Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Hatton, Sir Christopher

(Encyclopedia)Hatton, Sir Christopher, 1540–91, English courtier. He became a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I, from whom he received offices, honors, and lands. Knighted in 1578, he acted as Elizabeth's spokesman i...

Kara Kum

(Encyclopedia)Kara Kum kärˌə ko͝omˈ [key], two deserts, one in Kazakhstan and one in Turkmenistan. The Caspian Kara Kum or Garagum, the larger desert (c.115,000 sq mi/297,900 sq km), is W of the Amu Darya Rive...

Pinkie

(Encyclopedia)Pinkie, battlefield, E of Edinburgh, Scotland. There the English under Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset, defeated a larger Scottish force on Sept. 10, 1547. Somerset's invasion of Scotland, to enforce...

Babington, Anthony

(Encyclopedia)Babington, Anthony băbˈĭngtən [key], 1561–86, English conspirator. A member of the Roman Catholic gentry, he served as a youth in the household of the earl of Shrewsbury at Sheffield Castle, whe...

Randolph, Thomas, English diplomat

(Encyclopedia)Randolph, Thomas, 1523–90, English diplomat. He was graduated from Oxford (1545) and served as principal of Broadgates Hall (later Pembroke College), Oxford, until forced because of his Protestant s...

arboretum

(Encyclopedia)arboretum: see botanical garden. ...

Hosack, David

(Encyclopedia)Hosack, David hŏsˈək [key], 1769–1835, American physician, surgeon, and author; for a time he was Samuel Bard's partner (see under Bard, John). He was an authority on the management of yellow fev...

phlox

(Encyclopedia)phlox, common name for plants of the genus Phlox and for members of the Polemoniaceae, a family of herbs (and some shrubs and vines) found chiefly in the W United States. The family includes many popu...

Wren, Sir Christopher

(Encyclopedia)Wren, Sir Christopher, 1632–1723, English architect. A mathematical prodigy, he studied at Oxford. He was professor of astronomy at Gresham College, London, from 1657 to 1661, when he became Savilia...

Booth, Edwin

(Encyclopedia)Booth, Edwin, 1833–93, one of the first great American actors and the most famous of his era, b. “Tudor Hall,” near Bel Air, Md. After years of touring with his father, Junius Brutus Booth, serv...