Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

wig

(Encyclopedia)wig, arrangement of artificial or human hair worn to conceal baldness, as a disguise, or as part of a costume, either theatrical, ceremonial, or fashionable. In ancient Egypt the wig was worn to prote...

Jemappes

(Encyclopedia)Jemappes zhəmäpˈ [key], town, Hainaut prov., S Belgium. It is a coal-mining center of the Borinage region. Manufactures include iron and steel. At Jemappes in 1792 the French under Dumouriez defeat...

Leutze, Emanuel

(Encyclopedia)Leutze, Emanuel loitˈsə [key], 1816–68, American historical painter, b. Germany. In 1859 he settled in the United States, working in Washington, D.C., and New York City. His pictures are chiefly E...

Ilipa

(Encyclopedia)Ilipa ĭlˈĭpə [key], ancient town of Spain, near the modern Seville. Here Scipio Africanus Major defeated (206 b.c.) the Carthaginian forces after Hasdrubal had fled to Gaul. The overthrow of Carth...

Imola

(Encyclopedia)Imola ēˈmōlä [key], city, Emilia-Romagna, N central Italy, on the Aemilian Way. It is an ...

Alpena

(Encyclopedia)Alpena ălpēˈnə [key], city, seat of Alpena co., N Mich., on Thunder Bay, an arm of Lake Huron; inc. 1871. Limestone quarried nearby is used to make cement, Alpena's ch...

Char, René

(Encyclopedia)Char, René rənāˈ chärˈ [key], 1907–88, French poet. His writing reflects both his Provençal origins and his years of active participation in the French resistance. At first attracted to surre...

Snow, Lorenzo

(Encyclopedia)Snow, Lorenzo, 1814–1901, American Mormon leader, b. Mantua, Ohio, studied at Oberlin College. Entering the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1836), Snow became an apostle in 1849. Upon h...

Baffin Bay

(Encyclopedia)Baffin Bay, ice-clogged body of water, c.700 mi (1,130 km) long, between Greenland and NE Canada. It connects with the Arctic Ocean to the north and west and with the Atlantic Ocean to the south by wa...

Van Druten, John William

(Encyclopedia)Van Druten, John William văn dro͞oˈtən [key], 1901–57, English dramatist. His best-known plays, primarily light comedies, include Old Acquaintance (1940), The Voice of the Turtle (1943), I Remem...