See Also: Whitney, John Hay(encyclopedia)
OCTA(medicine)
octa-(dictionary)
Whitney, Eli(encyclopedia)
Whitney, Mount(dictionary)
Whitney, Mount(encyclopedia)
Mann-Whitney(dictionary)
Whitney (as used in expressions)(encyclopedia)
Whitney, Amos(encyclopedia)
Whitney, William C(ollins)(encyclopedia)

Whitney, John Hay (sh) and octa- (iou)


Whitney, John Hay (sh)




born Aug. 17, 1904, Ellsworth, Maine, U.S.
died Feb. 8, 1982, Manhasset, N.Y.

U.S. multimillionaire and sportsman.

The son of Harry Payne Whitney and Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, "Jock" Whitney attended Yale University and later the University of Oxford, which he left to manage the family fortune on his father's death. He became an internationally ranked polo player, his stables produced notable racehorses, he invested in successful films and Broadway plays, and he boasted one of the finest Art collections in the U.S. As a combat-intelligence captain in World War II, he was captured in France but escaped; he was later awarded the Legion of Merit. He served as ambassador to Britain (1956-61). As publisher and (from 1961) editor in chief of the New York Herald Tribune, he tried to revitalize the paper, but it folded in 1966. He founded the John Hay Whitney Foundation in 1946.


octa- (iou)



octa- combining form. Before a vowel oct-.
[Greek okta- combining form of okto eight. Cf. OCTO-.]
Having eight, eightfold.
octa'decanol noun (Chemistry) any alcohol of the formula C18H37OH, of which many isomers exist; spec. (in full
n-octadecanol) the unbranched primary alcohol, found in whale oils (also called
stearyl alcohol): E20.
octamethyl,cyclo,tetrasi'loxane noun (Chemistry) a colourless oily liquid formed during silicone manufacture, with a cyclic tetrameric molecule of formula [(CH3)2SiO]4 M20.
oc'tandrous adjective (Botany) having eight stamens E19.
octa'peptide noun (Biochemistry) a peptide with eight amino acids in its molecule M20.
octapody noun (Prosody) a line of verse consisting of eight metrical feet E20.
octarch adjective (Botany) (of a vascular bundle) having eight strands of xylem, formed from eight points of origin L19.
octastich noun (Prosody) a group of eight lines of verse L16.