Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Hiva Oa hēˈvä ōˈä [key], volcanic island, 154 sq mi (399 sq km), South Pacific, second largest and the most important of the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia. Hiva Oa is the seat of Atuona, f...

(Encyclopedia) Kenny, Elizabeth, 1886–1952, Australian nurse, b. New South Wales, grad. St. Ursula's College, Australia, 1902. She became “Sister” Kenny as a first lieutenant nurse (1914–18) in the Australia...

(Encyclopedia) Maremma märāmˈmä [key], coastal area in Tuscany, central Italy, along the Tyrrhenian Sea and extending E to the Apennines. A flourishing region in Etruscan and early Roman times, it became marshy ...

(Encyclopedia) Mayflower Compact, in U.S. colonial history, an agreement providing for the temporary government of Plymouth Colony. The compact was signed (1620) on board the Mayflower by the adult male passengers; ...

(Encyclopedia) De la Rue, Warren dĕlˈəro͞o, dĕləro͞oˈ [key], 1815–89, British scientist and inventor. Especially noted as an astronomer, he was a pioneer in celestial photography. He adapted the wet-plate ...

(Encyclopedia) commutation of sentence, in criminal law, reduction of a sentence for a criminal act by action of the executive head of the government. Like pardon, commutation of sentence is a matter of grace, not o...

(Encyclopedia) charade shərādˈ [key], verbal, written, or acted representation of a word, its syllables, or a number of words. The object is to guess the idea being conveyed. Winthrop M. Praed wrote many of the w...

(Encyclopedia) Klein, Calvin Richard klīn [key], 1942–, American fashion designer, b. New York City. In 1968 he established Calvin Klein Limited, which produced clothes and accessories bearing his hallmark of sim...

(Encyclopedia) wirehaired pointing griffon, breed of medium-sized sporting dog developed in Holland and France in the late 19th cent. It stands about 22 in. (56 cm) high at the shoulder and weighs between 45 and 60 ...

(Encyclopedia) Wickram, Jörg yörk vĭkˈräm [key], c.1505–62, German writer. Wickram wrote Meisterlieder, farces such as Der treue Eckart [faithful Eckart] (1538), biblical drama such as Tobias (1550), and the ...