Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Aristophanes ărˌĭstŏfˈənēz [key], c.448 b.c.–c.388 b.c., Greek playwright, Athenian comic poet, greatest of the ancient writers of comedy. His plays, the only full extant samples of the Greek...

(Encyclopedia) Sandburg, Carl, 1878–1967, American poet, journalist, and biographer, b. Galesburg, Ill. The son of poor Swedish immigrants, he left school at the age of 13 and became a day laborer. He served in th...

(Encyclopedia) watt [for James Watt], abbr. W, unit of power, or work done per unit time, equal to 1 joule per second. It is used as a measure of electrical and mechanical power. One watt is the amount of power that...

(Encyclopedia) McCain, John Sidney, 3d, 1936–2018, U.S. politician, b. Panama Canal Zone. A much decorated navy veteran, he was born into a career naval family and a...

(Encyclopedia) Dumas, Alexandre, known as Dumas fils fēs [key], 1824–95, French dramatist and novelist, illegitimate son of Alexandre Dumas (1802–70, Dumas Père). He was the chief creator of the 19th-century c...

(Encyclopedia) Luleälv lüˈləĕlvˈ [key], river, c.275 mi (440 km) long, rising near the Norwegian border, Norrbotten prov., N Sweden, and flowing SE to the Gulf of Bothnia at Luleå. It has spectacular falls at...

(Encyclopedia) fetish fĕtˈĭsh [key], inanimate object believed to possess some magical power. The fetish may be a natural thing, such as a stone, a feather, a shell, or the claw of an animal, or it may be artific...

(Encyclopedia) tractor, in agriculture, vehicle used to pull such equipment as plows, cultivators, and mowers; to power stationary devices such as saws and winches; and to push snowplows and earth-moving implements....

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Washington, state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. It is bordered by Idaho (E); Oregon, with the Columbia River marking much of the boundary (S); the Pacific Ocean (W); and the Ca...

(Encyclopedia) dictator, originally a Roman magistrate appointed to rule the state in times of emergency; in modern usage, an absolutist or autocratic ruler who assumes extraconstitutional powers. From 501 b.c. unti...