Word: fiefdom
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Rick's Café Americain is the state of the stateless. Rick sets himself up as a kind of chieftain or caliph in his isolated, autonomous, amoral fiefdom, where he rules absolutely. Victor and Rick are splintered aspects, it may be, of the same man. Ultimately, the ego rises above mere selfish despair and selfish desire. It is reborn in sacrifice and community: "It doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill o' beans in this crazy world." Idealism and its bride ascend into heaven...
...humanities too narrowly, important groups in the U.S. may be excluded. Says Predecessor Duffey: "Political pressures heave up against this agency all the time. But if you abandon the effort to maintain a credible peer review system, then you're turning the NEH into a kind of fiefdom." Bennett categorically rejects any implication that he has been asked to dismantle programs designed by and for traditionally liberal constituencies. He insists: "I have not had any suggestions from the White House, to say nothing of orders or directives, as to how best to run this agency." But Bennett admits that...
...administrators at Harvard Real Estate suggest that the University maintains "generally satisfactory" relations with its tenants? Simply because HRE officials have no desire to improve communications with their own fiefdom. In this case the result may be the strengthening of a nascent union designed to protect tenants' rights...
Ever since Libya became the personal fiefdom and fortress of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 1969, it has been a treacherous place for Western oil companies to pump crude. In 1973 Gaddafi seized a 51% share of all U.S. oil operations in Libya and threw Texas Oilman Bunker Hunt out of the country altogether. But last week an oil company reversed roles and walked out on the colonel. Exxon announced that it was withdrawing all its oil and gas operations from Libya. The company will turn over to Gaddafi its 49% stake in oilfields capable of producing...
...collegiate cross country race victory. Although Dixon's time of 31:08 was unspectacular for the ten-kilometer distance, the victory established the middle-distance record-setter as a more than viable threat in an event many times longer than the 1500-and 800-meter events--Dixon's undisputed fiefdom in the winter and spring track seasons...