Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

fakir

(Encyclopedia)fakir fäkērˈ, fāˈkər [key], [Arab.,=poverty], in Islam, usually an initiate in a Sufi order. The title fakir is borne with the understanding that poverty is the need to be in relation to God. Th...

Cheremkhovo

(Encyclopedia)Cheremkhovo chĕrĭmkôˈvə [key], city (1989 pop. 74,000), SE Siberian Russia, on the Trans-Siberian RR. The center of the Cheremkhovo coal basin, the city forms part of a minor industrial complex b...

Saint Clair Shores

(Encyclopedia)Saint Clair Shores, city (1990 pop. 68,107), Macomb co., SE Mich., a residential suburb adjacent to Detroit, on Lake St. Clair; settled 18th cent. by the French, inc. 1925. Manufactures include jewelr...

Saint-Saëns, Charles Camille

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Saëns, Charles Camille shärl kämēˈyəˈ săN-säNs [key], 1835–1921, French composer. A child prodigy, he made his debut as a pianist at 10 and entered the Paris Conservatory in 1848. He ...

Prester John

(Encyclopedia)Prester John, legendary Christian priest and monarch of a vast, wealthy empire in Asia or in Africa. The legend first appeared in the latter part of the 12th cent. and persisted for several centuries....

poliomyelitis

(Encyclopedia)poliomyelitis pōˌlēōmīˌəlīˈtĭs [key], polio, or infantile paralysis, acute viral infection, mainly of children but also affecting older persons. Historically, there were three immunologic ty...

Bartholomew de Glanville

(Encyclopedia)Bartholomew de Glanville or Bartholomaeus Anglicus bärthŏlˌəmēˈəs ăngˈglĭkəs [key], fl. c.1250, English Friar Minor. He taught theology at Paris, and he was the author of De proprietatibus ...

determinant

(Encyclopedia)determinant, a polynomial expression that is inherent in the entries of a square matrix. The size n of the square matrix, as determined from the number of entries in any row or column, is called the o...

Byzantine Empire

(Encyclopedia)CE5 CE5 Byzantine Empire (c.1000) Byzantine Empire, successor state to the Roman Empire (see under Rome), also called Eastern Empire and East Roman Empire. It was named after Byzantium, which Emp...

Frederick Henry

(Encyclopedia)Frederick Henry, 1584–1647, prince of Orange; son of William the Silent by Louise de Coligny. He became stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands upon the death (1625) of his brother Ma...