Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

circus

(Encyclopedia)circus [Lat.,=ring, circle], historically, the arena associated with the horse and chariot races and athletic contests known in ancient Rome as the Circensian games. The Roman circus was a round or ov...

Armenian language

(Encyclopedia)Armenian language, member of the Thraco-Phrygian subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Indo-European). There is evidence that in ancient times a distinct subfamily of Indo-European l...

probability

(Encyclopedia)probability, in mathematics, assignment of a number as a measure of the “chance” that a given event will occur. There are certain important restrictions on such a probability measure. In any exper...

Giscard d'Estaing, Valéry

(Encyclopedia)Giscard d'Estaing, Valéry (Valéry Marie René Georges Giscard d'Estaing) välārēˈ zhēskärˈ dĕstăNˈ [key], 1926–2020, French political leader, president of France (1974–81); b. French-oc...

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

(Encyclopedia)International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) (IBRD), independent specialized agency of the United Nations, with headquarters at Washington, D.C.; one of five closely associated develop...

National Labor Relations Board

(Encyclopedia)National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), independent agency of the U.S. government created under the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (Wagner Act), and amended by the acts of 1947 (Taft-Hartley Labo...

Tennessee Valley Authority

(Encyclopedia)Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), independent U.S. government corporate agency, created in 1933 by act of Congress; it is responsible for the integrated development of the Tennessee River basin. The h...

color index

(Encyclopedia)color index, in astronomy, difference in an object's brightness as recorded between any two well-defined bands of the electromagnetic spectrum by using optical filters of different colors. If blue and...

Antoine, André

(Encyclopedia)Antoine, André äNdrāˈ äNtwänˈ [key], 1858–1943, French theatrical director, manager, and critic. In opposition to the teachings of the Paris Conservatory, he formed (1887) his own company, th...

Hutchinson

(Encyclopedia)Hutchinson. <1> City (2020 pop. 40,006), seat of Reno co., S central Kans., on the Arkansas River; inc. 1872. It is a commercial and industrial ...