These 15 listings are so strange that each appears in only one of the 7 encyclopedias we compared. They include such classics as Thermopyle of America, Thermoscope, Theroid.
a phrase applied to Fort Alamo, Tex.; in allusion to the heroic defense of it, made in 1836, by a small body of Texans against a force of Mexicans 10 times their number. During the subsequent struggle for independence the Texan war cry was "Remember the Alamo!" the Mexicans having murdered the six defenders of the fort whom they found alive on its surrender.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
an instrument for indicating relative differences of temperature. The term was applied by Count Rumford to an instrument invented by him, and similar in principle to the differential thermometer of Professor Leslie.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
animal; having animal propensities or characteristics; specifically applied to idiots, who in habits or appearance resemble any of the lower animals. Cyc. Vol. IX The word is of recent introduction, but the extraordinary resemblances presented by some of the weak-minded to certain birds and mammals have attracted attention for a very long period. Pinel speaks of "a young female idiot * * * who, in the form of her head, her tastes, her mode of living, seemed to approach to the instincts of a sheep."
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
in paleontology, an der of Cope's sub-class Dinosauria, consisting of carnivorous forms, which are believed to have preyed on the weaker herbivorous members of the class. Feet digitigrade, digits with prehensile claws; vertebræ, more or less cavernous; fore limbs very small, limb bones hollow. The order comprises four families (Megalosauridœ, Zanclodontide, Amphisauride, and Labrosauride) and two groups or sub-orders (Cœluria and Compsognatha).
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
A deformed Greek, in the Trojan war, who indulged in ridicule against Ulysses and others. Achilles killed him because he laughed at his grief for the death of Penthesilea . Shakespeare, who introduces Thersites in his play of Troilus and Cressida, describes him as a deformed and scurrilous Grecian."
Only in 1000 Classical Characters
in mythology, son of Agrius, whom Homer, in the "Iliad," makes the ugliest and most impudent of the Greeks before Troy. His name became a synonym for dastardly impudence. Later poets say he was slain by Achilles for calumniating him.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a noted temple of Athens. It was built in Doric style of Pentelic marble. It still stands in Athens at the foot of the Acropolis although the sculpture has suffered much from the ravages of time and at the hand of man. The Theseum is yet regarded as the most perfect surviving example of the Greek temple. It ranks next to the Parthenon in beauty.
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
in botany, the bastard toadflax, a genus of Santalacex. Flowers small, green; perianth four or five-cleft, persistent; stamens with a small fascicle of hair at their base; drupe ribbed, crowned with the persistent perianth. Known species about 60, all from the Eastern Hemisphere. T. linophyllum is a perennial parasite on roots, with diffuse stems, minute flowers, green outside, white inside, with green ovoid fruit.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
an ancient festival held exclusively by women in several districts of Hellas, especially Athens and Arcadia, in honor of Demeter Thesmophoros ("the lawgiver") as the foundress of agriculture, and thereby of ordered civil life, with the institution of marriage. At Athens the festival extended to three days, beginning with Oct. 24. On the first day there was a procession to the temple of Demeter at Halimos, S. E. of the city; on the second a strict fast; and on the third day, called Kalligeneia ("the bearer of a fair offspring") a joyous and unrestrained carousal. The licentiousness of the Thesmophoria is caricatured in the "Thesmophoriazouzai" of Aristophanes.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
in Greek antiquity, a lawgiver; a legislator; one of the six inferior archons at Athens who presided at the election of the lower magistrates, received criminal informations in varicauses on arous matters, decided civil bitration, took the votes at elections, and performed a variety of other offices.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
in botany, a tribe of Hibisceæ. Trees with large entire leaves; involucre three-leaved, deciduous; calyx truncate; style simple; stigmas five; fruit almost woody; capsule with five cells, each with about four seeds. T. populnea is a tree 40 or 50 feet high, with the foliage so dense at the top that it has been called the umbrella tree. It has roundish, cordate, pointed, five to seven-veined leaves; the flowers, which are large, are yellow, with a dark-red center. The tree is very common along the seacoast of South America, the West Indies, the Pacific Islands, part of Africa, India and Burma. It has been planted along roadsides throughout India, and especially in Madras city. It yields a gum, a deep-red, somewhat thick oil, used in cutaneous affections. The capsule and flowers furnish a yellow dye, and the bark a good fiber. T. lampas is a small bush, common in the tropical jungles of India, with a good fiber, as has T. populnea. of tas name THESPIAN (from the Thespis, the reputed founder of the Greek drama, who was born in Xarca, Attica, and flourished about 550 B. c.), pertaining or relating to the representation of dramatic tragedy, or to the Tragic Muse; as the Thespian art.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
in mythology, a king of the Thespiades, and father of 50 daughters, all of whom bore children to Hercules. The Thespiades were conducted to Sardinia by Iolaus.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
The largest division of Greece, it was bounded on the north by the Cambunian Mountains, which separated it from Macedonia; on the west by Mount Pindus, which separated it from Epirus; on the east by the Aegean Sea ; and on the south by the Maliac Gulf and Mount Oeta, which separated it from Locris, Phocis, and Aetolia . 2026 Editor's Note: Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia and appears in Homer's Odyssey. Thessaly became part of the modern Greek state in 1881 after four and a half centuries of Ottoman rule. (Ed: BR 2026-06-05)
Only in 1000 Classical Characters
in zoölogy, a genus of Myacidæ. Shell sub-orbicular, ventricose, thin, translucent, granulated on the surface, and with a slightly nacreous interior. Hinge teeth one or two. Known species: ies: Recent five from Great Britain, France, India, etc.; fossil 17, from the Neocomian of Great Britain, Belgium, and Southern India onward. France,
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
in mythology, one of the sea deities, who was courted by Neptune and Jupiter. But when the gods were informed that the son she would bring forth must become greater than his father they ceased their solicitations; and Peleus, the son of Eacus, was permitted to gain her hand. Thetis became mother of several children, among them Achilles whom she rendered invulnerable by plunging him in the waters of the Styx, except that part of the heel by which she held him.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia