Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

derecho

(Encyclopedia)derecho dərāˈchō [key], a long-lived windstorm over a wide expanse that is associated with a line of rapidly moving thunderstorms or showers. The winds in a derecho generally exceed 57 mph (92 kph...

Henson, Jim

(Encyclopedia)Henson, Jim (James Maury Henson), 1936–90, American puppeteer, creator of the Muppets, b. Greenville, Miss., grad. Univ. of Maryland (A.B., 1960). In 1954 he got his first job as a local television ...

Nicholas Brothers

(Encyclopedia)Nicholas Brothers, African-American tap dance team consisting of Fayard Antonio Nicholas, 1914–2006, b. Mobile, Ala., and Harold Lloyd Nicholas, 1921–2000, b. Winston-Walem, N.C. Performing on sta...

kinetic art

(Encyclopedia)kinetic art, term referring to sculptured works that include motion as a significant dimension. The form was pioneered by Marcel Duchamp, Naum Gabo, and Alexander Calder. Kinetic art is either nonmech...

Alpena

(Encyclopedia)Alpena ălpēˈnə [key], city, seat of Alpena co., N Mich., on Thunder Bay, an arm of Lake Huron; inc. 1871. Limestone quarried nearby is used to make cement, Alpena's ch...

Iqaluit

(Encyclopedia)Iqaluit ĭkälo͞oˈĭt [key], town, Nunavut Territory, Canada, at the NE head of Frobisher Bay on ...

Miramichi

(Encyclopedia)Miramichi mĭrəmĭshēˈ [key], river, c.135 mi (220 km) long, rising in several forks and tributaries in central N.B. and flowing E past Newcastle into the Gulf of St. Lawrence at Miramichi Bay. The...

Yellow Sea

(Encyclopedia)Yellow Sea or Huanghai hwäng-hī [key] [yellow sea], arm of the Pacific Ocean, between China and Korea, where it is called the West Sea. It has a maximum depth of 500 ft (152 m). Bohai, Korea Bay (or...

York Factory

(Encyclopedia)York Factory, fur-trading post, NE Man., Canada, on Hudson Bay, at the mouth of the Hayes River, just east of the mouth of the Nelson River. The name was used for several early (late-17th-century) pos...

Sacheon

(Encyclopedia)Sacheon säˈchônˈ [key], city (1995 pop. 113,492), South Gyeongsang (Kyongsang) prov., S South Korea, on the Korea Strait. It is a port city on Sacheon Bay, with aerospace, machinery, and metalwork...