Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

203 results found

Big Ben

(Encyclopedia)Big Ben, the bell in the Parliament tower (Westminster Palace), London, England. It was named for Sir Benjamin Hall, commissioner of works when the bell was installed in 1856. The name is often used t...

Ben Macdui

(Encyclopedia)Ben Macdui or Ben Macdhui măkdo͞oˈē [key], Gaelic Beinn Muic Duibhe, peak, 4,296 ft (1,309 m) high, Moray, Scotland, in the Cairngorm Mts.; second highest peak in Scotland. ...

Ben Nevis

(Encyclopedia)Ben Nevis nēˈvĭs, nĕvˈĭs [key], peak, 4,411 ft (1,345 m) high, Highland, W Scotland, overlooking Glen Nevis; highest peak of Great Britain. Ben Nevis is the remnant of a geologically ancient vol...

Ben Ezra

(Encyclopedia)Ben Ezra: see Ibn Ezra, Abraham ben Meir. ...

Ben-hail

(Encyclopedia)Ben-hail bēn-hāˈĭl [key], in the Bible, one of Jehoshaphat's princes. ...

tempera

(Encyclopedia)tempera tĕmˈpərə [key], painting method in which finely ground pigment is mixed with a solidifying base such as albumen, fig sap, or thin glue. When used in mural painting it is also known as fres...

Levi ben Gershon

(Encyclopedia)Levi ben Gershon: see Gersonides. ...

Manasseh ben Israel

(Encyclopedia)Manasseh ben Israel, 1604–57, Jewish scholar and communal leader, b. Portugal. Early in his life he settled in Amsterdam, where he became a rabbi and started (1627) the first Hebrew press there. He ...

Johanan ben Zakkai

(Encyclopedia)Johanan ben Zakkai jōhănˈən bĕn zăkˈāī [key], leader of the Pharisees of Jerusalem before the destruction of the Temple in a.d. 70, afterward founder of the Jewish academy at Jamnia. He empha...

Anan ben David

(Encyclopedia)Anan ben David änänˈ [key], fl. 8th cent., Babylonian Jewish theologian, founder of the Ananites from whom the Karaites claim spiritual descent. He is said to have been a descendant of Bostanai ben...