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fandango
fandango , ancient Spanish dance, probably of Moorish origin, that came into Europe in the 17th cent. It is in triple time and is danced by a single couple to the accompaniment of castanets, guitar, and songs sung by the dancers. At the end of certain measures, the music halts abruptly and the dance...
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ethnocentrism
ethnocentrism the feeling that one's group has a mode of living, values, and patterns of adaptation that are superior to those of other groups. It is coupled with a generalized contempt for members of other groups. Ethnocentrism may manifest itself in attitudes of superiority or sometimes hostility...
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minuet
minuet , French dance, originally from Poitou, introduced at the court of Louis XIV in 1650. It became popular during the 17th and 18th cent. In 3-4 meter and moderate tempo, the minuet was performed by open couples who made graceful and precise glides and steps. The minuet left a refined but defini...
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polka
polka ballroom dance for couples in 2/4 time. Originated by Bohemian peasants about 1830 from steps of the schottische and other dances, the polka by 1835 reached the drawing rooms of Prague, from which it spread to the capitals of Europe. The modern polka is a mere remnant of a much livelier, more...
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fetishism
fetishism in psychiatry, a paraphilia (see perversion, sexual ) in which erotic interest and satisfaction are centered on an inanimate object or a specific, nongenital part of the anatomy. Generally occurring in males, fetishism frequently centers on a garment (e.g., underclothing or high-heeled s...
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George Farquhar
George Farquhar , 1678-1707, Irish dramatist, b. Londonderry (now Derry), Ireland. After his short career as an actor ended when he severely wounded a fellow actor in a stage duel, he wrote (1698) his first comedy, Love and a Bottle. His next play, The Constant Couple (1699), established his rep...
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Augusto Bernardino Leguía
Augusto Bernardino Leguía , 1863-1932, president of Peru (1908-12, 1919-30). In his second administration Leguía promulgated a new constitution (1920), expanded and developed Lima, and considerably modernized his country, but increased the national debt and suppressed all opposition ha...
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masochism
masochism , sexual disorder in which sexual arousal is derived from subjection to physical and emotional degradation. A type of paraphilia (see perversion, sexual ), masochism is explained in psychoanalysis as a destructive attitude in which the individual turns inward upon himself instead of outwa...
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John Pierce
John Pierce 1910-2002, American electrical engineer, b. Des Moines, Iowa, grad. California Institute of Technology (Ph.D. 1936). Pierce worked at the Bell Telephone Laboratories, where he proposed (1954) a communications satellite three years before Sputnik I was launched and worked on the Echo a...
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Lorenzo Lotto
Lorenzo Lotto , c.1480-1556, Venetian painter. His work reflects the influence of several great contemporaries from Bellini to Titian, but preserves throughout a fine sensibility and intimacy quite his own. Notable among his early works are St. Jerome (Louvre); the fresco Annunciation (Church of...
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