Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Vestris, Gaetan

(Encyclopedia)Vestris, Gaetan gäātäNˈ vĕsˈtrēs [key], 1729–1808, Italian-French classical dancer, b. Florence. Vestris was one of the greatest dancers of the 18th cent. Born of an Italian theatrical family...

Unser, Al

(Encyclopedia)Unser, Al (Alfred Unser, Sr.) ŭnˈsər [key] 1939–2021, American automobile racing driver, b. Albuquerque, ...

parlement

(Encyclopedia)parlement pärˈləmənt, Fr. pärləmäNˈ [key], in French history, the chief judicial body under the ancien régime. The parlement consisted of a number of separate chambers: the central pleading c...

King, Carole

(Encyclopedia) King, Carole, 1942-, American singer-songwriter, b. New York, N.Y., as Carole Joan Klein. King enjoyed two separate careers; in the early ‘60s, she ...

Hoover, J. Edgar

(Encyclopedia)Hoover, J. Edgar (John Edgar Hoover), 1895–1972, American administrator, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), b. Washington, D.C. Shortly after he was admitted to the bar, he enter...

Gilgamesh

(Encyclopedia)Gilgamesh gĭlˈgəmĕsh [key], in Babylonian legend, king of Uruk. He is the hero of the Gilgamesh epic, written on 12 tablets c.2000 b.c. and discovered among the ruins at Nineveh. The epic was lost...

Napoleon III

(Encyclopedia)Napoleon III (Louis Napoleon Bonaparte), 1808–73, emperor of the French (1852–70), son of Louis Bonaparte (see under Bonaparte, family), king of Holland. Napoleon III was a complex figure. H...

Anjou

(Encyclopedia)Anjou äNzho͞oˈ [key], region and former province, W France, coextensive roughly with Maine-et-Loire and parts of Indre-et-Loire, Mayenne, and Sarthe depts. Angers, the historic capital, and Saumur ...

Washington University

(Encyclopedia)Washington University, at St. Louis, Mo.; coeducational; est. as Eliot Seminary 1853, opened 1854, renamed 1857. It has a well-known medical school and school of social work as well as research center...

Batoche

(Encyclopedia)Batoche bătŏshˈ [key], historic site, central Sask., Canada, on the South Saskatchewan River. During Riel's Rebellion, Louis Riel made his headquarters there, and the rebels were routed on May 12, ...