Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Jaazaniah

(Encyclopedia)Jaazaniah jāˌāzənīˈə [key], in the Bible. 1 Head of a number of idolatrous priests whom Ezekiel saw in a vision. 2 Captain active in the politics of Palestine at the time of the fall of Jerusal...

Allobroges

(Encyclopedia)Allobroges əlŏˈbrəjēz [key], Celtic tribe in Gaul, inhabiting later Dauphiné and Savoy. They were conquered (121 b.c.) by Quintus Fabius Maximus, who was called Allobrogicus in commemoration of ...

Fenton, Elijah

(Encyclopedia)Fenton, Elijah, 1683–1730, English poet. A graduate of Cambridge, he was a schoolmaster for a time and later was a tutor in several noble families. He is chiefly remembered for his share in Pope's t...

Barabbas

(Encyclopedia)Barabbas bərăbˈəs [key] [Aram.,=son of the father], bandit held in jail at the time of Jesus' arrest. Pontius Pilate, who, according to the Gospels, annually released a prisoner at Passover, offer...

Pur

(Encyclopedia)Pur pûr [key] [Heb.,=lot], in the Bible, lot cast by Haman to determine the time for the murder of the Jews. See Purim. ...

Ozias

(Encyclopedia)Ozias ōzīˈəs [key] [Gr.,=Heb. Uzziah], in the Bible. 1 Same as Uzziah (1.) 2 Ruler of Bethulia at the time of Judith. ...

Rabelais, François

(Encyclopedia)Rabelais, François răbˈəlā, Fr. fräNswäˈ räblāˈ [key], c.1490–1553, French writer and physician, one of the great comic geniuses in world literature. His father, a lawyer, owned several e...

Proust, Marcel

(Encyclopedia)Proust, Marcel pro͞ost [key], 1871–1922, French novelist, b. Paris. He is one of the great literary figures of the modern age. Born to wealthy bourgeois parents, he suffered delicate health as a c...

Ordovician period

(Encyclopedia)Ordovician period ôrdəvĭshˈən [key] [from the Ordovices, ancient tribe of N Wales], second period of the Paleozoic era of geologic time (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table) fr...

Lalo, Édouard Victor Antoine

(Encyclopedia)Lalo, Édouard Victor Antoine ādwärˈ vēktôrˈ äNtwänˈ lälōˈ [key], 1823–92, French composer. Lalo's opera, Le Roi d'Ys (1888), Symphonie espagnole for violin and orchestra (1875), and bal...

Browse by Subject