Greaser

A term of contempt applied to Mexicans in the W. States of the Union. Greas'ily, adv . With grease; in a greasy manner. Gro ly; in a corrupt or indelicate manner. Greas'ine , n. State of being greasy or fatty; unctuousne ; oiline . Grea's on, in Pennsylvania, a P. O. of Cumber land co. Greas'y, a. Smeared or defiled with grease; as, a greasy apron. -Oily; unctuous; fat; consisting of, or containing, grease; as, a greasy me . - Fat of body; bulky; -used in a contemptuous sense; as, a "greasy knight." - Shaks . (Furriery.) Affected with the disease called grease , as a horse. Grea'sy, in Illinois , a former P. O. of Macoupin co. Grea'sy Ridge, in Ohio , a post-office of Lawrence co. Great, ( grat ,) a. (com. GREATER; sup . GREATEST.) [A.S., Low Ger., and D. groot ; Fris. grat ; Ger. gro ; O. Ger. gróz ; probably allied to Lat. grandir , grown big, large, or great.] Large in bulk or dimensions; big; being of extended length or breadth; vast; enormous; immense; huge; as, a great distance, a great castle, a great desert, a great river, a great length, breadth, size, . - Large in number; expre ing a large, extensive, or unusual degree of anything; numerous; as, a great multitude.Long continued; considerable in time, length, or duration. "Thou hast spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come."-2 Sam . vii. 19. -Important; weighty; momentous; as, a great undertaking, a great principle, . "They never fail who die in a great cause." - Byron. -Chief; principal; of vast power or excellence; supreme; illustrious; pre-eminent; distinguished; as, a great man, the Great Seal, .. "The heart ran o'er With silent worship of the great of old." - Byron. -Admirable; superior; eminent; distinguished by any quality or qualities, or acquirements; as, a great idea, a great poem, a great action. "Great thoughts, great feelings came to them, Like instincts, unawares." - Monckton Milnes. -Noble; dignified; grand; majestic; august; strong; mighty; as, a great hero, a great genius, . "The world knows nothing of its greatest men." - H. Taylor. -Distant by one more generation; - in the ascending or descending line; as, a great -grandfather. By the great, in the abstract, gro , or whole.-" Carpenters build a house by the great." - Mozon . Great circle-sailing. ( Naut .) The steering of a ship in the arc of a great circle of the sphere, or, in other words, the nearest course between two places. Great Seal, the chief or principal seal of state; in England, the seal of state intrusted to the keeping of the Lord Chancellor. The great, the wealthy; the powerful; the distinguished; - opposed to the lowly . Great Augh'wick Creek, in Pennsylvania, enters the Juniata River in Hunting don co. Great Barring ton, in Ma achusetts , a post-town of Berks hire co., on the Housatonic river and the N. Y., N. H. & H. R. R., 40 m. S.S.E. of Albany, N. Y. Has extensive manufacturies of paper, cottons and woollens. Рор . (1896) 4,794. Great Ba's in, or FREMONT BASIN, in Utah and Nevada , an extensive tract of land lying between the Sierra Nevada and Walisatch Mountains, having an area of about 175,000 sq. m. As yet its exploration has not been very thorough. It is surrounded on all sides by mountains and high hills, and consists for the most part of a dry arid desert, interspersed with a few fertile spots, It has some rivers, and a number of lakes, or sinks , which have no outlets, and of all of which the waters are salt, except Utah Lake. See GREAT SALT LAKE. Great Bear Lake. See BEAR LAKE, GREAT. Great Bend, in New York , a post-village of Jefferson co., about 160 m. N.W. of Albany. Great Bend, in Pennsylvania, a post-borough and township of Susquehanna co., on the Susquehanna river, and the D., L. & W. and Erie R. Rs., 47 m. N. of Scranton. It has extensive tanneries, sawmills, and other manufactories, and is surrounded by a prosperous farming, grazing, and dairying region. Pop . (1897) about 1,250. Great Bridge, in Virginia , a post-village of Norfolk co., abont 80 m. S.E. of Richmond. Great Britain, in a geographical sense, the largest and most important island of Europe, is generally termed the British Empire, or United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Britain (Britannia) was the ancient name of the island, by which it was known to the Komans. The same race that constituted the original population of Britain occupied also Armorica in France, and to this day speak e entially the same language. The distinction is for the most part made by the names of Bretagne, or "Little Britain," but Great Britain is spoken of when the affairs of the most important island of the world come into question. The term Great Britain was but little used by the