Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) soap plant, any of various plants having cleansing properties. A few are of commercial importance, but most soap plants are used locally, as in early times, for toilet and laundry purposes. The soapba...

(Encyclopedia) North, Frederick North, 8th Baron, 1732–92, British statesman, best known as Lord North. He entered Parliament in 1754 and became a junior lord of the treasury (1759), privy councilor (1766), and ch...

(Encyclopedia) Oxnam, Garfield Bromley ŏkˈsnăm, –snəm [key], 1891–1963, American Methodist bishop, b. Sonora, Calif., grad. Univ. of Southern California (B.A., 1913) and Boston Univ., 1915. He was ordained i...

(Encyclopedia) Homestead National Monument of America: see National Parks and Monuments (table)national parks and monuments (table). ...

(Encyclopedia) Wedemeyer, Albert Coady wĕdˈēmīˌər [key], 1897–1989, American general, b. Omaha, Nebr., grad. West Point, 1918. After service in China, the Philippines, and Europe, he was graduated (1936) fro...

(Encyclopedia) Malinowski, Bronislaw brŏnēˈslŏf mălĭnŏfˈskē [key], 1884–1942, English anthropologist, b. Poland, Ph.D. Univ. of Kraków, 1908. Working in the field of cultural anthropology, he gained reno...

(Encyclopedia) Zapotec zäˈpətĕk, säˈ– [key], indigenous people of Mexico, primarily in S Oaxaca and on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Little is known of the origin of the Zapotec. Unlike most native peoples of ...

(Encyclopedia) willow, common name for some members of the Salicaceae, a family of deciduous trees and shrubs of worldwide distribution, especially abundant from north temperate to arctic areas. The family consists ...

(Encyclopedia) Gibson, Bob (Pack Robert Gibson), 1935–2020, American baseball player, b. Omaha, Nebr. Gibson, a right-hander with a reputation for being both intense and intimidating, was one of baseball's most do...

(Encyclopedia) North Slope, Alaska: see Alaska North Slope. ...