Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Habitat for Humanity

(Encyclopedia)Habitat for Humanity, nonprofit ecumenical Christian organization that enables low-income people to own affordable, livable housing. Headquartered in Americus, Ga., it was founded in 1976 by former bu...

fuller's earth

(Encyclopedia)fuller's earth, mineral substance characterized by the property of absorbing basic colors and removing them from oils. It is composed mainly of alumina, silica, iron oxides, lime, magnesia, and water,...

Black Mountain College

(Encyclopedia)Black Mountain College, former coeducational liberal arts college at Black Mountain, N.C., near Asheville. Founded (1933) by John Rice, also the school's first rector (1933–40), on the progressive e...

Fuller, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Fuller, Thomas, 1608–61, English clergyman and author. He was an able preacher and a noted wit. He adhered to the royalist cause during the civil war and the Commonwealth and served briefly as a roy...

Tolkien, J. R. R.

(Encyclopedia)Tolkien, J. R. R. (John Ronald Reuel Tolkien) tälˈkēn, tōlˈ– [key], 1892–1973, British novelist, b. South Africa. A fantasy writer and Oxford don, Tolkien wrote The Hobbit (1937), adapted fro...

mutiny

(Encyclopedia)mutiny, concerted disobedient or seditious action by persons in military or naval service, or by sailors on commercial vessels. Mutiny may range from a combined refusal to obey orders to active revolt...

Cushing, Luther Stearns

(Encyclopedia)Cushing, Luther Stearns, 1803–56, American lawyer, b. Lunenburg, Mass., grad. Harvard Law School, 1826. His best-known work is his short Manual of Parliamentary Practice (1844; many later editions),...

dome

(Encyclopedia) CE5 Parts of a dome dome, a roof circular or (rarely) elliptical in plan and usually hemispherical in form, placed over a circular, square, oblong, or polygonal space. Domes have been built with a...

Lufkin

(Encyclopedia)Lufkin, city (1990 pop. 30,206), seat of Angelina co., E Tex.; inc. 1890. Situated in the deep pine woods, it is the core of a region of forest industries with many sawmills and the first plant to mak...
 

Browse by Subject