Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) millennium [Lat.,=1,000 years], the period of 1,000 years in which, according to some schools of Christian eschatology, Christ will reign again gloriously on earth. Belief in the millennium, based on ...

(Encyclopedia) obbligato ŏbləgäˈtō [key] [Ital.,=obligatory], in music, originally a term by which a composer indicated that a certain part was indispensable to the music. Obbligato was thus the direct opposite...

(Encyclopedia) Mount Stromlo Observatory, astronomical observatory located on Mt. Stromlo, near Canberra, Australia. Established in 1924 (14 years after the first telescope was erected there), it has been operated b...

(Encyclopedia) adze, tool similar in purpose and use to an axe but with the cutting edge at right angles to the handle rather than aligned with it. The details of construction of a particular adze will depend on its...

(Encyclopedia) Bradwardine, Thomas brădˈwərdēn [key], c.1295–1349, English mathematician, natural philosopher, and theologian. He was chaplain to Edward III (c.1338) and later archbishop of Canterbury. As a ma...

(Encyclopedia) Christadelphians krĭsˌtədĕlˈfēənz [key] [Gr.,=brothers of Christ], small religious denomination founded in the United States in 1848 by John Thomas. Its members live by the Scriptures and await...

(Encyclopedia) Jennings, Herbert Spencer, 1868–1947, American zoologist, b. Tonica, Ill., B.S. Univ. of Michigan, 1893, Ph.D. Harvard, 1896. He was professor of zoology at Johns Hopkins (1906–10) and did researc...

(Encyclopedia) Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. statutory agency, created in 1949 within the Dept. of Defense. The chairman is the principal military adviser to the President, the National Security Council, and the Secre...

(Encyclopedia) Joliet jōˈlēĕtˌ [key], city (1990 pop. 76,836), seat of Will co., NE Ill., on the Des Plaines River; inc. 1857. It is a river port and an industrial shipping center, with limestone quarries and c...

(Encyclopedia) genitive jĕnˈĭtĭv [key] [Lat.,=genetic], in Latin grammar, the case typically used to refer to a possessor. The term is used in the grammar of other languages, but the phenomenon referred to may n...