Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Pusey, Edward Bouverie

(Encyclopedia)Pusey, Edward Bouverie pyo͞oˈzē [key], 1800–1882, English clergyman, leader in the Oxford movement. Having studied at Christ Church College, Oxford, Pusey was elected a fellow of Oriel College (1...

Ormonde, James Butler, 12th earl and 1st duke of

(Encyclopedia)Ormonde, James Butler, 12th earl and 1st duke of ôrˈmənd [key], 1610–88, Irish statesman, most powerful royalist influence in Ireland during the English civil war. A ward of the crown after the d...

Talmud

(Encyclopedia)Talmud tălˈməd [key] [Aramaic from Heb.,=learning], in Judaism, vast compilation of the Oral Law with rabbinical elucidations, elaborations, and commentaries, in contradistinction to the Scriptures...

insect

(Encyclopedia)CE5 External anatomy of a female grasshopper, representative of the class Insecta insect, invertebrate animal of the class Insecta of the phylum Arthropoda. Like other arthropods, an insect has a ...

measurement

(Encyclopedia)measurement, determination of the magnitude of a quantity by comparison with a standard for that quantity. Quantities frequently measured include time, length, area, volume, pressure, mass, force, and...

hieroglyphic

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Examples of hieroglyphics hieroglyphic hīˌrəglĭfˈĭk, hīˌərə– [key] [Gr.,=priestly carving], type of writing used in ancient Egypt. Similar pictographic styles of Crete, Asia Minor,...

analytic geometry

(Encyclopedia)analytic geometry, branch of geometry in which points are represented with respect to a coordinate system, such as Cartesian coordinates, and in which the approach to geometric problems is primarily a...

photosynthesis

(Encyclopedia)photosynthesis fōˌtōsĭnˈthəsĭs [key], process in which green plants, algae, and cyanobacteria utilize the energy of sunlight to manufacture carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water in the pr...

bell, musical instrument

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Bell bell, in music, a percussion instrument consisting of a hollow metal vessel, often cup-shaped with an outward-flaring rim, damped at one end and set into vibration by a blow from a clappe...

adaptation

(Encyclopedia)adaptation, in biology, has several meanings. It can mean the adjustment of living matter to environmental conditions and to other living things either in an organism's lifetime (physiological adaptat...