islanders, until the acces sion of James VI. of Scotland to the crown of England united the entire island under one sovereignty. In the reign of Anne, on May 1, 1707, Great Britain became the legal name of the kingdom. It comprised England, Scotland, and Ireland (not to mention Wales, the smallest of the dependencies). The official style of the empire is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , but in current language the term comprises the entire kingdom, English, Scotch, and Irish, and includes the entire imperial power. Under the head British Empire we have given the table and population of all the po e ions under British rule. The details of the physical geography are given under England , Ireland , Scotland , and Wales , and more minutely under the names of the several counties, lakes, rivers, islands, . Under this head are noticed: 1. The geography of the island of Great Britain; 2. The United kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland -its general institutions, statistics, .; 3. An historical sketch of England; observing that the geography and history of Ireland down to the present day will be found under its own name. The island of Great Britain lies between Lat. 49° 57′ 30′′ and 58° 40′ 24′′ N., and between Lon. 1° 46′ E. and 6° 13' W., and is the largest island in Europe. It is bounded on the N. by the Atlantic, on the E. by the North Sea, on the S. by the English Channel, and on the W. by the Atlantic, the Irish Sea, and St. George's Channel. The most northerly point is Dunnet Head, in Caithne ; the most southerly, Lizard Point, in Cornwall; the most easterly, Lowest oft Ne , in Norfolk; and the most westerly, Ardnamurchan Point, in Argyles hire. Its greatest length is about 608 m., and its greatest breadth (from Land's End to the E. coast of Kent) about 320 m.; while its surface contains about 89,600 sq. m. - Geology . The geology of G. B. is of peculiar importance, the rocks of the earth's crust having been first systematically studied and expounded here. British geologists have given to the world the names whereby the various strata are known, and British rocks form the typical series of the earth's strata. The whole recognized series of stratified deposits occur in Britain, one or two only being more fully developed elsewhere; and it is only in these singular cases that the foreign equivalents are taken as the types. British geology is no le important from the influence it has had in the development of the country, its mineral wealth, especially the coal and the iron, being the real muscle and sinew of Britain's tremendous commercial power.Min. The values of the principal minerals produced in the year 1896 were as follows: coal, £46,250,000; iron ore, £2,865,709; tin, £370,530; copper, £24,762; lead, £308,734; gypsum, £71,835; granite, £547,999; chalk, £153,864; clay, £1,839,607.- Nat . Hist . The natural history of Great Britain corresponds generally with that of continental Europe. Very few species, either of plants or animals, are peculiar to G. B. The flora of the greater part of the island most nearly resembles that of Germany; but in the S. of England there is, as might be expected, a closer correspondence with that of the N.W. of France; and some plants found in the Channel Islands and on the French coast appear nowhere in Britain but in the S.W. of England. The mountains of Wales, Cumber land, and Scotland have a vegetation resembling that of Scand in a via more than that of the mountains of Central or Southern Europe. - Ethnology . The present population of the island of G. B. is the result of succe ivé waves of immigration and conquest. When the Romans invaded Britain (54 в. с.) the inhabitants were Celtic; and they continued to be e entially so until the 5th and 6th centuries, when the Romans having previously retired - the level parts of the country were gradually overrun and subdued by German tribes from the opposite coasts. Then followed invasions of Danes and other Scand in avian nations, and lastly the Norman Conquest. As the Normans, however, were originally from Scand in a via, they cannot be considered as adding any new ethnological element; so that the inhabitants of England (excepting Wales) and of the Lowlands of Scotland may be considered as sprung from an amalgamation of the original Celtic with German and Scand in avian blood, the latter having predominated so as to determine the language, institutions, and character of the resulting race. Wales, and the Highlands of Scotland, are still inhabited by representatives of the ancient Celtic tribes. (See SCOTLAND, PICTS AND SCOTS, IRELAND, CELTE, ANGLO-SAXONS, WALES.) - Agric . The soil of G. B. is almost exclusively devoted to