stephen

English - English

Definition of stephen in English English dictionary: A patronymic surname; A male given name
I thought that ideally it should be a name which could work whether he was serious and reserved or butch, a name like Stephen which could be Steve or David which could be Dave.; The first Christian martyr
And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.; {i} Saint Stephen (died c. AD 36), first Christian martyr; Sir Leslie Stephen (1832-1904), English writer and editor; male first name; British writer and editor whose works include The History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century (1876) and biographies of Samuel Johnson, Alexander Pope, and others. born , Rome died April 26, 757, Rome Pope (752-757). He freed the papacy from Byzantium and allied it with the Franks against the Lombards, who were threatening Rome. In Gaul he anointed Pippin III, Charlemagne, and Carloman as kings of the Romans, and in return Pippin led his army against the Lombardic king Aistulf (754, 756). The victorious Franks granted the pope territory in Ravenna, Rome, Venetia, and Istria, thus establishing the Papal States under Stephen's rule. (See Donation of Pippin). or Saint Stephen orig. Vajk born 970/975, Esztergom, Hung. died Aug. 15, 1038, Esztergom; canonized 1083; feast day August 16 First king of Hungary (1000-38) and founder of the Hungarian state. The son of a Magyar chieftain, he was born a pagan but was later baptized as a Christian. After defeating his cousin to claim the throne, Stephen was crowned; his royal crown was a gift of Pope Sylvester II. His rule was peaceful except for an invasion by Conrad II (1030) and minor disputes with Poland and Bulgaria, and he organized Hungarian government and church administration on German models. He is the patron saint of Hungary. or Stephen of Blois born 1097 died Oct. 25, 1154 King of England (1135-54). The nephew of Henry I, he pledged to support Matilda but claimed the throne himself. In the civil strife that followed, he was unable to win the loyalty of all the barons. Matilda invaded (1139), and, in a display of chivalry, Stephen had her escorted to Bristol. She gained control of most of western England and captured Stephen in battle (1141), but her arrogance provoked a rebellion, and she was forced to leave England (1148). An agreement was reached whereby Matilda's son Henry of Anjou (later Henry II), who invaded England in 1153, was named as Stephen's successor. known as Stephen the Great born 1435 died July 2, 1504 Prince of Moldavia (1457-1504). With the help of the Walachian prince Vlad III epe , Stephen secured the throne of Moldavia. He repelled a Hungarian invasion (1467) and later attacked Walachia (1471), by then under Turkish vassalage. He defeated invading Turks (1475, 1476) and contended with Polish and Hungarian designs on Moldavia. In 1503 Stephen signed a treaty preserving Moldavian independence at the cost of an annual tribute to the Turks. Stephen of Blois Stephen the Great Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen Austin Stephen Fuller Bechtel Stephen Davison Benét Stephen Vincent Biko Stephen Breyer Stephen Gerald Brook Sir Peter Stephen Paul Case Stephen Cleveland Stephen Grover Crane Stephen Decatur Stephen Douglas Stephen Arnold Eaton Cyrus Stephen Field Stephen Johnson Foster Stephen Collins Girard Stephen Gould Stephen Jay Hawking Stephen William Kearny Stephen Watts King Stephen Edwin Lancaster Burton Stephen Langton Stephen Leacock Stephen Butler Stephen Michael Ovett Stephen Michael Reich Saint Laurent Louis Stephen Sondheim Stephen Joshua Spender Sir Stephen Harold Stephen Nemanja Stephen Báthory Stephen II Stephen I Saint Stephen Stephen Sir James Fitzjames 1st Baronet Stephen Sir Leslie Stephen Saint Wise Stephen Samuel Adeline Virginia Stephen Wozniak Stephen Gary; given name, male, from Greek; one of the seven deacons, who became a preacher of the gospel He was the first Christian martyr His personal character and history are recorded in Acts 6 "He fell asleep" with a prayer for his persecutors on his lips (7: 60) Devout men carried him to his grave (8: 2); English writer (1832-1904); Crown of St Stephen The crown of Hungary “If Hungarian independence should be secured through the help of Prince Napoleon, the Prince himself should receive the crown of St Stephen ”- Kossuth: Memoirs of my Exile (1880); A Hellenistic Jew of Jerusalem who was stoned for his Christian heresy (Acts 6: 8-60), thus becoming the first martyr of the early church The name means "royal" or "crown "
