Lent
an annual fast of forty days preceding Easter Sunday. The word is Anglo-Saxon meaning the season of spring. It begins on Ash Wednesday and closes on Easter Sunday. In commemoration of Christ's fast of forty days, described in Matthew iv: 2, and as a preparation for Easter, the abstention from amusements and from the eating of hearty food is enjoined by the Greek, Roman Catholic, English, and Lutheran churches. See Good Friday ; Easter Sunday; Mardi Gras ; Carnival ; Ash-Wednesday
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
Lent Association
an organization of Catholic women, established at Titusville, Pa., in 1890, having as its purpose the providing of benefits to be paid to families of members after death. Headquarters are at Erie, Pa., and members are drawn from all over the United States. In 1916 the association had 157,525 members, and 1,253 branches. Its disbursements in death benefits had been $13,640,007.48, with relief benefits of $23,560.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Leominster
a town which includes several villages in Massachusetts, in which include achusetts, on the Nashua Worcester It is co. the New York, New river, and on York, Ne Haven, and Hartford and the Boston the Bosic and Maine railroads. Its industries is industri include the manufacture of piano cases, piano casa furniture, woolen goods, paper, chemicals, toys, etc. It has a library, a town hall, high-school buildings, and a park. and a par Pop. (1910) 17,580; (1920) 19,744. 19,944.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Leon
a city of Nicaragua, on an extensive plain. Once the boast of Spanish America, founded at the head of Lake Managua in 1523, removed hither in 1610,
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Leon
PONCE DE now and sacked partly in by ruins Dampier. thedral has been decorate as a citadel during several the - Palazzo civil wars. about 60,000 historical . chose a While
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Leon (Ancient kingdom of Spain om)
an ancient kingdom of Spain, om of Spa equivalent, generally, to the modern provinces of Leon, Palencia, Valladolid, Zamora, and Salamanca. It was the earliest Christian kingdom, next after Asturias, to be formed in Spain after the Moorish wave of conquest began to recede. It dates from the 10th century, and was united with Castile first by Ferdinand the Great in 1037, and finally in 1230. The modern province has an area of 6,165 square miles, and a pop. of 400,000. The country, which is intersected by the Douro and the Minho, is mountainous, being invaded on the N. by the Cantabrian Mountains. The soil is generally fertile. The inhabitants are for the most part uneducated and lazy, but honorable, hospitable, and good-natured. At Astorga As the Maragatos are variously supposed to be descendants of the Celtiberi, the Visigoths, oned to Via or the Moors. Leon is also the name of th a part of Brittany. LEON (the Legio Septima Gemina of the Romans), capital of the former kingdom and of the modern province of the rovince same name, but now a sleepy agricultural town; in a plain, 256 miles N. W. of Madrid. Pop. about 18,000. The beautiful cathedral (about 1195-1512), a 195-15 specimen of the purest Early Pointed, is French in character and, probably, oripro gin. It contains the tombs of many sovereigns of Leon, saints, and martyrs. Leon is the center of the Spanish linen manufacture, and has a celebrated horse fair.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Leonardo da Vinci
. See Vinci
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
Leonists
a name given to the Waldenses from Leon, the German name of the city of Lyons, where they originated, and from which they called themselves the "Poor of Lyons."
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Leopard
lep,erd, a large, catlike animal of the Old World, also called the pard and panther. Among the cats of the Old World it is exceeded in size by the lion and the tiger only, but it is smaller than the American cougar and jaguar. It ranges throughout the wooded country of North Africa and southern Asia to Japan and Java. Its length is about seven feet including the tail. The color is tawny, somewhat paler below, marked with regularly disposed black spots, having a rosette or broken appearance. The spots of the leopard are proverbial. The spotted leopard is a common emblem in modern heraldry.
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
Leopard
in zoology, Felis pardus, sometimes called the panther "the pard" of the Elizabethan writers . It has been known from early historical times , and has a wide geographical range, be ing found throughout the African continent, the whole of the S. of Asia, and in Ceylon, Java, Sumatra, and Borneo. It ranks third in importance in the family Felidæ; varying in length from 3½- LEOPARD 4½ feet; tail measurement 2½-3 feet, height at shoulder about 30 inches, but larger and smaller specimens have been met with. Color, pale fawn to rufousbuff, thickly studded with dark rosetteshaped spots. The leopard is fierce and blood-thirsty, often killing far more than it can devour, either from love of slaughter or for the sake of fresh blood.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Lepine Movement
An extremely thin bar movement. Lepine introduced his improvements in 1776 and they consisted of the suppression of the pillar plate, the fuzee and chain and one of the supports to the barrel arbor. The Lepine family resided at Ferney, near Geneva, where Voltaire established a watch factory. Brequet improved on the Lepine system by causing the mainspring to be wound up at the back of the watch through the dome, instead of by a square through the face of the dial.
Only in American Watchmaker and Jeweler
Lepsius
KARL RICHARD (lep'sēös), a German Egyptologist; born in Naumburg, Dec. 23, 1810. While pur- 28, 2810. suing disquisitions his studies, which in Paris won he prizes wrote of three the Academy: " Palæography as a Means of Indian, Ethiopian, Old Alphabets "; "Origin and Relationship of Numerical Terms and Coptic in the Languages Indo - Germanic. " In, his Semitic cele-, on brated "Letter to Mr. Rossellini the Hieroglyphic Alphabet" (1837), he propounded a scientific theory of hieroglyphic writing. His translation of the "Book of the Dead" was published in 1842. That year he visited Egypt, and for four years studied its monuments; the results of his researches are contained in the magnificent "Monuments of Egypt and Ethiopia" (12 vols. 1849-1860). He wrote for the general public "Letters from Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Sinaitic Peninsula" (1852). He died in Berlin, July 10, 1884. LÉRINS
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia