Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

chorus, in music

(Encyclopedia)chorus, in music, large group of singers performing in concert; a group singing liturgical music is a choir. The term chorus may also be used for a group singing or dancing together in a musical or in...

Pleiku

(Encyclopedia)Pleiku or Play Ku both: plāko͞oˈ [key], town, central Vietnam. A highway junction for roads going east (to Quy Nhon), west (to Cambodia), north (to Da Nang), and south (to Ho Chi Minh City), it was...

Dallas, Alexander James

(Encyclopedia)Dallas, Alexander James dălˈəs [key], 1759–1817, U.S. secretary of the treasury (1814–16), b. Jamaica, West Indies. He went (1783) to Philadelphia, practiced law, and was secretary of state (17...

Palestine, region, Asia

(Encyclopedia)Palestine pălˈəstīn [key], historic region on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, at various times comprising parts of modern Israel, the West Bank and Gaza (recognized internationally by ...

Taanach

(Encyclopedia)Taanach or Tanach tāˈənăk, tāˈnăk [key], in the Bible, royal city of Canaan, central ancient Palestine, the modern Tell Ti'innik, West Bank, SE of Megiddo. Sisera was defeated here by Deborah a...

Hussein I

(Encyclopedia)Hussein I ho͝osānˈ, –īnˈ [key], 1935–99, king of Jordan; educated in England at Harrow and Sandhurst. He ascended the throne (1953) after his grandfather Abdullah I had been killed (1951) by ...

English Bazar

(Encyclopedia)English Bazar băzärˈ [key], town, West Bengal state, E central India, on the Mahananda River. ...

Holy Innocents

(Encyclopedia)Holy Innocents, in the New Testament, children of Bethlehem “from two years old and under,” killed by the order of Herod the Great in the attempt to destroy the infant Jesus. The Innocents have be...

Schwab, Charles Michael

(Encyclopedia)Schwab, Charles Michael shwäb [key], 1862–1939, American steel magnate, b. Williamsburg, Pa. He started as a stake driver in Andrew Carnegie's steelworks and rose to become (1897) president of the ...

Powell, John

(Encyclopedia)Powell, John, 1882–1963, American pianist and composer, b. Richmond, Va., grad. Univ. of Virginian, 1901. In Vienna he studied piano and composition and in 1908 made his debut as a pianist in Berlin...