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Basque |
Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Wikipedia, Hutchinson | 0.01 sec. |
BasqueSpanish VascoMember of a people of unknown origin living in Spain and France along the Bay of Biscay and in the western Pyrenees mountains in the region of the Basque Country. About 850,000 true Basques live in Spain and another 130,000 in France. Physically the Basques are similar to other Western European peoples; the Basque language, however, is not Indo-European. The Basques have sought autonomy from Spain since the 19th century. A national government was proclaimed in the Spanish Civil War, which saw the brutal bombing of Guernica (1937). After the war, the government and many Basques went into exile as Francisco Franco abolished their special privileges. The Basque separatist movement was rekindled after Franco's death and the establishment of a liberal Spanish monarchy in 1975. Despite the granting of limited autonomy in 1978, the more militant separatists, including the terrorist ETA (Basque Homeland and Liberty), continued a campaign for complete independence. Basque 1. a member of a people of unknown origin living around the W Pyrenees in France and Spain 2. the language of this people, of no known relationship with any other language How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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For she was a Carlist, and of Basque blood at that, with something of a lioness in the expression of her courageous face (especially when she let her hair down), and with the volatile little soul of a sparrow dressed in fine Parisian feathers, which had the trick of coming off disconcertingly at unexpected moments. But there weren't any black things in the last missionary barrel, only a lady's velvet basque which Deacon Carr's wife said wasn't suitable for me at all; besides, it had white spots--worn, you know--on both elbows, and some other places. All around her, all glances were riveted, all mouths open; and, in fact, when she danced thus, to the humming of the Basque tambourine, which her two pure, rounded arms raised above her head, slender, frail and vivacious as a wasp, with her corsage of gold without a fold, her variegated gown puffing out, her bare shoulders, her delicate limbs, which her petticoat revealed at times, her black hair, her eyes of flame, she was a supernatural creature. |
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