Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

tachometer

(Encyclopedia)tachometer tăkŏmˈətər [key], instrument that indicates the speed, usually in revolutions per minute, at which an engine shaft is rotating. Some tachometers, especially those used in automobiles, ...

centimeter

(Encyclopedia)centimeter sĕnˈtĭmēˌtər [key], abbr. cm, unit of length equal to 0.01 meter, the basic unit of length in the metric system. The centimeter is the unit of length in the cgs system. It is approxim...

national grasslands

(Encyclopedia)national grasslands: see National Forest System. ...

crypts of Lieberkühn

(Encyclopedia)crypts of Lieberkühn: see digestive system. ...

Altay

(Encyclopedia)Altay: see Altai, mountain system, Asia. ...

celestial equator

(Encyclopedia)celestial equator: see equatorial coordinate system. ...

Plath, Sylvia

(Encyclopedia)Plath, Sylvia, 1932–63, American poet, b. Boston. Educated at Smith College and Cambridge, Plath published poems even as a child and won many academic and literary awards. Her first volume of poetry...

squid

(Encyclopedia)squid, carnivorous marine cephalopod mollusk. The squid is one of the most highly developed invertebrates, well adapted to its active, predatory life. The characteristic molluscan shell is reduced to ...

Mitchell, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Mitchell, Mount, peak, 6,684 ft (2,037 m) high, W N.C., in the Black Mts. of the Appalachian system; highest peak E of the Mississippi River. ...

international gold standard

(Encyclopedia)international gold standard: see international monetary system. ...