Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

North Carolina, University of

(Encyclopedia)North Carolina, University of, main campus at Chapel Hill; state supported; coeducational; chartered 1789, opened 1795, the first state college to open as a university. In 1931 the North Carolina Stat...

Baker, George Fisher

(Encyclopedia)Baker, George Fisher, 1840–1931, American financier and philanthropist, b. Troy, N.Y. Baker was one of the founders of the First National Bank of New York in 1863 and became (1877) its president and...

well

(Encyclopedia)well, aperture in the earth's surface through which substances in a natural underground reservoir, such as water, gas, oil, salt, and sulfur, can flow or be pumped to the surface. In the United States...

Bowie, David

(Encyclopedia)Bowie, David, 1947–2016, British rock-and-roll singer and songwriter who successfully, merged rock, art, and fashion, b. London as David Robert Jones. After singing with five different bands in the ...

lava

(Encyclopedia)lava läˈvə [key], molten rock that erupts on the earth's surface, either on land or under the ocean, by a volcano or through a fissure. It solidifies into igneous rock that is also called lava. Bef...

Milton

(Encyclopedia)Milton, town (1990 pop. 25,725), Norfolk co., E Mass., a residential suburb of Boston, on the Neponset River; settled 1636, set off from Dorchester and inc. 1662. Granite quarries are nearby. Milton i...

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...

Cornish hen

(Encyclopedia)Cornish hen or Cornish chicken, breed of poultry that originated in Cornwall, England, but gained prominence only after it was established in the United States. Its body shape is quite different from ...

petroglyphs

(Encyclopedia)petroglyphs: see rock carvings and paintings. ...

metonymy

(Encyclopedia)metonymy mĭtŏnˈəmē [key], figure of speech in which an attribute of a thing or something closely related to it is substituted for the thing itself. Thus, “sweat” can mean “hard labor,” an...