Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Ellora

(Encyclopedia)Ellora ĕlōˈrə [key], village, E central Maharashtra state, India. Extending more than 1 mi (1.6 km) on a hill are 34 rock and cave temples (5th–13th cent.), most of them Hindu but some Buddhist ...

rococo, in music

(Encyclopedia)rococo, in music, 18th-century reaction against the baroque style. Less formal and grandiose in structure, it was a graceful rather than a profound style, more hedonistic than venturesome. Extreme man...

shoring

(Encyclopedia)shoring, placing of props or braces, called shores, against or beneath a structure for support. Shoring is often used to stabilize a building when it is to undergo structural modification or repair. C...

pronoun

(Encyclopedia)pronoun, in English, the part of speech used as a substitute for an antecedent noun that is clearly understood, and with which it agrees in person, number, and gender. In English the pronouns are clas...

petrology

(Encyclopedia)petrology, branch of geology specifically concerned with the origin, composition, structure, and properties of rocks, primarily igneous and metamorphic, and secondarily sedimentary. It includes petrog...

Neutra, Richard Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Neutra, Richard Joseph noiˈtrə, no͞oˈtrə [key], 1892–1970, American architect, born and educated in Vienna. Although Neutra worked for a time with Eric Mendelsohn and later with Frank Lloyd Wri...

Turing machine

(Encyclopedia)Turing machine, a mathematical model of a device that computes via a series of discrete steps and is not limited in use by a fixed maximum amount of data storage. Introduced by the British mathematici...

Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Federation of

(Encyclopedia)Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Federation of, SE Africa, 1953–63, composed of the self-governing British colony of Southern Rhodesia and the British protectorates of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The ca...

Noyes, Alfred

(Encyclopedia)Noyes, Alfred noiz [key], 1880–1958, English poet, best known for his poems “The Highwayman” and “The Barrel-Organ.” His first volume of verse, Loom of Years, appeared in 1902. It was follow...

notochord

(Encyclopedia)notochord nōˈtəkôrdˌ [key], in biology, supporting rod running most of the length of animals of the phylum Chordata and present at varying times in the life cycle. Composed of large cells packed ...