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Pentheus

(Encyclopedia)Pentheus pĕnˈthēəs [key], in Greek mythology, king of Thebes, son of Cadmus' daughter Agave. When Dionysus came to Thebes, Pentheus denied his divinity and tried to prevent his ecstatic rites. The...

White Sulphur Springs

(Encyclopedia)White Sulphur Springs, city (1990 pop. 2,779), Greenbrier co., SE W.Va., in the Allegheny Mts. near the Virginia border; settled c.1750. A mineral springs health resort since early 1800s, it is the si...

Wister, Owen

(Encyclopedia)Wister, Owen wĭsˈtər [key], 1860–1938, American author, b. Philadelphia, grad. Harvard (B.A., 1882; LL.B., 1888). Trips to the West for his health gave him material for his short stories and for ...

Plesiosaurus

(Encyclopedia)Plesiosaurus plēˌsēəsôrˈəs [key], genus of extinct predatory marine reptiles that arose in the Triassic period of geologic time and continued into the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Plesiosau...

Lofting, Hugh

(Encyclopedia)Lofting, Hugh, 1886–1947, American writer of juvenile stories, b. Maidenhead, England. He settled in the United States in 1912. His famous “Dr. Dolittle” stories, which concern an extraordinary ...

Longus

(Encyclopedia)Longus lôngˈgəs [key], fl. 3d cent. a.d., Greek writer. The pastoral romance Daphnis and Chloë is attributed to him. Idyllic in nature, the poem tells the charming story of the love of a goatherd ...

Tiresias

(Encyclopedia)Tiresias tīrēˈshəs, –sēəs [key], in Greek mythology, a blind soothsayer who appears in many legends. According to one myth, when he saw Athena bathing she blinded him, but by way of compensati...

Vatel, François

(Encyclopedia)Vatel, François fräNswäˈ vätĕlˈ [key], fl. 17th cent., French chef, famous in the time of Louis XIV. Mme Marie de Sévigné, in her letters, speaks of him as the chef of the prince of Condé an...

Pandarus

(Encyclopedia)Pandarus pănˈdərəs [key], in Greek legend, a Trojan warrior. In the Trojan War (as recounted in Homer's Iliad) he broke the truce by wounding Menelaus and soon after was killed by Diomed. In the m...

Gander

(Encyclopedia)Gander, town, NE Newfoundland, N.L., Canada. Gander's airport, an important base in World War II, is a hub for international flights; it also attracts m...