Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Pym, Barbara (Barbara Mary Crampton Pym), 1913–80, English writer. Her books are quiet comedies, often dealing with older, usually frustrated, and isolated characters. After success with such novels...

(Encyclopedia) Pym, John pĭm [key], 1583?–1643, English statesman. A Puritan opposed equally to Roman Catholicism and to Arminianism in the Anglican church, Pym early became prominent in the parliamentary opposit...

(Encyclopedia) Santa Barbara sănˌtə bärˈbrə, –bərə [key], city (1990 pop. 85,571), seat of Santa Barbara co., S Calif., on the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1850. A beautiful residential and resort city with many re...

(Encyclopedia) Villiers, Barbara: see Cleveland, Barbara Villiers, duchess of. ...

(Encyclopedia) Bush, Barbara, 1925–2018, b. New York City as Barbara Pierce; wife of George H. W. Bush and mother of George W. Bush. She studied briefly at Smith College before marrying (1945); the Bushes ultimate...

(Encyclopedia) Barbara, Saint, fl. 3d or 4th cent., virgin martyr, whose life is shrouded in contradictory legends. Her father is said to have shut her up in a tower and then to have killed her for being a Christian...

(Encyclopedia) Stanwyck, Barbara, 1907–90, American stage, film, and television actress, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., as Ruby Stevens. She started as a chorus girl, was in the Ziegfeld Follies (1923–24) and performed on B...

(Encyclopedia) Castlemaine, Barbara, countess of: see Cleveland, Barbara Villiers, duchess of. ...

(Encyclopedia) McClintock, Barbara, 1902–92, American geneticist. She discovered that certain genetic material, “transposable elements” or “jumping genes” (now called transposons), shifted its location in ...