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Procrustes

(Encyclopedia)Procrustes prōkrŭsˈtēz [key], in Greek mythology, cruel highwayman. He forced passersby to lie on a very long bed and then stretched them to fit it. Some said that he also had a very short bed; to...

Ayton, Sir Robert

(Encyclopedia)Ayton or Aytoun, Sir Robert both: āˈtən [key], 1570–1638, English poet and courtier. He was private secretary to the queens of James I and Charles I, besides holding other posts of honor. He wrot...

Babrius

(Encyclopedia)Babrius bāˈbrēəs [key], fl. 2d cent.?, Greek fabulist, versifier of the fables of Aesop. Many of the medieval prose collections of Aesop were based on Babrius. He may have been a Hellenized Roman....

Hermaphroditus

(Encyclopedia)Hermaphroditus hərmăfrədīˈtəs [key], in Greek mythology, beautiful son of Hermes and Aphrodite. He scorned the nymph Salmacis, who prayed that they might never be separated. When Hermaphroditus ...

Hesperides

(Encyclopedia)Hesperides hĕspĕrˈĭdēz [key], in Greek mythology, daughters of Atlas. They lived in a fabulous garden located at the western extremity of the world. There they guarded (with the aid of the dragon...

apostrophe, figure of speech

(Encyclopedia)apostrophe, figure of speech in which an absent person, a personified inanimate being, or an abstraction is addressed as though present. The term is derived from a Greek word meaning “a turning away...

Archilochus

(Encyclopedia)Archilochus ärkĭlˈəkəs [key], fl. c.700 or c.650 b.c., Greek poet, b. Paros. As an innovator in the use and construction of the personal lyric, his language was intense and often violent. Many fr...

Kirklareli

(Encyclopedia)Kirklareli kərklärˈĕlĕˌ [key], city (1990 pop. 43,017), capital of Kirklareli prov., NW Turkey. It is a transportation hub and a trade center for butter and cheese. During the First Balkan War t...

Sweynheym, Conrad

(Encyclopedia)Sweynheym, Conrad kônˈrät svīnˈhīm [key], fl. 15th cent., early printer. Originally from near Mainz, Germany, Sweynheym with Arnold Pannartz established (c.1464) in the monastery of Subiaco the ...

slipware

(Encyclopedia)slipware, pottery decorated with various colors of slip, a thin mixture of clay and water. Slip may form a design on a contrasting background, or lines may be scratched through a coating of slip to sh...