Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Cushman, Charlotte Saunders ko͝oshˈmən [key], 1816–76, one of the first outstanding American actresses, b. Boston. Cushman turned from opera to drama and in 1835 first played Lady Macbeth, the ro...

(Encyclopedia) Walter, Lucy, 1630?–1658, mistress (1648–50) of Charles II of England during his exile in Holland and France. She was the mother by him of James Scott, duke of Monmouth, whom the Whigs supported a...

(Encyclopedia) pronoun, in English, the part of speech used as a substitute for an antecedent noun that is clearly understood, and with which it agrees in person, number, and gender. In English the pronouns are clas...

(Encyclopedia) Rio Branco, José Maria da Silva Paranhos, barão do zho͝ozĕˈ mərēˈə də sēlˈvə pəräˈnyo͝os bərouNˈ do͝o rēˈo͝o brängˈko͝o [key], 1845–1912, Brazilian statesman and diplomat. ...

(Encyclopedia) radiosonde rāˈdēōsŏnd [key], group of instruments for simultaneous measurement and radio transmission of meteorological data, including temperature, pressure, and humidity of the atmosphere. The ...

(Encyclopedia) spinet, musical instrument of the harpsichord family. Although the terms virginal and spinet, interchangeable until the end of the 17th cent., were sometimes used indiscriminately to designate any har...

(Encyclopedia) Ladd, William, 1778–1841, American pacifist, b. Exeter, N.H., grad. Harvard, 1797. He commanded sailing vessels until the outbreak of the War of 1812, when he retired to a farm in Maine. In 1820 he ...

(Encyclopedia) Daiches, David dāˈchēz [key], 1912–2005, British critic, b. Sunderland. A graduate of Edinburgh Univ. and Oxford (M.A., 1934; Ph.D., 1939), Daiches taught at several English universities and wrot...

(Encyclopedia) Belleville. 1 City (2020 pop. 42,404), seat of St. Clair co., SW Ill.; inc. 1819. Located in a coal-mining area, Belleville also has farm-related ...

(Encyclopedia) Rockville, city (1990 pop. 44,835), seat of Montgomery co., W central Md., a NW suburb of Washington, D.C.; settled c.1760s, inc. as a city 1860. It has several scientific research and technology labo...