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censor

(Encyclopedia)censor sĕnˈsər [key], title of two magistrates of ancient Rome (from c.443 b.c. to the time of Domitian). They took the census (by which they assessed taxation, voting, and military service) and su...

Holocene epoch

(Encyclopedia)Holocene epoch hŏlˈəsēn [key] or Recent epoch, most recent of all subdivisions of geologic time, ranging from the present back to the time (c.11,000 years ago) of almost complete withdrawal of the...

Lenormand, Henri René

(Encyclopedia)Lenormand, Henri René äNrēˈ rənāˈ lənôrmäNˈ [key], 1882–1951, French dramatist. His plays, Freudian in tone and theme and often heavily symbolic, include Les Ratés (1918, tr. The Failure...

Astell, Mary

(Encyclopedia)Astell, Mary ăsˈtəl [key], 1666–1731, English author and feminist. Her Serious Proposal to the Ladies (2 parts, 1694–97) offered a scheme for a women's college, an idea far in advance of the ti...

Loomis, Mahlon

(Encyclopedia)Loomis, Mahlon, 1826–86, American inventor, b. Oppenheim, N.Y. He was a dentist by profession but spent much of his time pioneering in wireless communication. Using aerials borne by kites, he succes...

Augier, Émile

(Encyclopedia)Augier, Émile (Guillaume Victor Émile Augier) gēyōmˈ vēktôrˈ āmēlˈ ōzhyāˈ [key], 1820–89, French dramatist. His plays, early examples of realism, satirize the social foibles of his tim...

Murray, Lindley

(Encyclopedia)Murray, Lindley, 1745–1826, American grammarian, b. Pennsylvania. Murray practiced law until the Revolution, during which he acquired a fortune, and in 1784 went to live in England. A Quaker ministe...

Fürst, Julius

(Encyclopedia)Fürst, Julius yo͞oˈlyo͝os fürst [key], 1805–73, German Orientalist. Fürst was a distinguished scholar of Semitic languages and literature of his time. During his years as chairman of the depar...

Gardner, Erle Stanley

(Encyclopedia)Gardner, Erle Stanley, 1889–1970, American detective-story writer, b. Malden, Mass. He served as a trial lawyer for many years. About 1921 he began writing detective stories for magazines; after tha...

Jael

(Encyclopedia)Jael jāl [key], in the Bible, heroine of the time of Deborah. She murdered Sisera, her guest. ...