Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

485 results found

state flowers

(Encyclopedia)state flowers. Each state of the United States has designated, usually by legislative action, one flower as its floral emblem; the rose has been designated by Congress as the national flower of the Un...

Crawford, Joan

(Encyclopedia)Crawford, Joan, 1908–77, American movie star, b. San Antonio, Tex., as Lucille Le Sueur. After working as a Broadway chorus dancer, Crawford began making films in 1926, eventually moving from musica...

Fonda, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Fonda, Peter, 1939–2019, American actor. The son of Henry Fonda and brother of Jane Fonda, he made his screen debut in a forgettable 1963 feature. Several movies later he co-wrote and starred in the...

West, Mae

(Encyclopedia)West, Mae, 1893–1980, American stage and movie comedienne, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., as Mary Jane West. The unparalleled mistress of double entendre, West began in burlesque and continued in vaudeville, st...

Zanesville

(Encyclopedia)Zanesville, city (1990 pop. 26,778), seat of Muskingum co., central Ohio, on the Muskingum River at its junction with the Licking River; inc. 1815. It is a trade and industrial center that manufacture...

Coventry, city, England

(Encyclopedia)Coventry kŏvˈəntrē, kŭvˈ– [key], city and metropolitan borough (2021 est. met...

apostrophe, figure of speech

(Encyclopedia)apostrophe, figure of speech in which an absent person, a personified inanimate being, or an abstraction is addressed as though present. The term is derived from a Greek word meaning “a turning away...

Amersfoort

(Encyclopedia)Amersfoort äˈmərsfōrt [key], city, Utrecht prov., central Netherlands. It is a transportation and manufacturing center. Points of interest include a 14th-century water...

Arden, John

(Encyclopedia)Arden, John ärˈdən [key], 1930–2012, English playwright and novelist best known for his politically engaged work of the 1950s and 60s, a period during which he was considered one of Britain's maj...

Cobre, El

(Encyclopedia)Cobre, El ĕl kōˈbrā [key], town, Santiago de Cuba prov., SE Cuba, in a high valley of the Sierra Maestra. Once famous for rich copper mines (hence the name El Cobre), it is chiefly noted for a shr...

Browse by Subject