Stephen A Douglas: born April 23, 1813, Brandon, Vt., U.S. died June 3, 1861, Chicago, Ill. U.S. politician. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (1843-47) and Senate (1847-61), where he strongly supported the Union and national expansion. To settle the bitter dispute over the extension of slavery to the territories, he developed the policy of popular sovereignty. He was influential in the passage of the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Short and heavyset, he was dubbed "the Little Giant" for his oratorical skill. In 1858 he engaged in a number of widely publicized debates with Abraham Lincoln in a close contest for the Senate seat in Illinois (see Lincoln-Douglas Debates). The Democrats nominated Douglas for president in 1860, but a splinter group of Southerners nominated John C. Breckinridge, which divided the Democratic vote and gave the presidency to Lincoln. In 1861 he undertook a mission for Lincoln to gain support for the Union among the Southern border states and in the Northwest. His untimely death of typhoid was partly a result of these exertions
Stephen Arnold Douglas: born April 23, 1813, Brandon, Vt., U.S. died June 3, 1861, Chicago, Ill. U.S. politician. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (1843-47) and Senate (1847-61), where he strongly supported the Union and national expansion. To settle the bitter dispute over the extension of slavery to the territories, he developed the policy of popular sovereignty. He was influential in the passage of the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Short and heavyset, he was dubbed "the Little Giant" for his oratorical skill. In 1858 he engaged in a number of widely publicized debates with Abraham Lincoln in a close contest for the Senate seat in Illinois (see Lincoln-Douglas Debates). The Democrats nominated Douglas for president in 1860, but a splinter group of Southerners nominated John C. Breckinridge, which divided the Democratic vote and gave the presidency to Lincoln. In 1861 he undertook a mission for Lincoln to gain support for the Union among the Southern border states and in the Northwest. His untimely death of typhoid was partly a result of these exertions
Stephen Austin: born Nov. 3, 1793, Austinville, Va., U.S. died Dec. 27, 1836, Austin, Texas U.S. founder of the first legal colony of English-speaking people in Texas when it was still part of Mexico. He was raised in the Missouri Territory and served in its legislature (1814-19). The economic panic in 1819 led his father to conceive a plan to colonize Texas on land obtained from the Mexican government. Austin continued the project after his father died (1821) and founded a colony of several hundred families on the Brazos River in 1822. He maintained good relations with the Mexican government. He tried to induce the Mexican government to make Texas a separate state in the Mexican confederation; when this attempt failed, he recommended in 1833 the organization of a state without waiting for the consent of the Mexican congress, and he was imprisoned. Released in 1835, he traveled to the U.S. to secure help when the Texas revolution broke out in October of that year. He is considered one of the state's founders. The city of Austin is named for him
Stephen Biko: {i} Stephen Bantu Biko (1946-1977), black South African anti-Apartheid activist who was arrested many times and died in police custody after severe beatings, founder of the Black Consciousness Movement
Stephen Biko: born Dec. 18, 1946, King William's Town, S.Af. died Sept. 12, 1977, Pretoria South African political activist. A former medical student, in 1968 he founded the Black Consciousness movement, designed to raise black awareness of apartheid oppression. He was officially "banned" by the South African government in 1973 and was arrested several times in 1976-77. His death from head injuries suffered in police custody made him an international martyr for South African black nationalism. The initial inquest absolved the police of wrongdoing, but in 1997 five former officers confessed to Biko's murder
Stephen Breyer: born Aug. 15, 1938, San Francisco, Calif., U.S. U.S. jurist. He received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1964. After clerking for Arthur Goldberg (1964-65), he taught at Harvard (1967-81). He served as special counsel (1974-75) and chief counsel (1979-81) of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee before being appointed to the First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (1980); he became its chief judge in 1990. From 1985 to 1989 he served on the commission that devised guidelines for federal sentencing. He was nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1994 by Pres. Bill Clinton. He was known as a pragmatic moderate acceptable to both Republicans and Democrats
Stephen Butler Leacock: born Dec. 30, 1869, Swanmore, Hampshire, Eng. died March 28, 1944, Toronto, Ont., Can. British-born Canadian writer and lecturer. He immigrated to Canada with his parents at age six. Though he taught economics and political science at McGill University (1903-36) and wrote extensively on history and political economy, his true calling was humour. His fame rests on his many books of lighthearted sketches and essays, beginning with Literary Lapses (1910) and Nonsense Novels (1911). His humour is typically based on a comic perception of social foibles and the incongruity between appearance and reality in human conduct
