- Désirée’s Baby (short story by Chopin)
Désirée’s Baby, short story by Kate Chopin, first published in Vogue magazine in 1893 and then reprinted in her collection Bayou Folk in 1894. A widely acclaimed, frequently anthologized story, “Désirée’s Baby” is set in antebellum Louisiana and deals with slavery, the Southern social system,
- Desitively Bannaroo (album by Dr. John)
Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival: …name from the 1974 album Desitively Bonnaroo by New Orleans pianist and vocalist Dr. John. In the Creole slang of New Orleans, bonnaroo means, roughly, “best on the street.”
- Desjardins, Alphonse (Canadian journalist)
credit union: …1900 at Lévis, Quebec, by Alphonse Desjardins, a legislative reporter whose work had alerted him to the hardships caused by usury. Desjardins also helped organize the first credit union in the United States in Manchester, New Hampshire, in 1909. In that same year Massachusetts passed the first state law recognizing…
- Desjardins, Paul (French philosopher)
Marcel Proust: Early life and education: … (his cousin by marriage) and Paul Desjardins and by the historian Albert Sorel. Meanwhile, via the bourgeois salons of Madames Straus, Arman de Caillavet, Aubernon, and Madeleine Lemaire, he became an observant habitué of the most exclusive drawing rooms of the nobility.
- Desjardins, Pete (American diver)
Pete Desjardins was a Canadian-born American diver who won a silver medal in the springboard at the 1924 Olympics in Paris and gold medals in the springboard and platform events at the 1928 Games in Amsterdam, an achievement that was not matched by a male diver until Greg Louganis won both events
- Desjardins, Ulise Joseph (American diver)
Pete Desjardins was a Canadian-born American diver who won a silver medal in the springboard at the 1924 Olympics in Paris and gold medals in the springboard and platform events at the 1928 Games in Amsterdam, an achievement that was not matched by a male diver until Greg Louganis won both events
- desk (furniture)
desk, a table, frame, or case with a sloping or horizontal top particularly designed to aid writing or reading, and often containing drawers, compartments, or pigeonholes. The first desks were probably designed for ecclesiastical use. Early English desks derived from the church lectern were
- Desk and Straw (work by Tàpies)
Antoni Tàpies: …objects, as in his assemblage Desk and Straw (1970), in which an actual desk serves as the “canvas.” His works of lithography were noted for their cryptic, spontaneous effects. He also collaborated with poet Joan Brossa on a number of illustrated books.
- Desk Set (film by Lang [1957])
Desk Set, American romantic comedy film, released in 1957, that was the first colour movie featuring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. It was one of the earliest movies to deal with the issue of labour anxiety amid the advent of the computer age. Tracy portrayed Richard Sumner, an efficiency
- desk-fax (device)
fax: Analog telephone facsimile: …1948 Western Union introduced its desk-fax service, which was based on a small office machine. Some 50,000 desk-fax units were built until the service was discontinued in the 1960s.
- Deskey, Donald (American designer)
Donald Deskey was an American industrial designer who helped establish industrial design as a profession. Deskey attended the University of California at Berkeley, the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art (later the San Francisco Art Institute), and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago before
- desktop publishing
desktop publishing, the use of a personal computer to perform publishing tasks that would otherwise require much more complicated equipment and human effort. Desktop publishing allows an individual to combine text, numerical data, photographs, charts, and other visual elements in a document that
- desktop videoconferencing (communications)
videophone: Videoconferencing: Desktop videophones usually consist of inexpensive cameras connected to a personal computer (PC), video-sharing software, and an Internet connection (either dial-up or broadband) between two PCs. Because of bandwidth limitations, desktop systems are usually of lower quality than business videoconferencing systems. Some desktop conferencing software…
- Deslandres, Henri-Alexandre (French physicist)
Henri-Alexandre Deslandres was a French physicist and astrophysicist who in 1894 invented a spectroheliograph, an instrument that photographs the Sun in monochromatic light. (About a year earlier George E. Hale had independently invented a spectroheliograph in the United States.) After graduating
- desman (mammal)
desman, either of two species of amphibious Eurasian moles that den on land but seek prey underwater instead of burrowing through soil. The protruding flexible snout is flat and grooved with a lobed tip. Desmans have tiny eyes and no external ears; the ear holes and nostrils close underwater. The
- Desmana moschata (mammal)
desman: The tail of the Russian desman (Desmana moschata) is flattened horizontally and has scent glands at its base that exude a strong musky odour that envelops the animal. The Pyrenean desman (Galemys pyrenaicus) of western Europe has similar scent glands. It has a cylindrical tail, flat near its tip…
- Desmarées, Georg (German painter)
Western painting: Central Europe: In Georg Desmarées the court at Munich gained a painter in whose Rococo portraits there is more than a hint of decadence.
