Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

riot, rout, and unlawful assembly

(Encyclopedia)riot, rout, and unlawful assembly, in law, varying degrees of concerted disturbance of the peace. At common law, an unlawful assembly is a gathering of at least three persons whose conduct causes obse...

bonsai

(Encyclopedia)bonsai bōnˈsī [key], art of cultivating dwarf trees in containers. Bonsai, developed by the Japanese more than a thousand years ago, is derived from the Chinese practice of growing miniature plants...

Baryshnikov, Mikhail

(Encyclopedia)Baryshnikov, Mikhail mĭˈkhail bərĭˌshnĭkävˈ [key], 1948–, Russian-American dancer and choreographer, b. Riga, Latvia (then in the USSR). He studied in Riga and performed with the Kirov Balle...

Tissaphernes

(Encyclopedia)Tissaphernes tĭsˌəfûrˈnēz [key], d. 395 b.c., Persian satrap of coastal Asia Minor (c.413–395 b.c.). He was encouraged by Alcibiades (412) to intervene in the Peloponnesian War in support of S...

church music

(Encyclopedia)church music. 1 Music intended for performance as part of services of worship. With few exceptions, music is essential to the ritual of every religion; the singing of prayers and portions of Scripture...

Shining Path

(Encyclopedia)Shining Path, Span. Sendero Luminoso, Peruvian Communist guerrilla force, officially the Communist party of Peru. Founded in 1970 by Abimael Guzmán...

Altaic

(Encyclopedia)Altaic ăltāˈĭk [key], subfamily of the Ural-Altaic family of languages (see Uralic and Altaic languages). Some scholars still consider Altaic an independent linguistic family. Spoken by over 130 m...

Cappadocia

(Encyclopedia)Cappadocia kăpədōˈshə [key], ancient region of Asia Minor, watered by the Halys River (the modern Kizil Irmak), in present E central Turkey. The name was applied at different times to territories...

Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921

(Encyclopedia)TulsThunberga race massacre, Greenwood, Okla., May 31 to June 1, 1921. On the evening of May 31, 1921, a white lynch mob gathered outside the ...

Kawabata, Yasunari

(Encyclopedia)Kawabata, Yasunari yäso͞onäˈrē käwäˈbätä [key], 1899–1972, Japanese novelist. His first major work was The Izu Dancer, (1925). He came to be a leader of the school of Japanese writers that...