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Barabbas

(Encyclopedia)Barabbas bərăbˈəs [key] [Aram.,=son of the father], bandit held in jail at the time of Jesus' arrest. Pontius Pilate, who, according to the Gospels, annually released a prisoner at Passover, offer...

Pur

(Encyclopedia)Pur pûr [key] [Heb.,=lot], in the Bible, lot cast by Haman to determine the time for the murder of the Jews. See Purim. ...

Ozias

(Encyclopedia)Ozias ōzīˈəs [key] [Gr.,=Heb. Uzziah], in the Bible. 1 Same as Uzziah (1.) 2 Ruler of Bethulia at the time of Judith. ...

Rabelais, François

(Encyclopedia)Rabelais, François răbˈəlā, Fr. fräNswäˈ räblāˈ [key], c.1490–1553, French writer and physician, one of the great comic geniuses in world literature. His father, a lawyer, owned several e...

Proust, Marcel

(Encyclopedia)Proust, Marcel pro͞ost [key], 1871–1922, French novelist, b. Paris. He is one of the great literary figures of the modern age. Born to wealthy bourgeois parents, he suffered delicate health as a c...

Ordovician period

(Encyclopedia)Ordovician period ôrdəvĭshˈən [key] [from the Ordovices, ancient tribe of N Wales], second period of the Paleozoic era of geologic time (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table) fr...

Lalo, Édouard Victor Antoine

(Encyclopedia)Lalo, Édouard Victor Antoine ādwärˈ vēktôrˈ äNtwänˈ lälōˈ [key], 1823–92, French composer. Lalo's opera, Le Roi d'Ys (1888), Symphonie espagnole for violin and orchestra (1875), and bal...

Montgomerie, Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Montgomerie, Alexander məntgŭmˈərē [key], c.1556–c.1610, Scottish poet. His principal poem, The Cherry and the Sloe (1597), is a pedestrian and ambiguous allegory that enjoyed considerable popu...

Hopkins, Lemuel

(Encyclopedia)Hopkins, Lemuel, 1750–1801, American poet and physician, b. Waterbury, Conn. One of the Connecticut Wits, he collaborated with several others in writing popular political satires. He was one of the ...

Isidorus of Miletus

(Encyclopedia)Isidorus of Miletus ĭzĭdôrˈəs, mīlēˈtəs [key], name of two architects of the time of Justinian. The elder was associated with Anthemius of Tralles in rebuilding Hagia Sophia, a.d. 532–37; t...