Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Ezekiel

(Encyclopedia)Ezekiel ēzēˈkēĕl [key], prophetic book of the Bible. The book is a collection of oracles emanating from the career of the priest Ezekiel, who preached to Jews of the Babylonian captivity from 593...

dragon

(Encyclopedia)dragon, mythical beast usually represented as a huge, winged, fire-breathing reptile. For centuries the dragon has been prominent in the folklore of many peoples; thus, its physical characteristics va...

semantics

(Encyclopedia)semantics [Gr.,=significant] in general, the study of the relationship between words and meanings. The empirical study of word meanings and sentence meanings in existing languages is a branch of lingu...

Oldenburg, Claes

(Encyclopedia)Oldenburg, Claes klăs [key], 1929–, Swedish-American artist, b. Stockholm, raised Chicago, studied at Yale, moved to New York 1956. Usually considered part of the pop art movement, Oldenburg explor...

indigo

(Encyclopedia)indigo [Span.; from Lat.,=Indian], important blue dyestuff used in printing inks and for vat dyeing of cotton (see dye). It was anciently produced in India and was known in Egypt, probably c.1600 b.c....

handkerchief

(Encyclopedia)handkerchief. In classical Greece pieces of fine perfumed cotton, known as mouth or perspiration cloths, were often used by the wealthy. From the 1st cent. b.c., Roman men of rank used an oblong cloth...

pineapple

(Encyclopedia)pineapple, common name for one member of and for the Bromeliaceae, a family of chiefly epiphytic herbs and small shrubs native to the American tropics and subtropics. The spiny leaves of various speci...

Malachi

(Encyclopedia)Malachi măˈləkī, –kē [key], book of the Bible, the last book in the order of the Authorized Version and 12th of the books of the Minor Prophets. Its title Malachi is taken from the opening vers...

Osler, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Osler, Sir William ōˈslər [key], 1849–1919, Canadian physician, M.D. McGill Univ., 1872. Renowned as a physician and as a medical historian, he was also the most brilliant and influential teacher...

Hooker, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Hooker, Richard, 1554?–1600, English theologian and clergyman of the Church of England. He studied and lectured at Oxford and preached at Drayton-Beauchamp, Buckinghamshire; at the Temple Church, Lo...