Search

Search results

Displaying 1 - 10

Plautus

(Encyclopedia) Plautus (Titus Maccius Plautus)Plautusplôˈtəs [key], c.254–184 b.c., Roman writer of comedies, b. Umbria. His plays, adapted from those of Greek New Comedy, are popular and vigorous…

Menander

(Encyclopedia) MenanderMenandermĭnănˈdər [key], 342?–291? b.c., Greek poet, the most famous writer of New Comedy. He wrote ingenious plays using the love plot as his theme; his style is elegant and…

Warner, William

(Encyclopedia) Warner, William, 1558?–1609, English poet. A lawyer educated at Oxford, he wrote Pan his Syrinx (1584), translated Plautus's Menaechmi (1595), and gained a reputation with Albion's…

Udall, Nicholas

(Encyclopedia) Udall, Nicholas, 1505–56, English dramatist, educated at Oxford. He was headmaster of Eton (1534–41) and of Westminster School (from 1554). His one extant play, Ralph Roister Doister (…

Diphilus

(Encyclopedia) DiphilusDiphilusdĭfˈĭləs [key], fl. 300 b.c., Greek dramatist of the New Comedy, b. Sinope. His many dramas (perhaps 100) were extensively adapted by Plautus and Terence and influenced…

Regnard, Jean François

(Encyclopedia) Regnard, Jean FrançoisRegnard, Jean FrançoiszhäN fräNswäˈ rənyärˈ [key], 1655–1709, French comic dramatist. He traveled widely in Europe; captured by Barbary pirates, he was held in…

Terence

(Encyclopedia) Terence (Publius Terentius Afer)Terencetĕrˈəns [key], b. c.185 or c.195 b.c., d. c.159 b.c., Roman writer of comedies, b. Carthage. As a boy he was a slave of Terentius Lucanus, a…

farce

(Encyclopedia) farce, light, comic theatrical piece in which the characters and events are greatly exaggerated to produce broad, absurd humor. Early examples of farce can be found in the comedies of…

auk

(Encyclopedia) aukaukôk [key], common name for a member of the family Alcidae (alcid family), swimming and diving birds of the N Atlantic and Pacific, which includes the guillemots and puffins. Their…

Brewer's: Euclio

A penurious old hunks in one of the comedies of Plautus (Aulularia). Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894EucratesEucharist A B C D E F G H I J K L M…