Gail Devers is an American track athlete who overcame physical adversity to win Olympic gold medals in 1992 and 1996. Devers began running in high school. Later, at the University of California at Los Angeles, she won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) 100-metre dash in 1988 and

Jacob L. Devers was a U.S. general during World War II, whose 6th Army Group successfully penetrated German-held positions in central Europe and helped wrest the mainland from Nazi control. At the outbreak of World War II (1940), Devers was commanding general of the 9th infantry division, becoming

Gail Devers is an American track athlete who overcame physical adversity to win Olympic gold medals in 1992 and 1996. Devers began running in high school. Later, at the University of California at Los Angeles, she won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) 100-metre dash in 1988 and

Lovech: …the Stratesh Hill, and the Devetashka Cave. The last, a prehistoric dwelling and now a park, contains a large cave with stalagmites, stalactites, an underground river, and a waterfall. Pop. (2004 est.) 41,476.

George Devey was a British architect who influenced nonacademic architects in England in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Devey was educated in London and studied painting before he trained as an architect. His considerable, and exclusively domestic, practice included designs for lodges,

Kajol is an Indian actress known for her versatility and expressive acting style. She is one of the most successful actresses in Bollywood, having won six Filmfare Awards, given for excellence in Indian cinema. She comes from a long line of actors. Her mother, Tanuja, aunt, Nutan, and cousin, Rani

Kajol is an Indian actress known for her versatility and expressive acting style. She is one of the most successful actresses in Bollywood, having won six Filmfare Awards, given for excellence in Indian cinema. She comes from a long line of actors. Her mother, Tanuja, aunt, Nutan, and cousin, Rani

SEAL Team 6, common name for an elite U.S. military special missions unit consisting of Navy SEALs (Sea, Air, and Land forces). SEAL Team 6 is best known for the 2011 raid that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. It is overseen by the Joint Special Operations Command, a component of the

Devi Mahatmya: …figure of the Goddess (Devi) as the primary deity.

Indore: Indore is the seat of Devi Ahilya University (founded in 1964 as the University of Indore), with numerous constituent and affiliated colleges in the city, including Holkar Science College and Indore Christian College. Indore also has a number of Ayurvedic and allopathic hospitals and training institutes, the Atomic Centre for…

Devī Bhāgavata Purāṇa, text of the devotional Hinduism called Śāktism, in which the Great Goddess (Devī) is worshiped as primary. The Devī Bhāgavata Purāṇa is usually listed among the 18 “minor” or sectarian Purāṇas (encyclopedic compendiums whose topics range from cosmogony and cosmology to ritual

Devi Mahatmya, Sanskrit text, written about the 5th or 6th century ce, that forms a portion of a larger work known as the Markandeya-purana. It is the first such text that revolves entirely around the figure of the Goddess (Devi) as the primary deity. While goddesses were worshiped in India before

Dewas: …Hill, which rises to the Devi Vashini shrine.

deviance, in sociology, violation of social rules and conventions. French sociologist Émile Durkheim viewed deviance as an inevitable part of how society functions. He argued that deviance is a basis for change and innovation, and it is also a way of defining or clarifying important social norms.

magnetic compass: …local magnetic influences is called deviation.

insurance: Warranties: Under the deviation warranty, the ship may not deviate from its intended course except to save lives. Clauses may be attached to the ocean marine policy to eliminate the implied warranties of seaworthiness or deviation. The implied warranty of legality, however, may not be waived. Under this…

gauge: Deviation-type gauges indicate the amount by which the object being gauged deviates from the standard. This deviation is usually shown in units of measurement, but some gauges show only whether the deviation is within a certain range. They include dial indicators, in which movement of…

devil, (from Greek diabolos, “slanderer” or “accuser”), the spirit or power of evil. Though sometimes used for minor demonic spirits, the word devil generally refers to the prince of evil spirits and as such takes various forms in the religions of the world. In the monotheistic Western religions,

Tom Holland: Spider-Man stardom and other roles: …Z (2016), the crime thriller The Devil All the Time (2020), and the action fantasy Chaos Walking and the psychological drama Cherry (both 2021). In 2022 he starred opposite Mark Wahlberg in the action adventure Uncharted; Holland also coproduced the movie. In addition, he lent his voice to several animated…

The Devil and Daniel Webster, often-anthologized short story by Stephen Vincent Benét, published in 1937. Two years later it reappeared as a one-act folk opera by Benét and composer Douglas Moore. Jabez Stone, a New Hampshire farmer, receives a decade of material wealth in return for selling his

The Devil and Daniel Webster, American fantasy film, released in 1941, that was based on Stephen Vincent Benét’s 1937 short story of the same name. The movie is noted for its innovative camera work and Academy Award-winning score. Jabez Stone (played by James Craig), a down-on-his-luck 19th-century

Sam Wood: Wood’s heyday: …success continued with the comedy The Devil and Miss Jones (1941). Charles Coburn starred as the wealthy owner of a department store who goes undercover in order to root out union activists but instead is befriended by a clerk (played by Jean Arthur) and develops sympathy for his mistreated employees.…

Paulo Coelho: The Alchemist and other works: …e a Señorita Prym (2000; The Devil and Miss Prym), an investigation of the essential nature of humankind; and Onze minutos (2003; Eleven Minutes), which explores the boundaries between love and sex through the story of a prostitute. A bruxa de Portobello (2006; The Witch of Portobello) tells the story…

The Devil and Tom Walker, short story by Washington Irving, published as part of the collection Tales of a Traveller in 1824. This all-but-forgotten tall tale is considered by some to be one of Irving’s finest short stories. Set in Massachusetts, the plot is a retelling of the Faust legend, with a

Riccardo Bacchelli: …Il diavolo al pontelungo (1927; The Devil at the Long Bridge), is a historical novel about an attempted Socialist revolution in Italy.

Lloyd Bacon: Warner Brothers: Devil Dogs of the Air (1935) provided Cagney with the promising setting of the U.S. Marine Air Corps and an on-screen rivalry with Pat O’Brien, but again the result was unimpressive.

Tod Browning: Final films: The Devil Doll (1936) had Barrymore scuttling about in women’s garb, Lon Chaney style, as a madman who shrinks people and bends them to his will, exacting revenge on the judge and jury who sent him to Devil’s Island. After that came only Miracles for…

Tasmanian devil: …by a contagious cancer called devil facial tumour disease (DFTD), which produces large, often grotesque tumours around the head and mouth. The tumours grow large enough to interfere with the animal’s ability to eat, resulting in starvation. This, in combination with the deleterious physiological effects of the cancer, leads to…

lionfish: …invaded by another lionfish species, Miles’ firefish (P. miles; also called the devil firefish). Miles’ firefish is native to the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf, but by 2016 it had also established at least one breeding population along the southern coast of Cyprus. Scientists suspect that…

Walter Mosley: …before publishing his first novel, Devil in a Blue Dress (1990; film 1995). Set in 1948, the novel introduces Ezekiel (“Easy”) Rawlins, an unwilling amateur detective from the Watts section of Los Angeles. It presents period issues of race relations and mores as the unemployed Rawlins is hired to find…

Don Cheadle: …the protagonist (Denzel Washington), in Devil in a Blue Dress (1995), based on the first novel by Walter Mosley.

Lion Feuchtwanger: …an internment camp, described in The Devil in France (1941; later published in its original German as Unholdes Frankreich and Der Teufel in Frankreich). Of his later works the best known are Waffen für Amerika (1947; also published as Die Füchse im Weinberg; Eng. trans. Proud Destiny), Goya oder der…

Claude Autant-Lara: …Le Diable au corps (1947; Devil in the Flesh).

Raymond Radiguet: …Le Diable au corps (1923; The Devil in the Flesh), which remains a unique expression of the poetry and perversity of an adolescent boy’s love.

John Osborne: His first play, The Devil Inside Him, was written in 1950 with his friend and mentor Stella Linden, an actress and one of Osborne’s first passions.

W.S. Van Dyke: Powell and Loy, Eddy and MacDonald: …Dyke had more success with The Devil Is a Sissy (1936), a dramedy that cast young stars Mickey Rooney, Freddie Bartholomew, and Jackie Cooper as boys from differing backgrounds who end up attending the same school in New York. Love on the Run (1936) featured Gable and Franchot Tone as…

Marlene Dietrich: …The Scarlet Empress (1934), and The Devil Is a Woman (1935). She showed a lighter side in Desire (1936), directed by Frank Borzage, and Destry Rides Again (1939).

