Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Simeon or Symeon both: sĭmˈēŏn [key], in the Bible. 1 Second son of Jacob and Leah and ancestor of the southernmost tribe of Israel. He and his tribe are seldom mentioned individually. 2 Devout ma...

(Encyclopedia) Halleck, Fitz-Greene hălˈĭk [key], 1790–1867, American poet, b. Guilford, Conn. He was joint author, with Joseph Rodman Drake, of the humorous lampoons “Croaker Papers,” most of which were pr...

(Encyclopedia) Astoria ăstôrˈēə [key]. 1 Commercial, industrial, and residential section of NW Queens borough of New York City, SE N.Y.; settled in the 17th cent. as Hallet's Cove. It was renamed for John Jacob...

(Encyclopedia) Laptev Sea läpˈtyĭf [key], section of the Arctic Ocean, c.250,900 sq mi (649,800 sq km), N Siberian Russia, between the Taymyr Peninsula and the New Siberian Islands. It is shallow sea and is froze...

(Encyclopedia) Pleven, René rənāˈ plĕväNˈ [key], 1901–93, French political leader. He held various diplomatic and financial posts in the Free French government during World War II and served (1944–46) as ...

(Encyclopedia) Barbari, Jacopo de' yäˈkōpō dā bärbäˈrē [key], c.1440–1516, Germano-Dutch painter and engraver, b. Venice. Barbari was a major link between North European and Italian art; his and Dürer's ...

(Encyclopedia) Lane, Sir Ralph, c.1530–1603, leader of the first attempted English settlement in America, on Roanoke Island, N.C. Sent by Sir Walter Raleigh, the expedition of over 100 colonists left England in Ap...

(Encyclopedia) Orkhon ôrˈkŏn, ôr-khŏnˈ [key], river, c.300 mi (480 km) long, rising in the Khangai Mts., N central Republic of Mongolia, and flowing east, then north, past the site of ancient Karakorum, and th...

(Encyclopedia) Samsonov, Aleksandr Vasilyevich əlyĭksänˈdər vəsēˈlyəvĭch səmsôˈnəf [key], 1859–1914, Russian general. Early in World War I, when his army advanced into East Prussia (see Masuria) in o...

(Encyclopedia) Levites lēˈvīts [key], a religious caste among the ancient Hebrews, descended from Jacob's son Levi and figuring prominently in the Bible. There were three divisions of Levites—Kohathites, Merari...