Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) malice, in law, an intentional violation of the law of crimes or torts that injures another person. Malice need not involve a malignant spirit or the definite intent to do harm. To prove malice, it is...

(Encyclopedia) Lagerlöf, Selma sĕlˈmä läˈgərlöv [key], 1858–1940, Swedish novelist. Her native Värmland is the background for many of her excellent stories, which deal with peasant life. Novels include Th...

(Encyclopedia) Omsk ômsk [key], city (1989 pop. 1,148,000), capital of Omsk region, W Siberian Russia, at the confluence of the Irtysh and Om rivers and on the Trans-Siberian RR. It is a major river port and produc...

(Encyclopedia) Massine, Léonide lāônēdˈ mäsēnˈ [key], 1896–1979, Russian choreographer and ballet dancer, b. Leonid Fyodorovich Miassin. Massine attended the Imperial Ballet School, St. Petersburg, and bec...

(Encyclopedia) Monge, Gaspard, comte de Péluse gäspärˈ môNzh kôNt də pālüzˈ [key], 1746–1818, French mathematician, physicist, and public official. He was distinguished for his geometrical research, whic...

(Encyclopedia) Delany, Martin Robinson dəlāˈnē [key], 1812–85, American black leader, b. Charles Town, Va. (now in West Virginia). The son of free blacks, he attended a black school in Pittsburgh and studied m...

(Encyclopedia) Denikin, Anton Ivanovich əntônˈ ēväˈnəvĭch dyĭnyēˈkĭn [key], 1872–1947, Russian general. The son of a serf, he rose from the ranks. After the Bolshevik Revolution in Nov., 1917 (Oct., 19...

(Encyclopedia) Borodin, Aleksandr Porfirevich əlyĭksänˈdər pərfēˈrĭvĭch bôrôdyēnˈ [key], 1833–87, Russian composer, chemist, and physician. He studied at the academy of medicine in St. Petersburg, wh...

(Encyclopedia) Bourne, Randolph Silliman bôrn [key], 1886–1918, American author and social critic, b. Bloomfield, N.J., grad. Columbia Univ., 1912. His critical examination of the American way of life established...

(Encyclopedia) Cædmon kădˈmən [key], fl. 670, English poet. He was reputed by Bede to be the author of early English versions of various Old Testament stories. According to Bede, Cædmon was an ignorant herder w...