Bering Land Bridge National Preserve: The Devil Mountain Lakes maar is the largest such feature in the world. The Serpentine Hot Springs area, in the south-central part of the preserve, features thermal pools and formations called tors (exposed masses of jointed and broken granite) that also are remnants of past volcanic…

Torngat Mountains, range in northern Labrador, Newfoundland, Canada. The Torngat range extends northward for 120 miles (190 km) from Hebron Fjord to Cape Chidley, between the Quebec border (west) and the Atlantic Ocean (east). Named from an Eskimo (Inuit) term Torngarsuak, meaning “ruler of all sea

Ngugi wa Thiong’o: …English versions, Caitaani Mutharaba-ini (1980; Devil on the Cross), Ngugi presented these ideas in an allegorical form. Written in a manner meant to recall traditional ballad singers, the novel is a partly realistic, partly fantastical account of a meeting between the Devil and various villains who exploit the poor. Mũrogi…

manta ray, any of several genera of marine rays comprising the family Mobulidae (class Selachii). Flattened and wider than they are long, manta rays have fleshy enlarged pectoral fins that look like wings; extensions of those fins, looking like a devil’s horns, project as the cephalic fins from the

Tampa Bay Rays, American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida, that plays in the American League (AL). The Rays began play in 1998 and were known as the Devil Rays until the end of the 2007 season. In the years before the advent of the Rays, the Tampa–St. Petersburg area was

serial murder: History: …disturbing expressionist drama M (1931), The Devil Strikes at Night (1958), Peeping Tom (1960), Psycho (1960), Silence of the Lambs (1991), and Monster (2003); examples of the latter were Halloween (1978) and Friday the 13th (1980). Jack the Ripper was a character in

Brazilian literature: The novel: The Devil to Pay in the Backlands), his 600-page epic masterpiece on honour, courage, love, and treachery that takes the form of a first-person monologue by a backlands outlaw who makes a pact with the Devil to gain revenge.

opera: Early opera in Germany and Austria: …was born in London with The Devil to Pay (1731) and its sequel, The Merry Cobbler (1735), both English ballad operas with texts by Charles Coffey. These had pasticcio (“assembled” from preexisting works) scores capitalizing, not very successfully, on the great popularity of The Beggar’s Opera (1728), the score of…

Jerzy Kosinski: …success with his later novels, The Devil Tree (1973; revised 1981), Cockpit (1975), Passion Play (1979), Pinball (1982), and The Hermit of 69th Street (1988).

Santa Ana winds, hot, dry, gusty winds that blow into southern California from inland deserts, descending down the leeward slopes of California’s Pacific Coast mountain ranges toward the Pacific Ocean. The Santa Ana winds bring spells of low humidity and warm weather to the region from early fall

Satanism, the worship or veneration of Satan, a figure from Christian belief who is also commonly known as the Devil or Lucifer. For most of Christian history, accusations that groups have been deliberately worshipping the Devil have been spurious, with little or no basis in reality. However, from

devil’s advocate, a former office in the Roman Catholic Church, the Promoter of the Faith (Latin: promotor fidei), who critically examined the life of and miracles attributed to an individual proposed for beatification or canonization. He was called the devil’s advocate because his presentation of

Keanu Reeves: The Matrix and John Wick series: Somewhat more successful was The Devil’s Advocate (1997), in which he played a lawyer who falls under the spell of the Devil (Al Pacino). In 1999 Reeves reached a new level of stardom with his portrayal of Neo in the sci-fi cult classic The Matrix (1999). The blockbuster, which…

Morris West: …noted for such best-sellers as The Devil’s Advocate (1959) and The Shoes of the Fisherman (1963).