- Desmares, Marie (French actress)
Marie Champmeslé was a French tragedienne who created the heroines in many of Jean Racine’s plays. The daughter of an actor, she married the actor Charles Chevillet Champmeslé in 1666, and by 1669 both were members of the Théâtre du Marais in Paris. In 1670 they joined the Hôtel de Bourgogne, where
- Desmarest’s Cuban hutia (rodent)
hutia: …12 inches), to the raccoon-sized Desmarest’s Cuban hutia (Capromys pilorides), with a body 32 to 60 cm long and weight of up to 8.5 kg (19 pounds). The tail ranges from very short and inconspicuous in Brown’s hutia (Geocapromys brownii) to pronounced and prehensile in the long-tailed Cuban hutia Mysateles…
- Desmarest, Nicolas (French geologist)
Nicolas Desmarest was a French geologist whose discovery of the volcanic origin of basalt disproved the Neptunist theory that all rocks were formed by sedimentation from primeval oceans. From 1757 Desmarest was employed by the government to help spread better manufacturing methods throughout
- Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin, Jean (French author)
Jean Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin was a French prose writer, poet, dramatist, Christian polemicist, and political figure. One of the original members and the first chancellor of the French Academy, Desmarets opened the long literary battle, since called the querelle des anciens et des modernes (see
- Desmarets, Nicolas, Marquis De Maillebois (French minister)
Nicolas Desmarets, marquis de Maillebois was the minister of finance during the last seven years of the reign (1643–1715) of Louis XIV of France. A nephew of Louis’s great finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Desmarets rose rapidly in financial administration, but on Colbert’s death (1683) he
- DeSmet extractor
fat and oil processing: Extractors: In the DeSmet extractor, popular in Europe and in a number of developing countries, a bed of flakes on an endless horizontal traveling belt is extracted by solvent percolation. The Blaw-Knox Rotocell has become the most popular extractor in the huge American soybean industry. The flakes are…
- desmethylimipramine (drug)
antidepressant: include imipramine, amitriptyline, desipramine, nortriptyline, and a number of other compounds. These drugs relieve symptoms in a high proportion (more than 70 percent) of depressed patients. As with the MAOIs, the antidepressant action of tricyclic drugs may not become apparent until two to four weeks after treatment begins.
- Desmichels Treaty (Algeria [1834])
Algeria: The conquest of Algeria: The treaty signed between General Louis-Alexis Desmichels and Abdelkader in 1834 included two versions, one of which made major concessions to Abdelkader again without the consent or knowledge of the French government. This miscommunication led to a breach of the agreement when the French moved through…
- desmid (green algae)
desmid, (order Desmidiales), order of single-celled (sometimes filamentous or colonial) microscopic green algae, comprising some 5,000 species in about 40 genera. Desmids are sometimes treated as a family (Desmidiaceae) of the order Zygnematales. Desmids are characterized by extensive variation in
- Desmidiales (green algae)
desmid, (order Desmidiales), order of single-celled (sometimes filamentous or colonial) microscopic green algae, comprising some 5,000 species in about 40 genera. Desmids are sometimes treated as a family (Desmidiaceae) of the order Zygnematales. Desmids are characterized by extensive variation in
- Desmocerus palliatus (insect)
long-horned beetle: …lepturids (subfamily Lepturinae) include the elderberry longhorn (Desmocerus palliatus), also called the cloaked knotty-horn beetle because it looks as if it has a yellow cloak on its shoulders and has knotted antennae. It feeds on leaves and flowers of the elderberry bush, and its larvae bore into the pithy stems.
