Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Universalist Church of America

(Encyclopedia)Universalist Church of America, Protestant denomination originating in the 18th cent. and represented almost entirely in the United States. Universalism is the belief that it is God's purpose to save ...

evening primrose

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Evening primrose, Oenothera biennis evening primrose, common name for the Onagraceae, a family of plants of worldwide distribution, most species of which grow as herbs in the temperate New Wor...

hagfish

(Encyclopedia)hagfish, primitive, jawless marine fish of the family Myxinidae, of worldwide distribution in cold and temperate waters. Its rudimentary skeleton, of cartilage rather than bone, has a braincase, but n...

nudism

(Encyclopedia)nudism or naturism, practice of going without clothing in social settings, generally in mixed gender groups and for purposes of good health or personal comfort. Governed by a strict set of rules, the ...

Ligeti, György

(Encyclopedia)Ligeti, György, 1923–2006, Hungarian composer. He studied music in Romania and Hungary, and was a teacher at the Budapest Academy of Music until he fled to Vienna (1956) after the Soviet invasion o...

Zefat

(Encyclopedia)Zefat zĕfˈät [key], town (1994 pop. 21,600), NE Israel. One of Israel's four holy cities, it has a thriving artists' colony and many museums and ancient synagogues. Ceramics, diamonds, and handicra...

Swift, Taylor Alison

(Encyclopedia) Swift, Taylor Alison, 1989- , American singer-songwriter, b. West Reading, Pa. A precocious songwriter, Swift moved to Nashville at age 15 hoping ...

Ahtisaari, Martti Oiva Kalevi

(Encyclopedia)Ahtisaari, Martti Oiva Kalevi äkhˈtēsärrē [key], 1937–, Finnish diplomat, political leader, and international mediator; grad. Univ. of Oulu (1959). Joining (1965) the foreign affairs ministry, ...

Almohads

(Encyclopedia)Almohads ălˈməhădz [key], Berber Muslim dynasty that ruled Morocco and Spain in the 12th and 13th cent. It had its origins in the puritanical sect founded by Ibn Tumart, who stirred up (c.1120) th...

Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz

(Encyclopedia)Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz äbdo͝olˈlä ĭbˈən ăbdo͝olˈ ăzēzˈ [key], 1924–2015, king of Saudi Arabia (2005–15), b. Riyadh. Like his predecessor, King Fahd, he was a son of Saudi Arabia's fo...