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tom-tom

(Encyclopedia) tom-tom, name popularly applied to high-pitched hand drums, usually barrel-shaped and having either one or two drumheads of skin. They are tunable to specific pitches. Supposedly of…

Tom

(Encyclopedia) TomTomtôm [key], river, c.525 mi (840 km) long, rising in the Alatau range, S Siberian Russia. It flows N through the Kuznetsk Basin past Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo, and Tomsk into the Ob…

Hughes, Thomas

(Encyclopedia) Hughes, Thomas, 1822–96, English author. A lawyer, Hughes eventually became a judge; he was also a Liberal member of Parliament and worked assiduously for social reforms. His novel of…

Tom Thumb

(Encyclopedia) Tom Thumb, 1838–83, American entertainer, whose original name was Charles Sherwood Stratton, b. Bridgeport, Conn. His career as General Tom Thumb began in 1842, when the showman P. T.…

Black Tom

(Encyclopedia) Black Tom, part of Jersey City, N.J., also called Black Tom Island. In July, 1916, German saboteurs demolished U.S. munitions stores there; in Jan., 1917, they destroyed the Kingsland…

Taylor, Tom

(Encyclopedia) Taylor, Tom, 1817–80, English dramatist and editor. His most famous play is Our American Cousin (1858), performed at Ford's Theater in Washington, D. C., when Lincoln was assassinated…

Fielding, Henry

(Encyclopedia) Fielding, Henry, 1707–54, English novelist and dramatist. Born of a distinguished family, he was educated at Eton and studied law at Leiden. Settling in London in 1729, he began…

Henson, Josiah

(Encyclopedia) Henson, Josiah, 1789–1883, black slave, reputedly the basis of the character of Uncle Tom in Uncle Tom's Cabin, b. Charles co., Md. In 1825 he faithfully led a party of his master's…

Daschle, Tom

(Encyclopedia) Daschle, Tom (Thomas Andrew Daschle)Daschle, Tomdăshˈəl [key], 1947–, U.S. senator from South Dakota (1987–2005), b. Aberdeen, S.Dak. A Democrat, he was elected to the U.S. House of…

Dibdin, Charles

(Encyclopedia) Dibdin, Charles, 1745–1814, English songwriter and theatrical entrepreneur. His best-known songs are from his ballad operas, such as The Bells of Aberdovey from Liberty Hall (1785) and…