- Desmodilliscus braueri (rodent)
gerbil: Natural history: The smallest is probably Desmodilliscus braueri of northern Africa, weighing a mere 6 to 14 grams (0.2 to 0.5 ounce) and measuring 4 to 8 cm long, not including the shorter, scantily haired tail.
- Desmodontidae (mammal)
vampire bat, (family Desmodontidae), any of three species of blood-eating bats, native to the New World tropics and subtropics. The common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus), together with the white-winged vampire bat (Diaemus, or Desmodus, youngi) and the hairy-legged vampire bat (Diphylla ecaudata)
- Desmodontinae (mammal)
vampire bat, (family Desmodontidae), any of three species of blood-eating bats, native to the New World tropics and subtropics. The common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus), together with the white-winged vampire bat (Diaemus, or Desmodus, youngi) and the hairy-legged vampire bat (Diphylla ecaudata)
- Desmodus rotundus (mammal)
vampire bat: The common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus), together with the white-winged vampire bat (Diaemus, or Desmodus, youngi) and the hairy-legged vampire bat (Diphylla ecaudata) are the only sanguivorous (blood-eating) bats. The common vampire bat thrives in agricultural areas and feeds on livestock such as cattle, pigs, and…
- Desmodus youngi (mammal)
vampire bat: … (Desmodus rotundus), together with the white-winged vampire bat (Diaemus, or Desmodus, youngi) and the hairy-legged vampire bat (Diphylla ecaudata) are the only sanguivorous (blood-eating) bats. The common vampire bat thrives in agricultural areas and feeds on livestock such as cattle, pigs, and chickens. The other two vampires are primarily restricted…
- Desmognathinae (amphibian subfamily)
Caudata: Annotated classification: …genera, placed in 2 subfamilies: Hemidactyliinae, with 21 genera (including Bolitoglossa) and about 373 species in North America, Central America, and South America, and Plethodontinae, with 7 genera (including Plethodon and Desmognathus in North America and Hydromantes in western North America and the central
- desmognathine (amphibian subfamily)
Caudata: Annotated classification: …genera, placed in 2 subfamilies: Hemidactyliinae, with 21 genera (including Bolitoglossa) and about 373 species in North America, Central America, and South America, and Plethodontinae, with 7 genera (including Plethodon and Desmognathus in North America and Hydromantes in western North America and the central
- Desmognathus (amphibian genus)
Caudata: Annotated classification: …7 genera (including Plethodon and Desmognathus in North America and Hydromantes in western North America and the central Mediterranean region) and about 105 species. Family Proteidae (olms and mud puppies) The olm is blind, has
- Desmoncus (plant genus)
palm: Characteristic morphological features: …modified into recurved hooks (Desmoncus), or the tip of the central axis may be produced into a long slender whiplike strand armed with recurved spines in climbing palms such as the rattan palm.
