Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

489 results found

Glover, Jose

(Encyclopedia)Glover, Jose glŭvˈər [key], d. 1638, English nonconformist minister, generally considered the father of printing in the English colonies of North America. He visited New England c.1634 and on his r...

Bigod, Hugh, 1st earl of Norfolk

(Encyclopedia)Bigod, Hugh, 1st earl of Norfolk bīˈgŏd, nôrˈfək [key], d. 1177, English nobleman. He was instrumental in securing the throne for Stephen in 1135, but he subsequently switched his allegiance bac...

Senanayake, Dudley Shelton

(Encyclopedia)Senanayake, Dudley Shelton: see under Senanayake, Don Stephen. ...

Mother Goose

(Encyclopedia)Mother Goose, name associated with nursery rhymes. Most English nursery rhymes have been ascribed to Mother Goose. The origin of the name is still a matter of dispute. Some trace it to a French collec...

Goodman, Benny

(Encyclopedia)Goodman, Benny (Benjamin David Goodman), 1909–86, American clarinetist, composer, and band leader, b. Chicago. Goodman studied clarinet at Hull House. In Chicago he had the opportunity to hear (and ...

Fort Niagara

(Encyclopedia)Fort Niagara, post on the southern shore of Lake Ontario, at the mouth of the Niagara River, NW N.Y. It was strategically located on the water route to the fur lands. French explorer Robert LaSalle er...

toucan

(Encyclopedia)toucan to͞okănˈ, to͞oˈkän [key], perching bird of the New World tropics, related to the woodpeckers. Toucans vary in size from the jay-sized toucanets to the 24-in. (62-cm) tocos of the Amazon b...

Eustace II

(Encyclopedia)Eustace II yo͞oˈstĭs [key], d. 1093, count of Boulogne. He was the brother-in-law of Edward the Confessor of England. Visiting England in 1051, he and his followers became involved in a brawl with ...

Batory

(Encyclopedia)Batory: see Stephen Báthory and Báthory, family. ...

Astor, Nancy Witcher (Langhorne) Astor, Viscountess

(Encyclopedia)Astor, Nancy Witcher (Langhorne) Astor, Viscountess, 1879–1964, British politician, b. Virginia. She was first married to Robert Gould Shaw, and after her divorce (1903) from him she went to England...