Frederick Forsyth: Books: Forsyth’s later novels included The Devil’s Alternative (1979), The Fourth Protocol (1984; film 1987), The Negotiator (1989), The Fist of God (1994), Icon (1996; TV movie 2005), Avenger (2003; TV movie 2006), The Kill List (2013), and

dragonfly, (suborder Anisoptera), any of a group of roughly 3,000 species of aerial predatory insects most commonly found near freshwater habitats throughout most of the world. Damselflies (suborder Zygoptera) are sometimes also called dragonflies in that both are odonates (order Odonata).

kalanchoe: Major species: beharensis); and devil’s backbone, or mother of thousands (K. daigremontiana). A range of attractive potted plants, commonly known as florist’s kalanchoe and distinguished by their colourful flowers, have been derived from K. blossfeldiana; they are marketed widely in the winter for their flowers, which may remain fresh…

devil’s backbone, (Euphorbia tithymaloides), succulent plant of the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae), native from Florida to Venezuela. The plant is called devil’s backbone for the zigzag form some varieties exhibit as well as shoe flower. It is also called redbird cactus (despite not being a true

History of film: Mexico: …El espinazo del diablo (2001; The Devil’s Backbone), and El laberinto del fauno (2006; Pan’s Labyrinth); however, his most successful movie was the American The Shape of Water (2017), for which he won an Oscar for best director. The success of nearly all these works as international art films was…

Dipsacales: Dipsacus clade: Devil’s bit (Succisa pratensis), a blue-flowered perennial, grows wild in European meadows. Its leaves are entire or slightly lobed and oval to narrow in shape.

Edwin Walker: …War II led the "Devil’s Brigade" commandos, who fought at the Anzio beachhead in Italy and in the invasion of southern France. Walker was decorated with the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with cluster, and the Legion of Merit for his outstanding combat record. During the Korean War he…

rove beetle: …largest species, such as the devil’s coachhorse (Staphylinus olens), are usually no more than 25 mm (1 inch). The short, thick elytra protect the second, fully developed pair of flying wings. These functional wings can be unfolded rapidly from under the elytra when the beetle is ready for flight. They…

dragonfly, (suborder Anisoptera), any of a group of roughly 3,000 species of aerial predatory insects most commonly found near freshwater habitats throughout most of the world. Damselflies (suborder Zygoptera) are sometimes also called dragonflies in that both are odonates (order Odonata).

The Devil’s Dictionary, satiric lexicon by Ambrose Bierce, first compiled as The Cynic’s Word Book in 1906 and reissued under the author’s preferred title five years later. The barbed definitions that Bierce began publishing in the Wasp, a weekly journal he edited in San Francisco from 1881 to

George Bernard Shaw: First plays: The Devil’s Disciple (performed 1897) is a play set in New Hampshire during the American Revolution and is an inversion of traditional melodrama. Caesar and Cleopatra (performed 1901) is Shaw’s first great play. In the play Cleopatra is a spoiled and vicious 16-year-old child rather…

Kirk Douglas: Corral (1957), The Devil’s Disciple (1959), Lonely Are the Brave (1962), Seven Days in May (1964), and In Harm’s Way (1965). Thereafter, the quality of Douglas’s films declined, although he remained highly active, averaging at least one film per year until the late 1980s. The better

Newmarket: The Rowley Mile intersects the Devil’s Ditch, or Devil’s Dyke, an earthwork thought to have been built by the East Anglians as a defense against the Mercians about the 6th century ce.

Anthony Mann: The 1950s: westerns of Anthony Mann: >Devil’s Doorway (1950), which cast matinee idol Robert Taylor against type as a Shoshone who returns to his tribe after serving in the Civil War, only to find that he must fight against white farmers who want his tribe’s land. The Universal production Winchester ’73…

Newmarket: The Rowley Mile intersects the Devil’s Ditch, or Devil’s Dyke, an earthwork thought to have been built by the East Anglians as a defense against the Mercians about the 6th century ce.

