Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Hitchcock, Lambert, 1795–1852, American chairmaker, b. Cheshire, Conn. In 1818 in Barkhamsted, Conn., Hitchcock established a factory whose employees came to number about 100. The village that the f...

(Encyclopedia) Mastroianni, Marcello märchĕlˈlō mästrōyänˈnē [key], 1924–96, Italian movie actor, b. Fontana Liri, Italy. Known for his striking good looks and his world-weary introspective air, he was di...

(Encyclopedia) Dio Cassius (Cassius Dio Cocceianus) dīo kăshˈəs [key], c.155–235?, Roman historian and administrator, b. Nicaea in Bithynia. He was a grandson of Dio Chrysostom. His rise in civil and military ...

(Encyclopedia) Douglas, Sir James de, lord of Douglas, 1286?–1330, Scottish nobleman, called the Black Douglas and Douglas the Good; eldest son of William de Douglas, lord of Douglas. In the war of independence ag...

(Encyclopedia) commercial paper, type of short-term negotiable instrument, usually an unsecured promissory note, that calls for the payment of money at a specified date. Because it is not backed by collateral, comme...

(Encyclopedia) agouti əgo͞oˈtē [key], name applied to rabbit-sized rodents of the genus Dasyprocta, found in Central and South America and in the West Indies. They have slender limbs with five front and three hi...

(Encyclopedia) jinni jĭn [key], in Arabic and Islamic folklore, spirit or demon endowed with supernatural power. In ancient belief the jinn were associated with the destructive forces of nature. In Islamic traditio...

(Encyclopedia) Harris, Marvin, 1927–2001, American anthropologist, b. New York City, grad. Columbia (A.B., 1949; Ph.D., 1953). A member of the faculty of Columbia (1952–80), he was chairman of the anthropology d...

(Encyclopedia) Heller, Joseph, 1923–99, American writer, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. Heller is best known for his first novel, Catch-22 (1961). Set in World War II, it is a darkly humorous commentary on the illogic of war a...

(Encyclopedia) Słowacki, Juliusz yo͞olˈyo͞osh slôvätsˈkē [key], 1809–49, Polish writer, one of the foremost Polish romantic poets. A revolutionist, he joined the Polish expatriates in Paris and died there ...