Stephen Case: born Aug. 21, 1958, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. U.S. businessman. In 1985 he cofounded Quantum Computer Services, whose name was changed in 1991 to America Online (AOL). As chairman and CEO of the company, he developed it into the world's leading interactive services company and helped turn the Internet into a mass medium. In 2001 he became the CEO of the newly formed AOL Time Warner Inc
Stephen Collins Foster: born July 4, 1826, Lawrenceville, Pa., U.S. died Jan. 13, 1864, New York, N.Y. U.S. songwriter. He began writing songs as a child, influenced in part by black church services he attended with the family's servant and by songs sung by black labourers. In 1842 he published "Open Thy Lattice, Love," and in 1848 he sold "Oh! Susanna" for $100; it quickly became an international hit. He later entered into a contract with the publisher Firth, Pond & Co. He was commissioned to write songs for Edwin P. Christy's minstrel show; his "Old Folks at Home" became one of the most popular songs of the century. In 1857, drinking heavily and in financial difficulties, he sold all rights to his future songs to his publishers for about $1,900. In 1860 he moved to New York; he died penniless at age 37, leaving about 200 songs, including "Camptown Races," "My Old Kentucky Home," "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair," and "Beautiful Dreamer," and he is universally regarded as the greatest American songwriter of the 19th century
Stephen Crane: born Nov. 1, 1871, Newark, N.J., U.S. died June 5, 1900, Badenweiler, Baden, Ger. U.S. novelist and short-story writer. Crane briefly attended college before moving to New York City. His Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1893), a sympathetic study of a slum girl's descent into prostitution, was a milestone of literary naturalism. He achieved international fame with his masterwork, The Red Badge of Courage (1895), depicting the psychological turmoil of a young Civil War soldier, and with his first book of poems, The Black Riders (1895). While traveling as a war correspondent, his ship sank and he almost drowned, resulting in his great story "The Open Boat" (1898). His story collections include The Little Regiment (1896), The Monster (1899), and Whilomville Stories (1900). He died at 28 of tuberculosis
Stephen Crane: (1871-1900) American novelist and poet, author of "The Red Badge of Courage
Stephen D Bechtel: born Sept. 24, 1900, Aurora, Ind., U.S. died March 14, 1989, San Francisco, Calif. U.S. construction engineer and president (1936-60) of W.A. Bechtel Co. and its successor, Bechtel Corp. He became a vice president in the San Francisco-based family firm of W.A. Bechtel Co. in 1925. In 1937 he and John McCone formed Bechtel-McCone Corp., a builder of refineries and chemical plants. The companies built ships and made aircraft parts during World War II. After the war, the newly formed Bechtel Corp. became one of the world's largest construction and engineering firms, building pipelines in Canada, the Middle East, and elsewhere and constructing power plants all over the world. The Bechtel companies helped construct the Hoover Dam, the Alaska oil pipeline, and the city of Al-Jubayl in Saudi Arabia. Bechtel retired as its president in 1960 but remained senior director of what became known as the Bechtel Group
Stephen Davison Bechtel: born Sept. 24, 1900, Aurora, Ind., U.S. died March 14, 1989, San Francisco, Calif. U.S. construction engineer and president (1936-60) of W.A. Bechtel Co. and its successor, Bechtel Corp. He became a vice president in the San Francisco-based family firm of W.A. Bechtel Co. in 1925. In 1937 he and John McCone formed Bechtel-McCone Corp., a builder of refineries and chemical plants. The companies built ships and made aircraft parts during World War II. After the war, the newly formed Bechtel Corp. became one of the world's largest construction and engineering firms, building pipelines in Canada, the Middle East, and elsewhere and constructing power plants all over the world. The Bechtel companies helped construct the Hoover Dam, the Alaska oil pipeline, and the city of Al-Jubayl in Saudi Arabia. Bechtel retired as its president in 1960 but remained senior director of what became known as the Bechtel Group
Stephen Decatur: born Jan. 5, 1779, Sinepuxent, Md., U.S. died March 22, 1820, Bladensburg, Md. U.S. naval officer. He entered the navy in 1798. In the Tripolitan War, he led a daring expedition into the harbour of Tripoli to burn a captured U.S. ship. In the War of 1812 he commanded the USS United States and captured the British ship Macedonian. In 1815 he commanded a squadron in the Mediterranean that forced a peace with the Barbary states on U.S. terms. At a banquet on his return he gave a toast that included the words "Our country, right or wrong." In the same year he was made a navy commissioner, an office he held until he was killed in a duel