Marcel Carné: Les Visiteurs du soir (1942; The Devil’s Envoys), a costume drama that combines spectacle with romantic passion, is photographed with the lyricism and flowing smoothness characteristic of all Carné’s films. Les Enfants du paradis (1945; Children of Paradise), a fictionalized portrait of the mime Jean-Gaspard Deburau, paints a rich and…

devil’s food cake, an exceptionally rich dark chocolate layer cake that emerged in the United States at the turn of the 20th century. Although there are different versions of the recipe, it is generally distinguished from other chocolate cakes by the high amount of baking soda used, which makes the

Carl Zuckmayer: …dramas, Des Teufels General (1946; The Devil’s General). With this play, which dramatizes the plight of men torn between loyalty to country and the demands of conscience, Zuckmayer’s dramatic career entered a new phase. The zestful, life-affirming spirit of his earlier works was thereafter tempered with critical moral evaluation. In…

Garganta del Diablo, spectacular cataract on the Río Iguazú (Rio Iguaçu) at the border of Argentina and Brazil. The water roars down a descent of 269 feet (82

pleurodynia, viral (coxsackie B) epidemic disease with an incubation period of two to four days, marked by a brief fever, severe chest and lower back pain aggravated by deep breathing and movement, and a tendency to recur at intervals of a few days. The disease is usually self-limiting, terminating

witching hour, in folklore, the time at night when the powers of witches and other supernatural beings are believed to be strongest, usually occurring at midnight or 3:00 am. The term also has a modern colloquial meaning that refers to a time of unpredictable or volatile activity, such as the

pothos, (Epipremnum aureum), hardy indoor foliage plant of the arum family (Araceae) native to southeastern Asia. It resembles, and thus is often confused with, the common philodendron. Pothos is an evergreen plant with thick, waxy, green, heart-shaped leaves with splashes of yellow. As a

Atom Egoyan: …movies included the crime drama Devil’s Knot (2013), about the West Memphis Three, and Remember (2015), in which an Auschwitz survivor suffering from dementia searches for a former Nazi official. Guest of Honour (2019) centres on the relationship between a woman wrongly convicted of sexual misconduct and her father. Egoyan…

Devil’s Lair, cave in southwestern Western Australia, Australia, that is considered to be among the most important archaeological sites in the country. It is located about 3 miles (5 km) from the ocean and about 12 miles (20 km) north of Cape Leeuwin. A single-chamber cave with a floor of about

Berlin: The city site: “Devil’s Mountain” (Teufelsberg), one of several hills constructed from the rubble left by World War II bombing, rises to 380 feet (116 metres) and has been turned into a winter sports area for skiing and sledding.

Eminem: The Marshall Mathers LP: …year he recorded the album Devil’s Night with D12 and toured with the group. He also created his own record label, Shady Records. The D12 collective, 50 Cent, and other rappers signed to and released albums with the label.

Alan J. Pakula: Films of the 1990s: Pakula’s final directing effort was The Devil’s Own (1997), a well-made thriller starring Ford as a New York City police detective who unwittingly takes in a boarder (Brad Pitt) who turns out to be an extremely lethal Irish terrorist. The film demonstrated that Pakula was still able to work effectively…

Hong Kong: Relief: …650 feet (198 meters) at Devil’s Peak. Victoria (Hong Kong) Harbor is well protected by mountains on Hong Kong Island that include Victoria Peak in the west, which rises to 1,810 feet (552 meters), and Mount Parker in the east, which reaches a height of about 1,742 feet (531 meters).

Cape Town: The city site: …Bay, on the south by Devil’s Peak, and on the east by marshlands and the sandy Cape Flats beyond. The nearest tillable land was on the lower eastern slopes of Devil’s Peak and Table Mountain and, farther to the southeast, at Rondebosch, Newlands, and Wynberg. From the fortress that protected…

angel and demon: Relationship to views of a tripartite cosmos: …La Part du Diable (1942; The Devil’s Share) that the Devil and the demonic forces that plague the modern world can be well documented in modern society’s return to barbarism and inhumanity. In the 2nd century ce Clement of Alexandria, a Christian philosophical theologian, pointed toward a psychological interpretation of…

jimsonweed, (Datura stramonium), annual herbaceous plant of the nightshade family (Solanaceae). Possibly native to Central America, the plant is considered an invasive species throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere. It was used by Algonquin Indians in eastern North America, among other

Jo Nesbø: Harry Hole books: …work in Marekors (2003; “Pentagram”; The Devil’s Star), this time in Oslo. Hole tracks a contract killer in Frelseren (2005; “Saviour”; The Redeemer) and another serial killer in Snømannen (2007; The Snowman). Panserhjerte (2009; “Armoured Heart”; The Leopard) has Hole tracked down in Hong Kong and persuaded to

Nelson Algren: His last novel, The Devil’s Stocking, which he completed in 1979, was rejected by many publishers but was published posthumously in 1983.

