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Elgin ... Ellis Island

Elgin: royal burgh (town) and city, in Moray council area and historic county, northeastern Scotland, situated on the River Lossie in the fertile plain of Moray, of which it is the ...
Elgin Marbles: collection of ancient Greek sculptures and architectural details in the British Museum, London. The objects were removed from the Parthenon at Athens and from other ancient buildings and shipped to ...
Elgin, James Bruce, 8th earl of, 12th Earl Of Kincardine: British statesman and governor general of British North America in 1847-54 who effected responsible, or cabinet, government in Canada and whose conduct in office defined the role for his successors.
Elgin, Thomas Bruce, 7th earl of, 11th Earl Of Kincardine: British diplomatist and art collector, famous for his acquisition of the Greek sculptures now known as the "Elgin Marbles" (q.v.).
Elgin, Victor Alexander Bruce, 9th earl of: British viceroy of India from 1894 to 1899.
Elgon, Mount: extinct volcano on the Kenya-Uganda boundary. Its crater, about 5 miles (8 km) in diameter, contains several peaks, of which Wagagai (14,178 feet [4,321 m]) is the highest. Its extrusions ...
Elhuyar, Fausto: Spanish chemist and mineralogist who in partnership with his brother Juan Jose was the first to isolate tungsten, or wolfram (1783), though not the first to recognize its elemental nature. ...
Eliade, Mircea: historian of religions and man of letters, distinguished for his researches in the symbolic language used by various religious traditions and for his attempt to reduce their meaning to underlying ...
Elias Of Cortona: disciple of St. Francis of Assisi and a leading figure in the early history of the Franciscan Order, which he twice governed.
Elias, Norbert: sociologist who described the growth of civilization in western Europe as a complex evolutionary process, most notably in his principal work, Uber den Prozess der Zivilisation (1939; The Civilizing Process: ...
Elijah: Hebrew prophet who ranks with Moses in saving the religion of Yahweh from being corrupted by the nature worship of Baal. Elijah's name means "Yahweh is my God" and is ...
Elijah ben Solomon: in full Elijah Ben Solomon Zalman, also called by the acronym Ha-gra, from Ha-gaon Rabbi Eliya-hu, also called Elijah Gaon the gaon ("excellency") of Vilna, and the outstanding authority in ...
Elijah's cup: in Judaism, the fifth ceremonial cup of wine poured during the family Seder dinner on Passover (Pesah). It is left untouched in honour of Elijah, who, according to tradition, will ...
Elimelech Of Lizhensk: Jewish teacher and author, one of the founders of Hasidism (a Jewish pietistic movement) in Galicia.
elimination reaction: any of a class of organic chemical reactions in which a pair of atoms or groups of atoms are removed from a molecule, usually through the action of acids, bases, ...
Elion, Gertrude B.: American pharmacologist who, along with George H. Hitchings and Sir James W. Black, received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1988 for their development of drugs used to ...
Eliot, Charles William: American educator, leader in public affairs, president of Harvard University for 40 years, and editor of the 50-volume Harvard Classics (1909-10).
Eliot, George: English Victorian novelist who developed the method of psychological analysis characteristic of modern fiction. Her major works include Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on ...
Eliot, Jared: American colonial clergyman, physician, and agronomist.
Eliot, John: Puritan missionary to the Native Americans of Massachusetts Bay Colony whose translation of the Bible in the Algonquian language was the first Bible printed in North America.
Eliot, Sir Charles: diplomat and colonial administrator who initiated the policy of white supremacy in the British East Africa Protectorate (now Kenya).
Eliot, Sir John: English Puritan and Parliamentarian who, with his brilliant oratory, played a leading role in the early conflicts between King Charles I and Parliament. His death during his imprisonment for opposing ...
Eliot, T.S.: American-English poet, playwright, literary critic, and editor, a leader of the modernist movement in poetry in such works as The Waste Land (1922) and
Eliphaz The Temanite: in the Old Testament Book of Job (chapters 4, 5, 15, 22), one of three friends who sought to console Job, who is a biblical archetype of unmerited suffering. The ...
Elis: ancient Greek region and city-state in the northwestern corner of the Peloponnese, well known for its horse breeding and for the Olympic Games, which were allegedly founded there in 776 ...
Elisha: in the Old Testament, Israelite prophet, the pupil of Elijah, and also his successor (c. 851 BC). He instigated and directed Jehu's revolt against the house of Omri, which was ...
