Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Chester, city, England

(Encyclopedia)Chester, city, Cheshire West and Chester, W central England, on a sandstone height above the Dee River. It is a railroad junction. Manufactures include ...

fresco

(Encyclopedia)fresco frĕsˈkō [key] [Ital.,=fresh], in its pure form the art of painting upon damp, fresh, lime plaster. In Renaissance Italy it was called buon fresco to distinguish it from fresco secco, which w...

diverticulosis

(Encyclopedia)diverticulosis, a disorder characterized by the presence of diverticula, which are small, usually multiple saclike protrusions through the wall of the colon (large intestine). Diverticula usually do n...

chyme

(Encyclopedia)chyme kīm [key], semiliquid substance found in the stomach and resulting from the partial digestion of food by the salivary enzyme amylase, the gastric enzyme pepsin, and hydrochloric acid. Secretion...

ampicillin

(Encyclopedia)ampicillin ămˌpĭsĭlˈĭn [key], a penicillin-type antibiotic that is effective against both gram-negative microorganisms and gram-positive microorganisms such as Escherichia coli. It is often used...

Jehoiada

(Encyclopedia)Jehoiada jēhoiˈədə [key], in the Bible. 1 High priest. He married Jehosheba, a princess of Judah, and together they saved the infant Jehoash. They led the conspiracy against Athaliah that put Jeho...

Leyden jar

(Encyclopedia)Leyden jar līˈdən [key], form of capacitor invented at the Univ. of Leiden in the 18th cent. It consists of a narrow-necked glass jar coated over part of its inner and outer surfaces with conductiv...

Berlage, Hendrik Petrus

(Encyclopedia)Berlage, Hendrik Petrus hĕnˈdrək pāˈtrüs berläˈgə [key], 1856–1934, Dutch architect. In both his writings and architectural practice, Berlage advocated a return to simplicity of form and cl...

Doesburg, Theo van

(Encyclopedia)Doesburg, Theo van tāˈō vän do͞osˈbûrg [key], 1883–1931, Dutch painter, teacher, and writer. Together with Mondrian he founded the magazine De Stijl and successfully proselytized in Europe fo...

Debye, Peter Joseph Wilhelm

(Encyclopedia)Debye, Peter Joseph Wilhelm dēbīˈ [key], 1884–1966, American physicist, b. the Netherlands. He was professor at the universities of Zürich, Utrecht, Göttingen, Leipzig, and Berlin. In 1940 he c...