Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Campion, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Campion or Campian, Thomas, 1567–1620, English poet, composer, and lutenist, a physician by profession. Campion wrote lyric poems that he and other composers set to music. His graceful, simple lute ...

veronica, Christian relic

(Encyclopedia)veronica vərŏnˈĭkə [key] [Lat., probably connected with Greek Berenice], relic preserved in St. Peter's Church, Rome. It is said to be a veil that a woman used to wipe the face of Jesus as he was...

Copernican system

(Encyclopedia)Copernican system, first modern European theory of planetary motion that was heliocentric, i.e., that placed the sun motionless at the center of the solar system with all the planets, including the ea...

Butler, Samuel, 1835–1902, English author

(Encyclopedia)Butler, Samuel, 1835–1902, English author. He was the son and grandson of eminent clergymen. In 1859, refusing to be ordained, he went to New Zealand, where he established a sheep farm and in a few ...

Broadway

(Encyclopedia)Broadway, famous thoroughfare in New York City. It extends from Bowling Green near the foot of Manhattan island N to 262d St. in the Bronx. Throughout its length Broadway is chiefly a commercial stree...

wig

(Encyclopedia)wig, arrangement of artificial or human hair worn to conceal baldness, as a disguise, or as part of a costume, either theatrical, ceremonial, or fashionable. In ancient Egypt the wig was worn to prote...

Jemappes

(Encyclopedia)Jemappes zhəmäpˈ [key], town, Hainaut prov., S Belgium. It is a coal-mining center of the Borinage region. Manufactures include iron and steel. At Jemappes in 1792 the French under Dumouriez defeat...

Leutze, Emanuel

(Encyclopedia)Leutze, Emanuel loitˈsə [key], 1816–68, American historical painter, b. Germany. In 1859 he settled in the United States, working in Washington, D.C., and New York City. His pictures are chiefly E...

Ilipa

(Encyclopedia)Ilipa ĭlˈĭpə [key], ancient town of Spain, near the modern Seville. Here Scipio Africanus Major defeated (206 b.c.) the Carthaginian forces after Hasdrubal had fled to Gaul. The overthrow of Carth...

Imola

(Encyclopedia)Imola ēˈmōlä [key], city, Emilia-Romagna, N central Italy, on the Aemilian Way. It is an ...