Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

synecdoche

(Encyclopedia)synecdoche sĭnĕkˈdəkē [key], figure of speech, a species of metaphor, in which a part of a person or thing is used to designate the whole—thus, “The house was built by 40 hands” for “The ...

Bridewell

(Encyclopedia)Bridewell brīdˈwəl [key], area in London, England, between Fleet St. and the Thames River. The Bridewell house of correction, demolished in 1863, was on the site of a palace built under Henry VIII ...

impeachment

(Encyclopedia)impeachment, in Great Britain and United States, formal accusation issued by a legislature against a public official charged with crime or other serious misconduct. In a looser sense the term is somet...

bicameral system

(Encyclopedia)bicameral system bīkămˈərəl [key], governmental system dividing the legislative function between two chambers, an “upper,” such as the U.S. Senate and the British House of Lords, and a “low...

Berlin, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Berlin bûrˈlən, bərlĭnˈ [key], city (2020 pop. 10,118), Coos co., NE N.H., in the White Mts. at ...

color

(Encyclopedia)color, effect produced on the eye and its associated nerves by light waves of different wavelength or frequency. Light transmitted from an object to the eye stimulates the different color cones of the...

Foot, Samuel Augustus

(Encyclopedia)Foot, Samuel Augustus, 1780–1846, American politician, b. Cheshire, Conn. He served as a Democratic Republican in the Connecticut legislature (1817–18, 1821–23, 1825–26) and in the U.S. House ...

Hoyer, Steny Hamilton

(Encyclopedia)Hoyer, Steny Hamilton stĕnˈē, hoiˈər [key], 1939–, U.S. politician, b. New York City, grad. Univ. of Maryland (B.S. 1963), Georgetown Univ. Law Center (J.D., 1966). A pragmatic centrist Democra...

Eisleben

(Encyclopedia)Eisleben īsˈlābən [key], city, Saxony-Anhalt, E Germany, at the foot of the Harz Mts. It is ...

Albert, Carl Bert

(Encyclopedia)Albert, Carl Bert, 1908–2000, U.S. Congressman (1947–76), b. McAlester, Okla. Admitted to the bar in 1935, Albert enlisted (1941) in the army as a private, served (1942–46) in the Pacific during...