the production of two of the primary nece aries of society breadstuffs (chiefly wheat, barley, and oats); and gra , roots, ., as food for domestic animals. For this purpose, both the soil and the climate are admirably suited. McCulloch estimates the number of acres in England under grain crops at 61⁄2 millions (wheat 3 millions, barley 1, oats and rye 2, beans and peas 1/2); and the total produce at 272 million quarters - value $185,000,000. The produce of potatoes, turnips, rape, and clover is estimated at $130,000,000. The annual value of the pastures and meadow-lands is immense. The Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland began in 1856 to collect careful statistics of that part of the island; but owing to a misunderstanding with the Treasury, the undertaking was not continued beyond 1857. In that year there were 3,556,572 acres under rotation, the chief crops being gra and hay, 1,459,805 acres oats, 935,613 acres, yielding 32,750,763 bushels; wheat, 223,152, yielding 6,154,986 bushels; barley, 198,387, yielding 6,564,429 bushels; turnips, 476,691 acres, yielding 6,690,109 tons; potatoes, 139,819 acres, yielding 430,468 tons. The total number of live-stock in Scotland in 1857 amounted to 6,989,368; viz., 185,409 horses, 974,437 cattle, 5.683,168 sheep, and 146,354 swine (see also IRELAND). The amount of corn and cattle raised in the United Kingdom, however, is not nearly equal to the consumption of the population. The average importation, of grain especially, amounted to 10,100,000 quarters during the last 15 years. The farming capital employed in the United Kingdom has been estimated in a widely different manner by various authorities. On the whole, G. B. is very backward as compared with America in the matter of statistics, and it is almost impo ible to get accurate information on any product that is not a direct object of exportation. Manuf., . The manufactures of England are commensurate with her greatne in other respects. The most important is that of cotton, which employs more hands than any other in the kingdom, and furnishes about two-fifths of the exports. The principal seats of this manufacture are Lancashire, Cheshire, Derby shire, and Yorkshire. The chief woollen and worsted manufactories are in Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Gloucestershire. The great centres of the hardware manufacture are Birmingham and Sheffield, the former having work-shops of iron, steel, copper, and bra wares, and the latter being famed chiefly for cutlery, agricultural implements, grates, fire-arms, . The weaving of linen is carried on to a large extent at Leeds, and in the cos. of Lancaster, Dorset, Durham, and Salop. The glove-trade of the midland and W.cos. is important, the principal establishments being at Wood stock, Worcester, Ludlow, . The other manufactures comprise paper, hats, gla , pottery, soap, lace, . Shipbuilding is also a prominent branch of industry. (See IRELAND and SCOTLAND.) -The imports for the year 1895 amounted to $2,083,438,150, to which the U. S. contributed $403,036,960. The exportations were valued at $3,514,137,835, of which the U. S. received $93,997,425. -Shipping . To carry on this vast trade G. B. po e es 12,943 registered sailing ve els, with an aggregate tonnage of 2,987,161; and 8,263 steamers, with an aggregate tonnage of 5,969,020; making a total of 21,206 ve els, of 8,956,181 tons burden. The total shipping of the British empire comprised 36,181 ve els, of 10,572,272 tons.- Pop . The population of G. B. and her colonies, census of 1891, was: United Kingdom, area , 120,973 sq. m., pop . 37,888,439; colonies in Europe, 124 sq. m., pop . 191,531; in Asia, 1,864,838 sq. m., poр . 291,346,541; in Austral asia, 3,259,210 sq. m., pop . 4,238,368; in Africa, 285,560 sq. m., pop . 4,035,869 (in addition to extensive protectorates); in America, 4,282,936 sq. m., pop . 6,737,654; making a total of 9,813,639 sq. m., pop . 344,438,393.-Revenue and Expenditure. For the year ending March 31, 1895, the revenue amounted to $473,428,810, and the expenditures to $469,592,105. National Debt. On the same date the national debt of G. B. amounted to $3,304,994,705, it having decreased about $700,000,000 in 20 years. Army . The mainten ance of a standing army in the time of peace, without the consent of Parliament, is prohibited by the Bill of Rights of 1690. From that time to the present, the number of troops which the security of the kingdom and its po e ions render it nece ary to maintain, as well as the cost of the different branches of the service in detail, have been sanctioned by an annual vote of the House of Commons. According to the army estimates laid before the House of Commons in the