Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Wheeler, William Almon

(Encyclopedia)Wheeler, William Almon, 1819–87, American legislator, vice president of the United States (1877–81), b. Malone, N.Y. Admitted to the New York bar (1845), he was district attorney of Franklin co., ...

Whipple, Amiel Weeks

(Encyclopedia)Whipple, Amiel Weeks, 1818–63, American soldier and topographical engineer, b. Greenwich, Mass. He became (1841) a topographical engineer in the U.S. army and engaged in surveying the U.S. borders w...

Sadducees

(Encyclopedia)Sadducees săjˈo͝osēz, sădˈyo͝o– [key], sect of Jews formed around the time of the Hasmonean revolt (c.200 b.c.). Little is known concerning their beliefs, but according to Josephus Flavius, t...

tubercle

(Encyclopedia)tubercle to͞oˈbərkyo͞olˌ [key] [Lat.,=little swelling], small, usually solid, nodule or prominence. In anatomy the term is applied to natural prominences in certain muscles, to nerve nuclei of th...

Tune, Tommy

(Encyclopedia)Tune, Tommy, 1939–, American dancer, choreographer, and director, b. Wichita Falls, Tex. An unusually lanky 6 ft 6 in., Tune began his Broadway dancing career in the chorus of several mid-1960s musi...

Turan

(Encyclopedia)Turan to͞oränˈ [key], desert lowland, shared by Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, S and E of the Aral Sea. The Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers divide it into the Kara Kum desert in the south...

Ulfilas

(Encyclopedia)Ulfilas wo͝olˈfĭlə [key] [Gothic,=little wolf], c.311–383, Gothic bishop, translator of the Bible into Gothic. He was converted to Christianity at Constantinople and was consecrated bishop (341)...

Sologub, Feodor

(Encyclopedia)Sologub, Feodor fyôˈdər sələgo͞opˈ [key], pseud. of Feodor Kuzmich Teternikov, 1863–1927, Russian poet and prose writer. By profession a schoolteacher and as a poet one of the older symbolist...

Tordesillas, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Tordesillas, Treaty of tōrˌᵺāsēˈlyäs [key], 1494, agreement signed at Tordesillas, Spain, by which Spain and Portugal divided the non-Christian world into two zones of influence. In principle ...

Terry, Alfred Howe

(Encyclopedia)Terry, Alfred Howe, 1827–90, American general, b. Hartford, Conn. A lawyer, he led a regiment of Connecticut volunteers at the first battle of Bull Run in the Civil War. Made a brigadier general of ...

Browse by Subject