Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Owen, John

(Encyclopedia)Owen, John, 1616–83, English Puritan divine and theologian. In the civil war Owen supported the parliamentary cause. Oliver Cromwell took him as chaplain to Ireland and Scotland and had him appointe...

Osborne, John

(Encyclopedia)Osborne, John (John James Osborne), 1929–94, English dramatist. He began his theatrical career as an actor and playwright in provincial English repertory theaters. Osborne's plays usually focus on a...

Pearson, John

(Encyclopedia)Pearson, John, 1613–86, English prelate and scholar. He was a royalist chaplain (1645) in the civil war, but during Cromwell's regime he lived quietly in London. His Exposition of the Creed (1659), ...

Opie, John

(Encyclopedia)Opie, John, 1761–1807, English portrait and historical painter. Opie showed a remarkable talent as a young man. He became the protégé of the poet John Wolcot, and enjoyed a brief popularity as a f...

Latrobe

(Encyclopedia)Latrobe, industrial borough (1990 pop. 9,265), Westmoreland co., SW Pa., in the foothills of the Alleghenies; inc. 1854. Among its varied manufactures are foam rubber, asphalt, building materials, ste...

Shamokin

(Encyclopedia)Shamokin shəmōˈkĭn [key], city (1990 pop. 9,184), Northumberland co., E Pa.; settled c.1835, inc. 1864. A mining center for anthracite coal, Shamokin lies in an area of declining industry and mine...

pasture

(Encyclopedia)pasture, land used for grazing livestock. Land unsuited for cultivation, e.g., hilly or stony land, may be used as pasture. Tilled land and meadow may be pastured after the crops are removed. Pastures...

straw

(Encyclopedia)straw, dried stalks of threshed grains, especially wheat, barley, oats, and rye. It has been used from antiquity for bedding, covering floors, and thatching roofs, as fodder and litter for animals, an...

Ariosto, Ludovico

(Encyclopedia)Ariosto, Ludovico lo͞odōvēˈkō äryôsˈtō [key], 1474–1533, Italian epic and lyric poet. As a youth he was a favorite at the court of Ferrara; later he was in the service of Ippolito I, Cardin...

Comus

(Encyclopedia)Comus kōˈməs [key], in late Roman legend, god of mirth and revelry. A follower of Dionysus, he was represented as a drunken youth bearing a torch. In Milton's poetic masque, Comus, he is the mischi...

Browse by Subject