- Desmond (historical region, Ireland)
Desmond, an ancient territorial division of Ireland approximating the modern counties of Kerry and Cork. Between the 11th and 17th centuries, the name was often used for two quite distinct areas. Gaelic Desmond extended over the modern County Kerry south of the River Maine and over the modern
- Desmond Castle (castle, Kinsale, Ireland)
Kinsale: …wine museum is located in Desmond Castle, a former customs house that was built in the 15th century. St. Multose, a medieval church built in the late 12th century, is among the Church of Ireland’s oldest churches. The town has a fishery pier and a harbour and is a sport…
- Desmond Mpilo Tutu (South African archbishop)
Desmond Tutu was a South African Anglican cleric who in 1984 received the Nobel Prize for Peace for his role in the opposition to apartheid in South Africa. (Read Desmond Tutu’s Britannica entry on the South African truth commission.) Tutu was born of Xhosa and Tswana parents and was educated in
- Desmond rebellion (Irish history)
Ireland: The Desmond rebellion: Despite his pardon, Fitzmaurice fled to the European continent in 1575, returning to Ireland in 1579 with papal approval for a Roman Catholic crusade against Queen Elizabeth. Although neither France nor Spain supported the crusade and Fitzmaurice was surprised and killed in August…
- Desmond School of Beauty Culture (school, Nova Scotia, Canada)
Viola Desmond: Entrepreneur and community leader: …opened a beauty school, the Desmond School of Beauty Culture, and expanded her business across the province. (Desmond created a line of beauty products, which were sold at venues owned by graduates of her beauty school.) Aware of her obligation to her community, Desmond created the school in order to…
- Desmond, Gerald Fitzgerald, 14th or 15th earl of (Irish noble)
Gerald Fitzgerald, 14th or 15th earl of Desmond was an Irish Roman Catholic nobleman who led one of the three major Irish rebellions against English rule under Queen Elizabeth I. The son of James FitzJohn, 13th earl of Desmond, he succeeded to his father’s title and lands in Munster (southwestern
- Desmond, Paul (American musician)
Dave Brubeck: …the addition of alto saxophonist Paul Desmond. Within several months they attained a measure of national fame, largely by word of mouth among West Coast critics who championed the group’s innovations. Also during this time, Brubeck became one of the first jazz musicians to regularly tour and conduct seminars at…
- Desmond, Viola (Canadian businesswoman and civil libertarian)
Viola Desmond was a Canadian businesswoman and civil libertarian who built a career as a beautician and was a mentor to young Black women in Nova Scotia through her Desmond School of Beauty Culture. However, it is the story of her courageous refusal to accept an act of racial discrimination that
- Desmond, Viola Irene (Canadian businesswoman and civil libertarian)
Viola Desmond was a Canadian businesswoman and civil libertarian who built a career as a beautician and was a mentor to young Black women in Nova Scotia through her Desmond School of Beauty Culture. However, it is the story of her courageous refusal to accept an act of racial discrimination that
- Desmonota variolosa (insect)
tortoise beetle: Physical description: …pits and grooves covering a South American leaf beetle (Polychalca punctatissima) give it an iridescent green color with depth resembling that of an emerald. The coloring disappears at death because of the drying and shrinkage that occur, and the dead beetle turns dull brown.
- Desmophlebiaceae (plant family)
fern: Annotated classification: Family Desmophlebiaceae Plants have a thickened vein inside the edge of each compound leaflet; 1 genus (Desmophlebium) with 2 species. Family Diplaziopsidaceae Plants medium to large in soil or on rocks; rhizomes short- to long-creeping or erect, scaly; leaves pinnately divided, glabrous, hairy, glandular, or occasionally…
- desmosome (biology)
human skin: Major layers: …appearance due to the numerous desmosomes on their surface. Studies with the electron microscope have revealed that desmosomes are symmetrical, laminated structures in which some layers are contributed by the plasma membranes of adjoining cells and some form an intercellular component.
