Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

mimosa, in botany

(Encyclopedia)mimosa mĭmōˈsə [key], any tree, shrub, or herb of the genus Mimosa of the family Leguminosae (pulse family), chiefly tropical plants. They usually have feathery foliage and rounded clusters of fra...

mine, in industry

(Encyclopedia)mine, in industry: see mining.

mine, in warfare

(Encyclopedia)mine, in warfare, term formerly applied to a system of tunnels dug under an army fortification and ending in a chamber where either explosives were placed to be detonated at a chosen moment or the sup...

moose, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)moose, largest member of the deer family, genus Alces, found in the northern parts of Eurasia and North America. The Eurasian species, A. alces, is known in Europe as the elk, a name which in North Am...

moray, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)moray: see eel.

mortar, in building

(Encyclopedia)mortar, in building, mixture of lime or cement with sand and water, used as a bedding and adhesive between adjacent pieces of stone, brick, or other material in masonry construction. Lime mortar, a co...

mortar, in warfare

(Encyclopedia)mortar, in warfare, term originally applied to certain types of artillery with high trajectories, but later applied to an infantry weapon that consists of a tube supported by a bipod that fires a proj...

memory, in computing

(Encyclopedia)memory, in computing: see computer. ...

memory, in psychology

(Encyclopedia)memory, in psychology, the storing of learned information, and the ability to recall that which has been stored. It has been hypothesized that three processes occur in remembering: perception and regi...

Mercury, in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)Mercury, in astronomy, nearest planet to the sun, at a mean distance of 36 million mi (58 million km); its period of revolution is 88 days. Mercury passes through phases similar to those of the moon a...