Garganta del Diablo, spectacular cataract on the Río Iguazú (Rio Iguaçu) at the border of Argentina and Brazil. The water roars down a descent of 269 feet (82

Gibraltar remains: …evidence of occupation: Forbes’ Quarry, Devil’s Tower, Gorham’s Cave, and Vanguard Cave. The first locality yielded the second Neanderthal fossil ever discovered, the skull of an older adult female; though found in 1848, it was not announced to science until 1865. In 1926 the second site yielded a Paleolithic tool…

The Devil’s Trill, sonata for violin and basso continuo by Italian composer Giuseppe Tartini, dating from about 1713 or, more likely, according to scholars of Tartini’s style, after 1740. About a dozen years younger than his compatriot Antonio Vivaldi, Tartini was a gifted violinist who wrote

Edward Hoagland: …of the Alligators (1992), and The Devil’s Tub (2014).

angelica tree, (species Aralia spinosa), prickly-stemmed shrub or tree, of the ginseng family (Araliaceae), that can reach a height of 15 m (about 50 feet). Its leaves are large, with leaflets arranged feather-fashion and often prickly. The angelica tree is native to low-lying areas from Delaware

Ingmar Bergman: Life: …of his own, Fängelse (1949; Prison, or The Devil’s Wanton). It recapitulated all the themes of his previous films in a complex, perhaps overambitious story, built around the romantic and professional problems of a young film director who considers making a film based on the idea that the Devil rules…

Trinidad and Tobago: Relief and drainage: …of which is called the Devil’s Woodyard. In the southwest of the island is the deep asphalt deposit known as Pitch Lake.

nematode: In addition, two species, Halicephalobus mephisto and Plectus aquatilis, which inhabit subterranean water seeps as deep as 3.6 km (2.2 miles) beneath Earth’s surface, are the deepest-living multicellular organisms known. See also aschelminth.

Why Is a Deviled Egg Called a Deviled Egg?: The preparation of deviled eggs, which generally involves combining cooked egg yolks with condiments and spices to produce a piquant filling, reflects this historical use of the word deviled. In the United States today, any cold preparation of stuffed eggs is referred to as a deviled egg, regardless…

metallurgy: Light metals: The process was very expensive, but cost was greatly reduced when the American chemist Hamilton Young Castner developed an electrolytic cell for producing cheaper sodium in 1886. At the same time, however, Charles M. Hall in the United States and Paul-Louis-Toussaint Héroult in France announced their…

Édouard Gaston Deville was a French-born Canadian surveyor of Canadian lands (1875–1924) who perfected the first practical method of photogrammetry, or the making of maps based on photography. Deville served in the French navy, conducting hydrographic surveys in the South Sea islands, Peru, and

blue-eyed soul: Louis, Missouri; the Box Tops, from Memphis, Tennessee; and Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, from Detroit, Michigan. Other performers who were regarded as blue-eyed soul singers included Laura Nyro in the 1960s, Robert Palmer and the Average White Band in the 1970s, and in the 21st…

Bruce Springsteen: Back with the E Street Band: …following the release of the Devils and Dust album and coinciding with a 30th anniversary celebration of Born to Run, explored the full depth of his song catalog—it was Tracks with a one-man band—and continued his opposition to the Bush administration’s policies.

Arches National Park: …in the setting sun), and Devils Garden. Landscape Arch, measuring about 290 feet (88 metres) long from base to base, is one of the longest natural freestanding spans of rock in the world; since 1991 large pieces of the formation have fallen, though the arch remains intact. In 2008 Wall…

North Sea: Physiography: …of the North Sea, including Devils Hole off Edinburgh, where depths exceed 1,500 feet (450 metres), and Silver Pit, nearly 320 feet (95 metres) deep, off the bay of The Wash in England. These trenches may have been formed at the time of the last glaciation, when parts of the…

Death Valley: Plant and animal life: …of water; the highly endangered Devils Hole pupfish (C. diabolis) lives in a single desert pool.