Spurgeon, Charles Haddon
spur'jun, Charles Haddon (1834-1892), a noted Baptist preacher of London. In 1861 the famous "Tabernacle," seating 6,000 people, was built for him in the thickly settled district south of the Thames. Spurgeon was a power among the working people of London. As he uttered homely truths, heads nodded approval and hearty voices cried "Amen," "Right, brother." It was pretty difficult to maintain so large an establishment without a financial scheme. People who came, not to scoff, but to see, were very properly required to contribute before entering. Spurgeon's sermons--he spoke offhand--were taken down in shorthand, revised carefully by himself, published in weekly numbers, and translated into many languages. They reached a weekly circulation of 30,000. His printed volumes ran well up to 100 in number. Spurgeon was a man of tireless energy. He left a training school for ministers, an almshouse, an orphanage, and thirty-six chapels as memorials of his work for laboring people. See Wesley
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Spurinna Vestritius
The haruspex who warned Caesar to beware of the Ides of March. Stabiae (Castell a Mare di Stabia). An ancient town in Campania between Pompeii and Surrentum, which was destroyed by Sulla in the Social war, but which continued to exist down to the great eruption of Vesuvius in A. D. 79, when it was overwhelmed with Pompeii and Herculaneum. It was at Stabiae that the elder Pliny perished.
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Spy Wednesday
an old name given to the Wednesday immediately preceding Easter, in_allusion to the betrayal of Christ by Judas Iscariot.
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Squad
a small body of troops assembled fo for drill, inspection, or other purposes. The awkward squad is composed of those recruits who have not received sufficient training to take part in regimental drill.
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Squadron
in military language, a force of cavalry commanded by a captain, and averaging 100 to 150 men. Each squadron is composed of two troops, each commanded by a captain for purposes of a administration, but united under the senior for service in the field. Three to six form a regiment. The squadron is frequently considered the tactical unit of cavalry. As a naval term, a division of a fleet; a detachment of ships of war employed on a particular service or station, and under the command of a junior flag officer. In the United States Navy 11 ships or less constitute a squadron. The fleet is usually divided into van, center and rear squadrons.
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Square
A mechanic's square consists of two pieces of wood or metal at exact right angles to each other, and used either for testing or describing work. In geometry, a square is described as a four-sided rectilinear figure, of which all the angles are right angles and all the sides equal.
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Square (Geometry a quadrilateral)
2026 Editor's Note: This page uses language about race that was commonplace when the book was published and is offensive by today's standards. The text has been left exactly as it was printed, rather than cut or softened, so that the historical record — including how ordinary such language once was — is preserved. (Ed: ET 2026-07-22) in geometry, a quadrilateral figure, both equilateral and equiangular, or, in other words, a figure with four equal sides and equal angles. In measuring superficial areas it is only necessary to multiply one side by itself to have the area of the square, because each of the sides may be considered as the basis or as the perpendicular height. Thus a square the sides of which measure 4 feet is equal to 16 square feet, that is, 16 squares each 1 foot high and 1 foot long. To square a figure (for example, a polygon) is to reduce the surface to a square of equivalent area by mathematical means. It has often been attempted to square the circle, but this has been proven impossible. In arithmetic and algebra the square of a number is the number or quantity produced by multiplying a number or quantity by itself. Thus 64 is the square of 8, for 8 × 8 = 64.
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Square (Military tactics a body)
in military tactics, a body of infantry formed into a rectangular figure with several ranks or rows of men facing on each side, with officers, horses, colors, etc., in the center. The front rank kneels, the second and third stoop, and the remaining ranks (generally two) stand. This formation is usually employed to resist a cavalry charge. Hollow squares are frequently formed with the faces fronting inward when orders and instructions, etc., are to be read, and the like.
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Square Root
in mathematics, a quantity which, being taken twice as a factor, will produce the given quantity. Thus, the square root of 25 is 5, because 5×5=25; so also 2-3 is the square root of, since; x² is the square root of x, x², since x² Xx²=x²; a+x is the square 4 root of a²+2ax+x², and so on. When the square root of a number can be expressed in exact parts of 1, that number is a perfect square, and the indicated square root is said to be commensurable. All other indicated square roots are incommensurable.
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Squares
METHOD OF LEAST 42
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Squeers
Wackford, in Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby , the schoolmaster of Dothe-boys Hall. Mr. Squeers is thus described: He had but one eye, and the popular prejudice runs in favor of two. The eye he had was unquestionably useful, but decidedly not ornamental: being of a greenish gray, and in shape resembling the fanlight of a street door. The blank side of his face was much wrinkled and puckered up, which gave him a very sinister appearance, especially when he smiled, at which times his expression bordered closely on the villainous. His hair was very flat and shiny, save at the ends, where it was brushed stiffly up from a low protruding forehead, which assorted well with his harsh voice and coarse manner. See Nicholas Nickleby ; Dotheboys Hall
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Squier
GEORGE OWEN award of the Elliott Cresson gold medal, and of the Franklin medal.
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Squier
GEORGE OWEN SQUASH, a ball game of which tennis is believed to be a development. It is played in a court at one end of which rises a wall and the contest revolves on the ability of the players, who are provided with rackets, to strike the ball and send it against the wall above a certain line, keeping it all the time within certain enclosed spaces indicated by a central line on the floor and cross lines which divide it usually into four spaces. The players wait till the ball bounces on the floor and meet it before it touches the floor a second time. Skill is shown both in measuring the amount of energy expended in striking the ball and so placing it within the enclosed spaces as to make it difficult for the opponent to meet it. Points are recorded against the player who fails to meet the ball on the bounce, or who sends it against the wall below the line indicated or who so places the ball that in rebounding from the wall it falls outside the indicated space on the floor. The game is exhilarating and players often acquire such skill in hitting that the ball is kept on the bounce for a considerable time. The game is more simple than tennis, and the racket and ball are usually of a heavier make, owing to the greater wear and tear.
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