Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

ratchet and pawl

(Encyclopedia)ratchet and pawl, mechanical device that permits motion in one direction only. The ratchet is usually a wheel with slanting teeth. The pawl is a lever tangential to the wheel with one end resting on t...

Osborne, Dorothy

(Encyclopedia)Osborne, Dorothy ŏzˈbərn [key], later Lady Temple, 1627–95, English letter writer. The daughter of a royalist, she became engaged to Sir William Temple against the wishes of her family. Her lette...

Krusenstjerna, Agnes von

(Encyclopedia)Krusenstjerna, Agnes von ängˈnās vôn kro͞osĕnshĕrˈnä [key], 1894–1940, Swedish novelist. Krusenstjerna's works reflect the aristocratic and emotionally disturbed background from which she c...

Theophrastus

(Encyclopedia)Theophrastus thēˌōfrăsˈtəs [key] [Gr.,=divinely speaking], c.372–c.287 b.c., Greek philosopher, Aristotle's successor as head of the Peripatetics. The school flourished under his leadership. H...

motor, electric

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Motor: In the AC motor, current fed to the conducting loop of wire causes it to rotate in the magnetic field, thus turning the shaft on which the loop is mounted. In the DC motor, the direction...

Kainan

(Encyclopedia)Kainan kīnäNˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 48,596), Wakayama prefecture, S Honshu, Japan, on the Kii Sound. It is a port, railway junction, and industrial center with lacquer ware, textile, and petrochem...

Santa Rosa Island

(Encyclopedia)Santa Rosa Island, narrow barrier beach between the Gulf of Mexico and Santa Rosa Sound, NW Fla. in the vicinity of Pensacola, extending c.50 mi (80 km) parallel to the coast. It is the site of Fort P...

Amacher, Maryanne

(Encyclopedia)Amacher, Maryanne, 1938–2009, American avant-garde composer, b. Kane, Pa. She studied composition with Georg Rochberg at the Univ. of Pennsylvania (B.F.A., 1964), and privately with Karlheinz Stockh...

Gordy, Berry, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Gordy, Berry, Jr., 1929–, African-American music-industry executive, b. Detroit. After stints in the army and as a professional boxer, Gordy opened a ...

Democritus

(Encyclopedia)Democritus dĭmŏkˈrĭtəs [key], c.460–c.370 b.c., Greek philosopher of Abdera; pupil of Leucippus. His theory of the nature of the physical world was the most radical and scientific attempted up ...