Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Brady, Diamond Jim

(Encyclopedia)Brady, Diamond Jim (James Buchanan Brady), 1856–1917, American financier and philanthropist, b. New York City. He was a bellboy and messenger and then worked for the New York Central RR in various c...

Mary of Guise

(Encyclopedia)Mary of Guise gēz [key], 1515–60, queen consort of James V of Scotland and regent for her daughter, Mary Queen of Scots. The daughter of Claude de Lorraine, duc de Guise, she was also known as Mary...

mineral

(Encyclopedia)mineral, inorganic substance occurring in nature, having a characteristic and homogeneous chemical composition, definite physical properties, and, usually, a definite crystalline form. A few of the mi...

Pynchon, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Pynchon, Thomas pĭnˈchən [key], 1937–, American novelist, b. Glen Cove, N.Y., grad. Cornell, 1958. Pynchon is noted for his amazingly fertile imagination, his wild sense of humor, and the teeming...

pen

(Encyclopedia)pen, pointed implement used in writing or drawing to apply ink or a similar colored fluid to any surface, such as paper. Various kinds of pens have been used since ancient times. Reeds that were slit ...

Parkman, Francis

(Encyclopedia)Parkman, Francis, 1823–93, American historian, b. Boston. In 1846, Parkman started a journey along the Oregon Trail to improve his health and study the Native Americans. On his return to Boston he c...

Elizabethan style

(Encyclopedia)Elizabethan style ĭlĭzˌəbēˈthən [key], in architecture and the decorative arts, a transitional style of the English Renaissance, which took its name from Queen Elizabeth's reign (1558–1603). ...

Gilgamesh

(Encyclopedia)Gilgamesh gĭlˈgəmĕsh [key], in Babylonian legend, king of Uruk. He is the hero of the Gilgamesh epic, written on 12 tablets c.2000 b.c. and discovered among the ruins at Nineveh. The epic was lost...

Tiahuanaco

(Encyclopedia)Tiahuanaco tyäwänäˈkō [key], ancient native ruin, W Bolivia, 34 mi (55 km) S of Lake Titicaca on the Tiahuanaco R. in the S central Andes, near the Peruvian border; also called Tiwanaku or Tiahua...

mystery

(Encyclopedia)mystery or mystery story, literary genre in which the cause (or causes) of a mysterious happening, often a crime, is gradually revealed by the hero or heroine; this is accomplished through a mixture o...
 

Browse by Subject