Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) balance, instrument used in laboratories and pharmacies to measure the mass or weight of a body. A balance functions by measuring the force of gravity that the earth exerts on an object, i.e., its wei...

(Encyclopedia) pastoral, literary work in which the shepherd's life is presented in a conventionalized manner. In this convention the purity and simplicity of shepherd life is contrasted with the corruption and arti...

(Encyclopedia) Marlborough, John Churchill, 1st duke of märlˈbərə, môlˈ– [key], 1650–1722, English general and statesman, one of the greatest military commanders of history. A great strategist and a shrewd...

(Encyclopedia) liberty, term used to describe various types of individual freedom, such as religious liberty, political liberty, freedom of speech, right of self-defense, and others. It is also used as a general ter...

(Encyclopedia) Raleigh or Ralegh, Sir Walter both: rŏlˈē, rălˈē [key], 1554?–1618, English soldier, explorer, courtier, and man of letters. Raleigh was made governor of Jersey in 1600, but his fortunes e...

(Encyclopedia) carpet or rug, thick fabric, usually woolen (but often synthetic), commonly used today as a floor covering. In North America the Navajos and other tribes have for generations produced substantial ru...

(Encyclopedia) glass, hard substance, usually brittle and transparent, composed chiefly of silicates and an alkali fused at high temperature. Glass has become invaluable in modern architecture, illumination, elect...

(Encyclopedia) Latter-day Saints, Church of Jesus Christ of, name of the church founded (1830) at Fayette, N.Y., by Joseph Smith. The headquarters are in Salt Lake City, Utah. Its members, now numbering about 5.7 mi...

(Encyclopedia) American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), a federation of autonomous labor unions in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, and U.S. dependencies, formed in ...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Montana mŏntănˈə [key], Rocky Mt. state in the NW United States. It is bounded by North Dakota and South Dakota (E), Wyoming (S), Idaho (W), and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, ...