Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Assiniboin əsĭnˈəboinˌ [key], Native North Americans whose culture is that of the N Great Plains; their language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native Amer...

(Encyclopedia) Butor, Michel mēshĕlˈ bütôrˈ [key], 1926–2016, French novelist and critic. As one of the chief exponents of the nouveau roman [new novel] (see French literature), Butor was less interested in ...

(Encyclopedia) indulgence, in the Roman Catholic Church, the pardon of temporal punishment due for sin. It is to be distinguished from absolution and the forgiveness of guilt. The church grants indulgences out of th...

(Encyclopedia) Kitt Peak National Observatory, astronomical observatory located southwest of Tucson, Ariz.; it was founded in 1958 under contract with the National Science Foundation and is administered by the Assoc...

(Encyclopedia) trichina trĭkīˈnə [key], common name for species of roundworm of the phylum Nematoda. The species Trichinella spiralis is an important parasite, occurring in rats, pigs, and man, and is responsibl...

(Encyclopedia) Betterton, Thomas bĕtˈərtən [key], 1635?–1710, English actor and manager. He joined Sir William D'Avenant's company at Lincoln's Inn Fields theater in 1661 and became the leading actor of the Re...

(Encyclopedia) Brubeck, Dave (David Warren Brubeck) bro͞oˈbĕk [key], 1920–2012, American pianist an...

(Encyclopedia) electrostatics, study of phenomena associated with charged bodies at rest (see charge; electricity). A charged body has an excess of positive or negative charges, a condition usually brought about by ...

(Encyclopedia) Guido d'Arezzo ârətīˈnəs [key], c.990–1050, Italian Benedictine monk, known for his contributions to musical notation and theory. His theoretical work Micrologus (c.1025) is one of the principa...

(Encyclopedia) La Calprenède, Gautier de Costes, sieur de gōtyāˈ də kôst syör də lä kälprənĕdˈ [key], 1609?–1663, French novelist and dramatist. His best-known works were Cassandre (10 vol., 1642) and...