se ion of 1895, the total regular force of G. B., on the peace footing, during the years 1896-97 was to consist of 155,403 men. But the standing army does not constitute the whole army; the army estimates contain votes of money for four cla es of reserve, or auxiliary forces, namely, the militia , the yeomanry, the volunteers , and the enrolled pensioners , forming a grand total of the Imperial force of 669,553 men. Of these 77,465 constitute the British Indian army. Navy . The strength of the navy in 1897 was: armored ships, 86; unarmored, 126; gunboats, 85; torpedo boats, 250; with training, receiving, store ships, transports, . These are armed with a total of 6,426 guns, of which 10 are of 80 tons and over in weight and nearly 100 of from 40 to 80 tons. Of the great battle ships of the British navy, 9 (built or building) are of 14,900 tons displacement, and about 12,000 horse-power. The navy, as thus augmented, will require in all a total of 93,700 officers and men.-Government. The government of G. B. is of the kind known as a a "Constitutional Monarchy," in which the sovereign accepts of the dignity under an expre agreement to abide by certain prescribed conditions. The sovereignty is hereditary in the family of Brunswick, now on the throne, and in the person of either a male or a female. The sovereign (through ministers) is the directing power in the executive of government; while the legislative function is exercised by PARLIAMENT, q.v.-Religion. G. B. is a Protestant state, but all religions-not offensive to public or private morals-may be profe ed, and their different forms of worship practised, without interference from any quarter whatever. The church "established" by special acts of the legislature in England, is Episcopal in its form of government, and called the "United Church of England." In Scotland, the established church was Presbyterian. (See IRELAND and SCOTLAND.) No information regarding the number of persons belonging to the Church of England, and those adhering to other religious creeds in England, is given in the official censuses, and we are obliged to deduce the relative importance of the other denominations from the number of their places of worship. From these we are led to believe that the difference in number, between those adhering to the established church and those belonging to the "Di enters," as they are termed in England, cannot be very material The disestablishment of the Irish Church (i,e, the Episcopal Church of England) was carried under Gladstone's ad. ministration in 1869, but went into effect Jan. 1, 1871. Of late years, the question of the disestablishment of the church in England has given rise to much discu ion don in June, 1897, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's acce ion, the fact that she had reigned longer than any preceding monarch giving the greatest interest and importance to the ceremonies, in which representatives from all sections of the empire took part. During the period of Queen Victoria's reign the progre of G. B. politically, industrially and commercially has been very considerable, while its relations to the other States of Europe have in many respects changed and its comparative importance has tinct i on; dignity; eminence; command; power; grandeur; pomp; magnificence. "Some are born great, some achieve greatne , and some have greatne thrust upon them."-Shaks. - Swelling pride; affected state. "It is not of pride or greatne that he cometh not aboard your ships."-Bacon. nimity. A. D. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the head of the church; this see was established in 597; the income is $75,000. -Hist . Nothing authentic is known of the history of England before Cæsar, who twice invaded the island, then called Britannia, in 55 and 54 B.C. Claudius resumed the idea of subjugating Britain A.D. 43, and from that time until 85, the Roman armies, making further progre at different times, penetrated as far as the Grampian Hills, but the N. portion of the island was never subdued by the invaders. In 411, Honor i us abandoned Britain, whose inhabitants, finding it impo ible to defend themselves against the Picts, called to their aid the Saxons, who (449) a isted them so effectually that they took po e ion of the country and founded the four kingdoms of E ex, We ex, Su ex, and Kent. The Angles, who followed them, established three other kingdoms, viz., East Anglia, Deira, and Mercia (540-584). All these kingdoms ended by being reduced to one, under Egbert, the Saxon king of We ex (827). After 835 the Danes ravaged England from time to time, but in 871 Alfred the Great forced them to desist, and from thence till near the end of his reign (900) the