Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

ablaut

(Encyclopedia)ablaut äpˈlout [key] [Ger.,=off-sound], in inflection, vowel variation (as in English sing, sang, sung, song) caused by former differences in syllabic accent. In a prehistoric period the correspondi...

Inside Passage

(Encyclopedia)Inside Passage, natural, protected waterway, c.950 mi (1,530 km) long, threading through the Alexander Archipelago off the coast of British Columbia and SE Alaska. From Seattle, Wash., to Skagway, Ala...

Crossfield, Scott

(Encyclopedia)Crossfield, Scott (Albert Scott Crossfield), 1921–2006, American aviator, b. Berkeley, Calif. A fighter pilot and flight instructor in the navy (1942–46) during World War II, he studied aeronautic...

F

(Encyclopedia)F, sixth letter of the alphabet. The Greek letter corresponding to it, digamma, which probably represented a sound like w, disappeared before the classical period. In Western alphabets f has usually r...

Rye, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Rye, city (1990 pop. 14,936), Westchester co., SE N.Y., a suburb of New York City, on Long Island Sound; settled 1660, inc. as a city 1942. It is chiefly residential, with a cancer-research center, a ...

castrato

(Encyclopedia)castrato kăsträˈtō [key] [Ital.,=castrated], a male singer with an artificially created soprano or alto voice, the result of castration in boyhood. The combination of the larynx of a youth and the...

Brantford

(Encyclopedia)Brantford, city, S Ont., Canada, on the Grand River. It is a leading manufacturing city, noted particularly for its large farm implement factories. The ...

Swanson, Gloria

(Encyclopedia)Swanson, Gloria, 1899–1983, American movie actress, b. Chicago. Swanson began her film career in 1913, displaying an elegant comedic style in a series of films for director Cecil B. DeMille. Finance...

Bridgeport

(Encyclopedia)Bridgeport, city (2020 pop. 148,654), Fairfield co., SW Conn., on Long Island Sound; inc. 1836. Long a chief industrial city in Connecticut, it makes el...

Block, Adriaen

(Encyclopedia)Block, Adriaen, fl. 1610–24, Dutch navigator. Eager to establish a fur trade with the Native Americans, Amsterdam merchants sent (1613) Block and another Dutch navigator to explore the region discov...