Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

gravel

(Encyclopedia)gravel, particles of rock, i.e., stones and pebbles, usually round in form and intermediate in size between sand grains and boulders. Gravel is composed of various kinds of rock, the most common const...

Voulkos, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Voulkos, Peter, 1924–2002, American ceramist and sculptor who helped establish ceramics as a fine art, b. Bozeman, Mont., B.S. Montana State College (now Montana State Univ.), 1951, M.F.A California...

basketry

(Encyclopedia)basketry, art of weaving or coiling and sewing flexible materials to form vessels or other commodities. The materials used include twigs, roots, strips of hide, splints, osier willows, bamboo splits, ...

earthenware

(Encyclopedia)earthenware, form of pottery fired at relatively low temperatures, so that the clay does not vitrify (become glassy), as do stoneware and porcelain clays. Occasionally, earthenware is used as a genera...

Collingwood

(Encyclopedia)Collingwood, town, S Ont., Canada at the south end of Georgian Bay, an arm of Lake Huron. Collingwood is a shipbuilding center and has one of the larges...

Butades of Sicyon

(Encyclopedia)Butades of Sicyon bo͞oˈtədēz, sĕˈshēŏn [key], fl. c.600 b.c., semilegendary Greek sculptor. He worked at Corinth and was supposed to have been the first to model in clay. ...

Compromise of 1850

(Encyclopedia)Compromise of 1850. The annexation of Texas to the United States and the gain of new territory by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo at the close of the Mexican War (1848) aggravated the hostility betwee...

Polk, James Knox

(Encyclopedia)Polk, James Knox pōk [key], 1795–1849, 11th President of the United States (1845–49), b. Mecklenburg co., N.C. To the surprise of many, the new President proved to be his own man; he even ignor...

Estevan

(Encyclopedia)Estevan ĕsˈtəvăn [key], city, S Sask., Canada, on the Souris River near the N.Dak. border. ...

Sulphur Springs

(Encyclopedia)Sulphur Springs, city (1990 pop. 14,062), seat of Hopkins co., NE Tex., in a farm area; inc. 1859. Vegetables, wheat, rice, and corn are grown, and livestock and dairying are important. There is clay ...

Browse by Subject