Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

United Presbyterian Church

(Encyclopedia)United Presbyterian Church, two denominations of Presbyterianism. 1 In Scotland, the United Presbyterian Church was formed by the union (1847) of the United Secession Church with the majority of the c...

National Organization for Women

(Encyclopedia)National Organization for Women (NOW), group founded (1966) to support “full equality for women in America in a truly equal partnership with men.” Its founder and first president was feminist lead...

Deloria, Vine Victor Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Deloria, Vine, Jr., 1933–2005, American author, theologian, historian, and activist, b. Marin, S.Dak. Considered by some to be the leading intellectua...

applejack

(Encyclopedia)applejack, brandy made by distilling hard cider or fermented apple pomace. Another method of making applejack, now rarely used, is to let fermented cider freeze and then to remove the ice. It was one ...

honeysuckle

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Trumpet honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens honeysuckle, common name for some members of the Caprifoliaceae, a family comprised mostly of vines and shrubs of the Northern Hemisphere, especially...

La Condamine, Charles Marie de

(Encyclopedia)La Condamine, Charles Marie de shärl märēˈ də lä kôNdämēnˈ [key], 1701–74, French traveler and mathematical geographer. He was one of a group sent to Peru in 1735 to measure the length of ...

quaking grass

(Encyclopedia)quaking grass, any plant of the genus Briza, annuals or perennials of the Poaceae (grass family), cultivated for the graceful clusters of seeds, which vibrate in a breeze and are used in everlasting b...

Penutian

(Encyclopedia)Penutian pəno͞oˈshən [key], linguistic family, or stock, of Native Americans of North and Central America. See Native American languages. ...

Westminster Conference

(Encyclopedia)Westminster Conference, 1866–67, held in London to settle the plan for confederation of the Canadian provinces. The resolutions on confederation that had been framed at the Quebec Conference (1864) ...

Guiana

(Encyclopedia)Guiana gēănˈə, –änˈ– [key], region, NE South America. It faces the Atlantic Ocean on the north and east and is enclosed on the west and south within a vast semicircle formed by the linked ri...