Columbia Encyclopedia

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gong

(Encyclopedia)gong, percussion instrument consisting of a disk, usually with upturned edges, 3 ft (91 cm) or more in diameter in the modern orchestra, often made of bronze, and struck with a felt- or leather-covere...

Girnar

(Encyclopedia)Girnar gĭrnärˈ [key], sacred mountain, 3,666 ft (1,117 m) high, Gujarat state, W India, on the Kathiawar Peninsula; a pilgrimage place for adherents of Jainism. It has five peaks, the sides of whic...

Chartreuse, Grande

(Encyclopedia)Chartreuse, Grande gräNd shärtrözˈ [key], mountainous massif, Isère dept., SE France, in the Dauphiné Alps; Chamechaude Peak (6,847 ft/2,087 m) is the highest point. There in a high valley St. B...

Sendai

(Encyclopedia)Sendai sĕndīˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 928,138), capital of Miyagi prefecture, N Honshu, Japan, on Inshinomaki Bay. A major industrial city and the commercial center of N Honshu, it has industries th...

Sirach, book of the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Sirach ēklēˌzēăsˈtĭkəs [key] [Lat. from Gr.,=ecclesiastical], book included in the Septuagint and in the Roman Catholic canon of the Old Testament but not included in the Hebrew Bible and plac...

isobar

(Encyclopedia)isobar īˌsəbărˈĭk [key], line drawn on a weather map through points of equal atmospheric pressure. Isobars are used to define cyclones (low-pressure regions) and anticyclones (high-pressure regi...

Saxe-Altenburg

(Encyclopedia)Saxe-Altenburg săks-ălˈtənbərg [key], Ger. Sachsen-Altenburg, former duchy, Thuringia, central Germany. Altenburg was the capital. Created a separate duchy in 1603, it was ruled by an Ernestine l...

Shih-T'ao

(Encyclopedia)Shih-T'ao shûr-tou [key], 1641–c.1670, Chinese painter of the late Ming–early Ch'ing period, one of the major figures in 17th-century painting. A descendant of the imperial Ming family, he escape...

Thomasville

(Encyclopedia)Thomasville. 1 City (1990 pop. 17,457), seat of Thomas co., SW Ga., near the Fla. line; inc. 1831. It is a farm trade center, with a large fresh-vegetable market. Manufactures include lumber, clothing...

infinity

(Encyclopedia)infinity, in mathematics, that which is not finite; it is often indicated by the symbol ∞. A sequence of numbers, a1, a2, a3, … , is said to “approach infinity” if the numbers eventually b...