- Desmoulins, Camille (French journalist)
Camille Desmoulins was one of the most influential journalists and pamphleteers of the French Revolution. The son of an official of Guise, Desmoulins was admitted to the bar in 1785, but a stammer impeded his effectiveness as a lawyer. Nevertheless, after the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789, he
- Desmoulins, Lucie-Simplice-Camille-Benoist (French journalist)
Camille Desmoulins was one of the most influential journalists and pamphleteers of the French Revolution. The son of an official of Guise, Desmoulins was admitted to the bar in 1785, but a stammer impeded his effectiveness as a lawyer. Nevertheless, after the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789, he
- Desna River (river, Europe)
Desna River, river that rises in the Smolensk Upland in western Russia and flows for about 700 miles (1,130 km) south into the Dnieper River near Kiev,
- Desnos, Robert (French poet)
Robert Desnos was a French poet who joined André Breton in the early Surrealist movement, soon becoming one of its most valuable members because of his ability to fall into a hypnotic trance, under which he could recite his dreams, write, and draw. Texts from this period appeared in the Surrealist
- Desnoyers, Auguste-Gaspard-Louis, Baron (French engraver)
Auguste-Gaspard-Louis, Baron Desnoyers was a French engraver, one of the most eminent line engravers of his time. Desnoyers studied engraving and drawing and, after visiting Italy, entered the studio of Pierre-Alexandre Tardieu in 1800. His fame was established in 1805 by an engraving after
- Desnoyers, Jules (French geologist)
geochronology: Completion of the Phanerozoic time scale: In 1829 Jules Desnoyers of France, studying sediments in the Seine valley, proposed using the term Quaternary to encompass all of these various post-Tertiary formations. At nearly the same time, the important work of Lyell on the faunal succession of the Paris Basin permitted finer-scaled discrimination of…
- Desolación (work by Mistral)
Gabriela Mistral: …collection of her early works, Desolación (1922; “Desolation”), includes the poem “Dolor,” detailing the aftermath of a love affair that was ended by the suicide of her lover. Because of this tragedy, she never married, and a haunting, wistful strain of thwarted maternal tenderness informs her work. Ternura (1924, enlarged…
- Desolation (novel by Reza)
Yasmina Reza: …later wrote Une Désolation (1999; Desolation), a monologue delivered by an elderly man who cannot understand how others can be foolish enough to find happiness in life, and Adam Haberberg (2002), which centres on an unsuccessful, unhappy middle-aged writer whose happenstance encounter with an old friend from high school reminds…
- Desolation Angels (novel by Kerouac)
Jack Kerouac: Sketching, poetry, and Buddhism: Kerouac recounted this experience in Desolation Angels (1965) using haiku as bridges (connectives in jazz) between sections of spontaneous prose. In 1956 he wrote a sutra, The Scripture of the Golden Eternity. He also began to think of his entire oeuvre as a “Divine Comedy of the Buddha,” thereby combining…
- Desolation Island (island, Indian Ocean)
Kerguelen Islands: …of Kerguelen (also known as Desolation Island) and nearly 300 islets, which together cover about 2,400 square miles (6,200 square km). Heavily glaciated Kerguelen Island, about 100 miles (160 km) in length, has active glaciers and peaks up to 6,445 feet (1,965 metres).
- Désolation, Une (novel by Reza)
Yasmina Reza: …later wrote Une Désolation (1999; Desolation), a monologue delivered by an elderly man who cannot understand how others can be foolish enough to find happiness in life, and Adam Haberberg (2002), which centres on an unsuccessful, unhappy middle-aged writer whose happenstance encounter with an old friend from high school reminds…
- desoxycorticosterone (hormone)
Tadeus Reichstein: …discovered, among them cortisone and desoxycorticosterone, which was used for many years to treat Addison’s disease.
