Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Red Rock chicken

(Encyclopedia)Red Rock chicken, the only chicken still popular to any large extent in the United States today for both meat and eggs. It resulted from a cross between a Rhode Island Red male and a Plymouth Rock fem...

Sestos

(Encyclopedia)Sestos sĕsˈtŏs [key], ancient town on the Thracian shore of the Hellespont (now Dardanelles) opposite Abydos (in present-day Turkey). It was the scene of the story of Hero and Leander. It was there...

vigil

(Encyclopedia)vigil vĭjˈəl [key] [Lat.,=watch], in Christian calendars, eve of a feast, a day of penitential preparation. In ancient times worshipers gathered for vespers before a great feast and then waited out...

Clark, Lewis Gaylord

(Encyclopedia)Clark, Lewis Gaylord, 1808?–1873, American editor and writer, b. near Syracuse, N.Y. He was the editor (1834–60) of the Knickerbocker Magazine and made it a leading literary publication of its day...

Clark, William Smith

(Encyclopedia)Clark, William Smith, 1826–86, American educator, b. Ashfield, Mass., grad. Amherst, 1848, and studied chemistry and botany at Göttingen (Ph.D., 1852). He taught at Amherst until the Civil War, fou...

epithalamium

(Encyclopedia)epithalamium ĕpˌĭthəlāˈmēəm [key], song or poem written to celebrate a marriage. An elaborate form of pastoral, the epithalamium usually tells of the happenings of the wedding day. Nymphs, she...

Pratt, Orson

(Encyclopedia)Pratt, Orson, 1811–81, Mormon apostle, b. Hartford, N.Y.; brother of Parley Parker Pratt. He joined (1830) the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and became (1835) an apostle. An eloquent s...

Parini, Giuseppe

(Encyclopedia)Parini, Giuseppe jo͞ozĕpˈpā pärēˈnē [key], 1729–99, Italian poet, a priest and teacher. He was a professor and a superintendent of schools in Milan; a liberal, Parini became (1796) a governm...

Fools, Feast of

(Encyclopedia)Fools, Feast of, burlesque religious festival of the Middle Ages. It occurred during the Christmas and New Year's revels, on or near New Year's Day. In many places a Lord of Misrule ruled over the rev...

Ammon, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Ammon ămˈən [key], in the Bible, people living E of the Dead Sea. Their capital was Rabbath-Ammon, the present-day Amman (Jordan). Their god was Milcom, to whom Solomon built an altar. A Semitic pe...