Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

mutual fund

(Encyclopedia)mutual fund, in finance, investment company or trust that has a very fluid capital stock. It is unique in that at any time it can sell or redeem any of its outstanding shares at net asset value (i.e.,...

futures market

(Encyclopedia)futures market, a commodity exchange where contracts for the future delivery of grain, livestock, and precious metals are bought and sold. Speculation in futures serves to protect both the developers ...

scrip

(Encyclopedia)scrip, temporary substitute for money, securities, or other valuable claims. Business enterprises and municipalities have at times, especially when short of cash, paid employees in scrip, and communit...

black market

(Encyclopedia)black market, the selling or buying of commodities at prices above the legal ceiling or beyond the amount allotted to a customer in countries that have placed restrictions on sales and prices. Such tr...

Mihara

(Encyclopedia)Mihara mēhäˈrä [key], city (1990 pop. 85,518), Hiroshima prefecture, W Honshu, Japan, on the Inland Sea. It is a production center for sake, rayon, rolling stock, and cement. It was a castle town ...

Bakewell, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Bakewell, Robert, 1725–95, English livestock breeder and agriculturist. He successfully bred livestock for meat rather than appearance, developing new breeds, which included the Leicester sheep and ...

Wood, Mrs. Henry

(Encyclopedia)Wood, Mrs. Henry, 1814–87, English novelist whose maiden name was Ellen Price. Her melodramatic and sensational novel East Lynne (1861) was dramatized and became a permanent stock piece for more tha...

Rotterdam, city, Netherlands

(Encyclopedia)Rotterdam rŏtˈərdămˌ, Dutch rôtərdämˈ [key], city (1994 pop. 598,521), South Holland prov., W Netherlands, on the Nieuwe Maas (New Meuse) River near its mouth on the North Sea. One of the lar...

Stockholm

(Encyclopedia)Stockholm stŏkˈhôlmˌ [key], city (1995 pop. 692,954), capital of Sweden and of Stockholm co., E Sweden, situated where Lake Mälaren flows into the Baltic Sea. It is Sweden's largest city and its ...

Haddington

(Encyclopedia)Haddington, town, East Lothian, SE Scotland. It has a large corn exchange. Farm machinery and textiles are manufactured, flour is milled, and grain is m...

Browse by Subject