Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

384 results found

Forbin, Claude, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Forbin, Claude, comte de klōd kôNt də fôrbăNˈ [key], 1656–1733, French naval commander. He fought in the Antilles (1680) and in Abraham Duquesne's Algerian campaign (1682–83) and from 1685 t...

Beersheba

(Encyclopedia)Beersheba bērshēˈbə, bērˈshēbə [key] [Heb.,=seven wells or well of the oath],...

holiday

(Encyclopedia)holiday [altered from holy day], day set aside for the commemoration of an important event. Holidays are often accompanied by public ceremonies, such as parades and carnivals, and by religious observa...

Fuseli, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Fuseli, Henry fyo͞oˈzĭlē [key], 1741–1825, Anglo-Swiss painter and draftsman, b. Zürich. He was known also as Johann Heinrich Fuessli or Füssli. He took holy orders but never practiced the pri...

Hoppner, John

(Encyclopedia)Hoppner, John, 1758–1810, English portrait painter. He was a protégé of George III, whose illegitimate son he was rumored to be. He imitated, without total success, the style of Sir Joshua Reynold...

Kauffmann, Angelica

(Encyclopedia)Kauffmann, Angelica äng-gāˈlēkä koufˈmän [key], 1741–1807, Swiss neoclassical painter and graphic artist. From her youth she was known for her artistic, musical, and linguistic abilities. She...

Beadle, George Wells

(Encyclopedia)Beadle, George Wells, 1903–89, American geneticist, b. Wahoo, Nebr., grad. Univ. of Nebraska (B.S., 1926; M.S., 1927), Ph.D. Cornell, 1931. Beadle taught (1931–36) biology at the California Instit...

Saunders, Sir Charles

(Encyclopedia)Saunders, Sir Charles, 1713?–1775, British admiral. He had seen 32 years of service in the British navy when he was selected in the French and Indian War to command the fleet that carried (1759) the...

Roselle

(Encyclopedia)Roselle rōzĕlˈ [key], borough (1990 pop. 20,314), Union co., NE N.J.; set off from Linden 1890 and inc. 1894. Chiefly residential, the borough has some industry. Thomas Edison had a laboratory ther...

Hamilton, Andrew Jackson

(Encyclopedia)Hamilton, Andrew Jackson, 1815–75, American politician, b. Huntsville, Ala. Moving to Texas in 1846, he served (1849) as attorney general, was a member of the legislature (1851–53), and in 1859 wa...

Browse by Subject