Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Brainerd, David brāˈnərd [key], 1718–47, missionary to the Native Americans, b. Haddam, Conn. Licensed to preach in 1742, he spent his brief years among the Native Americans, first in New York an...

(Encyclopedia) homily hŏmˈəlē [key], type of oral religious instruction delivered to a church congregation. In the patristic period through the Middle Ages the focus of the homily was on the explanation and appl...

(Encyclopedia) Barbauld, Anna Letitia (Aikin) bärˈbôld [key], 1743–1825, English poet and editor. In 1774 she married Rochemont Barbauld and with him opened a boarding school. Her Hymns in Prose for children, w...

(Encyclopedia) Barbour, John bärˈbər [key], c.1316?–1395, Scottish poet. He was archdeacon of Aberdeen from 1355 until his death. His romance, The Bruce (1375), celebrating Scotland's emancipation from England,...

(Encyclopedia) Bristol, George Digby, 2d earl of, 1612–77, English courtier; son of John Digby, 1st earl of Bristol. At first a member of the parliamentary opposition to Charles I, he later fought for the king in ...

(Encyclopedia) Clark, George Rogers, 1752–1818, American Revolutionary general, conqueror of the Old Northwest, b. near Charlottesville, Va.; brother of William Clark. A surveyor, he was interested in Western land...

(Encyclopedia) Curzon of Kedleston, George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess kûrˈzən, kĕdˈəlstən [key], 1859–1925, British statesman. A member of the minor aristocracy, he attended Eton and Oxford. From his un...

(Encyclopedia) Michaiah mīkāˈyə, mīˌkāīˈyə [key], in the Bible. 1 Father of Abdon (2.) It also appears as Micah. 2 Same as Maachah (3.) 3 Prince sent by Jehoshaphat to teach in Judah. 4 Son of Gemariah who...

(Encyclopedia) hydrophone hīˈdrəfōnˌ [key], device that receives underwater sound waves and converts them to electrical energy; the voltage generated can then be read on a meter or played through a loudspeaker....

(Encyclopedia) Aldrich, Thomas Bailey, 1836–1907, American author and editor, b. Portsmouth, N.H. His most widely read work was The Story of a Bad Boy (1870), a vigorous narrative based on his own boyhood. His sho...