Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Reformation

(Encyclopedia)Reformation, religious revolution that took place in Western Europe in the 16th cent. It arose from objections to doctrines and practices in the medieval church (see Roman Catholic Church) and ultimat...

cotton

(Encyclopedia)cotton, most important of the vegetable fibers, and the plant from which the fiber is harvested. Today the leading cotton states are Texas, Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Louisi...

Lexington

(Encyclopedia)Lexington. 1 City (1990 pop. 225,366), seat of Fayette co., N central Ky., in the heart of the bluegrass region; inc. 1832, made coextensive with Fayette co. 1974. The outstanding center in the United...

Stuart, Gilbert

(Encyclopedia)Stuart, Gilbert, 1755–1828, American portrait painter, b. North Kingstown, R.I., best known for his portraits of George Washington. Having shown an early talent for drawing, he became the pupil of C...

eminent domain

(Encyclopedia)eminent domain, the right of a government to force the owner of private property sell it if it is needed for a public use. The right is based on the doctrine that a sovereign state has dominion over a...

New Thought

(Encyclopedia)New Thought, popular philosophical movement with religious implications; it affirms “the creative power of constructive thinking.” A successor of New England transcendentalism, New Thought grew ou...

nonjurors

(Encyclopedia)nonjurors [Lat.,=not swearing], those English and Scottish clergymen who refused to break their oath of allegiance to James II and take the oath to William III after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. T...

Lysenko, Trofim Denisovich

(Encyclopedia)Lysenko, Trofim Denisovich lĭsĕngˈkō, Rus. trəfēmˈ dyĭnyēˈsəvĭch lĭsyĕnˈkə [key], 1898–1976, Russian agronomist. As president of the Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences ...

Marshall, Thurgood

(Encyclopedia)Marshall, Thurgood, 1908–93, U.S. lawyer and associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1967–91), b. Baltimore. He received his law degree from Howard Univ. in 1933. In 1936 he joined the legal ...

Bucer, Martin

(Encyclopedia)Bucer or Butzer, Martin byo͞oˈsər, bo͞otˈsər [key], 1491–1551, German Protestant reformer born Martin Kuhhorn. At 14 years of age he joined the Dominican order, and he studied at Heidelberg, w...

Browse by Subject