Elisha ben Abuyah: Jewish scholar who renounced his faith and who came to be regarded in later ages as a prototype of the heretic whose intellectual pride leads him to infidelity to Jewish ...
elision: (Latin: "striking out"), in prosody, the slurring or omission of a final unstressed vowel that precedes either another vowel or a weak consonant sound, as in the word heav'n. It ...
Elista: city and capital of Kalmykia republic, southwestern Russia. It was founded in 1865 and became a city in 1930. In 1944, when the Kalmyks were exiled by Joseph Stalin for ...
elixir: in alchemy, substance thought to be capable of changing base metals into gold. The same term, more fully elixir vitae, "elixir of life," was given to the substance that would ...
Elizabeth: queen consort of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1936-52), wife of King George VI. She was credited with sustaining the monarchy through numerous crises, including the abdication ...
Elizabeth: empress consort of Austria from April 24, 1854, when she married the emperor Francis Joseph I. She was also queen of Hungary (crowned June 8, 1867) after the Austro-Hungarian Ausgleich, ...
Elizabeth: empress of Russia from 1741 to 1761 (1762, New Style).
Elizabeth: city, seat (1857) of Union county, northeastern New Jersey, U.S. It lies on Newark Bay and Arthur Kill (channel; connected by the Goethals Bridge to Staten Island, New York City) ...
Elizabeth City: city, seat (1799) of Pasquotank county, northeastern North Carolina, U.S. It lies on the Pasquotank River (an embayment of Albemarle Sound) at the southern end of Dismal Swamp Canal on ...
Elizabeth I: queen of England (1558-1603) during a period, often called the Elizabethan Age, when England asserted itself vigorously as a major European power in politics, commerce, and the arts.
Elizabeth II: queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from February 6, 1952.
Elizabeth Islands: chain of small islands in southeastern Massachusetts, U.S. They extend southwestward for 16 miles (26 km) from the southwestern tip of Cape Cod, between Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound. Administratively ...
Elizabeth Of France: French princess, sister of King Louis XVI, noted for her courage and fidelity during the French Revolution, which sacrificed her to the guillotine.
Elizabeth of Hungary, Saint: princess of Hungary whose devotion to the poor (for whom she relinquished her wealth) made her an enduring symbol of Christian charity.
Elizabeth of Portugal, Saint: daughter of Peter III of Aragon, wife of King Dinis (Denis) of Portugal.
Elizabeth Stuart: British princess who from 1619 was titular queen of Bohemia.
Elizabethan literature: body of works written during the reign of Elizabeth I of England (1558-1603), probably the most splendid age in the history of English literature, during which such writers as Sir ...
Elizabethton: city, seat (1796) of Carter county, northeastern Tennessee, U.S. It lies at the confluence of the Doe and Watauga rivers, in the southern Appalachian Mountains, about 105 miles (170 km) ...
Elizabethtown: city, seat of Hardin county, central Kentucky, U.S., 44 miles (71 km) south of Louisville. Settled as Severns Valley Station (1779-80), it was laid out in 1793 by Colonel Andrew ...
Elk: county, north-central Pennsylvania, U.S. It consists of a mountainous region on the Allegheny Plateau that is drained by the west and east branches of the Clarion River. Parklands include Elk ...
elk: in Europe, a member of Alces alces, large-hoofed mammals known in North America as the moose (q.v.). The name is also used for several large deer of the genus Cervus, ...
Elk City: city, Beckham county, western Oklahoma, U.S., on Elk Creek. Laid out in 1901, the town was first called Busch after the St. Louis brewing family. It is now the service ...
Elk Island National Park: park in central Alberta, Canada, 20 miles (32 km) east of Edmonton. Established in 1906 as a game preserve, it is one of Canada's smaller national parks, with an area ...
Elk Mountains: segment of the southern Rocky Mountains, extending for 50 miles (80 km) through Pitkin and Gunnison counties, west-central Colorado, U.S. Several peaks surpass 14,000 feet (4,300 metres), including Pyramid, Snowmass, ...
Elk River: river rising as Bradley Creek in the Cumberland Mountains, Grundy county, southern Tennessee, U.S. The river meanders approximately 200 miles (320 km) southwestward through Franklin and Lincoln counties, past Fayetteville, ...
