Berbice
a river of British Guiana; generally N. E. into the Atlantic. flows It is navigable for small vessels for 165 miles from its mouth, but beyond that the rapids are numerous and dangerous.
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Single-source entries: B (60)
These 13 listings are so strange that each appears in only one of the 7 encyclopedias we compared. They include such classics as Berbice, Berditchef, Berea College.
Berditchef
a town of Ukrainia, 108 miles W. S. W. of Kiev by rail, famous for its five annual fairs. At these, cattle, corn, wine, honey, leather, etc., are disposed of. Pop. about 100,000.
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Berea College
a coeducational (non-sectarian) institution, in Berea, Ky.; organized in 1858; reported at the end of 1919: Professors and instructors, 81; students, 1,794; volumes in library, 35,000; productive funds, $1,345,588; income, $58,492; graduates, 1,479; president, William G. Frost, Ph. D., LL. D.
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Berengarius
OF TOURS, a theologian of the 11th century. He was born at Tours in 998, and was afterward archdeacon of Angers. He was thoroughly versed in the philosophy of his age, and did not hesitate to apply reason to the interpretation of the Bible. He denied the dogma of transubstantiation, and no less than seven councils were held respecting him, at three of which he was condemned, and at four he was prevailed on to make retractions. He died in 1088.
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Berenice
The mother of Agrippa , whose name occurs in the history of the Jews as daughterin-law of Herod the Great. A number of others of minor celebrity were known by the same name. Bilbilis (Baubola). A town of the Celtiberi in Hispania Tarraconensis, the birthplace of the poet Martial. Bingium (Bingen). A town on the Rhine in Gallica Belgica. 2026 Editor's Note: Berenice of Cilicia (28 – after 81 AD) was a 1st-century Jewish client queen of the Roman Empire, daughter of King Herod Agrippa I. During the First Jewish-Roman War, she began a love affair with the future emperor Titus, but her unpopularity among the Romans compelled him to dismiss her upon his accession in 79 AD. (Ed: BR 2026-06-23)
Only in 1000 Classical Characters
Berenice's Locks
ber'e-ni-sez loks, a group of seven stars forming the constellation Coma Berenices. Berenice was the wife of Ptolemy III. While her husband was on an expedition in Syria, Berenice vowed to sacrifice her beautiful hair in the temple of the wargod, should he be brought back to her in safety. Ptolemy returned and Berenice hung her hair in the temple. The hair disappeared, for it was the will of the gods that it should be hung in the skies to shine forever in token that they were pleased with a wife's devotion. 2026 Editor's Note: The constellation is real and still bears her name — Coma Berenices , the only one named for a historical person. Modern astronomers value it for a reason the ancients could not have guessed: it lies toward the north galactic pole, a clear window out of our own galaxy's dust, through which telescopes look at the vast Coma Cluster of galaxies beyond. (Ed: BR 2026-07-21)
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
Berenson
BERNHARD, an American writer, born at Wilna, Russia, in 1865. He graduated from Harvard University in 1887, and has since then lived near Florence, Italy. He was one of the best known authorities in art criticism. Among his writings are: "Venetian Painters of the Renaissance" (1894); "The Study and Criticism of Italian Art" (1902, 1915); "The Drawings of the Florentine Painters" (1903); "The Fifteenth Century" (1916); "Essays on Sienese Paintings" (1918). He was a frequent contributor to art magazines in the United States and foreign countries.
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Beresina
or BEREZINA, a river of European Russia; rises in the district of Dissna, government of Minsk, which it traverses from N. to S.; after receiving various affluents, and being joined by a canal with the Don, it falls into the Dnieper, near Ritchitza, after a course of 200 miles. This river has been rendered famous on account of its disastrous passage by the French army during the retreat of Napoleon I. from Russia in 1812.
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Berg
a Norwegian explorer and lecturer, born in Christiania, in 1864, his mother being English and his father a Scandinavian. He went to sea at an early age, but returned to go to college. In 1898 he went to Australia, joined the Survey Department, and scaled Mount Lindsay. In 1894-1895 he was in Antarctic waters, a region fully explored by him in 1897, when he attempted to reach the South Pole without success. In 1899 (Feb. 17) he had, however, reached Robertson Bay. Returning to London in 1900 he reported having reached lat. 78.- 50 S., long. 195.50 E., the farthest point S. ever reached by by man. Consult his book, "First in the Antarctic Continent."
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Bergamo
a town of north Italy, capital of the province of Bergamo (1,076 square miles, about 550,000 inhabitants), consists of two parts, the old town, situated on hills, and the new town, almost detached and on the plain. It has a cathedral, an interesting church of the 12th century, a school of art, picture gallery, etc. It trades largely in silk, silk largest annual goods, corn, etc., has the fair in north Italy, and extensive manu factures. Pop. about 60,000.
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Berger
VICTOR L., again elected to Congress in the regular election of November, 1922.
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Bergerac
SAVINIEN CYRANO author, born in Paris in DE, a French nch 1619, distinguished for his courage, and for the number of his duels, more than a thousand, most of them fought on account of his monstrously large nose. He ngs, which are 1655. His writings, died in 16 often crude, but full of invention, vigor, and wit, include a tragedy, "Agrippina," " and a comedy, "The Pedant Tricked," from which Corneille and Molière have freely borrowed ideas; and his "Comical History of the States and Empires of the Sun and the Moon." He was made the hero of a drama bearing his name, written by Edmond Rostand.
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Bergerac (Town in the French department)
a town in the French department of Dordogne, on the Dordogne, 60 miles E. of Bordeaux by rail. Most of its inhabitants are employed in the surrounding iron works and paper mills. The wines of the district, both white and red, are esteemed. During the wars with the English, Bergerac was a fortress and an entrepôt of trade; but after siding with the Calvinists, and, consequently, suffering greatly in the religious wars, the place was dismantled by Louis XIII. in 1621, while the revocation of the Edict of Nantes drove many of its citizens into exile. Pop. about 17,000.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia