Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

373 results found

Jacobites

(Encyclopedia)Jacobites jăkˈəbītsˌ [key], adherents of the exiled branch of the house of Stuart who sought to restore James II and his descendants to the English and Scottish thrones after the Glorious Revolut...

ballad

(Encyclopedia)ballad, in literature and music, short, narrative poem or song usually relating a single, dramatic event. Two forms of the ballad are often distinguished—the folk ballad, dating from about the 12th ...

progressivism

(Encyclopedia)progressivism, in U.S. history, a broadly based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th cent. In the decades following the Civil War rapid industrialization transformed the United St...

Portsmouth, cities, United States

(Encyclopedia)Portsmouth. 1 City (1990 pop. 25,925), Rockingham co., SE N.H., a port of entry with a good harbor and a state-owned port terminal at the mouth of the Piscataqua River opposite Kittery, Maine; inc. 16...

Yucatán, peninsula, North America

(Encyclopedia)Yucatán yo͞okətănˈ [key], peninsula, c.70,000 sq mi (181,300 sq km), mostly in SE Mexico, separating the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico. It comprises the states of Yucatán, Campeche, and ...

jazz

(Encyclopedia)jazz, the most significant form of musical expression of African-American culture and arguably the most outstanding contribution the United States has made to the art of music. ...

Marx, Karl

(Encyclopedia)Marx, Karl, 1818–83, German social philosopher, the chief theorist of modern socialism and communism. In 1847 Marx joined the Communist League and with Engels wrote for it the famous Communist M...

Augustus

(Encyclopedia)Augustus ôgŭsˈtəs, əgŭsˈ– [key], 63 b.c.–a.d. 14, first Roman emperor, a grandson of the sister of Julius Caesar. Named at first Caius Octavius, he became on adoption by the Julian gens (44...

sexually transmitted disease

(Encyclopedia)sexually transmitted disease (STD) or venereal disease, term for infections acquired mainly through sexual contact. Five diseases were traditionally known as venereal diseases: gonorrhea, syphilis, an...

Freud, Sigmund

(Encyclopedia)Freud, Sigmund froid [key], 1856–1939, Austrian psychiatrist, founder of psychoanalysis. Born in Moravia, he lived most of his life in Vienna, receiving his medical degree from the Univ. of Vienna i...
 

Browse by Subject