Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

400 results found

Veracruz, city, Mexico

(Encyclopedia)Veracruz, city (1990 pop. 303,152), Veracruz state, E central Mexico, on the Gulf of Mexico. Rivaling Tampico as the country's main port, it is also the commercial and industrial center of an importan...

Henry I, king of England

(Encyclopedia)Henry I, 1068–1135, king of England (1100–1135), youngest son of William I. He was called Henry Beauclerc because he could write. He quarreled with his elder brothers, William II of England and Ro...

postage stamp

(Encyclopedia)postage stamp, government stamp affixed to mail to indicate payment of postage. The term includes stamps printed or embossed on postcards and envelopes as well as the adhesive labels. The use of adhes...

Thomson, James , 1700–1748, Scottish poet

(Encyclopedia)Thomson, James, 1700–1748, Scottish poet. Educated at Edinburgh, he went to London, took a post as tutor, and became acquainted with such literary celebrities as Gay, Arbuthnot, and Pope. His most f...

botulism

(Encyclopedia)botulism bŏchˈəlĭzˌəm [key], acute poisoning resulting from ingestion of food containing toxins produced by the bacillus Clostridium botulinum. The bacterium can grow only in an anaerobic atmosp...

Garfield, James Abram

(Encyclopedia)Garfield, James Abram, 1831–81, 20th President of the United States (Mar.–Sept., 1881). Born on a frontier farm in Cuyahoga co., Ohio, he spent his early years in poverty. As a youth he worked as ...

Parthenon

(Encyclopedia)Parthenon pärˈthənŏn [key] [Gr.,=the virgin's place], temple sacred to Athena, on the acropolis at Athens. Built under Pericles between 447 b.c. and 432 b.c., it is the culminating masterpiece of ...

Waugh, Evelyn Arthur St. John

(Encyclopedia)Waugh, Evelyn Arthur St. John ēvˈlĭn, sĭnˈjən wô [key], 1903–66, English writer, considered the greatest satirist of his generation. Educated at Oxford, he was briefly an art student and a te...

Kelmscott Press

(Encyclopedia)Kelmscott Press, printing establishment in London. There William Morris led the 19th-century revival of the art and craft of making books (see arts and crafts). The first book made by the press was Th...

Hartley, Marsden

(Encyclopedia)Hartley, Marsden, 1877–1943, American painter widely considered the first great American modernist of the 20th cent., b. Lewiston, Maine. He was educated in Cleveland, but early in his career (1899)...