- Desoxyn (drug)
methamphetamine, potent and addictive synthetic stimulant drug that affects the central nervous system (the spinal cord and brain). Methamphetamine is prescribed for the treatment of certain medical conditions, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy, and obesity. In
- Despacito (song by Fonsi and Daddy Yankee)
reggaeton: … and Daddy Yankee released “Despacito,” and it became the most-streamed song at the time within six months. The single, a mix of pop music and reggaeton, not only brought renewed attention to reggaeton, but it also drew interest to Latin music more generally. In 2015 there were two mostly…
- Despard, Edward Marcus (British military officer)
Edward Marcus Despard was a British army officer and colonial administrator and organizer of a conspiracy against the British government. Despard entered the army in 1766 and attained the rank of colonel. After serving in Jamaica, he was sent to Central America in 1781; there he was made governor
- Despenser family (English nobles)
Despenser family, unpopular favourites of England’s King Edward II, who were executed by Edward’s opponents, Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer. Hugh Le Despenser (in full Hugh Le Despenser, earl of Winchester; b. 1262—d. Oct. 27, 1326, Bristol, Gloucestershire, Eng.), also known as Hugh the Elder,
- Despenser, Hugh Le (English noble, the younger [died 1326])
Despenser family: …the interests of his son, Hugh Le Despenser (Hugh the Younger; d. Nov. 24, 1326, Hereford, Herefordshire, Eng.), who had been in the king’s household when he was prince of Wales. The younger Hugh was appointed the king’s chamberlain in 1318, but both father and son were attacked in Parliament…
- Despenser, Hugh Le (English noble, the elder [1262-1326])
Despenser family: Hugh Le Despenser (in full Hugh Le Despenser, earl of Winchester; b. 1262—d. Oct. 27, 1326, Bristol, Gloucestershire, Eng.), also known as Hugh the Elder, was summoned to Parliament as a baron in 1295. He fought in France and Scotland for Edward I and was…
- Despenser, Sir Hugh Le (English noble, the younger [died 1326])
Despenser family: …the interests of his son, Hugh Le Despenser (Hugh the Younger; d. Nov. 24, 1326, Hereford, Herefordshire, Eng.), who had been in the king’s household when he was prince of Wales. The younger Hugh was appointed the king’s chamberlain in 1318, but both father and son were attacked in Parliament…
- Desperado (album by the Eagles)
the Eagles: …title song of their 1973 Desperado album—the “Ave Maria” of 1970s rock—to the later studio intricacies of One of These Nights (1975), Henley’s band felt a mission to portray emotional ups and downs in personal ways. However, the Eagles were content to do so within the boundaries of certain musical…
- Desperado (film by Rodriguez [1995])
Antonio Banderas: Hollywood success: Philadelphia and Interview with the Vampire: Rhapsody (1995); Robert Rodriguez’s Desperado (1995), in which Banderas played El Mariachi, a gun-toting musician; and Assassins (1995). In 1996 he starred with Madonna in the musical Evita (1996), portraying the role of Ché, the film’s narrator. Accused by some critics of overexposure, Banderas conceded that he was ambitious…
- Desperate (film by Mann [1947])
Anthony Mann: The 1940s: film noirs: Desperate (1947) was Mann’s first critical and commercial success and the first of his great noirs. He cowrote the original story about a truck driver (Steve Brodie) who runs afoul of a gangster (Raymond Burr) and his fur thieves and has to run for his…
- Desperate Hours (film by Cimino [1990])
The Desperate Hours: The Desperate Hours was remade in 1990 by director Michael Cimino with Mickey Rourke and Anthony Hopkins as the antagonists.
- Desperate Hours, The (film by Wyler [1955])
The Desperate Hours, American crime film, released in 1955, that is noted for the war-of-wills tension between a ruthless killer and a terrorized family held captive. Three escaped convicts led by Glenn Griffin (played by Humphrey Bogart) hide out in a suburban middle-class home owned by Dan
- Desperate Housewives (American television series)
American Broadcasting Company: Focus on television: 2009), Lost (2004–10), Desperate Housewives (2004–12), Grey’s Anatomy (2005– ), and Dancing with the Stars (2005– ), along with long-running daytime dramas such as One Life to Live (1968–2012) and General Hospital (1963– ).
