Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Ayler, Albert

(Encyclopedia) Ayler, Albert, 1936-1970, free-jazz saxophonist, b. Cleveland, OH. Ayler was taught to play saxophone by his father, a semiprofessional musician, and the two often performed together in...

Calvert, George, 1st Baron Baltimore

(Encyclopedia)Calvert, George, 1st Baron Baltimore, c.1580–1632, English colonizer of North America. In 1606 he became private secretary to Robert Cecil, earl of Salisbury, then a secretary of state. His advance ...

Burne-Jones, Sir Edward

(Encyclopedia)Burne-Jones, Sir Edward, 1833–98. English painter and decorator, b. Birmingham. Expected to enter the Church, he went to Exeter College, Oxford, where he met William Morris, who became his lifelong ...

Amadas, Philip

(Encyclopedia)Amadas or Amidas, Philip both: ămˈədăs [key], 1550–1618, English navigator. With Arthur Barlowe he was sent by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584 to explore the North American coast. Their favorable rep...

Grenfell, Bernard Pyne

(Encyclopedia)Grenfell, Bernard Pyne grĕnˈfĕl [key], 1869–1926, English classical scholar and Egyptologist. With Arthur Surridge Hunt he discovered at Oxyrhynchus the Logia of Jesus (see Agrapha of Jesus). He ...

Pomponius Mela

(Encyclopedia)Pomponius Mela mēˈlə [key], fl. c.a.d. 50, Roman geographer, b. Spain. His De situ orbis, a description of the then known world, was published in Latin in 1471 and translated into English by Arthur...

Tappan, Lewis

(Encyclopedia)Tappan, Lewis, 1788–1873, American abolitionist, b. Northampton, Mass. He became a partner in his brother Arthur's New York mercantile house in 1828 and in 1841 founded the first agency for rating c...

Allison, Bobby

(Encyclopedia)Allison, Bobby (Robert Arthur Allison), 1937–, American auto racing driver, b. Miami, Fla. The hard-charging Allison drove the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing circuit from 1965 to 198...

anti-hero

(Encyclopedia)anti-hero, principal character of a modern literary or dramatic work who lacks the attributes of the traditional protagonist or hero. The anti-hero's lack of courage, honesty, or grace, his weaknesses...

Aneurin

(Encyclopedia)Aneurin or Aneirin ənīˈrĭn [key], fl. c.600, Welsh bard whose reputed writings are contained in a 13th-century manuscript, The Book of Aneirin. Included in this manuscript is Y Gododdin, an elegia...