Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Alkan, Charles Henri Valentin shärl äNrēˈ väläNtăNˈ ălkăNˈ [key], 1813–88, French pianist and composer; his original surname was Morhange. He was a pianist of great virtuosity and wrote m...

(Encyclopedia) Boyacá bōyäkäˈ [key], town, Boyacá dept., N central Colombia, near Tunja. At Boyacá on Aug. 7, 1819, revolutionary forces under Simón Bolívar won the decisive engagement that assured the inde...

(Encyclopedia) Cantor, Eddie, 1892–1964, American entertainer, b. New York City, originally named Edward Israel Isskowitz. Cantor became one of the best-known theatrical figures of his day. His style was typified ...

(Encyclopedia) Cinco de Mayo, May 5, the anniversary of Mexico's victory over France in 1862 in the Battle of Puebla, in which Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza's small, ill-equipped Mexican forces defeated a much larger French...

(Encyclopedia) Coehoorn, Menno van mĕˈnō vän ko͞oˈhôrn [key], 1641–1704, Dutch military engineer and nobleman. He invented a portable bronze siege mortar called the coehorn. He was considered in his day a r...

(Encyclopedia) Immanuel ben Solomon, c.1265–c.1330, Hebrew-Italian poet and scholar, b. Rome. He wrote biblical criticism and, in both Hebrew and Italian, satiric verse and lively stories. His work represents a sy...

(Encyclopedia) Cosway, Richard kŏzˈwā [key], 1740?–1821, English miniaturist. His work was elegant and modish and became highly popular in his day. There is a collection of his works in Windsor Castle. Perhaps ...

(Encyclopedia) Haydon, Benjamin Robert, 1786–1846, English historical painter and writer. A painter in the Grand Manner expounded by Reynolds, Haydon was also a popular teacher, writer, and lecturer. His lectures ...

(Encyclopedia) Strange, Sir Robert, 1721–92, English engraver. The outstanding historical engraver of his day, he became a member of the academies of Rome, Florence, Bologna, and France and was the only English en...

(Encyclopedia) sty, in medicine, acute localized infection of one or more of the glands of the eyelid, with pain, swelling, and redness of the lid margin, usually caused by a staphylococcus infection. An external st...