Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Newcastle, Thomas Pelham-Holles, duke of

(Encyclopedia)Newcastle, Thomas Pelham-Holles, duke of, 1693–1768, English politician, brother of Henry Pelham. He inherited (1711) the estates of his uncle, John Holles, duke of Newcastle, adopted his name, and ...

Passover

(Encyclopedia)Passover, in Judaism, one of the most important and elaborate of religious festivals. Its celebration begins on the evening of the 14th of Nisan (first month of the religious calendar, corresponding t...

food pyramid

(Encyclopedia)CE5 The U.S. Department of Agriculture used (1992–2005) this pyramid to show the basis of a healthy diet, dividing foods into five nutritional groups and recommending the number of daily average ...

field, in algebra

(Encyclopedia)field, in algebra, set of elements (usually numbers) that may be combined under the operations of addition and multiplication so that it constitutes an additive group, the nonzero elements form a mult...

Chilon

(Encyclopedia)Chilon kīˈlŏn [key], 6th cent. b.c., one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece. He was a Spartan and brought greater strictness to Spartan training. As an ephor (c.556 b.c.) he strengthened the power of ...

Pittacus

(Encyclopedia)Pittacus pĭtˈəkəs [key], c.650–c.570 b.c., Greek statesman and military leader; one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece. He helped to overthrow the tyrant of Mytilene in Lesbos and became the lawgiv...

Tydeus

(Encyclopedia)Tydeus tīˈdēəs [key], in Greek legend, son of Oeneus. He was killed in the expedition of the Seven against Thebes. His son, Diomed, avenged his father's death in the expedition of the Epigoni. ...

Zia ur-Rahman, Khaleda

(Encyclopedia)Zia ur-Rahman, Khaleda, or Khaleda Zia käˈlĕdä zēˈä o͞or-rämänˈ [key], 1945–, Bangladesh political leader. In 1960 she married Zia ur-Rahman, an army officer who founded the Bangladesh Na...

Boko Haram

(Encyclopedia)Boko Haram [Western education is sinful], Nigerian Islamic fundamentalist militia, officially Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati Wal-Jihad [people committed to the propagation of the Prophet's teaching...

Hope, Bob

(Encyclopedia)Hope, Bob, 1903–2003, American comedian, b. London as Leslie Townes Hope; he came to the United States at the age of five. Famous for his “ski-jump” nose, topical humor, superb timing, brashly i...