Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

libretto

(Encyclopedia)libretto ləbrĕtˈō [key] [Ital.,=little book], the text of an opera or an oratorio. Although a play usually emphasizes an integrated plot, a libretto is most often a loose plot connecting a series ...

Liebermann, Max

(Encyclopedia)Liebermann, Max mäks lēˈbərmänˌ [key], 1847–1935, German genre painter and etcher. He went to Paris in 1873, where he was impressed by the Barbizon school of painters. In Holland he was influe...

Liverpool

(Encyclopedia)Liverpool, city and metropolitan borough (1991 pop. 448,300), NW England, on the Mersey River near its mouth. It is one of Britain's largest cities. A large center for food processing (especially flou...

geomorphology

(Encyclopedia)geomorphology, study of the origin and evolution of the earth's landforms, both on the continents and within the ocean basins. It is concerned with the internal geologic processes of the earth's crust...

DiMaggio, Joe

(Encyclopedia)DiMaggio, Joe (Joseph Paul DiMaggio) dĭmăjˈēōˌ, –mäjˈēōˌ [key], 1914–99, American baseball player, b. Martinez, Calif. One of the most charismatic of 20th-century sports figures, “Jol...

Wollstonecraft, Mary

(Encyclopedia)Wollstonecraft, Mary wo͝olˈstənkräft, –krăft [key], 1759–97, English author and feminist, b. London. She was an early proponent of educational equality between men and women, expressing this ...

aesthetics

(Encyclopedia)aesthetics ĕsthĕtˈĭks [key], the branch of philosophy that is concerned with the nature of art and the criteria of artistic judgment. The classical conception of art as the imitation of nature was...

Meléndez, Luis

(Encyclopedia)Meléndez, Luis lo͞oēsˈ mālānˈdāth [key], 1716–80, Spanish painter. He assisted his father, artist Francisco Melendez, until 1737, when he began studying with Lewis-Michel Vanloo, the court p...

Vincent, John Heyl

(Encyclopedia)Vincent, John Heyl, 1832–1920, American Methodist bishop, b. Tuscaloosa, Ala. In 1857 he was assigned to an Illinois conference, where he held various pastorates. His work in improving teaching meth...

conceptualism

(Encyclopedia)conceptualism, in philosophy, position taken on the problem of universals, initially by Peter Abelard in the 12th cent. Like nominalism it denied that universals exist independently of the mind, but i...