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Gimbel

(Encyclopedia)Gimbel gĭmˈbəl [key], family of American merchants and philanthropists. Adam Gimbel, 1815–96, b. Bavaria, emigrated (1835) to the United States and traveled up and down the Mississippi River pedd...

Leo VI, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)Leo VI (Leo the Wise or Leo the Philosopher), 862?–912, Byzantine emperor (886–912), son and successor of Basil I. He added to the work of his father by the publication (887–93) of the Basilica,...

Asclepius

(Encyclopedia)Asclepius ĕsˌkəlāˈpēəs [key], legendary Greek physician; son of Apollo and Coronis. His first teacher was the wise centaur Chiron. When he became so skillful in healing that he could revive the...

Haliburton, Thomas Chandler

(Encyclopedia)Haliburton, Thomas Chandler hălˈĭbûrtən [key], pseud. Sam Slick, 1796–1865, Canadian jurist and author. Haliburton was a judge of the court of common pleas in 1829 and a judge of the provincial...

Wolfenbüttel

(Encyclopedia)Wolfenbüttel vôlˈfənbütˈəl [key], city (1994 pop. 53,812), Lower Saxony, N central Germany, on the Oker River, near the former East German border. It is an agricultural market and an industrial...

star-of-Bethlehem, in botany

(Encyclopedia)star-of-Bethlehem, in botany, low, spring-blooming bulbous plant (Ornithogalum umbellatum) of the family Liliaceae (lily family), native to the Mediterranean region but naturalized in North America an...

Weiser, Conrad

(Encyclopedia)Weiser, Conrad wīzˈər [key], 1696–1760, American pioneer, b. Württemberg, Germany. Arriving in America in 1710, his family settled in Livingston Manor, N.Y., and later at Schoharie. While still ...

Hull, William

(Encyclopedia)Hull, William, 1753–1825, American general, b. Derby, Conn. He served brilliantly in the American Revolution and became in 1805 governor of the newly created Michigan Territory. As the War of 1812 b...

Horsley, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Horsley, Samuel hôrzˈlē [key], 1733–1806, English prelate, noted as a scientist. He became bishop of St. David's in 1788, of Rochester in 1793, and of St. Asaph in 1802. Science was the field in ...

Singer, Israel Joshua

(Encyclopedia)Singer, Israel Joshua, 1893–1944, Polish-American novelist and playwright who wrote in Yiddish, older brother of Isaac Bashevis Singer. Living variously in Poland and Russia, he earned a literary re...