- Desperate Journey (film by Walsh [1942])
Raoul Walsh: At Warner Brothers: The Roaring Twenties, High Sierra, and White Heat: Desperate Journey was a tale of five Allied pilots (Ronald Reagan among them) who are shot down over Germany and try to make their way back to England. Gentleman Jim was a biopic of boxing champ Jim Corbett (with Ward Bond as a memorable John…
- Desperate Living (film by Waters [1977])
John Waters: The Pope of Trash: From Multiple Maniacs to Pink Flamingos and Polyester: …followed by Female Trouble (1974), Desperate Living (1977), and Polyester (1981). In all these films Waters savagely took on societal institutions and taboos. To promote Polyester he invented a scratch-and-sniff card called Odorama that audiences were expected to use to enhance their viewing experience of the film. Scents on the…
- Desperate Man, The (novel by Bloy)
Léon Bloy: His autobiographical novels, Le Désespéré (1886; The Desperate Man) and La Femme pauvre (1897; The Woman Who Was Poor), express his mystical conception of woman as the Holy Spirit and of love as a devouring fire. The eight volumes of his Journal (written 1892–1917; complete edition published 1939)…
- Desperate Measures (film by Schroeder [1998])
Michael Keaton: Batman movies: (1996), Jackie Brown (1997), and Desperate Measures (1998). In the early 2000s his films, such as Live from Baghdad (2002), First Daughter (2004), and Herbie Fully Loaded (2005), met with mixed success. He provided character voices in the animated films Cars (2006), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Minions (2015).
- Desperate Remedies (novel by Hardy)
Thomas Hardy: Early life and works: …result was the densely plotted Desperate Remedies (1871), which was influenced by the contemporary “sensation” fiction of Wilkie Collins. In his next novel, however, the brief and affectionately humorous idyll Under the Greenwood Tree (1872), Hardy found a voice much more distinctively his own. In this book he evoked, within…
- Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes (album by TV on the Radio)
TV on the Radio: …the group’s first full-fledged LP, Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes (2004). Though Bunton played drums on that album, he and Smith did not officially join the band until after its release. With a foundation of eccentrically timed drum loops and droning electronics adorned with jazzy horns and the striking interplay…
- Desperately Seeking Susan (film by Seidelman [1985])
Madonna: Shifting gears to acting and film: …with a strong performance in Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), faltered with the flimsy Shanghai Surprise (1986) and uneven Dick Tracy (1990), and recovered with Truth or Dare (1991, also known as In Bed with Madonna), a documentary of her boundary-breaking Blonde Ambition tour, and A League of Their Own
- Despiau, Charles (French sculptor)
Charles Despiau was a French sculptor and illustrator who is best known for portrait busts executed in a sensitive and classical style. Despiau studied at Parisian art schools from 1891 to 1896. He exhibited his sculpture in Paris over the next 10 years; Auguste Rodin saw one of Despiau’s portrait
- Despiau, Charles-Albert (French sculptor)
Charles Despiau was a French sculptor and illustrator who is best known for portrait busts executed in a sensitive and classical style. Despiau studied at Parisian art schools from 1891 to 1896. He exhibited his sculpture in Paris over the next 10 years; Auguste Rodin saw one of Despiau’s portrait
- Despicable Me (film by Coffin and Renaud [2010])
Julie Andrews: …addition, Andrews voiced characters in Despicable Me (2010), Despicable Me 3 (2017), and Aquaman (2018). In 2011 she won a Grammy Award for Julie Andrews’ Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies, a spoken-word album for children, and she was honoured with a special Grammy for lifetime achievement.
- Despicable Me 2 (film by Coffin and Renaud [2013])
Steve Carell: Despicable Me, Minions, and Foxcatcher: …role in three sequels (2013, 2017, and 2024) and voiced a young Gru in Minions (2015) and Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022).
- Despicable Me 3 (film by Coffin and Balda [2017])
Julie Andrews: …characters in Despicable Me (2010), Despicable Me 3 (2017), and Aquaman (2018). In 2011 she won a Grammy Award for Julie Andrews’ Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies, a spoken-word album for children, and she was honoured with a special Grammy for lifetime achievement.
