Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Tompkins, Douglas Rainsford

(Encyclopedia)Tompkins, Douglas Rainsford, 1943–2015, American business executive, conservationist, and philanthropist, b. Conneaut, Ohio. In 1964, he and his first wife, Susie Tompkins Buell, founded The North F...

organic food

(Encyclopedia)organic food, food raised without chemicals and processed without additives. Under standards adopted by the U.S. Agriculture Dept. (USDA) in 2000 and fully effective in 2002, synthetic fertilizers and...

Valdez

(Encyclopedia)Valdez văldēzˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 4,068), Valdez-Chitina-Whittier census div., S Alaska, at the head of Valdez Arm inside Prince William Sound; inc. 1901. It has tourist and fishing industries,...

telecommuting

(Encyclopedia)telecommuting, an arrangement by which people work at home using a computer and telephone, accessing work-related materials at a business office, or transmitting materials to an office, by means of a ...

horn, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)horn, in zoology, one of a pair of structures projecting from the head of a hoofed animal, used chiefly as a weapon. In cattle, sheep, Old World antelopes, and related animals the horns are permanent ...

angelica

(Encyclopedia)angelica ănjĕlˈĭkə [key], any species of the genus Angelica, plants of the family Umbelliferae (parsley family), native to the Northern Hemisphere and New Zealand, valued for their potency as a m...

galley

(Encyclopedia)galley, long, narrow vessel widely used in ancient and medieval times, propelled principally by oars but also fitted with sails. The earliest type was sometimes 150 ft (46 m) long with 50 oars. Rowers...

internment

(Encyclopedia)internment, in international law, detention of the nationals or property of an enemy or a belligerent. A belligerent will intern enemy merchant ships or take them as prize, and a neutral should intern...

Jehu

(Encyclopedia)Jehu jēˈhyo͞o [key]. 1 King of Israel. He was anointed king by Elisha, who led the revolt against the house of Ahab. Jehu murdered King Jehoram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah and the rest of t...

Douglas, Marjory Stoneman

(Encyclopedia)Douglas, Marjory Stoneman, 1890–1998, American journalist, writer, and environmentalist, b. Minneapolis, grad. Wellesley College, 1912. In 1915 she moved to Miami and began working for a newspaper t...