Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

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...

factory

(Encyclopedia)factory, place of production characterized by wage labor, the use of machinery, and the division of labor. The large-scale use of machinery differentiates factory production from simple manufacture, a...

Milman, Henry Hart

(Encyclopedia)Milman, Henry Hart, 1791–1868, English clergyman, poet, and historian, dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, from 1849. He was the author of several dramatic poems as well as some important historic...

Ames, Ezra

(Encyclopedia)Ames, Ezra, 1768–1836, American painter, b. Framingham, Mass. Early in his life he worked as a carriage painter, miniaturist, engraver, and decorator, first in Worcester, Mass., and later in Albany,...

Independence Hall

(Encyclopedia)Independence Hall, historic building on Independence Square, downtown Philadelphia, in Independence National Historical Park. Originally constructed as the Pennsylvania colony's statehouse in 1732, th...

Brown, Mather

(Encyclopedia)Brown, Mather, 1761–1831, American portrait and historical painter, b. Boston. He studied under Benjamin West in London and continued to work in England. His portraits include those of George IV (Bu...

Sand Creek

(Encyclopedia)Sand Creek, Colorado, site of a massacre (1864) of Cheyenne by Col. John M. Chivington and his Colorado Volunteers. The Cheyennes, led by Black Kettle, had offered to make peace and, at the suggestion...

Scalia, Antonin

(Encyclopedia)Scalia, Antonin, 1936–2016, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1986–2016), b. Trenton, N.J. He graduated from Harvard Law School (1960) and subsequently taught law at the Univ. of Virgin...

Foote, Andrew Hull

(Encyclopedia)Foote, Andrew Hull fo͝ot [key], 1806–63, American naval officer, b. New Haven, Conn.; son of Samuel Augustus Foot. He became a midshipman in 1822. As executive officer of the Cumberland (1843–45)...

Browse by Subject