Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Kent, kingdom of

(Encyclopedia)Kent, kingdom of, one of the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England. It was settled in the mid-5th cent. by aggressive bands of people called Jutes (see Anglo-Saxons). Historians are in dispute over the auth...

tallage

(Encyclopedia)tallage tălˈĭj [key], Fr. taille, a type of feudal tax. In its origins tallage is not clearly distinguishable from aids (a type of feudal due), and in Germany it never developed beyond an occasiona...

Calabria

(Encyclopedia)Calabria käläˈbrēä [key], region, 5,822 sq mi (15,079 sq km), S Italy, a peninsula projecting ...

De Quincey, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)De Quincey, Thomas də kwĭnˈsē [key], 1785–1859, English essayist. In 1802 he ran away from school and tramped about the country, eventually settling in London. His family soon found him and ente...

Fox, George

(Encyclopedia)Fox, George, 1624–91, English religious leader, founder of the Society of Friends, b. Fenny Drayton in Leicestershire. As a boy he was apprenticed to a shoemaker and wool dealer. By nature serious a...

Lipchitz, Jacques

(Encyclopedia)Lipchitz, Jacques zhäk lēpshētsˈ [key], 1891–1973, French sculptor, b. Lithuania as Chaim Jacob Lipchitz. From 1909, Lipchitz studied in Paris, where he became a member of the Esprit Nouveau gro...

dialect

(Encyclopedia)dialect, variety of a language used by a group of speakers within a particular speech community. Every individual speaks a variety of his language, termed an idiolect. Dialects are groups of idiolects...

Baldwin, James

(Encyclopedia)Baldwin, James, 1924–87, American author, b. New York City. He spent an impoverished boyhood in Harlem, became a Pentecostal preacher at 14, and left the church three years later. He moved to Paris ...

Armani, Giorgio

(Encyclopedia)Armani, Giorgio, 1934–, Italian fashion designer. He designed menswear at Nino Cerruti (1964–70), then worked freelance until 1975 when, in partnership with Sergio Galeotti, he opened his Milan de...

Mallea, Eduardo

(Encyclopedia)Mallea, Eduardo āˌᵺwärˈᵺō mäyāˈä [key], 1903–82, Argentine novelist and essayist. Mallea is considered one of the outstanding Latin American literary figures. Existentialist thought, pa...

Browse by Subject