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Cadillac, Antoine de la Mothe

(Encyclopedia)Cadillac, Antoine de la Mothe Fr. äNtwänˈ də lä môt kädēyäkˈ [key], c.1658–1730, French colonial governor in North America, founder of Detroit. Of the minor Gascon nobility, he came to Ame...

Beane, Billy

(Encyclopedia)Beane, Billy (William Lamar Beane 3d), 1962–, American baseball player and general manager, b. Orlando, Fla. An outfielder with a lifetime average of .219, he had a short, unimpressive career with t...

Whitefield, George

(Encyclopedia)Whitefield, George, 1714–70, English evangelistic preacher, leader of the Calvinistic Methodist Church. At Oxford, which he entered in 1732, he joined the Methodist group led by John Wesley and Char...

Drabble, Margaret

(Encyclopedia)Drabble, Margaret, 1939–, English novelist, b. Sheffield, Yorkshire; sister of A. S. Byatt. Drabble's rigorous and unsentimentally realistic vision of an England split between traditional values and...

Domesday Book

(Encyclopedia)Domesday Book do͞omzˈdā [key], record of a general census of England made (1085–86) by order of William I (William the Conqueror). The survey ascertained the economic resources of most of the cou...

Clough, Arthur Hugh

(Encyclopedia)Clough, Arthur Hugh klŭf [key], 1819–61, English poet. He was educated at Rugby and Balliol College, Oxford, where he became friends with Matthew Arnold. After graduation (1841) he was fellow and t...

Bingham, George Caleb

(Encyclopedia)Bingham, George Caleb, 1811–79, American painter and politician, b. Augusta co., Va. His family moved (1819) to Missouri, which was the site of most of Bingham's activities. In 1837 he studied for a...

United States Naval Observatory

(Encyclopedia)United States Naval Observatory, a federal astronomical observatory, located in Washington, D. C. It evolved from the Navy's oldest scientific institution, the Depot of Charts and Instruments, founded...

Kwanzaa

(Encyclopedia)Kwanzaa or Kwanza both: kwänˈzə [key], secular seven-day festival in celebration of the African heritage of African Americans, beginning on Dec. 26. Developed by Maulana Karenga and first observed ...

Rosh ha-Shanah

(Encyclopedia)Rosh ha-Shanah hə-shäˈnə [key] [Heb.,=head of the year], the Jewish New Year, also known as the Feast of the Trumpets. It is observed on the first day of the seventh month, Tishri, occurring usual...