Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

rhododendron

(Encyclopedia)rhododendron rōˌdədĕnˈdrən [key] [Gr.,=rose tree], any plant of the genus Rhododendron, shrubs of the family Ericaceae (heath family) found chiefly in mountainous areas of the arctic and north t...

Arlington National Cemetery

(Encyclopedia)Arlington National Cemetery, 420 acres (170 hectares), N Va., across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.; est. 1864. More than 60,000 American war dead, as well as notables including Presidents Wi...

Watervliet

(Encyclopedia)Watervliet wôˌtərvlētˈ, wôˈtərvlētˌ, wŏˈ– [key], industrial city (1990 pop. 11,061), Albany co., E N.Y., on the Hudson River, opposite Troy, near the terminus of the Erie Canal; founded ...

Gordon, John Brown

(Encyclopedia)Gordon, John Brown, 1832–1904, U.S. public official and Confederate general, b. Upson co., Ga. Gordon began his Civil War service as an infantry captain and so distinguished himself through four yea...

Yang, Chen-ning

(Encyclopedia)Yang, Chen-ning chĕn-nĭng yäng [key], 1922–, American physicist, b. China, Ph.D. Univ. of Chicago, 1948. Yang was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, N.J. from 1949 to 1955...

Stuart, James Ewell Brown

(Encyclopedia)Stuart, James Ewell Brown (Jeb Stuart), 1833–64, Confederate cavalry commander in the American Civil War, b. Patrick co., Va. Most of his U.S. army service was with the 1st Cavalry in Kansas. On Vir...

Hill, Daniel Harvey

(Encyclopedia)Hill, Daniel Harvey, 1821–89, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. York District, S.C. He served in the Mexican War but resigned from the army in 1849. He was professor of mathematics a...

knitting

(Encyclopedia)knitting, construction of a fabric made of interlocking loops of yarn by means of needles. Knitting, allied in origin to weaving and to the netting and knotting of fishnets and snares, was apparently ...

burlesque

(Encyclopedia)burlesque bûrlĕskˈ [key] [Ital.,=mockery], form of entertainment differing from comedy or ...

Leesburg

(Encyclopedia)Leesburg, city (1990 pop. 14,903), Lake co., N central Fla., in a hill and lake region; inc. 1875. Leesburg, named for Evander Lee, its founder, is a processing and shipping center in a citrus-fruit a...