Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

202 results found

Bojer, Johan

(Encyclopedia)Bojer, Johan yōˈhän boiˈər [key], 1872–1959, Norwegian writer. Bojer's novels of contemporary Norwegian life treat social issues from a classical liberal viewpoint. The Power of a Lie (1903, tr...

Sakurajima

(Encyclopedia)Sakurajima säko͞oˈräˈjĭmä [key], peninsula, Kagoshima prefecture, S Kyushu, Japan, in Kagoshima Bay opposite Kagoshima. Formerly an island, Sakurajima became a peninsula in 1914 when lava from ...

diurnal circle

(Encyclopedia)diurnal circle dīûrˈnəl [key], apparent path followed by a star due to the earth's rotation on its axis. The stars appear to move on the celestial sphere in concentric circular paths centered at t...

epitaph

(Encyclopedia)epitaph, strictly, an inscription on a tomb; by extension, a statement, usually in verse, commemorating the dead. The earliest such inscriptions are those found on Egyptian sarcophagi. In England epit...

Kivu, lake, Congo and Rwanda

(Encyclopedia)Kivu, lake, 1,042 sq mi (2,699 sq km), 55 mi (89 km) long, on the Congo-Rwanda border, E central Africa; highest lake in Africa (4,788 ft/1,459 m). It is drained by the Ruzizi River, which flows S int...

Persepolis

(Encyclopedia)Persepolis pərsĕpˈəlĭs [key] [Gr.,=city of Persia], ancient city of Persia, ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid empire under Darius I and his successors. The administrative capitals were elsewhe...

Bowling Green

(Encyclopedia)Bowling Green. 1 City (2020 pop. 181,616), seat of Warren co., S Ky., on the Barren River; inc. 1812. It is a shipping and marketing center for an area ...

stargazer

(Encyclopedia)stargazer, common name for any of several species of marine fishes of the family Uranoscopidae, found in southern waters, and having the mouth, nostrils, and eyes set high in the head. Stargazers lie ...

Pasargadae

(Encyclopedia)Pasargadae pəsärˈgədē [key], capital of ancient Persia under Cyrus the Great. Its ruins lie 54 mi (87 km) by road NE of Persepolis, in present Iran. The buildings of Cyrus include a temple in the...

wireworm

(Encyclopedia)wireworm, elongate, cylindrical larva of the click beetle. Most wireworms are hard and brown, but members of some species are soft and whitish. Wireworms live in rotten wood or in the ground and feed ...

Browse by Subject