Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

125 results found

Spenser, Edmund

(Encyclopedia)Spenser, Edmund, 1552?–1599, English poet, b. London. He was the friend of men eminent in literature and at court, including Gabriel Harvey, Sir Philip Sidney, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Robert Sidney,...

Fabian Society

(Encyclopedia)Fabian Society, British socialist society. An outgrowth of the Fellowship of the New Life (founded 1883 under the influence of Thomas Davidson), the society was developed the following year by Frank P...

Webb, Beatrice Potter

(Encyclopedia)Webb, Beatrice Potter, 1858–1943, English socialist economist; daughter of a wealthy industrialist. She took an early interest in social problems and worked with Charles Booth on his survey of worki...

Crapsey, Adelaide

(Encyclopedia)Crapsey, Adelaide krăpˈsē [key], 1878–1914, American poet, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. Vassar, 1901; daughter of Algernon Sidney Crapsey. After teaching in girls' schools she became an instructor at...

Sannazaro, Jacopo

(Encyclopedia)Sannazaro, Jacopo yäˈkōpō sän-nätsäˈrō [key], 1456?–1530, Italian humanist. He lived briefly (1501–4) in France, a follower of the exiled Frederick III of Naples. On Frederick's death, he...

hydrofoil

(Encyclopedia)hydrofoil, flat or curved finlike device, attached by struts to the hull of a watercraft, that lifts the moving watercraft above the water's surface. The term is often extended to include the vessel i...

Morse, Jedidiah

(Encyclopedia)Morse, Jedidiah, 1761–1826, American Congregational clergyman, b. Woodstock, Conn., grad. Yale, 1783. Licensed to preach in 1785, he taught and preached in various places before becoming (1789) mini...

Cech, Thomas Robert

(Encyclopedia)Cech, Thomas Robert chĕk [key], 1947–, American microbiologist, b. Chicago, grad. Univ. of California, Berkeley. A professor at the Univ. of Colorado, he discovered that RNA could function as enzym...

Armstrong, John, 1758–1843, American army officer

(Encyclopedia)Armstrong, John, 1758–1843, American army officer, U.S. Secretary of War (1813–14), b. Carlisle, Pa.; son of John Armstrong, “hero of Kittanning.” In the American Revolution he was on the staf...

apology

(Encyclopedia)apology [Gr.,=defense], literary work that defends, justifies, or clarifies an author's ideas or point of view. Unlike the ordinary use of the word, the literary use neither implies that wrong has bee...