Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

starling

(Encyclopedia)starling, any of a group of originally Old World birds that have become distributed worldwide. Starlings were released in New York City in 1890; since then the common, or European, starling (Sturnus v...

tern

(Encyclopedia)tern, common name for a sea bird of the Old and New Worlds, smaller than the related gull. Because of their graceful flight and their long pointed wings and forked tails, some terns are called sea swa...

Prévert, Jacques

(Encyclopedia)Prévert, Jacques zhäk prāvĕrˈ [key], 1900–1977, French poet. One of the most popular of 20th-century French writers, Prévert produced poetry ranging from the humorous to the satiric to the mel...

Barbari, Jacopo de'

(Encyclopedia)Barbari, Jacopo de' yäˈkōpō dā bärbäˈrē [key], c.1440–1516, Germano-Dutch painter and engraver, b. Venice. Barbari was a major link between North European and Italian art; his and Dürer's ...

Siddons, Sarah Kemble

(Encyclopedia)Siddons, Sarah Kemble, 1755–1831, English actress. The most distinguished of the famous Kemble family, she had early theatrical experience in her father's traveling company, and at 18 she married Wi...

Hosius

(Encyclopedia)Hosius hōˈzhēəs [key], c.255–c.358, Spanish prelate, bishop of Córdoba, leader against Arianism. He presided at the Council of Nicaea (325) and is credited by Athanasius with having authored th...

Asser

(Encyclopedia)Asser ăsˈər [key], d. 909, Welsh clergyman, monk of St. David's Abbey, Pembrokeshire. He went c.884 to the court of King Alfred, helped Alfred learn Latin, and later was made a bishop. He is rememb...

Aresson, Jon

(Encyclopedia)Aresson, Areson, or Arason, Jon all: yōn äˈrĕsôn [key], 1484?–1550, Icelandic churchman. The last Roman Catholic bishop in Iceland before the Reformation, he was executed together with his sons...

Tyard, Pontus de

(Encyclopedia)Tyard, Pontus de pôNtüsˈ də tēärˈ [key], 1521?–1605, French poet of the Pléiade (see under Pleiad). The sonnets in his Erreurs amoureuses (3 vol., 1549–55) are imitative of Petrarch and ar...

Benno, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Benno, Saint, d. 1106, German prelate. He was bishop of Meissen and an ardent supporter of Pope Gregory VII against Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, and the emperor had him deposed. He was reinstated on G...