Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Lightfoot, Joseph Barber, 1828–89, English prelate and scholar. A fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, he became Hulsean professor of divinity (1861) and Lady Margaret professor (1875). In 1871 he ...

(Encyclopedia) Pecock or Peacock, Reginald pēˈkŏk [key], c.1395–c.1460, English bishop and writer. He obtained the bishopric of St. Asaph in 1444 and transferred to Chichester in 1450. A learned, active, and co...

(Encyclopedia) New England Primer, famous American school book, first published before 1690. Its compiler was Benjamin Harris, an English printer who emigrated to Boston. This was the book from which most of the chi...

(Encyclopedia) Borrow, George Henry, 1803–81, English writer and traveler. He led a nomadic life in England and on the Continent, where he was a translator and agent for the British and Foreign Bible Society. His ...

(Encyclopedia) Consumers' League, National, organization designed to promote better conditions among workers by encouraging the purchase of articles made and sold under improved working conditions. The movement star...

(Encyclopedia) Stifter, Adalbert äˈdälbĕrt shtĭfˈtər [key], 1805–68, Austrian writer, b. Bohemia. Learned in law, mathematics, and science and accomplished as an artist, he was a tutor to important families...

(Encyclopedia) Secord, Laura (Ingersoll) sēˈkôrd [key], 1775–1868, Canadian heroine of the War of 1812. Born in Massachusetts, she was taken by her parents to Canada after the American Revolution. In 1813 she l...

(Encyclopedia) Eriphyle ĕrˌĭfīˈlē [key], in Greek legend, wife of Amphiaraüs and sister of Adrastus. She forced her husband into the battle of the Seven against Thebes when Polynices bribed her with the magic...

(Encyclopedia) Griswold, Matthew grĭzˈwəld [key], 1714–99, American jurist and politician, b. Lyme, Conn. Admitted to the bar in 1743, he was very learned in the law and was active in Connecticut politics. As d...

(Encyclopedia) tom-tom, name popularly applied to high-pitched hand drums, usually barrel-shaped and having either one or two drumheads of skin. They are tunable to specific pitches. Supposedly of Native American or...