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Abraham

(Encyclopedia)Abraham [according to the Book of Genesis, Heb.,=father of many nations] or Abram āˈbrəm [key] [Heb.,=exalted father], in the Bible, progenitor of the Hebrews; in the Qur'an, ancestor of the Arabs....

Gainsborough, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Gainsborough, Thomas gānzˈbûrˌō [key], 1727–88, English portrait and landscape painter, b. Sudbury. In 1740 he went to London and became the assistant and pupil of the French engraver Hubert Gr...

Tilden, Samuel Jones

(Encyclopedia)Tilden, Samuel Jones, 1814–86, American political figure, Democratic presidential candidate in 1876, b. New Lebanon, N.Y. Admitted to the bar in 1841, Tilden was an eminently successful lawyer, with...

Resnais, Alain

(Encyclopedia)Resnais, Alain älăNˈ rānāˈ [key], 1922–2014, French filmmaker. Although not an official member of the French cinema's New Wave movement, he shared its innovative and personal approach to style...

Bali

(Encyclopedia)Bali bäˈlē [key], island and (with two offshore islets) province, c.2,200 sq mi (5,700 sq ...

Bancroft, George

(Encyclopedia)Bancroft, George, 1800–1891, American historian and public official, b. Worcester, Mass. He taught briefly at Harvard and then at the Round Hill School in Northampton, Mass., of which he was a found...

Staten Island

(Encyclopedia)Staten Island (1990 pop. 378,977), 59 sq mi (160 sq km), SE N.Y., in New York Bay, SW of Manhattan, forming Richmond co. of New York state and the borough of Staten Island of New York City. It is sepa...

Swedish language

(Encyclopedia)Swedish language, member of the North Germanic, or Scandinavian, group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. It is the official language of Sweden and one of the official...

Bruegel

(Encyclopedia)Bruegel, Brueghel, or Breughel all: broiˈgəl, Du. bröˈgəl [key], outstanding family of Flemish genre and landscape painters. The foremost, Pieter Bruegel, the Elder, c.1525–1569, called Peasan...

Methodism

(Encyclopedia)Methodism, the doctrines, polity, and worship of those Protestant Christian denominations that have developed from the movement started in England by the teaching of John Wesley. John and Charles ...