Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Tonton Macoutes

(Encyclopedia)Tonton Macoutes tŏntŏnˈ mäko͞otˈ [key] [Haitian Creole,=bogeymen], personal police force of dictator Francois Duvalier (Papa Doc) of Haiti. Unpaid volunteers who were directly responsible only t...

Adrian, Gilbert

(Encyclopedia)Adrian, Gilbert, 1903–59, popularly known simply as Adrian, fashion designer, b. Naugatuk, Conn. Educated in New York City, he created designs for Broadway shows until 1925, when he moved to Hollywo...

Schuman, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Schuman, Robert rōbĕrˈ sho͞omäNˈ [key], 1886–1963, French statesman and lawyer, b. grand duchy of Luxembourg. A member of the Catholic Mouvement Républicain Populaire (MRP), he was finance mi...

French literature

(Encyclopedia)French literature, writings in medieval French dialects and standard modern French. Writings in Provençal and Breton are considered separately, as are works in French produced abroad (as at Canadian ...

Ajax

(Encyclopedia)Ajax āˈjăks [key], Gr. Aias, in Greek mythology. 1 Hero of the Trojan War, son of Telamon, thus called the Telamonian Ajax, also called Ajax the Greater. In the Iliad he is represented as a giganti...

language acquisition

(Encyclopedia)language acquisition, the process of learning a native or a second language. The acquisition of native languages is studied primarily by developmental psychologists and psycholinguists. Although how c...

Prakrit

(Encyclopedia)Prakrit präˈkrĭt [key], any of a number of languages belonging to the Indic group of the Indo-Iranian subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Indo-Iranian). The Prakrits are usually...

Echeverría, Esteban

(Encyclopedia)Echeverría, Esteban āstāˈbän āˌchāvārēˈä [key], 1805–51, Argentine romantic poet, prose writer, and revolutionary propagandist. After five years in Europe he introduced romanticism in Ar...

Courcelle, Daniel Rémy, sieur de

(Encyclopedia)Courcelle, Daniel Rémy, sieur de dänyĕlˈ rāmēˈ syörˈ də ko͞orsĕlˈ [key], d.1698, governor of New France (1665–72). He arrived with the intendant Jean Talon, and together they inaugurate...

Consulate

(Encyclopedia)Consulate, 1799–1804, in French history, form of government established after the coup of 18 Brumaire (Nov. 9–10, 1799), which ended the Directory. Three consuls were appointed to rule France—Na...