Danes left the island in peace. Returning in 981, the Danes succeeded, in 1013, in putting their king, Sweyn, on the throne, which was not recovered by the Saxon dynasty till 1041. In 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, conquered the kingdom and founded a new dynasty, which, in 1154, was replaced by the Plant a genets (of Norman race on the female side), and of whom Henry II. was the first king in England. This family reigned till 1485. The greatest events during this lapse of time were, the union of five large provinces of France with England by the acce ion of Henry II.; the struggle of this prince with Thomas A Becket (1162 to 1170); - the conquest of Ireland (1171); the wars of Richard the "Lion-Hearted" against France (1194 to 1199); the lo of Normandy by John (Lackland) in 1204; the institution of Magna Charta, the basis of the English constitution (1215), the insurrection of Montfort, Earl of Leicester, against Henry III. (1258 to 1265), - the temporary dominion over Scotland, during the anarchy in that country (1236 to 1314), - the hundred-years war against France (1337-1453), and the civil war between the houses of York and Lancaster, called the war of the Two Roses, which ended with the downfall of the then royal family (1480-1485). Then followed the Tudor dynasty, under which the royal power reached its zenith, and during which time the Protestant religion was substituted for Catholicism, - a change succe ively accomplished under Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Queen Elizabeth (1533 to 1603). This queen was succeeded by James I., the founder of the Stuart dynasty, who first 860. Ethelbert. united under his sway Scotland, England, and Ireland, under the name of Great Britain. His son Charles I., too favorable to Catholicity and to absolute power, perished on the scaffold (1649), a republic was proclaimed, and Cromwell ( q.v. ), under the title of Protector remained master of the realm until 1658. In 1660, the Stuarts were reëstablished, but the errors of James II. brought about a new revolution in 1688, which finally overthrew the Stuart dynasty and gave to the English, as sovereign, William III., prince of Orange, who had married Mary, daughter of James II. Under Queen Anne, who succeeded him, the union of England and Scotland was consummated, and her reign was further illustrated by the victories of Marl borough. After the death of Queen Anne (1714), the house of Hanover came to the throne as the nearest heirs of the royal line, and this family still holds the throne of England. Under this dynasty took place the Seven Years' War (1756 to 1763); the conquest of Canada (1763); the lo of the Anglo-American colonies, now the U. S. (1776-1783); the conquest of India (1757 to 1816); the struggle against the French revolution and against the Empire (1793 to 1815); the Irish Union (1800); the repeal of all penal laws against Catholics and Non-conformists (1820 to 1829); the repeal of the Corn Laws (1846); the Crime an war against Ru ia, in concert with France (1854-1855); the Sepoy mutiny, and its prompt repre ion, in Hindostan, (1857-1858), and the several expeditions against China (1842 to 1860); the Reform Bill (1868), and the Fenian agitation (for which see IRELAND); the Ashantee (1864) and Aby in i an (1868) wars; the Irish land act (1870); the settlement with the U. S. of the Alabama Claims (1873); the disestablishment of the Irish Church; the annexation of the Feejee Islands (1874); the a umption by the queen of the title of Empre of India (1876); the Berlin treaty ( q . v.), the acquisition of Cyprus; the Fisheries settlement with the U. S. (1878), the Afghan and Kaffir wars (1878-79), the extension of the franchise (1885), and the Nile expedition (1897). From 1879 to the present time Irish agitation has been for Great Britain a source of serious disquiet (see IRELAND). In 1882 Mr. Gladstone adopted 7' 31" N., Lon. 94° 39′ 45′′ W. 827. Egbert. 837. Ethelwolf. 857. Ethelbald II. 866. Ethelred I. 871. Alfred the Great. 901. Edward I., (the Elder.) 925. Athelstan. 946. Edred. 955. Edwy. 957. Edgar. 940. Edmund L. A. D. 975. Edward II., (the Mar tyr.) 979. Ethelred II. 1013. Sweyn. 1014. Canute (the Great). 1014. Ethelred II. (again). 1016. Edmund II. (Ironside) 1017. Canute (again). 1035. Harold I. 1040. Hard i can ute. 1043. Edward (the Confe or) 1066. Harold II. NORMANS. 