 1892–1953, Italian dramatist and poet. He was a judge by profession. His earliest published works were two volumes of poetry (1922 and…
(Encyclopedia) oboeoboeōˈbō, ōˈboi [key] [Ital., from Fr. hautbois] or hautboyhautboyōˈboi, hōˈ– [key], woodwind instrument of conical bore, its mouthpiece having a double reed. The instruments…
(Encyclopedia) Robinson, Boardman, 1876–1952, American painter, illustrator, and cartoonist, b. Somerset, N.S., studied at the Massachusetts School of Art, Boston, and in Paris. After four years of…
(Encyclopedia) calumet [Fr.,=reed], name given by the French to the peace pipe used by the indigenous people of North America for smoking tobacco; it consisted of a long, feathered stem, with or…
(Encyclopedia) rectifier, component of an electric circuit used to change alternating current to direct current. Rectifiers are made in various forms, all operating on the principle that current…
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