Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Zoba or Zobah both: zōˈbə [key], in the Bible, Aramaean state, NE of ancient Palestine, at the time of Saul, David, and Solomon. It waged war on Israel. An alternate form is is Hamath-zobah. Aramzo...

(Encyclopedia) Rodoreda, Mercè, 1909–83, Spanish novelist writing in Catalan. Exiled for several decades in Paris and Geneva following the Spanish Civil War, Rodoreda focuses her novel Time of the Doves (1962, tr...

(Encyclopedia) Abravanel or Abarbanel, Isaac əbräˈvənĕl, –bärbə– [key], 1437–1508, Jewish theologian, biblical commentator, and financier, b. Lisbon. He served as treasurer to Alfonso V of Portugal but ...

(Encyclopedia) Bronzino, Il ēl brōntsēˈnō [key], 1503–72, Florentine painter, an important mannerist (see mannerism), whose real name was Agnolo di Cosimo di Mariano. Bronzino was a pupil and adopted son of J...

(Encyclopedia) demesne dĭmānˈ [key], land under feudalism kept by the lord for his own use and occupation as distinguished from that granted to tenants. Initially the demesne lands were worked by the serfs in pay...

(Encyclopedia) Callaghan, Morley (Morley Edward Callaghan) kălˈəhănˌ [key], 1903–90, Canadian novelist. During the 1920s he spent time in Paris, where he became friends with Ernest Hemingway, whose influence ...

(Encyclopedia) flextime, system of assigning hours for work that permits employees to choose, within specified limits, the hours that they will be at their place of employment. In many companies, there is a “core ...

(Encyclopedia) harvest customs, practices associated with the celebration of the gathering of agricultural crops. The gathering of the harvest—the climax of the year's labors wherever the soil is cultivated—has ...

(Encyclopedia) Rodgers, Jimmie (James Charles Rodgers), 1897–1933, American singer, guitarist, and songwriter often called “the father of country music,” b. Meri...

(Encyclopedia) Regency, in British history, the period of the last nine years (1811–20) of the reign of George III, when the king's insanity had rendered him unfit to rule and the government was vested in the prin...