Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Q fever

(Encyclopedia)Q fever, disease caused by Coxiella burnetii, a small, Gram-negative bacterium. The bacterium infects livestock (cattle, goats, and sheep) and other domesticated animals, and is found in the urine, fe...

ringworm

(Encyclopedia)ringworm or tinea tĭnˈēə [key], superficial eruption of the skin caused by a fungus, chiefly Microsporum, Trichophyton, or Epidermophyton. Any area of the skin may be affected, including the scalp...

Wilhelmina

(Encyclopedia)Wilhelmina vĭlˌhĕlmēˈnä [key], 1880–1962, queen of the Netherlands (1890–1948), daughter and successor of William III. Her mother, Emma of Waldeck-Pyrmont, was regent until 1898. Wilhelmina ...

blockade

(Encyclopedia)blockade, use of naval forces to cut off maritime communication and supply. Blockades may be used to prevent shipping from reaching enemy ports, or they may serve purposes of coercion. The term is rar...

military law

(Encyclopedia)military law, system of rules established for the government of persons in the armed forces. In most countries the legislature establishes the code of military law. It is distinguished from both marti...

cricket, sport

(Encyclopedia)cricket, ball-and-bat game played chiefly in Great Britain and the Commonwealth countries. In the early 21st cent., Twenty20, a new version of cricket with a much faster, more compressed format, eme...

syphilis

(Encyclopedia)syphilis sĭfˈəlĭs [key], contagious sexually transmitted disease caused by the spirochete Treponema pallidum (described by Fritz Schaudinn and Erich Hoffmann in 1905). Syphilis was not widely reco...

Hor-hagidgad

(Encyclopedia)Hor-hagidgad hôr-həgĭdˈgăd [key], in the Bible, wilderness camp of the Israelites. The camping place called Gudgodah may have been the same. ...

Eglaim

(Encyclopedia)Eglaim ĕgˈlāĭm, ēglāˈĭm [key], in the Bible, place E of the Dead Sea. It may be the same as the otherwise unidentified En-Eglaim. ...

golden parachute

(Encyclopedia)golden parachute, a contract given to top executives of a corporation to provide benefits in case of job loss due to a takeover by another firm or a merger. The unusually generous benefits may include...