Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

emotion

(Encyclopedia)emotion, term commonly and loosely used to denote individual, subjective feelings which dictate moods. In psychology, emotion is considered a response to stimuli that involves characteristic physiolog...

fable

(Encyclopedia)fable, brief allegorical narrative, in verse or prose, illustrating a moral thesis or satirizing human beings. The characters of a fable are usually animals who talk and act like people while retainin...

communicable diseases

(Encyclopedia)communicable diseases, illnesses caused by microorganisms and transmitted from an infected person or animal to another person or animal. Some diseases are passed on by direct or indirect contact with ...

uric acid

(Encyclopedia)uric acid yo͝orˈĭk [key], white, odorless, tasteless crystalline substance formed as a result of purine degradation in man, other primates, dalmatians, birds, snakes, and lizards. The last three gr...

Louis, Séraphine

(Encyclopedia)Louis, Séraphine sāräfēnˈ lwē [key], 1894–1934, French neoprimitive painter. Louis was a shepherdess and kitchen helper who taught herself to paint. Her powerful floral paintings are fantasies...

man, in anthropology and biology

(Encyclopedia)man: see anthropology; human evolution; race. ...

Roosevelt, Eleanor

(Encyclopedia)Roosevelt, Eleanor (Anna Eleanor Roosevelt) rōˈzəvĕlt [key], 1884–1962, American humanitarian, b. New York City. The daughter of Elliott Roosevelt and niece of Theodore Roosevelt, she was an act...

skeleton, in anatomy

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Human skeleton skeleton, in anatomy, the stiff supportive framework of the body. The two basic types of skeleton found among animals are the exoskeleton and the endoskeleton. The shell of the ...

Hong Kong, University of

(Encyclopedia)Hong Kong, University of, at Hong Kong, China; founded 1912. There are undergraduate faculties of architecture, liberal arts, business and economics, dentistry, education, engineering, law, medicine, ...

Pérez Esquivel, Adolpho

(Encyclopedia)Pérez Esquivel, Adolpho, 1931–, Argentine sculptor, architect, and humanitarian. A professor at the Argentine National School of Fine Arts, he resigned (1974) to become head of Peace and Justice, a...