Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Firbank, Ronald

(Encyclopedia)Firbank, Ronald (Arthur Annesley Ronald Firbank), 1886–1926, English author. Of a delicate and eccentric nature, Firbank lived the life of a leisured aesthete. His novels, which have appealed to a s...

San Juan, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)San Juan săn wän [key], river, c.400 mi (640 km) long, rising in the San Juan Mts., SW Colo., and flowing generally W through N.Mex. and Utah to Lake Powell on the Colorado River. Navajo Dam, part o...

Arafat

(Encyclopedia)Arafat äräfäˈ [key], granite hill, Saudi Arabia, near Mecca. The hill was an ancient pagan sanctuary and is shrouded in many legends. It is a site for prayers during the hajj, the annual Muslim pi...

Priscillian

(Encyclopedia)Priscillian prĭsĭlˈyən [key], d. 385?, Spanish churchman, bishop of Ávila. His appointment to the bishopric was protested by orthodox leaders, who had condemned his former activities as a lay pre...

Dorking

(Encyclopedia)Dorking, town, Surrey, SE England. It is a market town and residential suburb of London. Leith Hill, the highest point in SE England (965 ft/294 m), is ...

Eisenhower, Milton Stover

(Encyclopedia)Eisenhower, Milton Stover, 1899–1985, American educator and public official, b. Abilene, Kans., grad. Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science (now Kansas State Univ.), 1924; brother ...

Woolworth, Frank Winfield

(Encyclopedia)Woolworth, Frank Winfield, 1852–1919, American merchant, b. Rodman, N.Y. He established in 1879 a five-cent store at Utica, N.Y., which failed, and the same year he started a successful five-and-ten...

Rainbow Bridge National Monument

(Encyclopedia)Rainbow Bridge National Monument, 160 acres (65 hectares), S Utah; est. 1910. Rainbow Bridge, the largest natural bridge in the world, is a symmetrical, pink, sandstone arch, 309 ft (94 m) high, 33 ft...

Boston College

(Encyclopedia)Boston College, main campus at Chestnut Hill, Mass.; coeducational; Jesuit; est. and opened 1863. Actually a university, the school's Chestnut Hill campus comprises colleges of arts and sciences and b...

Browse by Subject