1066. Dec. 25. William I. 1087. Sep. 26. William II. 1100. Aug. 5. Henry I. 1135. Dec. 26. Stephen. IMG:content-0428.png:[blocks in formation] Great Pond, in Maine , a post-office of Hancock co. Great Salt Lake, in Utah , the largest lake of the Great Basin (q. v.). It is about 90 m. long, 30 m. in width, and covers an area of 2,100 sq. m. Its surface is 4,200 ft. above the sea-level. In the middle of the lake, several islands rise as high as 3,250 feet above the level of the water; the principal island is in Lat. 41° 10' Ν., and Lon. 112° 21' W. The islands are 9 in number; one of them is 12 miles, and another 16 miles in length. The water of the lake is so salt as to form one of the purest and most concentrated brines known in the world. It contains 22 per cent. of chloride of sodium, slightly mixed with other salts. This lake, in whose waters no living creature is found, receives from the Bouth, by the Jordan, the waters of the Utah Lake, which are fresh, and those of the Wear River from the north: but it has no outlet. It has been called the "still innocent Dead Sea;" and, certainly, in the quality of the water, and the wild weird aspect of the surrounding scenery, the lakes greatly resemble each other. The first mention of the G. S. L. was by Baron La Hontan, in 1689, who did not himself visit it, but who gathered some notions of it from the Indians west of the Mi i ippi. It was first explored and described in 1843, by Colonel Fremont. A thorough survey was made in 1849-1850 by Captain Howard Stansbury, of the United States army, whose report was printed in 1852. About 38 m. to the S.E., and connected with it by the Utah or Jordan River, is Utah Lake, the waters of which are fresh. Great Salt Lake, city and county. See SALT LAKE. Great Slave Lake, [Fr. Lac de l'Esclave , a considerable lake in British N. America, of a very irregular shape, and covering an area of upwards of 15,000 sq.m. It lies between Lat. 60° 40′ and 63° N., and between 1090 30 and 117° 30′ W. Its main outlet is the Mackenzie River, which flows into the Arctic Ocean. Great Slave River, a river of British N. America, connects Lake Athabasca with the Great Slave Lake; length , about 300 m. Great South Bay, in New York , an arm of the At lantic Ocean on the S. coast of Suffolk co., Long Island. It is 50 m. long and from 12 to 5 m. wide. Great South Beach, which is about 35 m. long, and has Fire Island Light-house on the W. extremity, separates it from the ocean. Great Valley, in New York , a post-town of Cat tar aug us co., about 50 m. S. E. of Dunkirk. It was formerly a reservation of the Seneca Indians. Pop . (1897) about 1,940. Great Western, in Pennsylvania, a village of Armstrong co., about 212 m. W.N.W. of Harris burg. P. O. BRADY'S BEND. a policy of conciliation, but the murder of Lord Fred- Great'-hearted, a. High-spirited; und ejected. erick Cavendish and of Mr. Burke caused its abandonment and the immediate pa ing of a coercion law which virtually placed Ireland under martial law. In 1882 the Egyptian army, under the leadership of Arabi Great Island, an island in Ba 's Straits, between Australia and Tasmania. Ext. 40 m. in length, with a breadth of 12 m. Pop . 41,000, Great Island, an island of Ireland, in Cork harbor; Bey, having revolted from the Khedive's authority, area, abt. 12 sq. m. - Another in Wexford harbor. Great Britain sent a large naval expedition to Egypt, bombarded Alexandria, and defeated the rebellious forces. Since that date the Egyptian government has been under British suzerainty, and in 1896 a British expedition was sent up the Nile with the purpose of regaining the provinces of Egypt held by the Mahdist forces. Within the past decade G. B. has largely extended its territory in Africa, bringing great areas in the south and east of the continent under its protection. During the same interval several subjects of dispute have arisen with the U. S., which have all been peacefully settled. An imposing festival took place in Lon Great Island, in New Hampshire , an island and lighthouse at the entrance of Portsmouth harbor. It exhibits a fixed light 90 ft. above the sea-level. Lat. 43° 3' 30" N., Lon. 70° 43′ W. Great Kanawha, ( ka - naw'wa ,) a river in N. Caro lin a, Virginia , and W. Virginia , which rises in Watauga co., in the former State, and taking a tortuous N.Ε. course through Ashe co., enters Virginia in Grayson co.; thence traversing Carroll co., it makes its way through the Iron Mountain (a ridge of the Alleghany Mountains) into Wythe co., and from here following a general N.E., Grecian, (gre's han,) a. ( Geog.) Relating, or belonging to Greece. -n. (Geog.) A Greek; a native or inhabitant of Greece. -A Jew who understood Greek. ( Acts vi. 1.) - One who is a ripe scholar in the Greek language, history, or lit erature. "The most accomplished of Grecians." Grecian fire. See GREEK FIRE. De Quincey. Grecism, (gre's izm,) n. [Fr. grécis me.] An idiom of the Greek language; a Hellenism. Grecize, (gre's iz,) v. a. To make Grecian. To translate into Greek.