Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Thugs

(Encyclopedia)Thugs thŭgz [key], former Indian religious sect of murderers and robbers, also called Phansigars [stranglers]. Membership was primarily hereditary and included both Hindus and Muslims, but all were d...

manslaughter

(Encyclopedia)manslaughter, homicide committed without justification or excuse but distinguished from murder by the absence of the element of malice aforethought. Modern criminal statutes usually divide it into deg...

shuffleboard

(Encyclopedia)shuffleboard, sport in which players use cue sticks to push disks onto a scoring diagram at either end of a concrete or terrazzo court. The court is 52 ft (15.85 m) long and 6 ft (1.83 m) wide. The ba...

Milan Decree

(Encyclopedia)Milan Decree, issued Dec., 1807, by Napoleon I of France in an attempt to enforce the Continental System. Designed to strengthen the Berlin Decree, it authorized French warships and privateers to capt...

Thomson, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Thomson, Charles, 1729–1824, political leader in the American Revolution, b. Co. Londonderry (now Derry), Ireland. Emigrating to America in 1739, he later taught school and became a merchant. His pr...

Ford, Worthington Chauncey

(Encyclopedia)Ford, Worthington Chauncey, 1858–1941, American historian and editor, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. He was joint editor, with his brother Paul Leicester Ford, of Winnowings in American History (15 vol., 1890–...

Fourth of July

(Encyclopedia)Fourth of July, Independence Day, or July Fourth, U.S. holiday, commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. The Second Continental Congress approved the Declaration on July 4, 1776...

Hunt, Gaillard

(Encyclopedia)Hunt, Gaillard gĭlyärdˈ [key], 1862–1924, American historian and editor, b. New Orleans. He served (1887–1909, 1917–24) the Dept. of State in various capacities, his most important work being...

Bremerhaven

(Encyclopedia)Bremerhaven brāˈmərhäˌfən [key], city, in the state of Bremen, NW Germany, at the mouth of the Weser ...

Warren, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Warren, Joseph, 1741–75, political leader in the American Revolution, b. Roxbury, Mass. A Boston physician, he participated in the agitation against the Stamp Act (1765). He became a member of the B...