Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Brown, Jim

(Encyclopedia)Brown, Jim (James Nathaniel Brown), 1936–2023, American football player, b. St. Simon Island, Ga. A football and lacrosse All-American at Syracuse Uni...

Contarini

(Encyclopedia)Contarini kōntärēˈnē [key], ancient Venetian family, including eight doges, a cardinal, and several artists. The most celebrated member was Andrea Contarini, 1300?–1382. He was doge (1368–82)...

ballade

(Encyclopedia)ballade bəlädˈ [key], in literature, verse form developed in France in the 14th and 15th cent. The ballade usually contains three stanzas of eight lines with three rhymes and a four-line envoy (a s...

Dongen, Kees van

(Encyclopedia)Dongen, Kees van kās vän dôngˈən [key], 1877–1968, Dutch painter who worked in Paris. After moving to Paris in 1897, he met Matisse and became an exponent of fauvism eight years later. A precoc...

ocarina

(Encyclopedia)ocarina ŏkərēˈnə [key], musical wind instrument with eight finger holes and two thumb holes, rather egg-shaped, and made of metal, terra-cotta or plastic. Unlike other wind instuments, it produce...

sea fan

(Encyclopedia)sea fan, colonial marine animal forming erect, flattened, branching colonies in tropical and subtropical waters. Colonies may be several feet high and are often colorful, with purples, reds, and yello...

Dewey, George

(Encyclopedia)Dewey, George do͞oˈē, dyo͞oˈ– [key], 1837–1917, American admiral, hero of the battle of Manila, b. Montpelier, Vt., grad. Annapolis, 1858. He saw active duty in the Civil War and rose in the ...

Numantia

(Encyclopedia)Numantia no͞omănˈshə [key], ancient settlement, Spain, near the Durius (now Douro) River and north of modern Soria. Numantia played a central role in the Celt-Iberian resistance to Roman conquest....

Harlow, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Harlow, Jean, 1911–37, American movie star, b. Kansas City, Mo., as Harlean Carpentier. Harlow brought charm and a sexual knowingness to a series of comedies during the 1930s, becoming the model of ...

Rajshahi

(Encyclopedia)Rajshahi rämˈpo͝or bōäˈlēä [key], city (1991 pop. 318,000), W central Bangladesh, on the Ganges River. It is the administrative center for a district that produces practically all of the count...