Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

liter

(Encyclopedia)liter, abbr. l, unit of volume in the metric system, defined since 1964 as equal to 0.001 cubic meters, or 1 cubic decimeter. A cube that has each of its edges equal to 10 centimeters has a volume of ...

Tulare Lake

(Encyclopedia)Tulare Lake, intermittent lake, in the Central Valley, central Calif. The Kings, Kaweah, and Kern rivers at one time flowed into the lake, but their waters have been diverted for irrigation. The land ...

Big Spring

(Encyclopedia)Big Spring, city (2020 pop. 26,144), seat of Howard co., W central Tex.; inc. 1907. The spring for which it was named once fed a branch of the Colorado ...

Nuer

(Encyclopedia)Nuer no͞oˈər, no͝or [key], a Nilotic people living around Lake No in South Sudan. Their economy and social life generally revolve around cattle, which are grazed on the plains during the dry seaso...

sherry

(Encyclopedia)sherry [from Jérez], naturally dry fortified wine, pale amber to brown in tint. The term sherry originally referred to wines made from grapes grown in the region of Jérez de la Frontera, Andalusia, ...

mercury, chemical element

(Encyclopedia)mercury or quicksilver [from the Roman god Mercury], metallic chemical element; symbol Hg [Lat. hydrargyrum=liquid silver]; at. no. 80; at. wt. 200.59; m.p. −38.842℃; b.p. 356.58℃; sp. gr. 13.55...

pound

(Encyclopedia)pound, abbr. lb, unit of either mass or force in the customary system of English units of measurement. Two different pounds of mass are defined, one in the avoirdupois system of units and one in the T...

polar front

(Encyclopedia)polar front, zone of transition between polar and tropical air masses. Its average position during the winter is at about 30° lat. and during the summer at about 60° lat. In the N Atlantic Ocean, fo...

right of way

(Encyclopedia)right of way, in land and air traffic and in sea navigation, rules that determine precedence in the use of traffic lanes. The rules are framed in the simplest possible terms and with nearly absolute u...

Tucson

(Encyclopedia)Tucson to͞oˈsŏnˌ [key], city (1990 pop. 405,390), seat of Pima co., SE Ariz.; inc. 1877. Situated in a desert plain surrounded by mountains, Tucson is an important and growing transportation and t...