Stephen Edwin King: born Sept. 21, 1947, Portland, Maine, U.S. U.S. writer. Educated at the University of Maine, he wrote a number of enormously popular books, which made him one of the world's best-selling writers. His books blend horror, the macabre, fantasy, and science fiction. Carrie (1974; film 1976), his first published novel and an immediate success, was followed by a long string of popular books, including The Shining (1977; film, 1980; television miniseries, 1997), The Dead Zone (1979; film, 1983), Pet Sematery (1983; film, 1989), and Misery (1987; film, 1990). Most of his novels have been adapted for television or film, and most have been translated into many languages
Stephen Foster: a US songwriter who wrote many popular songs, such as Oh Susanna, Camptown Races, and Old Folks at Home, which were often about life in the South of the US (1826-64). born July 4, 1826, Lawrenceville, Pa., U.S. died Jan. 13, 1864, New York, N.Y. U.S. songwriter. He began writing songs as a child, influenced in part by black church services he attended with the family's servant and by songs sung by black labourers. In 1842 he published "Open Thy Lattice, Love," and in 1848 he sold "Oh! Susanna" for $100; it quickly became an international hit. He later entered into a contract with the publisher Firth, Pond & Co. He was commissioned to write songs for Edwin P. Christy's minstrel show; his "Old Folks at Home" became one of the most popular songs of the century. In 1857, drinking heavily and in financial difficulties, he sold all rights to his future songs to his publishers for about $1,900. In 1860 he moved to New York; he died penniless at age 37, leaving about 200 songs, including "Camptown Races," "My Old Kentucky Home," "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair," and "Beautiful Dreamer," and he is universally regarded as the greatest American songwriter of the 19th century
Stephen Fuller Austin: born Nov. 3, 1793, Austinville, Va., U.S. died Dec. 27, 1836, Austin, Texas U.S. founder of the first legal colony of English-speaking people in Texas when it was still part of Mexico. He was raised in the Missouri Territory and served in its legislature (1814-19). The economic panic in 1819 led his father to conceive a plan to colonize Texas on land obtained from the Mexican government. Austin continued the project after his father died (1821) and founded a colony of several hundred families on the Brazos River in 1822. He maintained good relations with the Mexican government. He tried to induce the Mexican government to make Texas a separate state in the Mexican confederation; when this attempt failed, he recommended in 1833 the organization of a state without waiting for the consent of the Mexican congress, and he was imprisoned. Released in 1835, he traveled to the U.S. to secure help when the Texas revolution broke out in October of that year. He is considered one of the state's founders. The city of Austin is named for him
Stephen G Wozniak: born Aug. 11, 1950, San Jose, Calif., U.S. U.S. computer engineer. He designed electronic devices and games while still in his teens. In the 1970s he worked for Hewlett-Packard. In 1976 he and Steven Jobs founded Apple Computer, Inc. Badly injured in a 1981 plane crash, he took a leave from Apple, but he returned to work on the revolutionary Macintosh computer. He left Apple for good in 1985, the year he was awarded the National Medal of Technology. He has since taught in elementary school
Stephen Gary Wozniak: born Aug. 11, 1950, San Jose, Calif., U.S. U.S. computer engineer. He designed electronic devices and games while still in his teens. In the 1970s he worked for Hewlett-Packard. In 1976 he and Steven Jobs founded Apple Computer, Inc. Badly injured in a 1981 plane crash, he took a leave from Apple, but he returned to work on the revolutionary Macintosh computer. He left Apple for good in 1985, the year he was awarded the National Medal of Technology. He has since taught in elementary school
Stephen Gerald Breyer: born Aug. 15, 1938, San Francisco, Calif., U.S. U.S. jurist. He received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1964. After clerking for Arthur Goldberg (1964-65), he taught at Harvard (1967-81). He served as special counsel (1974-75) and chief counsel (1979-81) of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee before being appointed to the First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (1980); he became its chief judge in 1990. From 1985 to 1989 he served on the commission that devised guidelines for federal sentencing. He was nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1994 by Pres. Bill Clinton. He was known as a pragmatic moderate acceptable to both Republicans and Democrats
Stephen Girard: born May 20, 1750, Bordeaux, France died Dec. 26, 1831, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S. French-born American financier and philanthropist. He became a sailor at age 14; by 1774 he was commanding a French ship involved in American coastal trade with the West Indies. He settled in Philadelphia during the American Revolution and resumed trading in 1783. He developed an efficient, worldwide trading fleet and amassed a fortune. In 1812 he bought out the Bank of the United States, renaming it the Bank of Stephen Girard. During the War of 1812 he purchased government bonds, which by 1814 constituted 95% of the U.S.'s war loan. He bequeathed his fortune to social-welfare institutions, including Stephen Girard College for male orphans (founded 1833)
