Bow (Name of one of the most)
the name of one of the most ancient and universal weapons of offense, It is made of steel, wood, horn, or other elastic substance. The figure of the bow The is nearly the same in all countries. ancient Grecian bow was somewhat in the form of the letter E: in drawing it, the hand was brought back to the the right breast, and not to the ear. The Scythian bow was nearly semicircular. The long bow was the favorite national weapon in England. The battles of Crecy (1346), Poictiers (1356), and Agincourt (1415) were won by this weapon. It was made of yew, ash, etc., of the height of the archer, or about six feet long, the arrow being usually half the length of the bow. The arbalist, or cross bow, was a popular weapon with the Italians, and was introduced into England in the 13th century.
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Bow and Arrow
. See Archery Bowdoin (bo'dn) College, the oldest institution of learning in Maine. The charter dates from 1794. The college is situated at Brunswick. It was named for James Bowdoin, governor of Massachusetts, of which Maine was at that time considered a district. The college has a library of 76,000 volumes, 35 instructors, and about 300 students. The endowment is not far from $1,000,000. Among the noted graduates are the poet Longfellow, President Pierce, and Chief Justice Fuller. 2026 Editor's Note: Bowdoin's roll is even better than the entry says: Longfellow and Nathaniel Hawthorne were classmates there, graduating together in 1825, and Franklin Pierce was a year ahead. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote much of Uncle Tom's Cabin in Brunswick while her husband taught at the college. (Ed: BR 2026-06-15)
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Bow Bells
the peal of bells belonging to the Church of St. Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside, London, and celebrated for centuries. One who is born within the sound of Bow Bells is considered a genuine cockney.
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Bow Compasses
A pair of compasses furnished with a bow pen for describing circles with ink. Fig. 42 illustrates the ordinary form of these implements, although they are sometimes used in combination compasses, which are made to hold steel points and pencils as well.
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Bow Pen
A metallic ruling pen, similar to the one attached to the bow compasses.
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Bow Tightener
See Pendant Bow Tightener.
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Bowditch
HENRY PICKERING, an American educator, born in Boston, , 1840; was graduated at Mass., April 4 Harvard in 1861, and subsequently studied chemistry and medicine, and, after the Civil War, in which he reached the rank of major in the Union service, he took a special course in physiology in France and Germany. In 1871-1876 he was Assistant Professor of Physiology in the Harvard Medical School, and in 1876 chair. Resigned was elected to the full in 1906. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as of numerous medical societies.
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Bowditch (NATHANIEL an Amborn in Salem)
NATHANIEL, an Amborn in Salem, erican mathematician, Mass., March 26, 1773; published, in Practical Naviga- 1802, the "American tor," a work of the highest value and utility. In 1814-1817, appeared his translation of the "Mécanique Céleste" of Laplace, with an able commentary-a work which obtained for him admission as a Fellow to the Royal Society of London. He died in Boston, March 16, 1838. American
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Bowdoin
JAMES, an patriot, born in Boston, Aug. 8, 1727. He was prominent in Massachusetts during the Revolution. He became governor of his State in 1785, and, in the following year, suppressed Shay's rebellion. Bowdoin' College was named after him. He died in Boston, Nov. 6, 1790.
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Bowdoin College
an institution for higher education in Brunswick, Me.: organized in 1794 under the auspices of the Congregational Church; reported at the end of 1919: Professors and instructors, 29; students, 448; volumes in the library, 120,000; productive funds, $2, 631,012; income, $137,137; president, Kenneth C. M. Sills. BOWELS. See ABDOMEN: DIARRHEA: INTESTINES.
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Bowen
HENRY CHANDLER, an American editor and publisher, born in Woodstock, Conn., Sept. 11, 1813. He received a common school education and entered business. In 1848 he helped found "The Independent" in New York, becoming, in 1861, its editor and proprietor, and making the paper famous for its advanced views on public topics. He died in Brooklyn, N. Y., Feb. 24, 1896.
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Bowen (II)
HERBERT WOLCOTT, an American diplomat, born in Brooklyn, N. Y., Feb. 29, 1856. He was educated at Yale and the Columbia Law School. He took an active part in Republican politics and was consul-general at Barcelona when the Spanish-American war broke out. In 1901 he was made Minister to Persia. He later served as Minister to Venezuela, but retired in 1905. He has published "Losing Ground," "In Divers Tones," "De Genere Humano," and "International Law." BOWERBANKIA (from J. S. Bowerbank, an eminent naturalist, who flourished in the middle of the 19th century), a genus of ascidioid polyzoa, belonging to the family vesiculariidæ. B. imbricata is found abundantly on the chains of vessels.
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Bower Birds
the name given to certain birds of the genera ptilonoare rhynchus and chlamydodera, which (starranked under the family sturnidæ lings). They are found in Australia. The English name is given because these bowbirds are in the habit of building ers as well as nests. The best known species is ptilonorhynchus holosericeus.
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Bowery
THE, a New York street. It begins at Chatham Square and terminates at Cooper Union. It was long famous for the resorts located along its any other length, but now resembles street. populous city
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Bowie
JAMES, an American frontiersman, born in Burke co., Ga., about of Texas 1790. He took part in the revolt against Mexico, and fell in the Alamo gave his massacre, March 6, 1836. He name to the bowie knife.
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Bowie Knife
a long, dagger-shaped knife, having but one edge. It was named for Colonel James Bowie, an American frontiersman, who was killed in the defense of the Alamo. The knife was popular at first in Kentucky and the southwest. The first bowie knives were made by blacksmiths, usually from flat plow files. The name is now applied to any sheathed hunting knife of the sort. See Alamo ; Knife 2026 Editor's Note: The Bowie knife became so notorious as a dueling and brawling weapon that several southern states passed laws against carrying one — some of the earliest American weapons legislation, and the origin of statutes still on the books restricting blade length. Jim Bowie's own knife has never been found. (Ed: BR 2026-07-07)
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