Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Stephenson, George

(Encyclopedia)Stephenson, George, 1781–1848, British engineer, noted as a locomotive builder. He learned to read and write in night school at the age of 18, while working in a colliery. He constructed (1814) a tr...

crepe

(Encyclopedia)crepe krāp [key], thin fabric of crinkled texture, woven originally in silk but now available in all major fibers. There are two kinds of crepe. The hard-finished, typically dyed black and used for m...

Acuña, Cristóbal de

(Encyclopedia)Acuña, Cristóbal de krēstōˈbäl dā ako͞oˈnyä [key], 1597–1676?, Spanish Jesuit missionary and explorer in South America, rector of the Jesuit college at Cuenca, Ecuador. In 1638 he was sent...

bridge, card game

(Encyclopedia)bridge, card game derived from whist, played with 52 cards by four players in two partnerships. Bridge probably originated in the Middle East in the 19th cent. Auction bridge, one form of the game, ...

Currier & Ives

(Encyclopedia)Currier & Ives, American lithographers and print publishers, who produced highly popular hand-colored prints of contemporary scenes and events in American life. Nathaniel Currier, 1813–88, b. Ro...

Mergenthaler, Ottmar

(Encyclopedia)Mergenthaler, Ottmar ôtˈmär mĕrˈgən-täˌlər [key], 1854–99, American inventor of the Linotype (see printing). Mergenthaler was born in Germany. He emigrated to the United States in 1872 and ...

bursa, in anatomy

(Encyclopedia)bursa bûrˈsə [key], closed fibrous sac lined with a smooth membrane, producing a viscous lubricant known as synovial fluid. Bursas are found in regions where muscles or tendons rub against other mu...

Stevenson, Teófilo

(Encyclopedia)Stevenson, Teófilo, 1952–2012, Cuban heavyweight boxer, b. Puerto Padre. One of the greatest amateur boxers ever to enter the ring, he won gold medals at the Munich (1972), Montreal (1976), and Mos...

plea bargaining

(Encyclopedia)plea bargaining, negotiation in which a defendant agrees to plead guilty to a criminal charge in exchange for concessions by the prosecutor (representing the state). The defendant waives the right to ...

Osborne, Thomas Mott

(Encyclopedia)Osborne, Thomas Mott, 1859–1926, American prison reformer, b. Auburn, N.Y., grad. Harvard, 1884. As chairman (1913) of the state commission on prison reform he became a voluntary prisoner in the Aub...