Worcester, Noah, 1758-1837, American Congregational clergyman, b. Hollis, N.H. He was pastor (1787-1810) at Thornton, N.H. From 1813 to 1818 he was the first editor of the Christian Disciple, a Unitarian periodical. He is, however, best remembered for his work in behalf of peace. His Solemn Review of the Custom of War (1814), under the pseudonym Philo Pacificus, had worldwide circulation and led to the establishment of peace societies. Worcester was secretary of the Massachusetts Peace Society (founded 1815), and he founded and edited (1819-28) a magazine, The Friend of Peace.

Webster, Noah, 1758-1843, American lexicographer and philologist, b. West Hartford, Conn., grad. Yale, 1778. After serving in the American Revolution, Webster practiced law in Hartford. His Grammatical Institute of the English Language, in three parts, speller, grammar, and reader (1783-85), was the first of a list of publications which made him for many years the chief American authority on English. The first part, often revised, was his famous Elementary Spelling Book, or "Blue-backed Speller," with which he helped to standardize American spelling. Pioneer families on the frontiers taught their children to read from it; in the schools it was a basic textbook, and in settlements and villages its lists were read out for lively spelling matches. By 1850, when the total population of the United States was less than 23,200,000, the annual sales of Webster's spelling book were about 1,000,000 copies, and the figures increased yearly. The difficulty of copyrighting his works in 13 states led Webster to agitate for many years for a national copyright law; it was passed in 1790. An active Federalist, he became a pamphleteer for centralized government and wrote his Sketches of American Policy (1785), proposing the adoption of a constitution. In 1793 he left Hartford to support Washington's administration by editing the newspaper American Minerva (later the Commercial Advertiser) in New York; he was also editor, at various times, of several magazines. Webster wrote scholarly studies on a great diversity of subjects, including epidemic diseases, mythology, meteors, and the relationship of European and Asian languages. During most of his later life he lived in New Haven, Conn., and Amherst, Mass., and was a member of the first board of trustees of Amherst College. Deriving his income from his schoolbooks, he devoted most of the rest of his life to compiling dictionaries. After his Compendious Dictionary was published in 1806, he worked on another, The American Dictionary of the English Language (1828), which included definitions of 70,000 words, of which 12,000 had not appeared in such a work before. Its definitions were excellent, and the dictionary's sales reached 300,000 annually. This work, Webster's foremost achievement, helped to standardize American pronunciation. Webster completed the revision of 1840, and the dictionary, revised many times, has retained its popularity. See also dictionary.

Porter, Noah, 1811-92, American educator and philosopher, b. Farmington, Conn., grad. Yale, 1831. He entered the ministry in 1836. In 1846 he became professor of moral philosophy and metaphysics at Yale and from 1871 to 1886 was 12th president of the university. As president he steadfastly opposed modern tendencies in education, urging the retention of Greek and Latin as the basis for the liberal arts course, the subordination of science to the humanities, and a prescribed curriculum rather than an elective system. He edited (1864, 1890) revised editions of Noah Webster's dictionary and wrote a number of educational and philosophical works, the most popular of which was The Human Intellect (1868).

Noah, Mordecai Manuel, 1785-1851, American journalist and politician, b. Philadelphia. He became a journalist in Charleston, S.C., and gave ardent support to the War of 1812. As a special agent to Algiers, he helped secure (1813-15) the release of American prisoners held by Algerian pirates. He returned to the United States, held public offices in New York City, founded and edited many newspapers, including the New York Enquirer and the Evening Star, and wrote plays. His plays include She Would Be a Soldier (1819) and The Grecian Captive (1822). Becoming acutely conscious of the problems of the Jewish people, Noah unsuccessfully attempted to buy Grand Island in the Niagara River as a city of refuge for the Jews of the world.

Noah [Heb.,=to rest], in the Bible, the builder of the ark. Righteous Noah and his family were the only people God saved from a world sunk in sin. At divine direction Noah built the ship that saved human and animal life from the Deluge, after which God established a covenant with him. According to biblical ethnography, Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, are eponymous ancestors of races as humankind is divided in the Bible. The story has similarities with other Middle Eastern accounts of the Deluge in the Gilgamesh epic and in the Babylonian myth of Atrahasis.

(born Oct. 16, 1758, West Hartford, Conn., U.S.—died May 28, 1843, New Haven, Conn.) U.S. lexicographer and writer. He attended Yale University and then studied law. While working as a teacher in New York, he began his lifelong efforts to promote a distinctively American education. His first step was publishing A Grammatical Institute of the English Language, including The American Spelling Book (1783), the famed “Blue-Backed Speller” that went on to sell some 100 million copies. An ardent Federalist, he founded two pro-Federalist newspapers (1793) and wrote articles on politics and many other subjects. He produced his first dictionary in 1806; in 1807 he began work on his landmark American Dictionary of the English Language (1828; 2nd ed. 1840). Reflecting his principle that spelling, grammar, and usage should be based on the living, spoken language, it was instrumental in establishing the dignity and vitality of American English. In 1821 Webster cofounded Amherst College. The rights to the dictionary were purchased from his estate by George and Charles Merriam, whose firm developed the Merriam-Webster dictionary series.

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(born Oct. 16, 1758, West Hartford, Conn., U.S.—died May 28, 1843, New Haven, Conn.) U.S. lexicographer and writer. He attended Yale University and then studied law. While working as a teacher in New York, he began his lifelong efforts to promote a distinctively American education. His first step was publishing A Grammatical Institute of the English Language, including The American Spelling Book (1783), the famed “Blue-Backed Speller” that went on to sell some 100 million copies. An ardent Federalist, he founded two pro-Federalist newspapers (1793) and wrote articles on politics and many other subjects. He produced his first dictionary in 1806; in 1807 he began work on his landmark American Dictionary of the English Language (1828; 2nd ed. 1840). Reflecting his principle that spelling, grammar, and usage should be based on the living, spoken language, it was instrumental in establishing the dignity and vitality of American English. In 1821 Webster cofounded Amherst College. The rights to the dictionary were purchased from his estate by George and Charles Merriam, whose firm developed the Merriam-Webster dictionary series.

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Biblical character from Genesis. The son of Lamech and ninth in descent from Adam, he was a man of blameless piety, who was chosen by God to perpetuate the human race after his wicked contemporaries had perished in the flood. On God's instructions, Noah built an ark and took into it one male and one female of each of the world's animals. After the waters receded, God set a rainbow in the sky as a guarantee of his promise never again to curse the earth. Noah was the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, from whom the entire human race is supposed to have descended. Noah is also said to have been the originator of vineyard cultivation.

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