Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Abbottabad

(Encyclopedia)Abbottabad ăbˈətäbäd [key], city (2020 pop. 1,332,912), NE Pakistan. It is a popular health resort c.4,000 ft (1,220 m) above sea level in the Himalaya region. It is...

Precambrian

(Encyclopedia)Precambrian, name of a major division of geologic time (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table), from c.5 billion to 570 million years ago. It is now usually divided into the Archean a...

paleontology

(Encyclopedia)paleontology pāˌlēəntŏlˈəjē [key] [Gr.,= study of early beings], science of the life of past geologic periods based on fossil remains. Knowledge of the existence of fossils dates back at least...

Tonti, Henri de

(Encyclopedia)Tonti or Tonty, Henri de both: äNrēˈ də tôNtēˈ [key], c.1650–1704, French explorer in North America, b. Italy. Serving in the French army, he lost a hand in battle; his skillful use of the ap...

song

(Encyclopedia)song, relatively brief, simple vocal composition, usually a setting of a poetic text, often strophic, for accompanied solo voice. The song literature of Western music embodies two broad classification...

dam

(Encyclopedia)dam, barrier, commonly across a watercourse, to hold back water, often forming a reservoir or lake; dams are also sometimes used to control or contain rockslides, mudflows, and the like in regions whe...

Columbia Plateau

(Encyclopedia)Columbia Plateau, physiographic region of North America, c.100,000 sq mi (259,000 sq km), NW United States, between the Rocky Mts. and the Cascade Range in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Most of the p...

greenling

(Encyclopedia)greenling, common name for any of several species of carnivorous, spiny-finned fishes of the family Hexagrammidae, common in the Pacific Ocean, especially in the waters N of Monterey, Calif. Greenling...

Kelley, Mike

(Encyclopedia)Kelley, Mike (Michael Kelley), 1954–2012, American artist, b. Wayne, Mich., studied Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor (B.F.A., 1976), California Institute of the Arts (M.F.A., 1978). At Michigan he was o...

pneumoconiosis

(Encyclopedia)pneumoconiosis no͞oˌməkōˌnēōˈsĭs [key], chronic disease of the lungs. Primarily an occupational disease of miners, sandblasters, and metal grinders, it is a result of repeated inhalation of d...