Stephen Grover Cleveland: born March 18, 1837, Caldwell, N.J., U.S. died June 24, 1908, Princeton 22nd and 24th president of the U.S. (1885-89, 1893-97). From 1859 he practiced law in Buffalo, N.Y., where he entered Democratic Party politics. As mayor of Buffalo (1881-82), he was known as a foe of corruption. As governor of New York (1883-85), his independence earned him the hostility of Tammany Hall. Elected president in 1884, he supported civil-service reform and opposed high tariffs. Although he was narrowly defeated by Benjamin Harrison in 1888, he was reelected by a huge popular plurality in 1892. In 1893 he strongly urged Congress to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, which he blamed for the country's severe economic depression. Despite the repeal of the act, the depression continued, resulting in the Pullman Strike in 1894. An isolationist, Cleveland opposed territorial expansion. In 1895 he invoked the Monroe Doctrine in the border dispute between Britain and Venezuela. By 1896 supporters of the Free Silver Movement controlled the Democratic Party, which nominated William Jennings Bryan instead of Cleveland for president. He retired to New Jersey, where he lectured at Princeton University
Stephen Hawking: (born 1942) leading British physicist (renowned for his ideas on quantum physics, black holes and the "big bang" theory)
Stephen Hawking: a British scientist who has developed important new ideas about relativity and black holes. He has continued working even though he suffers from a serious disease of the nervous system, and he uses a special computer system in order to talk. He wrote an extremely popular book called A Brief History of Time (1988), in which he explains his ideas about how the universe and time began and how they have developed (1942- )
Stephen I: King of Hungary (997?-1038). Considered the founder of the Hungarian state, he maintained strong ties with the Roman Catholic Church, advocated the building of churches and abbeys, and organized a standing army
Stephen J Field: born Nov. 4, 1816, Haddam, Conn., U.S. died April 9, 1899, Washington, D.C. U.S. jurist. After graduating from Williams College in 1837, he practiced law in New York with his brother, the legal reformer David Dudley Field (1805-94). In 1849 he moved to California, where he later joined the state supreme court. In 1863 he was appointed by Pres. Abraham Lincoln to the Supreme Court of the United States; he served until 1897. He became chief architect of the constitutional approach that largely exempted U.S. industry from government regulation after the American Civil War, basing his interpretation principally on the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment (1868), which had been passed as a civil-rights measure. Field's stance toward industry would be maintained by the Court until the 1930s
Stephen Jay Gould: born Sept. 10, 1941, New York, N.Y., U.S. died May 20, 2002, New York, N.Y. U.S. paleontologist and evolutionary biologist. He received a Ph.D. in paleontology from Columbia University and joined the faculty of Harvard University in 1967. With Niles Eldredge (b. 1943), he developed the controversial theory of punctuated equilibrium (1972), a revision of Darwinism that proposed that the evolutionary creation of new species occurs in rapid bursts over periods as short as thousands of years, which are followed by long periods of stability. He was widely known as a popularizing writer on biological and evolutionary topics, especially in Natural History magazine; his numerous books include The Panda's Thumb (1980), The Mismeasure of Man (1981), and The Structure of Evolutionary Theory (2002)
Stephen Johnson Field: born Nov. 4, 1816, Haddam, Conn., U.S. died April 9, 1899, Washington, D.C. U.S. jurist. After graduating from Williams College in 1837, he practiced law in New York with his brother, the legal reformer David Dudley Field (1805-94). In 1849 he moved to California, where he later joined the state supreme court. In 1863 he was appointed by Pres. Abraham Lincoln to the Supreme Court of the United States; he served until 1897. He became chief architect of the constitutional approach that largely exempted U.S. industry from government regulation after the American Civil War, basing his interpretation principally on the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment (1868), which had been passed as a civil-rights measure. Field's stance toward industry would be maintained by the Court until the 1930s