Elkesaite: member of a Jewish sect that arose in the vicinity of Trans-Jordanic Palestine around 100 AD. The sect was most noted for its practice of ritual baptism. Named after either ...
Elkhart: city, Elkhart county, northern Indiana, U.S. It lies at the confluence of the St. Joseph and Elkhart rivers, 15 miles (24 km) west of South Bend. Elkhart was laid out ...
Elkin, Stanley: American writer known for his extraordinary flights of language and imaginative tragicomic explorations of contemporary life.
Elkins: city, seat (1899) of Randolph county, eastern West Virginia, U.S. It lies along the Tygart Valley River, about 35 miles (56 km) southeast of Clarksburg. A rural settlement originally known ...
Elko: county, northeastern corner of Nevada, U.S., bordering Idaho on the north and Utah on the east. The county is mountainous, including the Independence, Ruby, and Pequop ranges, with occasional valleys ...
Elko: city, seat (1869) of Elko county, northeastern Nevada, U.S., in the Humboldt River valley. It originated in 1868 as a construction camp along the Central Pacific Railroad. Fancifully named by ...
Elkton: town, seat (1786) of Cecil county, northeastern Maryland, U.S. It lies near the Delaware state line, 21 miles (34 km) west-southwest of Wilmington. It was patented as Friendship in 1681 ...
Ellenborough, Edward Law, Earl of, Viscount Southam Of Southam, Baron Ellenborough Of Ellenborough: British governor-general of India (1842-44), who also served four times as president of the board of control for India and was first lord of the British Admiralty. He was recalled ...
Ellensburg: city, seat (1883) of Kittitas county, central Washington, U.S., on the Yakima River, 28 miles (45 km) north of Yakima. The first white man settled there in 1867, and three ...
Ellesmere Island: largest island of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, Baffin region, Nunavut territory, Canada, located off the northwest coast of Greenland. The island is believed to have been visited by Vikings in ...
Ellesmere Port and Neston: borough (district), administrative and historic county of Cheshire, England, extending from the River Mersey to the River Dee at the southern end of the Wirral peninsula. Ellesmere Port is very ...
Ellesmere, Lake: coastal lagoon, eastern South Island, New Zealand, just west of Banks Peninsula. It measures 14 by 8 miles (23 by 13 km) and is 70 square miles (180 square km) ...
Ellet, Charles: American engineer who built the first wire-cable suspension bridge in America.
Ellet, Elizabeth Fries Lummis: American historical writer, best remembered for her several extensive volumes of portraits of American women of the Revolutionary War and of Western pioneer days.
Ellington, Duke: American pianist who was the greatest jazz composer and bandleader. One of the originators of big-band jazz, Ellington led his band for more than half a century, composed thousands of ...
Elliot Lake: city, Algoma district, south-central Ontario, Canada. It lies along the Elliot and Horne lakes, midway between Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury and about 15 miles (25 km) north of Lake ...
Elliotson, John: English physician who advocated the use of hypnosis in therapy and who in 1849 founded a mesmeric hospital. He was one of the first teachers in London to emphasize clinical ...
Elliott, Denholm: British actor who appeared in many supporting character roles in theatre, in motion pictures, and on television during his 47-year career.
Elliott, Harriet Wiseman: American educator and public official, a highly effective teacher and organizer who held a number of governmental advisory roles during the administrations of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Elliott, Herb: Australian middle-distance runner who was world-record holder in the 1,500-metre (metric-mile) race (1958-67) and the mile race (1958-62). As a senior runner he never lost a mile or a 1,500-metre ...
ellipse: a closed curve, the intersection of a right circular cone (see cone) and a plane that is not parallel to the base, the axis, or an element of the cone. ...
ellipsis: figure of speech characterized by the deliberate omission of a word or words that are, however, understood in light of the grammatical context. The device is exemplified in W.H. Auden's ...
ellipsoid: closed surface of which all plane cross sections are either ellipses or circles. An ellipsoid is symmetrical about three mutually perpendicular axes that intersect at the centre.
elliptic equation: any of a class of partial differential equations describing phenomena that do not change from moment to moment, as when a flow of heat or fluid takes place within a ...
Ellis Island: island in Upper New York Bay, formerly the United States' principal immigration reception centre. The island lies about 1 mile (1.6 km) southwest of Manhattan Island, New York City, and ...