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Edward Gibbon

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Gib⋅bon

[gib-uhn]
–noun
Edward, 1737–94, English historian.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Gib·bon   (gĭb'ən)   
British historian who wrote the classic text The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-1788).
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Cultural Dictionary

Gibbon, Edward

An eighteenth-century British historian whose masterpiece The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire was conceived during a tour of Italy while, as Gibbon put it, he “sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol.” Although largely superseded by later scholarship, his work remains a classic of English historical literature.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

gibbon 
1770, from Fr., supposedly from a word in the Fr. colonies of India but not found in any language there. Brought to Europe by Marquis Joseph-François Dupleix (1697-1763), Fr. governor general in India, 1742-54. The surname is O.Fr. Giboin, from Frank. *Geba-win "gift-friend," or in some cases a dim. of Gibb, itself a familiar form of Gilbert.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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