Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) rebate, partial refund of the total price paid for goods or services. In the United States, rebates were historically given by railroads to favored shippers as a return on transportation charges. The ...

(Encyclopedia) Aberdeen ăbˈərdēnˌ [key]. 1 Town (2020 pop. 15,935), Harford co., NE Md., in a farm region; inc. 1892. Just south, on Chesapeake Bay, is the U.S. army's huge Aberdeen...

(Encyclopedia) local government, political administration of the smallest subdivisions of a country's territory and population. The British system of local government, which has been the model for most of that cou...

(Encyclopedia) Rutledge, John, 1739–1800, American jurist and political leader, 2d chief justice of the United States, b. Charleston, S.C.; brother of Edward Rutledge. After studying law in London he began practic...

(Encyclopedia) seal, stamp made from a die or matrix of metal, a gem, or other hard substance that yields an impression on wax or other soft substance. The use of seals is very ancient, examples of great antiquity o...

(Encyclopedia) classic revival, widely diffused phase of taste (known as neoclassic) which influenced architecture and the arts in Europe and the United States during the last years of the 18th and the first half of...

(Encyclopedia) Michener, James Albert mĭchˈnər [key], 1907–97, American author, b. New York City, grad. Swarthmore, 1929. His short-story collection Tales of the South Pacific (1947; Pulitzer Prize) was adapted...

(Encyclopedia) consanguinity kŏnˌsăng-gwĭnˈĭtē [key], state of being related by blood or descended from a common ancestor. This article focuses on legal usage of the term as it relates to the laws of marriage...

(Encyclopedia) Interior, United States Department of the, federal executive department established in 1849, delegated custodian of U.S. natural resources, and whose head, the Secretary of the Interior, has cabinet r...

(Encyclopedia) peyote pāōˈtē [key], spineless cactus (Lophophora williamsii), ingested by indigenous people in Mexico and the United States to produce visions. The plant is native to the SW United States, partic...