Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Picard, Edmond

(Encyclopedia)Picard, Edmond ĕdmôNˈ pēkärˈ [key], 1836–1924, Belgian jurist and author. A brilliant lawyer, he was at various times president of the Belgian bar association and a member of the supreme court...

Stephen, Saint, Christian martyr

(Encyclopedia)Stephen, Saint, d. a.d. 36?, first Christian martyr, stoned at Jerusalem. He was one of the seven deacons. Accused of blasphemy, he was brought before the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. His speech defending ...

onomatopoeia

(Encyclopedia)onomatopoeia ŏnˌəmătˌəpēˈə [key] [Gr.,=word-making], in language, the representation of a sound by an imitation thereof; e.g., the cat mews. Poets often convey the meaning of a verse through ...

Trollope, Anthony

(Encyclopedia)Trollope, Anthony trŏlˈəp [key], 1815–82, one of the great English novelists. After spending seven unhappy years in London as a clerk in the general post office, he transferred (1841) to Ireland ...

Straus

(Encyclopedia)Straus strous [key], family of American merchants, public officials, and philanthropists. Isidor Straus, 1845–1912, b. Rhenish Bavaria, emigrated (1854) with his brothers to the United States in ord...

Kołobrzeg

(Encyclopedia)Kołobrzeg kôlôbˈzhĕk [key] or Kolberg, town (1994 est. pop. 46,300), Zachodniopomorskie prov., NW Poland, on the Baltic Sea at the mouth of the Prośnica River. It is a seaport, seaside resort, a...

Confederation Bridge

(Encyclopedia)Confederation Bridge, Fr. Pont de la Confédération, bridge that joins Borden-Carleton in Prince Edward Island with Cape Jourimain in New Brunswick, Canada. Spanning the Northumberland Strait at its ...

Siegen, Ludwig von

(Encyclopedia)Siegen, Ludwig von lo͝otˈvĭkh fən zēˈgən [key], c.1609–1680, German engraver, b. Holland, educated in Germany. He is said to have invented (c.1640) the mezzotint process of engraving. Among h...

Lawrence, T. E.

(Encyclopedia)Lawrence, T. E. (Thomas Edward Lawrence), 1888–1935, British adventurer, soldier, and scholar, known as Lawrence of Arabia. While a student at Oxford he went on a walking tour of Syria and in 1911 j...

sacrament

(Encyclopedia)sacrament [Lat.,=something holy], an outward sign of something sacred. In Christianity, a sacrament is commonly defined as having been instituted by Jesus and consisting of a visible sign of invisible...

Browse by Subject