Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Meynell, Alice (Thompson) mĕnˈəl [key], 1847–1922, English poet and essayist. She spent most of her youth in Italy. Converted to Roman Catholicism in 1872, she wrote much on religious subjects. I...

(Encyclopedia) Armagnac ärmänyäkˈ [key], region and former county, SW France, in Gascony, roughly coextensive with Gers dept. Auch is the chief town. Armagnac is famous for the brandy bearing the same name. The ...

(Encyclopedia) Lee, William, 1739–95, American Revolutionary diplomat, b. Westmoreland co., Va.; brother of Arthur Lee, Francis L. Lee, and Richard H. Lee. He opened a business house in London in 1768 and later wa...

(Encyclopedia) Austerlitz ôˈstərlĭts, Ger. ouˈ– [key], Czech Slavkov u Brna, town, S Czech Republic, in Moravia. An agricultural center, the town has sugar refineries and cotton mills. It became a seat of the...

(Encyclopedia) Marciano, Rocky märsēäˈnō [key], 1924–69, American boxer, b. Brockton, Mass. His real name was Rocco Francis Marchegiano. Failing to become a professional baseball player, Marciano turned to bo...

(Encyclopedia) Allentown, city (2020 pop. 125,845), seat of Lehigh co., E Pa., on the Lehigh River; inc. as a borough 1811, as a city 1867. The largest city in the agricultural and industrial Lehigh Vall...

(Encyclopedia) Confederation of the Rhine, league of German states formed by Emperor Napoleon I in 1806 after his defeat of the Austrians at Austerlitz. Among its members were the newly created kingdoms of Bavaria a...

(Encyclopedia) Central Valley project, central Calif., long-term general scheme for the utilization of the water of the Sacramento River basin in the north for the benefit of the farmlands of the San Joaquin Valley ...

(Encyclopedia) circuit rider, itinerant preacher of the Methodist denomination who served a “circuit” consisting usually of 20 to 40 “appointments.” The circuit system, devised by John Wesley for his English...

(Encyclopedia) Fort McHenry, former U.S. military post in Baltimore harbor; built 1794–1805. In the War of 1812 it was bombarded (Sept. 13–14, 1814) by a British fleet under Sir Alexander Cochrane, but the fort,...