Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Alatau

(Encyclopedia)Alatau or Ala-Tau both: äˈlätou [key] [Turkic,=mottled mountains], several ranges of the Tian Shan system in central Asia. The Alatau ranges are the Dzungarian, the Kungei, the Talas, the Terskei, ...

pitchblende

(Encyclopedia)pitchblende pĭchˈblĕndˌ [key], dark, lustrous, heavy mineral, a source of radium and uranium. Largely natural uranium oxides, triuranium octaoxide (U3O8) and uranium dioxide (UO2), it usually cont...

Udaipur

(Encyclopedia)Udaipur māwärˈ [key], city and former princely state, now part of Rajasthan state, NW India. The Udaipur region, thickly wooded in the south and west, is mostly an alluvial plain watered by many in...

ultimatum

(Encyclopedia)ultimatum ŭlˌtĭmāˈtəm [key], in international law, final, definitive terms submitted by one disputant nation to the other for immediate acceptance or rejection. Since refusal to accept the terms...

river blindness

(Encyclopedia)river blindness or onchocerciasis, disease caused by the parasitic nematode worm Onchocerca volvulus. The worm larvae are transmitted by the bites of blackflies (genus Simulium) that live in fast movi...

necrotizing fasciitis

(Encyclopedia)necrotizing fasciitis, a quickly progressing infection of the skin that spreads along the fascia, the tissue that covers the muscles. (Necrotizing infections that spread along the outer skin layers ar...

Ness, Eliot

(Encyclopedia)Ness, Eliot, 1903–57, American law enforcement officer, b. Chicago, grad. Univ. of Chicago (1925), famous as the leader of the “Untouchables,” the Justice Dept. squad who fought the gangster Al ...

Cartagena, city, Spain

(Encyclopedia)Cartagena, Lat. Carthago Nova, city, Murcia prov., SE Spain, on the Mediterranean Sea. A major seaport and naval base, it has a fine natural harbor,...

catatonia

(Encyclopedia)catatonia kătˌətōˈnēə [key], mental state generally characterized by statuesque posturing, muscular immobility, mutism, and apparent stupor. The muscles are held in a pliant state called waxy f...

surface tension

(Encyclopedia)surface tension, tendency of liquids to reduce their exposed surface to the smallest possible area. A drop of water, for example, tends to assume the shape of a sphere. The phenomenon is attributed to...