Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

work

(Encyclopedia)work, in physics and mechanics, transfer of energy by a force acting to displace a body. Work is equal to the product of the force and the distance through which it produces movement. Although both fo...

Lystra

(Encyclopedia)Lystra lĭsˈtrə [key], ancient city of Lycaonia, S Asia Minor, in present Turkey. The Acts of the Apostles reports that it was visited by Paul and Barnabas. An ancient altar found there mentioned th...

Socrates Scholasticus

(Encyclopedia)Socrates Scholasticus, fl. 5th cent., Byzantine historian. His Ecclesiastical History (in Greek, 7 vol.) continues the work of Eusebius for the period from 305 to 439. The work is unusual for its obje...

glossolalia

(Encyclopedia)glossolalia glŏsˌəlāˈlēə [key] [Gr.,=speaking in tongues], ecstatic utterances usually of unintelligible sounds made by individuals in a state of religious excitement. Religious revivals are of...

adhesion and cohesion

(Encyclopedia)adhesion and cohesion, attractive forces between material bodies. A distinction is usually made between an adhesive force, which acts to hold two separate bodies together (or to stick one body to anot...

momentum

(Encyclopedia)momentum mōmĕnˈtəm [key], in mechanics, the quantity of motion of a body, specifically the product of the mass of the body and its velocity. Momentum is a vector quantity; i.e., it has both a magn...

Antipatris

(Encyclopedia)Antipatris ăntĭpˈətrĭs [key], city of Roman Palestine, founded by Herod the Great and named after his father. It was c.10 mi (16.1 km) NE of Joppa, on the north-south road. According to the Acts ...

amobarbital

(Encyclopedia)amobarbital ămˌōbärˈbĭtäl [key], drug that acts as a nervous system depressant. See barbiturate. ...

Perga

(Encyclopedia)Perga pûrˈgə [key], ancient city of Pamphylia, S Asia Minor, 10 mi (16 km) NE of the modern Antalya, Turkey. It was the seat of an Asian nature goddess. St. Paul came here on his first journey (Act...

Véroia

(Encyclopedia)Véroia or Veria both: vĕˈrēä [key], town (1991 pop. 38,713), capital of Imathía prefecture, N Greece, in Macedonia. It is a lignite-mining and textile-milling center. In ancient times the town w...