Holmes, Oliver Wendell1
Syllabification: (Holmes, Oliver Wendell)
Pronunciation: /hōmz/
Definition of Holmes, Oliver Wendell
- (1809–94), US physician, poet, and essayist; father of US Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. His main contribution to medicine was an essay, written in 1843, on contagion as one cause of puerperal fever. His best-known literary works are the humorous essays known as “table talks,” which began with The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1857–58).