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Eve, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Eve [Heb.,=life], in the Bible, the first woman, wife of Adam and the mother of Cain, Abel, and Seth. Fashioned from Adam's rib, she was beguiled by the serpent into eating the forbidden fruit of the ...

McAllen

(Encyclopedia)McAllen, city (1990 pop. 84,021), Hidalgo co., extreme S Tex., on the Rio Grande; inc. 1911. It is a port of entry and a packing and processing center for the citrus fruit, truck crops, and other prod...

Merlin

(Encyclopedia)Merlin, in Arthurian legend, magician, seer, and teacher at the court of King Vortigern and later at the court of King Arthur. He was a bard and culture hero in early Celtic folklore. In Arthurian leg...

burning bush

(Encyclopedia)burning bush, name for a North American plant of the family Celastraceae (staff tree family). The scriptural burning bush not consumed by fire (Ex. 3.2) is sometimes associated with a bramble or thorn...

Croatoan

(Encyclopedia)Croatoan, unexplained letters found (1590) carved on a tree on Roanoke Island off North Carolina by Gov. John White when he returned to the colony from England and discovered the colonists gone. White...

Giresun

(Encyclopedia)Giresun gērĕso͞onˈ [key], city, capital of Giresun prov., NE Turkey, a port on the Black Sea. ...

Weems, Mason Locke

(Encyclopedia)Weems, Mason Locke, 1759–1825, American author and preacher, b. Anne Arundel co., Md., studied theology in London. He was ordained in 1784 and served various Episcopal parishes. For 30 years after 1...

balsam fir

(Encyclopedia)balsam fir, common name for the evergreen tree Abies balsamea of NE North American boreal forests. It has small needles and cones and is used for lumber. It is also called Canada balsam, as is the res...

shittim wood

(Encyclopedia)shittim wood, in the Bible, wood of the shittah tree, probably an acacia, from which the Ark of the Covenant and furniture of the Tabernacle were made. The Revised Version of the Bible calls it acacia...

catechu

(Encyclopedia)catechu kătˈəcho͞o [key] or cutch, extract from the heartwood of Acacia catechu, a leguminous tree of the pulse family, native to India and Myanmar. Catechu is a fast brown dye used for various sh...