Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

103 results found

Sons of Liberty

(Encyclopedia)Sons of Liberty, secret organizations formed in the American colonies in protest against the Stamp Act (1765). They took their name from a phrase used by Isaac Barré in a speech against the Stamp Act...

Nash, Ogden

(Encyclopedia)Nash, Ogden, 1902–71, American poet, b. Rye, N.Y., studied at Harvard. He was popular for a wide assortment of witty and immensely quotable doggerel verses, ranging from urbane satire to absurdity i...

senna

(Encyclopedia)senna, any plant of the genus Sennia (formerly placed in Cassia), leguminous herbs, shrubs, and trees of the family Leguminosae (pulse family), most common in warm regions. Some species are cultivated...

Chardin, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon

(Encyclopedia)Chardin, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon zhäN-bätēstˈ-sēmāôNˈ shärdăNˈ [key], 1699–1779, French painter. He was a major figure of 18th-century painting. While the Académie royale still advocated h...

Day, Doris

(Encyclopedia)Day, Doris, 1922–2019, American film actress, b. Cincinnati as Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff. Day is best known for her wholesome, girl-next-door roles. She began her career as a 1940s band singer, and ...

Jackson, Glenda

(Encyclopedia)Jackson, Glenda, 1936–2023, English actress and politician. Jackson's first starring role was as Charlotte Corday in Marat/Sade (1966) for the Royal S...

mimosa, in botany

(Encyclopedia)mimosa mĭmōˈsə [key], any tree, shrub, or herb of the genus Mimosa of the family Leguminosae (pulse family), chiefly tropical plants. They usually have feathery foliage and rounded clusters of fra...

Macy, Anne Sullivan

(Encyclopedia)Macy, Anne Sullivan, 1866–1936, American educator, friend and teacher of Helen Keller, b. Feeding Hills, Mass. Placed in Tewksbury almshouse (1876), she was later admitted (1880) to Perkins Institut...

Ryazanov, Eldar Aleksandrovich

(Encyclopedia)Ryazanov, Eldar Aleksandrovich, 1927–2015, Russian film director and screenwriter, b. Samara, grad. State Institute of Cinematography (1950). Probably Russia's most popular filmmaker, he renowned fo...

Gunn, Thom

(Encyclopedia)Gunn, Thom (Thomson William Gunn), 1929–2004, Anglo-American poet, b. Gravesend, Kent, England, grad. Trinity College, Cambridge (1953). Gunn published his first volume of poems, the critically accl...