Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Kabwe

(Encyclopedia)Kabwe käbˈwā [key], formerly Broken Hill, city (1990 pop. 166,519), central Zambia. During the 20th cent. it was an important lead and zinc mining and smelting center. As a result, the area suffers...

metonymy

(Encyclopedia)metonymy mĭtŏnˈəmē [key], figure of speech in which an attribute of a thing or something closely related to it is substituted for the thing itself. Thus, “sweat” can mean “hard labor,” an...

Perizzite

(Encyclopedia)Perizzite pĕrˈĭzīt, pērĭzˈ– [key], pre-Israelite inhabitants of ancient Palestine. According to the Book of Joshua, the Perizzites were located in the hill country. They were enslaved by Solo...

Morton, Sarah Wentworth

(Encyclopedia)Morton, Sarah Wentworth, 1759–1846, American author, b. Boston. Under her pseudonym, Philenia, she wrote such works as Ouâbi: Or the Virtues of Nature (1790), a sentimental Native American romance....

Balls Bluff

(Encyclopedia)Balls Bluff, hill on the south bank of the Potomac River, near Leesburg, Va. In the Civil War, Union troops who had crossed the river were severely repulsed there on Oct. 21, 1861. Dissatisfaction wit...

Clare, John

(Encyclopedia)Clare, John, 1793–1864, English poet. A romantic poet who wrote shortly after the vogue for such verse, he had a profound and singular gift for capturing nature in exquisitely specific detail. The s...

Rush, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Rush, Richard, 1780–1859, Amercian statesman and diplomat, b. Philadelphia; son of Benjamin Rush. He studied law and became (1811) attorney general of Pennsylvania, resigning the same year to become...

Edgehill

(Encyclopedia)Edgehill or Edge Hill, ridge on the border of Warwickshire and Oxfordshire, central England, NW of Banbury. A tower built in 1760 marks the scene of the first great battle of the English civil war, Oc...

Ombos

(Encyclopedia)Ombos ŏmˈbōs [key], ancient city, S Egypt, on the Nile, S of Idfu. It was strategically located on top of a hill. The city attained great importance under the Ptolemies, who built there a mighty te...

Socoh

(Encyclopedia)Socoh sōˈkō [key], in the Bible. 1 Town, SW ancient Palestine, SW of Bethlehem. It is also spelled Shochoh, Shoco, Shocho, Socho, and Sochoh. 2 Town, in the hill country of Judah, SW of Hebron. 3 T...

Browse by Subject