Stephen Joshua Sondheim: born March 22, 1930, New York, N.Y., U.S. U.S. composer and lyricist. He studied piano and organ and at age 15 wrote his first musical under the tutelage of the musical comedy author Oscar Hammerstein II, a family friend. After studies with composer Milton Babbitt, he made his first mark on Broadway as lyricist for West Side Story (1957) and later Gypsy (1959). He wrote both music and lyrics for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962, Tony Award), A Little Night Music (1973, Tony Award), Sweeney Todd (1979, Tony Award), Sunday in the Park with George (1984, Pulitzer Prize), and Into the Woods (1987), among other works. His stage works are known for their intellectuality, musical complexity, and frequently dark tone
Stephen King: born Sept. 21, 1947, Portland, Maine, U.S. U.S. writer. Educated at the University of Maine, he wrote a number of enormously popular books, which made him one of the world's best-selling writers. His books blend horror, the macabre, fantasy, and science fiction. Carrie (1974; film 1976), his first published novel and an immediate success, was followed by a long string of popular books, including The Shining (1977; film, 1980; television miniseries, 1997), The Dead Zone (1979; film, 1983), Pet Sematery (1983; film, 1989), and Misery (1987; film, 1990). Most of his novels have been adapted for television or film, and most have been translated into many languages
Stephen Langton: died July 9, 1228, Slindon, Sussex, Eng. English cardinal and archbishop of Canterbury (1207-28). Langton was living in Rome when Innocent III nominated him as archbishop of Canterbury to settle a disputed election. When King John refused to allow him into England, the pope excommunicated John (1209). John finally submitted and received Langton in 1213. The new archbishop encouraged baronial opposition to the king but opposed violence. He was present at the signing of the Magna Carta (1215) and influenced its provisions on ecclesiastical liberties
Stephen Lawrence: a young black man who was murdered in Eltham, south London, in 1993 by a group of young white men. Five men were arrested,, but the Crown Prosecution Service decided there was not enough evidence to bring them to trial. In 1996 Stephen's parents brought a private prosecution for murder against the five men, but they were found not guilty. Mr and Mrs Lawrence also complained that the police had not carried out a proper investigation into the murder because Stephen was black. An inquiry was held and in 1999 its chairman Sir William Macpherson criticized the police in his report. He said there was institutional racism in the Metropolitan Police Force (1974-1993)
Stephen Leacock: born Dec. 30, 1869, Swanmore, Hampshire, Eng. died March 28, 1944, Toronto, Ont., Can. British-born Canadian writer and lecturer. He immigrated to Canada with his parents at age six. Though he taught economics and political science at McGill University (1903-36) and wrote extensively on history and political economy, his true calling was humour. His fame rests on his many books of lighthearted sketches and essays, beginning with Literary Lapses (1910) and Nonsense Novels (1911). His humour is typically based on a comic perception of social foibles and the incongruity between appearance and reality in human conduct
Stephen Samuel Wise: born March 17, 1874, Budapest, Hung., Austria-Hungary died April 19, 1949, New York, N.Y., U.S. Hungarian-born U.S. Reform rabbi, political activist, and Zionist leader. His family immigrated to the U.S. when he was an infant. He earned his Ph.D. at Columbia University in 1901 and was trained as a rabbi. In 1907, after declining a post at an influential congregation because of inadequate assurances of free speech in the pulpit, he founded the Free Synagogue. In 1898 he attended the Second Zionist Congress and helped found the Zionist Organization of America. A prominent member of the Democratic Party, he helped win U.S. government approval of the Balfour Declaration. In 1922 he founded the Jewish Institute of Religion, a seminary for liberal rabbis, which merged with Hebrew Union College in 1950
Stephen Sondheim: a US songwriter and composer famous for the clever and amusing words he uses in his songs. He wrote the words for the musical show West Side Story (1957), and the words and music for many other successful musical shows, including A Little Light Music (1973) (1930- ). born March 22, 1930, New York, N.Y., U.S. U.S. composer and lyricist. He studied piano and organ and at age 15 wrote his first musical under the tutelage of the musical comedy author Oscar Hammerstein II, a family friend. After studies with composer Milton Babbitt, he made his first mark on Broadway as lyricist for West Side Story (1957) and later Gypsy (1959). He wrote both music and lyrics for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962, Tony Award), A Little Night Music (1973, Tony Award), Sweeney Todd (1979, Tony Award), Sunday in the Park with George (1984, Pulitzer Prize), and Into the Woods (1987), among other works. His stage works are known for their intellectuality, musical complexity, and frequently dark tone
