Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Taliban

(Encyclopedia)Taliban or Taleban tälēbänˈ, –lə– [key], Islamic fundamentalist militia of Afghanistan and later Pakistan, originally consisting mainly of Sunni Pashtun religious students from Afghanistan wh...

mausoleum

(Encyclopedia)mausoleum môsəlēˈəm [key], a sepulchral structure or tomb, especially one of some size and architectural pretension, so called from the sepulcher of that name at Halicarnassus, Asia Minor, erecte...

circle

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Circle circle, closed plane curve consisting of all points at a given distance from some fixed point, called the center. A circle is a conic section cut by a plane perpendicular to the axis of...

barn

(Encyclopedia)barn, abbr. b, in physics, unit of nuclear cross section, i.e., the effective target presented by a nucleus for collisions leading to nuclear reactions; it is equal to 10−24 square centimeters. The ...

ship of the line

(Encyclopedia)ship of the line, large, square-rigged warship, carrying from 70 to 140 guns on two or more completely armed gun decks. In the great naval wars of the 17th, 18th, and early 19th cent., ships of the li...

Wurster, William Wilson

(Encyclopedia)Wurster, William Wilson, 1895–1973, American architect, b. Stockton, Calif. Wurster was a major designer of town and country dwellings in the roomy and comfortable West Coast aesthetic termed “Bay...

Taylor, Bayard

(Encyclopedia)Taylor, Bayard, 1825–78, American journalist and author, b. Kennett Square, Pa. His romantic verse in Ximena … and Other Poems (1844) secured him a long-standing assignment as correspondent fo...

Fifth Avenue

(Encyclopedia)Fifth Avenue, famous north-south street of the borough of Manhattan, New York City. It begins at Washington Square and ends at the Harlem River. Between 34th and 59th streets, Fifth Ave. is lined with...

Ruggles, Samuel Bulkley

(Encyclopedia)Ruggles, Samuel Bulkley, 1800–1881, American public figure, b. New Milford, Conn. He was a successful lawyer in New York City, but between 1831 and 1851 gave up his practice to devote himself to pub...

Tunguska Basin

(Encyclopedia)Tunguska Basin, c.400,000 sq mi (1,036,000 sq km), Krasnoyarsk Territory and Sakha Republic, E central Siberian Russia, between the Yenisei and Lena rivers. It has a huge untapped coal reserve. The ma...