Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Davies, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Davies, Sir John dāˈvĭs [key], 1569–1626, English poet. A successful lawyer, he served as solicitor general and attorney general in Ireland from 1603 to 1619. His works include Nosce Teipsum (159...

Davies of Hereford, John

(Encyclopedia)Davies of Hereford, John dāˈvĭs [key], 1565?–1618, English poet. He settled in London about 1600 after spending several years as a writing master at Oxford. His main efforts were religious and ph...

Delaware, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Delaware dĕlˈəwâr, –wər [key], city (2020 pop. 41,302), seat of Delaware co., central Ohio, on the ...

Diaz, Armando

(Encyclopedia)Diaz, Armando ärmänˈdō dēˈäts [key], 1861–1928, Italian field marshal. In World War I he replaced (1917) Cadorna as chief Italian commander. He defeated (1918) the disintegrating Austro-Hunga...

Grand-Pré

(Encyclopedia)Grand-Pré grăn-prā, Fr. gräN-prā [key] [Fr.,=large field], village, W central N.S., Canada, on an arm of the Bay of Fundy. The area is famous for having been an early settlement of the Acadians, ...

Oersted, Hans Christian

(Encyclopedia)Oersted or Ørsted, Hans Christian häns krĭsˈtyän örˈstĭᵺ [key], 1777–1851, Danish physicist and chemist. He was professor at Copenhagen from 1806. His discovery (1819) that a magnetic need...

Oil City

(Encyclopedia)Oil City, city (1990 pop. 11,949), Venango co., NW Pa., on the Allegheny River; inc. 1871. The city was founded after Edwin L. Drake struck (1859) oil nearby in Titusville. It was a refining and shipp...

Opper, Frederick Burr

(Encyclopedia)Opper, Frederick Burr, 1857–1937, American cartoonist and illustrator, b. Madison, Ohio. He began as a contributor to comic papers and was associated with Frank Leslie's publications for three years...

Paisley

(Encyclopedia)Paisley pāzˈlē [key], town (1991 pop. 84,330), Renfrewshire, W Scotland, on the White Cart Water, a stream. It has a thriving textile industry and is an extremely large producer of thread. Other ma...

Pandora, in Greek mythology

(Encyclopedia)Pandora păndôrˈə [key], in Greek mythology, first woman on earth. Zeus ordered Hephaestus to create her as vengeance upon man and his benefactor, Prometheus. The gods endowed her with every charm,...

Browse by Subject