Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Constant, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Constant, Benjamin (Henri Benjamin Constant de Rebecque) äNrēˈ bäNzhämăNˈ kôNstäNˈ də rəbĕkˈ [key], 1767–1830, French-Swiss political writer and novelist, b. Lausanne. His affair (1794...

Tillett, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Tillett, Benjamin tĭlˈĭt [key], 1860–1943, English labor organizer, b. Bristol, England. With Tom Mann and John Burns, he led the dock strike of 1889, the first big step toward industrial unionis...

Sanborn, Franklin Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Sanborn, Franklin Benjamin, 1831–1917, American journalist, author, and philanthropist, b. Hampton Falls, N.H., grad. Harvard, 1855. An active abolitionist, he was a friend and agent of John Brown, ...

Kennicott, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Kennicott, Benjamin kĕnˈĭkət, –kŏtˌ [key], 1718–83, English clergyman and biblical scholar. His long career at Oxford was one of devotion to learning. He was rector of Culham, Oxfordshire, f...

day nursery

(Encyclopedia)day nursery, day-care center, or crèche krĕsh [key], institution for the care of the children of working parents. Originating in Europe in the late 18th and early 19th cent., day nurseries were est...

Hale, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Hale, Benjamin, 1797–1863, American educator, b. Newburyport, Mass., grad. Bowdoin, 1818. He served as tutor at Bowdoin and in 1823 founded and became principal of Gardiner Lyceum, Gardiner, Maine, ...

Veterans' Day

(Encyclopedia)Veterans' Day, holiday formerly observed in the United States as Armistice Day in commemoration of the signing of the Armistice ending World War I. Nov. 11 officially became Veterans' Day on May 24, 1...

Earth Day

(Encyclopedia)Earth Day, Apr. 22, a day to celebrate the environment. The first Earth Day was organized in 1970 to promote the ideas of ecology, encourage respect for life on earth, and highlight growing concern ov...

degree-day

(Encyclopedia)degree-day, a unit of measure used to estimate the fuel and power requirements in heating and cooling a building; it is equal to a difference of 1 degree between the outdoor daily average temperature ...

Memorial Day

(Encyclopedia)Memorial Day, holiday in the United States observed in late May. Previously designated Decoration Day, it was inaugurated in 1868 by Gen. John A. Logan for the purpose of decorating the graves of Civi...