Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Ripley, Robert LeRoy

(Encyclopedia)Ripley, Robert LeRoy, 1890–1949, American cartoonist, b. Santa Rosa, Calif., as Leroy Robert Ripley. The creator of the Believe It or Not! newspaper cartoon, Ripley began his career at 16 as a sport...

Ayrault, Jean-Marc

(Encyclopedia)Ayrault, Jean-Marc zhäN-märk āˈrō [key], 1950–, French politician. The son of a textile worker, he graduated (1971) from Nantes Univ. Obtaining (1972) his teaching diploma, from 1973 to 1986 he...

Soest

(Encyclopedia)Soest zōst [key], city (1994 pop. 44,917), North Rhine–Westphalia, W Germany. It is a manufacturing city and an agricultural trade center. Known in the 7th cent., Soest is one of the oldest cities ...

Tara

(Encyclopedia)Tara târˈə [key], village, Co. Meath, E Republic of Ireland. The Hill of Tara (507 ft/155 m high) was the seat of the high kings of Ireland from ancient times until the 6th cent. and may have been ...

sumptuary laws

(Encyclopedia)sumptuary laws sŭmpˈcho͞oĕˌrē [key], regulations based on social, religious, or moral grounds directed against overindulgence of luxury in diet and drink and extravagance in dress and mode of li...

Minnesota, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Minnesota, river, 332 mi (534 km) long, rising in Big Stone Lake at the W boundary of Minnesota and flowing SE to Mankato, then NE to the Mississippi S of Minneapolis. Earlier called the St. Peter or ...

Rackham, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Rackham, Arthur răkˈəm [key], 1867–1939, English illustrator and watercolorist. He is known for imaginative, delicately colored, and cheerful pen drawings, especially for children's books. Among ...

Vélez-Málaga

(Encyclopedia)Vélez-Málaga vāˈlāth-mäˈlägä [key], town (1990 pop. 54,234), Málaga prov., S Spain, in Andalusia, on the Vélez River. Subtropical in climate, chirimoyas, bananas, olives, grapes, and sugar ...

Mihajlović, Draža

(Encyclopedia)Mihajlović, Mihailović, or Mikhailovich, Draža or Dragoljub dräˈzhä mēhīˈlôvĭch, dräˈgôlyo͞obˌ [key], 1893–1946, Yugoslav soldier. He fought with the chetniks, a Serbian guerrilla fo...

Petrokrepost

(Encyclopedia)Petrokrepost shlüˈsəlbo͝orkh [key], town and fortress, NW European Russia, E of St. Petersburg. The town, the terminus of a railroad and of the lateral canals on Lake Ladoga, has shipbuilding and ...