Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

simony

(Encyclopedia)simony sĭmˈənē [key], in canon law, buying or selling of any spiritual benefit or office. The name is derived from Simon Magus, who tried to buy the gifts of the Holy Spirit from St. Peter (Acts 8...

black market

(Encyclopedia)black market, the selling or buying of commodities at prices above the legal ceiling or beyond the amount allotted to a customer in countries that have placed restrictions on sales and prices. Such tr...

Malinovsky, Rodion Yakovlevich

(Encyclopedia)Malinovsky, Rodion Yakovlevich rōdyōnˈ yäˈkəvlyĭvĭch mälyĭnŏfˈskē [key], 1898–1967, Soviet marshal, b. Ukraine. He joined the Communist party in 1926. In World War II Malinovsky command...

Lightfoot, Lori Elaine

(Encyclopedia)Lightfoot, Lori Elaine, 1962–, American lawyer and politician, b. Massillon, Ohio, J.D. Univ. of Chicago Law School, 1989. A Democrat, she was an attorney in private practive before she became (1996...

Massey, Vincent

(Encyclopedia)Massey, Vincent, 1887–1967, Canadian statesman, b. Toronto; brother of actor Raymond Massey. After a brief career as a professor he served (1918–19) as a government official before joining his fam...

Kotzebue

(Encyclopedia)Kotzebue kŏtˈsəbyo͞o [key], city (1990 pop. 2,751), NW Alaska, on Kotzebue Sound at the tip of Baldwin Peninsula; inc. 1958. It has one of the largest settlements of Eskimos in Alaska. Kotzebue is...

Kingisepp

(Encyclopedia)Kingisepp kēnˌgĭsyĕpˈ [key], city, NW European Russia, SW of St. Petersburg, near the Estonian border, on the Luga River. A river port, it has leather and shoe industries. The site was settled in...

grandfather clause

(Encyclopedia)grandfather clause, provision in constitutions (adopted 1895–1910) of seven post–Reconstruction Southern states that exempted those persons who had been eligible to vote on Jan. 1, 1867, and their...

Destutt de Tracy, Antoine Louis Claude, Comte

(Encyclopedia)Destutt de Tracy, Antoine Louis Claude, Comte äNtwänˈ lwē klōd kôNt dĕstütˈ də träsēˈ [key], 1754–1836, French philosopher and psychologist. Although active in the Napoleonic government...

Barrow, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Barrow, city (2020 pop. 4,390), N Alaska; inc. 1958. It is the northernmost (71° 16′ N) U.S. settlement and the trade center of the Alaska North Slop...