Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Cygnus

(Encyclopedia)Cygnus sĭgˈnəs [key] [Lat.,=the swan], northern constellation located SE of Draco and NW of Pegasus. It was depicted as a bird by most ancient cultures. It is sometimes called the Northern Cross be...

field spaniel

(Encyclopedia)field spaniel, breed of medium-sized sporting dog developed in England from crosses between cocker spaniels and Sussex spaniels. It stands about 18 in. (45.7 cm) high at the shoulder and weighs about ...

Prévert, Jacques

(Encyclopedia)Prévert, Jacques zhäk prāvĕrˈ [key], 1900–1977, French poet. One of the most popular of 20th-century French writers, Prévert produced poetry ranging from the humorous to the satiric to the mel...

Kenai Fjords National Park

(Encyclopedia)Kenai Fjords National Park, 669,983 acres (271,248 hectares), S Alaska. The park features the great Harding Icefield and its radiating glaciers, many of which descend to tidewater, and a magnificent s...

starling

(Encyclopedia)starling, any of a group of originally Old World birds that have become distributed worldwide. Starlings were released in New York City in 1890; since then the common, or European, starling (Sturnus v...

Asser

(Encyclopedia)Asser ăsˈər [key], d. 909, Welsh clergyman, monk of St. David's Abbey, Pembrokeshire. He went c.884 to the court of King Alfred, helped Alfred learn Latin, and later was made a bishop. He is rememb...

Aresson, Jon

(Encyclopedia)Aresson, Areson, or Arason, Jon all: yōn äˈrĕsôn [key], 1484?–1550, Icelandic churchman. The last Roman Catholic bishop in Iceland before the Reformation, he was executed together with his sons...

Bar-Hebraeus, Gregorius

(Encyclopedia)Bar-Hebraeus, Gregorius bär-hēbrēˈəs [key], 1226–86, Syrian scholar, bishop of the Jacobite Church. Partly Jewish in ancestry, his original name was Abu-al-Faraj. His most celebrated work is a ...

Thirlwall, Connop

(Encyclopedia)Thirlwall, Connop kŏnˈəp thûrlˈwôl [key], 1797–1875, English historian. He was bishop of St. David's, Wales, from 1840. His chief work is his History of Greece (8 vol., 1835–44); it was the ...

Tyard, Pontus de

(Encyclopedia)Tyard, Pontus de pôNtüsˈ də tēärˈ [key], 1521?–1605, French poet of the Pléiade (see under Pleiad). The sonnets in his Erreurs amoureuses (3 vol., 1549–55) are imitative of Petrarch and ar...