Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

200 results found

holography

(Encyclopedia)holography hŏlŏgˈrəfē, hō– [key], method of reproducing a three-dimensional image of an object by means of light wave patterns recorded on a photographic plate or film. Holography is sometimes...

London Company

(Encyclopedia)London Company, corporation composed of stockholders residing in and about London, which, together with the Plymouth Company (see Virginia Company), was granted (1606) a charter by King James I to fou...

New York City Ballet

(Encyclopedia)New York City Ballet (NYCB), one of the foremost American dance companies of the 20th and 21st cents. It was founded by Lincoln Kirstein and George Balanchine as the Ballet Society in 1946. In 1948 th...

tower

(Encyclopedia)tower, structure, the greatest dimension of which is its height. Towers have belonged to two general types. The first embodies practical uses such as defense (characteristic of the Middle Ages), to ca...

Seville

(Encyclopedia)Seville səvĭlˈ, sĕˈ– [key], Span. Sevilla, city (1990 pop. 678,218), capital of Seville prov. and leading city of Andalusia, SW Spain, on the Guadalquivir River. Connected with the Atlantic by ...

Federal Bureau of Investigation

(Encyclopedia)Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), division of the U.S. Dept. of Justice charged with investigating all violations of federal laws except those assigned to some other federal agency. The FBI has j...

Grenada

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Grenada grĭnāˈdə [key], independent state within the Commonwealth of Nations (2015 est. pop. 107,000), 133 sq mi (344 sq km), in the Windward Islands, West Indies. The state includes the is...

Palladio, Andrea

(Encyclopedia)Palladio, Andrea ändrĕˈä päl-läˈdēō [key], 1508–80, Italian architect of the Renaissance. Originally a stonemason, he was trained as an architect in Vicenza, and later in Rome he examined t...

pastoral

(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...

air-cushion vehicle

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Air-cushion vehicle: In vehicles modified with a trunk or skirt (A), the rate of leakage is reduced and less power is needed to maintain the cushion. Vehicles designed to travel over deep water...

Browse by Subject