Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Censorinus

(Encyclopedia)Censorinus sĕnsōrīˈnəs [key], fl. c.238, Roman grammarian. He wrote De die natali [on the day of birth], an essay partly astrological, partly chronological, which affords much information on anci...

Venite

(Encyclopedia)Venite vēnīˈtē [key] [Lat.,=come], Psalm 95, so called from its opening, “O come, let us sing unto the Lord.” It is the opening psalm of the Roman Catholic matins and of the Anglican morning p...

Bitterroot, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Bitterroot, river, c.120 mi (190 km) long, rising in SW Mont. and flowing north to join the Clark Fork River near Missoula. A Roman Catholic mission was established on the river in 1841, and missionar...

Robbers, Herman

(Encyclopedia)Robbers, Herman hĕrˈmän rôˈbərs [key], 1868–1937, Dutch novelist. A representative of descriptive realism, he wrote De Roman van een Gezin (1909–10; tr. The Fortunes of a Household, 1924). ...

Peter's pence

(Encyclopedia)Peter's pence, in the Roman Catholic Church, the annual voluntary laymen's contribution to the support of the pope. Formerly Peter's pence was a yearly tax of a penny levied by the Holy See on every h...

Comus

(Encyclopedia)Comus kōˈməs [key], in late Roman legend, god of mirth and revelry. A follower of Dionysus, he was represented as a drunken youth bearing a torch. In Milton's poetic masque, Comus, he is the mischi...

Consett

(Encyclopedia)Consett kŏnˈsət [key], town, Durham, NE England. The major economic focus is on engineerin...

Chiltern Hills

(Encyclopedia)Chiltern Hills, range of chalk hills, c.45 mi (70 km) long and 15 to 20 mi (24–32 km) wide, S England, NW of London, extending NE from Goring Gap. Its highest elevation is Coombe Hill (852 ft/260 m)...

Chelmsford, city, England

(Encyclopedia)Chelmsford, city, county seat of Essex, SE England. It is a market center (especially for cattle) for the surrounding agricultural district. Manufacture...

Ambarvalia

(Encyclopedia)Ambarvalia ămbərvālˈyə [key], in Roman religion, yearly agricultural rite held at the end of May. To insure fertility and disperse evil, each farmer led members of his household and a sacrificial...