Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

jargon

(Encyclopedia)jargon, pejorative term applied to speech or writing that is considered meaningless, unintelligible, or ugly. In one sense the term is applied to the special language of a profession, which may be unn...

Setesdal

(Encyclopedia)Setesdal sāˈtəsdäl [key], narrow valley, S Norway, in Aust-Agder co. It is drained by the Otra River (150 mi/241 km long) and contains several lakes. Communication with the rest of the country has...

phonology

(Encyclopedia)phonology, study of the sound systems of languages. It is distinguished from phonetics, which is the study of the production, perception, and physical properties of speech sounds; phonology attempts t...

MacBeth, George

(Encyclopedia)MacBeth, George, 1932–92, Scottish poet, grad. Oxford, 1955. He was until 1976 a producer for the BBC. His best poetry, such as The Broken Places (1963), often treats violent subjects in a combinati...

Hampshire, Sir Stuart Newton

(Encyclopedia)Hampshire, Sir Stuart Newton, 1914–2004, British philosopher, grad. Oxford. He taught at Oxford, University College (London), London Univ., and Princeton before joining (1984, emeritus after 1990) t...

Palés Matos, Luis

(Encyclopedia)Palés Matos, Luis lwēs pälāsˈ mäˈtōs [key], 1898–1959, Puerto Rican poet and essayist. Palés Matos was an outstanding exponent of Afro-Antillean poetry, which by use of African intonations,...

Lewis, John Robert

(Encyclopedia)Lewis, John Robert, 1940–2020, African-American politician and civil-rights leader, b. near Troy, Ala., B.A. American Baptist Theological Seminary, 19...

verb

(Encyclopedia)verb, part of speech typically used to indicate an action. English verbs are inflected for person, number, tense and partially for mood; compound verbs formed with auxiliaries (e.g., be, can, have, do...

Billingsgate

(Encyclopedia)Billingsgate bĭlˈĭngzgĭt, –gāt [key], wharf and fish market, London, England, on the north bank of the Thames River. The market was named after a river gate in the old city wall. The word Billi...

Brooks, Preston Smith

(Encyclopedia)Brooks, Preston Smith, 1819–57, U.S. Congressman (1852–57), b. Edgefield District, S.C. A lawyer and the nephew of Senator Andrew Pickens Butler, he is remembered as the man who in 1856 caned Char...