Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Bodmer, Johann Jakob

(Encyclopedia)Bodmer, Johann Jakob yōˈhän yäˈkôp bōdˈmər [key], 1698–1783, Swiss critic, poet, and editor. He translated Milton's Paradise Lost and Middle High German poetry. Inspired by the Spectator, B...

mower

(Encyclopedia)mower, farm machine used for cutting grasses and other hay crops. Mowers, drawn by or attached to tractors, or self-propelled, have superseded scythes. The mower is essentially an adaptation of the mu...

Gilbert

(Encyclopedia)Gilbert, city (2020 pop. 267,918), Maricopa co. S central Ariz., suburb of Phoenix, located S of Mesa and E of Chandler; inc. 1920. Founded at the site ...

sneeze

(Encyclopedia)sneeze, involuntary violent expiration of air through the nose and mouth. It results from stimulation of the nervous system in the nose, causing sudden contraction of the muscles of expiration. The st...

alfalfa

(Encyclopedia)alfalfa lo͞osûnˈ [key], perennial leguminous plant (Medicago sativa) of the family Leguminosae (pulse family), the most important pasture and hay plant in North America, also grown extensively in A...

Foulis, Andrew

(Encyclopedia)Foulis, Andrew foulz [key], 1712–75, and Robert Foulis, 1707–76, Scottish printers, brothers. They worked in partnership as printers to the Univ. of Glasgow. Their publications were famous both fo...

compost

(Encyclopedia)compost, substance composed mainly of partly decayed organic material that is applied to fertilize the soil and to increase its humus content; it is often used in vegetable farming, home gardens, flow...

Prescott, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Prescott, city (1990 pop. 26,455), alt. 5,389 ft (1,643 m), seat of Yavapai co., central Ariz. in a mineral-rich area; inc. 1883. It is a mining and ranching center, a summer resort, and the headquart...

Bermuda grass

(Encyclopedia)Bermuda grass, perennial pasture, lawn, and hay grass (Cynodon dactylon) of the family Poaceae (grass family), native to Africa and Asia and now common in warm regions of both hemispheres. It is the s...

Reid, Whitelaw

(Encyclopedia)Reid, Whitelaw, 1837–1912, American journalist and diplomat, b. near Xenia, Ohio. His distinguished correspondence during the Civil War for the Cincinnati Gazette led Horace Greeley to make him mana...

Browse by Subject