Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

surfing

(Encyclopedia)surfing, sport of gliding on a breaking wave. Surfers originally used long, cumbersome wooden boards but now ride lightweight synthetic boards that allow a greater degree of maneuverability. Boards ar...

shuffleboard

(Encyclopedia)shuffleboard, sport in which players use cue sticks to push disks onto a scoring diagram at either end of a concrete or terrazzo court. The court is 52 ft (15.85 m) long and 6 ft (1.83 m) wide. The ba...

Waikiki

(Encyclopedia)Waikiki wīkēkēˈ [key], famous beach and resort center SE of Honolulu on SE Oahu island, Hawaii. Tourism is the economic mainstay; Waikiki is known the world over for its beach and recreational fac...

Lakewood

(Encyclopedia)Lakewood. 1 City (1990 pop. 73,557), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a residential and industrial suburb of Long Beach; inc. 1954. Nearby are extensive aerospace, high-technology, and electronic industries...

Indiana Dunes National Park

(Encyclopedia)Indiana Dunes National Park, 15,177 acres (6,142 hectares), NW Indiana, on the southern tip of Lake Michigan, est. 1966 as Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, designated a national park 2019. The park's...

Asbury Park

(Encyclopedia)Asbury Park, city, Monmouth co., E N.J. An Atlantic resort noted for its beach, boardwalk, and convention hall, it declined in the late 20th cent. but has undergone a revival in the 21st. ...

Malibu

(Encyclopedia)Malibu mălˈĭbo͞o [key], resort and residential city (2010 pop. 12,645), S Calif., W of Los Angeles and near Santa Monica, inc. 1991. Due to its relative reclusiveness, Malibu (and the somewhat lar...

skin diving

(Encyclopedia)skin diving, act of swimming freely underwater. It is done with the aid of a face mask, swimming fins for the feet, and either a snorkel breathing tube or scuba [acronym for self-contained underwater ...

art deco

(Encyclopedia)art deco är môdĕrnˈ, ärt [key], term that designates a style of design that originated in French luxury goods shortly before World War I and became ubiquitously and internationally popular during...

Rothstein, Arnold

(Encyclopedia)Rothstein, Arnold rôthˈstēn [key], 1883–1928, American gambler, b. New York City. Supposedly beginning his career at the age of 12, Rothstein became a professional gambler and operated gaming hou...

Browse by Subject