Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

110 results found

Falkirk

(Encyclopedia)Falkirk fŏlˈkûrk [key], town, Falkirk council area, central Scotland, on the Forth and Cly...

Atlantic City

(Encyclopedia)Atlantic City, city (2020 pop. 39,497), Atlantic co., SE N.J., an Atlantic resort and convention center; settled c.1790, inc. 1854. Situated on Absecon Island, a barrier island 10 mi (16.1...

machine

(Encyclopedia)machine, arrangement of moving and stationary mechanical parts used to perform some useful work or to provide transportation. From a historical perspective, many of the first machines were the result ...

gem, ornamental mineral or organic substance

(Encyclopedia)gem, commonly, a mineral or organic substance, cut and polished and used as an ornament. Gems also are used as seals (items of assurance) and as talismans (good-luck charms). For birthstones, see mont...

Duncan, Isadora

(Encyclopedia)Duncan, Isadora ĭzˌədôrˈə dŭngˈkən [key], 1878–1927, American dancer, b. San Francisco. She had little success in the United States when she first created dances based on Greek classical ar...

Murray, Les

(Encyclopedia)Murray, Les (Leslie Allan Murray), 1938–2019, Australia's leading poet of the late 20th and early 21st cent., B.A. Univ. of Sydney, 1969. Son of an impoverished dairy farmer, he grew up in New South...

truck

(Encyclopedia)truck, automotive vehicle designed primarily for the transportation of goods. A truck is constructed on the general lines of the automobile but uses larger and heavier parts. It may be powered by a ga...

Powell, Dawn

(Encyclopedia)Powell, Dawn, 1896–1965, American novelist, b. Mt. Gilead, Ohio. She came to New York City in 1918 and settled several years later in Greenwich Village, where she spent most of the rest of her life ...

rose window

(Encyclopedia) CE5 Rose window (Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Paris) rose window, large, stone-traceried, circular window of medieval churches. Romanesque churches of both England and the Continent had made use of th...

Ronstadt, Linda

(Encyclopedia)Ronstadt, Linda (Linda Maria Ronstadt), 1946–, American singer, b. Tucson, Ariz. She is known for the clarity and strength of her soprano voice and for the range of song genres in which she performe...
 

Browse by Subject