Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Menen, Aubrey Clarence

(Encyclopedia)Menen, Aubrey Clarence mĕnˈən [key], 1912–89, English novelist, b. London. The son of an Indian father and an Irish mother, he was a drama critic, theater director, and advertising agency executi...

stele

(Encyclopedia)stele stēˈlē [key], slab of stone or terra-cotta, usually oblong, set up in a vertical position, for votive or memorial purposes. Upon the slabs were carved inscriptions accompanied by ornamental d...

Janáček, Leoš

(Encyclopedia)Janáček, Leoš lĕˈôsh yäˈnächĕk [key], 1854–1928, Czech composer, theorist, and collector of Slavic folk music. He studied in Prague and Leipzig and founded a music conservatory at Brno in ...

Robsart, Amy

(Encyclopedia)Robsart, Amy rŏbˈsärt [key], 1532–60, maiden name of the wife of Robert Dudley, later earl of Leicester, a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I of England. When Lady Dudley was found dead at the foot of...

Hondecoeter, Melchior d'

(Encyclopedia)Hondecoeter, Melchior d' mĕlˈkhēôr də hōnˈdəko͞otər [key], 1636–95, Dutch animal painter. His grandfather, Gillis d'Hondecoeter (d. 1638) and his father, Gysbert d'Hondecoeter (1604–1653...

Winkelried, Arnold von

(Encyclopedia)Winkelried, Arnold von ärˈnôlt fən vĭngˈkəlrēt [key], d. 1386, Swiss hero. His action at the battle of Sempach (July 9, 1386) is credited in legend with the Swiss defeat of the Austrians under...

Kristallnacht

(Encyclopedia)Kristallnacht krĭsˌtäl-näkht [key] [Ger.,=night of crystal], in German history, the night of Nov. 9, 1938, a night of violence against Jews and of destruction of the businesses and other property ...

Cameron, Verney Lovett

(Encyclopedia)Cameron, Verney Lovett kămˈərən [key], 1844–94, English traveler in Africa. A naval officer, he served (1868) in the British expedition against Ethiopia and assisted in the suppression of the Ea...

Masters, Edgar Lee

(Encyclopedia)Masters, Edgar Lee, 1869–1950, American poet and biographer, b. Garnett, Kans. He maintained a successful law practice in Chicago from 1892 to 1920. Masters's Spoon River Anthology (1915), a collect...

Rulfo, Juan

(Encyclopedia)Rulfo, Juan hwän ro͞olˈfō [key], 1918–86, Mexican writer. In his fiction he recreates the desolation of his native southern Jalisco and brings to life its simple people in a harsh and tragic man...