Stephen Stills: (born 1945) American singer keyboardist and guitarist, member of the folk-rock band "Crosby Stills and Nash
Stephen W Hawking: born Jan. 8, 1942, Oxford, Oxfordshire, Eng. English theoretical physicist. He studied at the University of Oxford and later received his Ph.D. from Cambridge. He has worked primarily in the field of general relativity and particularly on the physics of black holes. In 1971 he suggested that numerous objects, formed after the big bang, each had as much as one billion tons of mass but the size of only a proton. These "mini black holes" are unique in being subject to both the laws of relativity, due to their immense mass and gravity, and the laws of quantum mechanics, due to their minute size. In 1974 he proposed that black holes "evaporate" by what is now known as Hawking radiation. His work greatly spurred efforts to delineate the properties of black holes. His work also showed the relationship of these properties to the laws of classical thermodynamics and quantum mechanics. Hawking's achievements, despite near-total paralysis from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, have earned him extraordinary honours. His books include the best-selling A Brief History of Time (1988)
Stephen Watts Kearny: born Aug. 30, 1794, Newark, N.J., U.S. died Oct. 31, 1848, St. Louis, Mo. U.S. Army officer. He served in the War of 1812 and later on the western frontier. At the outbreak of the Mexican War, he was ordered to seize New Mexico and California. Using diplomacy to persuade Mexican troops to withdraw, he marched unopposed to Santa Fe, where in 1846 he proclaimed a civil government for the province. Heading to California, he was informed that the conquest had already been completed by Robert F. Stockton and John C. Frémont. He arrived to discover that Mexican rebels had retaken most of the province. He then joined forces with Stockton to defeat the rebels in 1847. After initial opposition from Frémont, who had persuaded Stockton to appoint him governor, Kearny pacified the rest of California and established a stable civil government. He was then sent to Mexico, where he died of yellow fever
Stephen William Hawking: born Jan. 8, 1942, Oxford, Oxfordshire, Eng. English theoretical physicist. He studied at the University of Oxford and later received his Ph.D. from Cambridge. He has worked primarily in the field of general relativity and particularly on the physics of black holes. In 1971 he suggested that numerous objects, formed after the big bang, each had as much as one billion tons of mass but the size of only a proton. These "mini black holes" are unique in being subject to both the laws of relativity, due to their immense mass and gravity, and the laws of quantum mechanics, due to their minute size. In 1974 he proposed that black holes "evaporate" by what is now known as Hawking radiation. His work greatly spurred efforts to delineate the properties of black holes. His work also showed the relationship of these properties to the laws of classical thermodynamics and quantum mechanics. Hawking's achievements, despite near-total paralysis from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, have earned him extraordinary honours. His books include the best-selling A Brief History of Time (1988)
Stephen of Blois: King of England (1135-1154). The grandson of William the Conquerer, he was the last Norman king of England
St. Stephen's Day: A Christian holiday falling immediately after Christmas (on December 26 in the Western Church and on December 27 in the Eastern Orthodox Church)
Burton Stephen Lancaster: born Nov. 2, 1913, New York, N.Y., U.S. died Oct. 20, 1994, Century City, Calif. U.S. film actor. He toured with circuses as an acrobat in the 1930s and served in North Africa and Italy during World War II. He first appeared in movie houses in The Killers (1946), which made him a star. He was noted for his portrayals of physically tough, emotionally sensitive characters. Lancaster's many films include Come Back, Little Sheba (1952), From Here to Eternity (1953), The Rose Tattoo (1955), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), Elmer Gantry (1960, Academy Award), The Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), The Leopard (1963), Atlantic City (1981), Local Hero (1983), and Field of Dreams (1989)
Cyrus Stephen Eaton: born Dec. 27, 1883, Pugwash, Nova Scotia, Can. died May 9, 1979, near Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. U.S.-Canadian industrialist and philanthropist. Entering business in 1907, he built several electric-power plants in western Canada and soon diversified into other utilities, banking, and steel in the U.S. In 1930 he merged several steel companies to form Republic Steel, the third-largest U.S. steel company. He lost most of his fortune in the Great Depression but subsequently made another one. An advocate of nuclear disarmament and improved Soviet-U.S. relations, he helped inaugurate the Pugwash Conferences in 1957
