Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

lard

(Encyclopedia)lard, hog's fat melted and strained from the tissues, an important byproduct of the meatpacking industry. The highest grade, leaf lard, is from the fat around the kidneys; the next best is from the ba...

Maremma

(Encyclopedia)Maremma märāmˈmä [key], coastal area in Tuscany, central Italy, along the Tyrrhenian Sea and extending E to the Apennines. A flourishing region in Etruscan and early Roman times, it became marshy ...

Klein, Calvin Richard

(Encyclopedia)Klein, Calvin Richard klīn [key], 1942–, American fashion designer, b. New York City. In 1968 he established Calvin Klein Limited, which produced clothes and accessories bearing his hallmark of sim...

Roa, Raúl

(Encyclopedia)Roa, Raúl (Raúl Roa García) räo͞olˈ rōˈä [key], 1907–82, Cuban minister of foreign affairs (1959–76). A lawyer, he was also a university professor in the 1940s and 1950s. He wrote prolifi...

commutation of sentence

(Encyclopedia)commutation of sentence, in criminal law, reduction of a sentence for a criminal act by action of the executive head of the government. Like pardon, commutation of sentence is a matter of grace, not o...

charade

(Encyclopedia)charade shərādˈ [key], verbal, written, or acted representation of a word, its syllables, or a number of words. The object is to guess the idea being conveyed. Winthrop M. Praed wrote many of the w...

Gildersleeve, Virginia Crocheron

(Encyclopedia)Gildersleeve, Virginia Crocheron, 1877–1965, American educator, b. New York City, grad. Columbia (B.A., Barnard, 1899; Ph.D., 1908). She was professor of English at Barnard from 1900 to 1911, when s...

De la Rue, Warren

(Encyclopedia)De la Rue, Warren dĕlˈəro͞o, dĕləro͞oˈ [key], 1815–89, British scientist and inventor. Especially noted as an astronomer, he was a pioneer in celestial photography. He adapted the wet-plate ...

Hiva Oa

(Encyclopedia)Hiva Oa hēˈvä ōˈä [key], volcanic island, 154 sq mi (399 sq km), South Pacific, second largest and the most important of the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia. Hiva Oa is the seat of Atuona, f...

Kenny, Elizabeth

(Encyclopedia)Kenny, Elizabeth, 1886–1952, Australian nurse, b. New South Wales, grad. St. Ursula's College, Australia, 1902. She became “Sister” Kenny as a first lieutenant nurse (1914–18) in the Australia...