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Strauss, Levi

(Encyclopedia)Strauss, Levi, 1829–1902, American merchant, b. Buttenheim, Germany, as Löb Strauss. He moved with his mother and sisters to New York City in 1847 to join his brothers' wholesale dry-goods company....

Vanua Levu

(Encyclopedia)Vanua Levu väno͞oˈä lāˈvo͞o [key] or Sandalwood Island, volcanic island, 2,137 sq mi (5,535 sq km), S Pacific, second largest of the Fiji Islands. Nasoro Levu, or Mt. Thurston (3,139 ft/960 m),...

Ulugh-Beg

(Encyclopedia)Ulugh-Beg or Ulug-Beg both: o͞oˈlo͞og bĕg [key], 1394–1449, Timurid ruler and astronomer. The grandson of Timur (or Tamerlane), he succeeded to the Timurid domain in 1447. A patron of the arts a...

Soulouque, Faustin Élie

(Encyclopedia)Soulouque, Faustin Élie fōstăNˈ ālēˈ so͞olo͞okˈ [key], c.1785–1867, emperor of Haiti (1849–59). An illiterate former slave, he became president in 1847 and then declared himself emperor ...

Scranton, George Whitefield

(Encyclopedia)Scranton, George Whitefield, 1811–61, American manufacturer, b. Madison, Conn. With his brother Selden he bought (1839) the lease and stock of the ironworks of Oxford Furnace, near Washington, N.J. ...

simile

(Encyclopedia)simile sĭmˈəlē [key] [Lat.,=likeness], in rhetoric, a figure of speech in which an object is explicitly compared to another object. Robert Burns's poem “A Red Red Rose” contains two straightfo...

Sergel, Johan Tobias

(Encyclopedia)Sergel, Johan Tobias yo͞oˈhän to͞obēˈäs sĕrˈyəl [key], 1740–1814, Swedish sculptor. He studied (1767–79) in Rome, and much of his sculpture is in the neoclassical style. His subjects, ot...

Barrios, Justo Rufino

(Encyclopedia)Barrios, Justo Rufino ho͞oˈstō ro͞ofēˈnō bärˈyōs [key], c.1835–1885, president of Guatemala (1873–85). He took part in the successful revolution of 1871 and was elected to office. He imp...

Potter, Beatrix

(Encyclopedia)Potter, Beatrix, 1866–1943, English author and illustrator. She published her first animal stories, The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902) and The Tailor of Gloucester (1903), at her own expense before she...

Piotrków Trybunalski

(Encyclopedia)Piotrków Trybunalski pyôˈtərko͞of trĭbo͞onälˈskē [key], Rus. Petrokov, Ger. Petrikau, city (1991 est. pop. 81,300), Łódzkie prov., central Poland. A textile center, it also manufactures wo...