Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Fields, W. C. (William Claude Fields), 1880–1946, American comic actor, b. Philadelphia as Claude William Dukenfield. He began his career as a juggler, and much later appeared in the Ziegfeld Follie...

(Encyclopedia) Hare Krishnas härˈē krĭshˈnəz [key], communalistic religious movement, officially known as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Founded in New York City (1966) by A. C. Bhaktived...

(Encyclopedia) psycholinguistics, the study of psychological states and mental activity associated with the use of language. An important focus of psycholinguistics is the largely unconscious application of grammati...

(Encyclopedia) Rothstein, Arnold rôthˈstēn [key], 1883–1928, American gambler, b. New York City. Supposedly beginning his career at the age of 12, Rothstein became a professional gambler and operated gaming hou...

(Encyclopedia) Tertullian (Quintus Septimus Florens Tertullianus) tûrtŭlˈyən [key], c.160–c.230, Roman theologian and Christian apologist, b. Carthage. He was the son of a centurion and was well educated, espe...

(Encyclopedia) Eichmann, Adolf īkhˈmän [key], 1906–62, German National Socialist official. A member of the Austrian Nazi party, he headed the Austrian office for Jewish emigration (1938). His zeal in deporting ...

(Encyclopedia) Villehardouin vēlärdwăNˈ [key], French noble family that ruled the Peloponnesus from 1210 to 1278. Geoffroi I de Villehardouin, d. 1218, nephew of the historian and marshal of Champagne and Romani...

(Encyclopedia) Pynchon, Thomas pĭnˈchən [key], 1937–, American novelist, b. Glen Cove, N.Y., grad. Cornell, 1958. Pynchon is noted for his amazingly fertile imagination, his wild sense of humor, and the teeming...

(Encyclopedia) Noot, Jan van der yän vän dĕr nōt [key], b. 1539 or 1540, d. 1595?, Flemish poet. He wrote sonnets, odes, and other pieces in imitation of Petrarch and especially of Ronsard. ...