The Meta-Encyclopedia

Single-source entries: L (24)

These 10 listings are so strange that each appears in only one of the 7 encyclopedias we compared. They include such classics as Launfal, Laureate, Laurel.

Launfal

. See Vision Of Sir Launfal ; The

Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia

Laureate

. See Poet Laureate

Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia

Laurel

a bush or tree of the Levant, fifteen to sixty feet, with large, lanceolate, shining leaves, cream-colored flowers, and black, oval, half-inch berries. In ancient Greece the laurel was sacred to Apollo. "Apollo's laurel bough," says Marlowe. A laurel wreath of berry-bearing twigs was the victor's crown in the national games and in oratorical or poetical contests. "To bind the laurel on his brow," is to ascribe high honor. "To win laurels," is to excel, to gain praise and fame. There is a tendency to attach the name to diverse plants having shining leaves. The laurel of the ancients and of the poets is known also as the bay laurel. Botanists call it Laurus nobilis. The American laurel or calico bush is a handsome shrub, but it is related to the heath family. Ground laurel is the trailing arbutus.

Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia

Laurel

A tree which Apuleius classes among the plants which preserve men from the influence of evil spirits. It was also believed to give protection from lightning.

Only in An Encyclopaedia of Occultism

Laurel (City of Mississippi)

a city of Mississippi, the county-seat of Jones co. It is on the Mobile, Jackson, and Kansas City, the Gulf and Ship Island, and the Queen and Crescent railroads. It is an important commercial and manufacturing center, and has cotton mills, railroad shops, wagon works, and lumber mills. The city contains two parks, a city hall building, and other notable public buildings. Pop. (1910) 8,465; (1920) 13,037.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Laurel (Genus Laurus and y L nobilis)

the genus Laurus and y, L. nobilis, the laurus specially the bay, L. nobilis, the laurus and the dephne of the of the Romans and the daphne of the Greeks. Linnæus called it nobilis because it was anciently reserved for priests, heroes, and sacrifices. In its nais tive region-the S. of Europe-it or even 60 feet high, but sends forth so many suckers and low shoots as to have a shrubby appearance. The color is deep green, inclining to olive; the ripe berries There are glands dusk, purple, or black. of the leaves, which excrete on the backs leaves, and the nectar. The berries, the oil have a fragrant smell, an aromatic astringent taste, and narcotic and carminative properties. Water distilled from them contains prussic acid. Cerasus laurocerasus, called the common or broad-leaved laurel, has oblong, remotely leaves; serrated pale-green evergreen flowers in racemes. A native of Trebizond, its leaves, bark, and fruit are virulent poisons.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Laurens (HENRY an American statesman)

HENRY, an American statesman; born in Charleston, S. C., in 1724. Descended from a French Huguefortune in not family, he early realized a business. On the outbreak of the American Revolution, Laurens, in 1776, was State elected a delegate from his native to the Continental Congress, and became its president, which office he held till the close of 1778. Next year, being appointed minister-plenipotentiary to Holland, he was captured on his way thither to Lonby a British frigate, and taken don, where he was confined as a prisoner in the Tower; and his papers having proved the complicity of Holland in the between Great colonial revolt, a war Britain and Holland followed. On his release, Laurens was appointed one of the commissioners for negotiating peace, 30, and proceeded to Paris, where, Nov. 1782, he, conjointly with Franklin and the Jay, signed the preliminaries of treaty. Died in Charleston, Dec. 8, 1792.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Laurens (JOHN an American military)

JOHN, an American military officer; son of the preceding; born rein South Carolina in 1754. After ceiving his education in England he Joined the American Continental Army In 1777, becoming aide-de-camp and secretary to Washington. Laurens so highly listinguished himself in the battles of Germantown and Monmouth, and in other operations as to earn the title of the "Bayard of the Revolution." In 1780 he was sent to France to negotiate a loan. He was killed in action at the Combahee river, S. C., Aug. 27, 1782. vast GROUP, LAURENTIAN a series of rocks, 30,000 feet in thickness, least 200,000 and covering an area of at square miles N. of the St. Lawrence It is lower, and consequently river. consists of older, than the Cambrian. It an immense series of crystalline rocks, gneiss, micaschist, quartzite, and limestone. It is divided into Upper and Lower Laurentian. The Upper, more of stratithan 10,000 feet thick, consists fied crystalline rocks. It mainly consists of felspars. The Lower Laurentian, about 20,000 feet in thickness, is unconformable with the Upper. It consists mainly of a reddish gneiss, with orthoclase felspar; interstratified with thin hornblendic and micaceous schists, with beds of usually crystalline origin, and others of plumbago. The Laurentian volcanic rocks of Ottawa, Argenteuil, etc., in Canada, consist of finegrained dark greenstone or dolerite.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Laurentian Mountains

a range in Canada extending for over 3,000 miles from Labrador to the Arctic Ocean, forming the watershed between Hudson Bay, the St. Lawrence, and the Great Gr Lakes, and dividing the same bay from Mackenzie river. of the river the sources Some of the peaks attain a height of height 4,000 feet. The rock formation belongs sedito the fundamental metamorphosed mentary deposits known as the Laurentian system.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Laurier

SIR WILFRID (lō-ryā'), a Canadian statesman; born in St. Lin, Lin Quebec, Nov. 20, 1841. He was educated educated for the legal profession. He embarked embarked on his political career in 1871, when he he was elected as a Liberal to the Quebec here his elo- Quebe Provincial Assembly; and quence and ability at once brought him elected to to the front. In 1874 he was selected to the Federal Assembly. From the first the first he advocated a policy of free trade, and, though a Catholic, his spirited resistance resistance to the attempted dictation of the Roman Manithe Roman Catholic hierarchy in regard to the toba school question, showed that he was independent of such influence in political leader affairs. In 1891 he was chosen as of the Liberal Party, and at the general to a election of 1896 he led his followers notable victory, becoming Premier of the Dominion. His tariff legislation during 1897, giving Great Britain the benefit of preferential trade with Canada, aroused and much enthusiasm both in the colony Vol. V-Cyc-BB in England. He was appointed a member of the Privy Council. Died 1919.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia