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Keats, Ezra Jack

(Encyclopedia)Keats, Ezra Jack, 1916–83, American author and illustrator of children's books, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., as Jacob Ezra Katz. During the Great Depression, he painted murals for the Works Progress Administr...

Levites

(Encyclopedia)Levites lēˈvīts [key], a religious caste among the ancient Hebrews, descended from Jacob's son Levi and figuring prominently in the Bible. There were three divisions of Levites—Kohathites, Merari...

Veil, Simone

(Encyclopedia)Veil, Simone, 1927–2017, French politician, b. Simone Jacob. Interned in Nazi concentration camps during World War II because she was Jewish, she became a lawyer and government official. She served ...

Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs

(Encyclopedia)Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, an early Jewish work, with some Christian interpolations, reckoned among the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. The work may have been written as early as 1st cent. b.c...

Šibenik

(Encyclopedia)Šibenik shēbĕˈnĭk [key], Ital. Sebenico, town (2011 pop. 46,332), S Croatia, on the Adriatic Sea. It is a seaport, naval base, and resort center on the Dalmatian coast. The city has shipbuilding,...

Rotterdam, city, Netherlands

(Encyclopedia)Rotterdam rŏtˈərdămˌ, Dutch rôtərdämˈ [key], city (1994 pop. 598,521), South Holland prov., W Netherlands, on the Nieuwe Maas (New Meuse) River near its mouth on the North Sea. One of the lar...

Irving, Washington

(Encyclopedia)Irving, Washington, 1783–1859, American author and diplomat, b. New York City. Irving was one of the first Americans to be recognized abroad as a man of letters, and he was a literary idol at home. ...

Dan

(Encyclopedia)Dan. 1 In the Bible, son of Jacob and Bilhah and eponymous ancestor of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. Their allotment in SW Palestine was the least extensive. The hostility of the Amorites living the...

Gilead

(Encyclopedia)Gilead gĭlˈēăd [key], in the Bible. 1 Eponym of the Gileadites, grandson of Manasseh. 2 Gadite. 3 Jephthah's father. 4 City near Mizpah, denounced by Hosea. 5 Fertile, mountainous region, NE of th...

John, Augustus Edwin

(Encyclopedia)John, Augustus Edwin, 1879–1961, British painter and etcher, b. Wales. John studied at the Slade School, London. A leading portrait painter, he had many important sitters, among them Queen Elizabeth...