Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Apollinaris Sidonius (Caius Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius) əpŏlĭnârˈĭs sīdōˈnēəs, sĭdōˈ– [key], fl. 455–75, Latin writer, b. Lyons. He had a minor role in imperial politics and was bi...

(Encyclopedia) Blackburn, Joseph, b. c.1700, d. after 1765, American portrait painter. Little is known concerning him except that from 1750 to 1765 he painted portraits (usually signed J.B.), chiefly of members of d...

(Encyclopedia) Bartlett, John, 1820–1905, American compiler and publisher, b. Plymouth, Mass. While he worked in his university book store in Cambridge, he compiled the invaluable Familiar Quotations (1855), which...

(Encyclopedia) Sabelli səbĕlˈī [key], people of ancient Italy who spoke Oscan. They were a loose group and seemed to have had little or no political unity. Oscan-speaking tribes expanded over central Italy, and ...

(Encyclopedia) Guernsey cattle, breed of dairy cattle developed on the islands of Alderney, Guernsey, and Sark near the north coast of France. First imported to the United States in about 1830, they are fawn-colored...

(Encyclopedia) dam, barrier, commonly across a watercourse, to hold back water, often forming a reservoir or lake; dams are also sometimes used to control or contain rockslides, mudflows, and the like in regions whe...

(Encyclopedia) Berger, Thomas bûrˈgər [key], 1924–2014, American novelist, b. Cincinnati, grad. Univ. of Cincinnati (B.A., 1948). He is known for bitterly comic novels that often deal with the chasm he perceive...

(Encyclopedia) Osage, river, c.360 mi (580 km) long, formed by the confluence of the Marais des Cygnes and the Little Osage rivers, W Mo. It flows NE to join the Missouri River near Jefferson City. Bagnell Dam (comp...

(Encyclopedia) Hui Shih hwē shûr [key], c.380–c.300 b.c., Chinese logician, remembered for his paradoxes. Little is known about his life, except that he was a provincial prime minister, or about the thinking tha...

(Encyclopedia) John II, 1405–54, Spanish king of Castile and León (1406–54), son and successor of Henry III. He was little interested in government, which he entrusted to his favorite Alvaro de Luna. Literature...