- Despicable Me 4 (film by Renaud [2024])
Stephen Colbert: Other work: Peabody & Sherman (2014), and Despicable Me 4 (2024). He coauthored Wigfield (2003) with Sedaris and Dinello and starred with them in a feature film adaptation of Strangers with Candy (2005). In 2007 Colbert published I Am America (And So Can You!), in which he used his Colbert Report pundit…
- Despina (astronomy)
Neptune: The ring system: …the ring Adams, the moon Despina orbits Neptune just planetward of the ring Le Verrier. Each moon may gravitationally repel particles near the inner edge of its respective ring, acting as a shepherd moon to keep ring material from spreading inward. (For fuller treatments of shepherding effects, see Saturn: Moons:…
- Despoina (Greek mythology)
Damophon: …and representing Demeter, her daughter Despoina, Artemis, and the giant Anytus, were found on the site of Lykosoura in Arcadia, where there was a temple of Despoina. The garment of Despoina is decorated with reliefs. A coin shows the statue with two figures standing, two seated.
- Despommier, Dickson (environmental scientist)
vertical farming: History: …vertical farming was introduced by Dickson Despommier, a professor of environmental science. In 1999 Despommier and a group of his graduate students at Columbia University conceived of a multistory building that could yield more crops with less acreage than traditional farming methods. Despommier later
- Desportes, Alexandre-François (French painter)
Alexandre-François Desportes was a French painter who specialized in portraying animals, hunts, and emblems of the chase; he was among the first 18th-century artists to introduce landscape studies using nature as a model. At the age of 12 Desportes was sent by his father to Paris, where he worked
- Desportes, Philippe (French poet)
Philippe Desportes was a French courtier poet whose light, facile verse prepared the way for the new taste of the 17th century in France and whose sonnets served as models for the late Elizabethan poets. Desportes based his style on that of the Italians—chiefly Petrarch, Ludovico Ariosto, and
- Després, Josquin (French-Flemish composer)
Josquin des Prez was one of the greatest composers of Renaissance Europe. Josquin’s early life has been the subject of much scholarly debate, and the first solid evidence of his work comes from a roll of musicians associated with the cathedral in Cambrai in the early 1470s. During the late 1470s
- Desprez, Josquin (French-Flemish composer)
Josquin des Prez was one of the greatest composers of Renaissance Europe. Josquin’s early life has been the subject of much scholarly debate, and the first solid evidence of his work comes from a roll of musicians associated with the cathedral in Cambrai in the early 1470s. During the late 1470s
- Desprez, Louis-Jean (French painter and architect)
Louis-Jean Desprez was a French painter, stage designer, architect, and engraver. He was an important figure in the transition from the rational Neoclassicism of the mid-18th century in France to the more subjective and innovative pre-Romantic works of Étienne-Louis Boullée and Claude-Nicolas
- desquamation (biology)
desquamation, peeling or shedding of the superficial portion of the epidermis, or outermost layer of the skin. The epidermis consists of five distinct sublayers, including the bottommost, basal layer, which constantly produces new skin cells that push up to the skin surface, and the outermost,
- Desrosiers, Léo-Paul (Canadian writer)
Léo-Paul Desrosiers was a French-Canadian writer best known for his historical novels. In addition to writing fiction, Desrosiers worked as a journalist, an editor, and a librarian. Both Âmes et Paysages (1922; “People and Landscapes”), a collection of stories, and his first novel, Nord-Sud (1931),
- Dessalines, Jean-Jacques (emperor of Haiti)
Jean-Jacques Dessalines was the emperor of Haiti who proclaimed his country’s independence in 1804. Dessalines was brought to the French West Indian colony of Saint-Domingue (Haiti) as a slave. He worked as a field hand for a black master until 1791, when he joined the slave rebellion that broke
- Dessau (Germany)
Dessau, city, Saxony-Anhalt Land (state), east-central Germany. It lies on the Mulde River at its confluence with the Elbe River, northeast of Halle. The German town, which developed from a Sorbian settlement, was first mentioned in 1213. From 1603 until 1918 it was the residence of the counts,
- Dessau, Battle of (European history [1626])
By April 1626, the Thirty Years’ War had been raging across the German states and Central Europe for eight years, and following a catastrophic defeat suffered at Stadtlohn, the German Protestant cause seemed lost. There was new hope when Christian IV of Denmark entered the war in 1625, but the next