Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Manning, Olivia

(Encyclopedia)Manning, Olivia, 1911–80, English novelist, b. Portsmouth, Hampshire. During World War II she served as a journalist in the Middle East. She is best known for her “Balkan trilogy”: The Great For...

psaltery

(Encyclopedia)psaltery sôlˈtərē, –trē [key], stringed musical instrument. It has a flat soundboard over which a variable number of strings are stretched. Its origin was in the Middle East, and it is referred...

Arabs

(Encyclopedia)Arabs, name originally applied to the Semitic peoples of the Arabian Peninsula. It now refers to those persons whose primary language is Arabic. They constitute most of the population of Algeria, Bahr...

banjo

(Encyclopedia)banjo, stringed musical instrument, with a body resembling a tambourine. The banjo consists of a hoop over which a skin membrane is stretched; it has a long, often fretted neck and four to nine string...

Decamps, Alexandre Gabriel

(Encyclopedia)Decamps, Alexandre Gabriel älĕksäNˈdrə gäbrēĕlˈ dəkäNˈ [key], 1803–60, French genre and historical painter, engraver, and lithographer. First known for his caricatures and illustrations,...

Gander

(Encyclopedia)Gander, town, NE Newfoundland, N.L., Canada. Gander's airport, an important base in World War II, is a hub for international flights; it also attracts m...

inn, lodging

(Encyclopedia)inn, in Great Britain, any hotel, public house, tavern, or coffeehouse where lodging is provided. In American usage, the inn is generally a small rural lodging house for transients. Among the earliest...

Meroë

(Encyclopedia)Meroë mĕrˈōē [key], ancient city in N Sudan, on the east bank of the Nile, N of Khartoum. In the mid-6th cent. b.c., Meroë replaced Napata as the central city of the Cushite dynasty (see Cush) a...

Wilson, Henry Maitland Wilson, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Henry Maitland Wilson, 1st Baron, 1881–1964, British field marshal. He served in the South African War and World War I and in 1939 became commander of the British forces in Egypt. He led the...

Hurley, Patrick Jay

(Encyclopedia)Hurley, Patrick Jay, 1883–1963, U.S. cabinet officer, b. Choctaw Territory (now in Oklahoma). Hurley practiced law in Tulsa, Okla., was (1912–17) national attorney for the Choctaw Nation, and foug...