Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Tamil

(Encyclopedia)Tamil tămˈĭl [key], Dravidian language of India. See Dravidian languages. ...

president

(Encyclopedia)president, in modern republics, the chief executive and, therefore, the highest officer in a government. Many nations of the world, including the United States, France, Germany, India, and the majorit...

Edinburgh, University of

(Encyclopedia)Edinburgh, University of, at Edinburgh, Scotland; founded 1583. It has faculties of divinity, law, medicine, arts, science, music, social sciences, and veterinary medicine. The Institute for Advanced ...

paradox

(Encyclopedia)paradox, statement that appears self-contradictory but actually has a basis in truth, e.g., Oscar Wilde's “Ignorance is like a delicate fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone.” Many New Critics mai...

Brahui

(Encyclopedia)Brahui bräho͞oˈē [key], Dravidian language of Baluchistan. See Dravidian languages. ...

Telugu

(Encyclopedia)Telugu tĕlˈəgo͞oˌ [key], Dravidian language of India: see Dravidian languages. ...

Bishop's University

(Encyclopedia)Bishop's University, provincially supported, English-language university at Lennoxville, Que., Canada; founded 1843 by the Anglican bishop of Quebec as a liberal arts college. In 1853 it gained univer...

rhyme

(Encyclopedia)rhyme or rime, the most prominent of the literary artifices used in versification. Although it was used in ancient East Asian poetry, rhyme was practically unknown to the ancient Greeks and Romans. Wi...

Castile

(Encyclopedia)Castile kästēˈlyä [key], historic region and former kingdom, central and N Spain, traditionally divided into Old Castile and New Castile, and now divided among the autonomous communities of Castil...

Davidson, Donald Herbert

(Encyclopedia)Davidson, Donald Herbert, 1917–2003, American philosopher, b. Springfield, Mass., grad. Harvard (B.A., 1939; Ph.D., 1949). A student of W. V. Quine, Davidson emerged as one of the major figures in p...