Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Barnet

(Encyclopedia)Barnet bärˈnət [key], outer borough of Greater London, SE England. Although mainly residen...

Gregory, Dick

(Encyclopedia)Gregory, Dick (Richard Claxton Gregory), 1932–2017, African-American civil-rights activist and comedian, b. St. Louis, Mo. A biting satirist who used the struggle for civil rights and other topical ...

Destinn, Emmy

(Encyclopedia)Destinn, Emmy (Ema Kittl) dĕsˈtĭn [key], 1878–1930, Czechoslovakian soprano. She debuted in Berlin in 1898 before singing the title role in the London production of Madame Butterfly in 1905. She ...

Grétry, André Ernest Modeste

(Encyclopedia)Grétry, André Ernest Modeste äNdrāˈ ĕrnĕstˈ môdĕstˈ grātrēˈ [key], 1741–1813, French operatic composer. Enormously prolific and successful in his lifetime, he was a master of the 18th-...

Gervase of Canterbury

(Encyclopedia)Gervase of Canterbury jûrˈvāz, jərvāzˈ [key], d. c.1210, English chronicler. A monk of Christ Church, Cambridge, he wrote an account of the reigns of Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I. His Chroni...

Northumberland, Henry Percy, 4th earl of

(Encyclopedia)Northumberland, Henry Percy, 4th earl of, 1446–89, English nobleman. When his father, the 3d earl, was killed fighting in the Lancastrian army at Towton (1461), he was imprisoned by Edward IV and th...

Marie Byrd Land

(Encyclopedia)Marie Byrd Land, area of W Antarctica, E of the Ross Shelf Ice and the Ross Sea and S of the Amundsen Sea; the Ford Ranges lie in the northwest part. The region was discovered and claimed for the Unit...

Lee, Francis Lightfoot

(Encyclopedia)Lee, Francis Lightfoot, 1734–97, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Westmoreland co., Va.; brother of Arthur, Richard H., and William Lee. Whi...

Benson, Robert Hugh

(Encyclopedia)Benson, Robert Hugh, 1871–1914, English author and clergyman; 4th son of Archbishop Benson. He was converted to Roman Catholicism in 1903 and ordained the next year. In 1911, as a monsignor, he beca...

Browse by Subject