Louis Stephen Saint Laurent: born Feb. 1, 1882, Compton, Que., Can. died July 25, 1973, Quebec, Que. Prime minister of Canada (1948-57). One of Canada's most prominent lawyers, he served in the Canadian House of Commons (1942-58) and in W.L. Mackenzie King's cabinet as minister of justice and attorney general (1942-46) and minister of external affairs (1945-48). As leader of the Liberal Party (1948), he succeeded King as prime minister. He promoted Canadian unity by equalizing provincial revenues and expanded social security and university education. He supported Canadian membership in NATO and helped establish the St. Lawrence Seaway
Saint Stephen: died AD 36, Jerusalem First Christian martyr. As told in the Acts of the Apostles, he was a foreign-born Jew who lived in Jerusalem and joined the church at an early date. He was one of seven deacons appointed by the Apostles to care for elderly women, widows, and orphans. As a Hellenized Jew, he was strongly opposed to the Temple cult of Judaism. For expressing his opposition, he was brought before the Sanhedrin. His defense of Christianity so outraged his hearers that he was condemned to be stoned to death. One of those who assented to the execution was Saul of Tarsus (St. Paul)
Sir James Fitzjames 1st Baronet Stephen: born March 3, 1829, London, Eng. died March 11, 1894, Ipswich, Suffolk British legal historian and judge. His General View of the Criminal Law of England (1863) was the first attempt to explain the principles of English law since the work of William Blackstone. As a member of the British viceroy's council in India (1869-72), he helped codify and reform Indian law. He later taught at the Inns of Court (1875-79) and served as a judge of the High Court of Justice (1879-91). His Indictable Offenses Bill, though never enacted, greatly influenced the reformation of criminal law in English-speaking countries
Sir Leslie Stephen: born Nov. 28, 1832, London, Eng. died Feb. 22, 1904, London English critic and man of letters. After attending Eton College and Cambridge University, he gained entry to literary circles and in 1871 began an 11-year tenure as editor of The Cornhill Magazine, for which he wrote literary criticism. His greatest learned work was his History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century (1876), but his most enduring legacy is the Dictionary of National Biography, which he edited from 1882 to 1891, personally writing many hundreds of its meticulous articles. He was the father of Virginia Woolf and the painter Vanessa Bell (1879-1961)
Sir Peter Stephen Paul Brook: born March 21, 1925, London, Eng. British director and producer. After directing plays in Stratford-upon-Avon, he became director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (1947-50). He directed several innovative Shakespearean productions that aroused controversy. Appointed codirector of the Royal Shakespeare Co. in 1962, he directed critically acclaimed productions of King Lear (1962) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (1970). He won international fame with his avant-garde direction of Peter Weiss's play Marat/Sade (1964). His films include Lord of the Flies (1962), King Lear (1969), and the six-hour Mahabharata (1989). In 1970 he cofounded, with Jean-Louis Barrault, the International Centre for Theatre Research
Sir Stephen Harold Spender: born Feb. 28, 1909, London, Eng. died July 16, 1995, London English poet and critic. While an undergraduate at Oxford, Spender met the poets W.H. Auden and C. Day-Lewis. In the 1930s they became identified with politically conscious, leftist "new writing." His poems, expressing a self-critical, compassionate personality, appear in volumes from Poems (1933) to Dolphins (1994). He was better known for his perceptive criticism, as in The Destructive Element (1935), The Making of a Poem (1955), and The Struggle of the Modern (1963), and for his association with the influential review Encounter (1953-67). He also wrote short stories, essays, and autobiography
Sir Stephen Spender: a British poet and critic whose books of poetry include The Still Centre and The Generous Days (1909-95). born Feb. 28, 1909, London, Eng. died July 16, 1995, London English poet and critic. While an undergraduate at Oxford, Spender met the poets W.H. Auden and C. Day-Lewis. In the 1930s they became identified with politically conscious, leftist "new writing." His poems, expressing a self-critical, compassionate personality, appear in volumes from Poems (1933) to Dolphins (1994). He was better known for his perceptive criticism, as in The Destructive Element (1935), The Making of a Poem (1955), and The Struggle of the Modern (1963), and for his association with the influential review Encounter (1953-67). He also wrote short stories, essays, and autobiography

stephen

Hyphenation

Ste·phen

Turkish pronunciation

stivın

Pronunciation

/ˈstēvən/ /ˈstiːvən/

Etymology

[ 'stE-v&n ] (biographical name.) From Ancient Greek Στέφανος (Stephanos) στέφανος (stephanos) "crown, wreath", στέφω (stephō) "to put round, to surround".