Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

pelican

(Encyclopedia)pelican, common name for a large, gregarious aquatic bird of warm regions, allied to the cormorants and gannets. Pelicans are heavy-bodied, long-necked birds with large, flat bills. They are graceful ...

mastaba

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Mastaba mastaba măsˈtəbə [key], in Egyptian architecture, a sepulchral structure built aboveground. The mastabas of the early dynastic period (3200–2680 b.c.), such as those of the I dyn...

labyrinth

(Encyclopedia)CE5 labyrinth lăbˈərĭnth [key], intricate building of chambers and passages, often constructed so as to perplex and confuse a person inside. In Egypt, Amenemhet III of the XII dynasty built him...

Scève, Maurice

(Encyclopedia)Scève, Maurice mōrēsˈ sĕv [key], c.1510–c.1564, French poet. While studying at Avignon he discovered the tomb of Laura, to whom Petrarch directed many of his sonnets. Scève was the leader of t...

Saint Elmo's fire

(Encyclopedia)Saint Elmo's fire, luminous discharge of electricity extending into the atmosphere from some projecting or elevated object. It is usually observed (often during a snowstorm or a dust storm) as brushli...

Nobel Prize

(Encyclopedia)CE5 CE6 Nobel Prize, award given for outstanding achievement in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, peace, or literature. The awards were established by the will of Alfred Nobel, who left...

Sedna

(Encyclopedia)Sedna, in astronomy, the most distant known large object in the solar system. With a highly eccentric elliptical orbit that ranges from an estimated 76 AU to 937 AU, Sedna also has an extremely long o...

perversion, sexual

(Encyclopedia)perversion, sexual, in psychology, sexual behavior deemed pathological by its deviation from “normal” sexual desire. The definition of sexual perversion has shifted considerably over time: indeed,...

probability

(Encyclopedia)probability, in mathematics, assignment of a number as a measure of the “chance” that a given event will occur. There are certain important restrictions on such a probability measure. In any exper...

Lindbergh, Charles Augustus, 1902–74, American aviator

(Encyclopedia)Lindbergh, Charles Augustus, 1902–74, American aviator who made the first solo, nonstop transatlantic flight, b. Detroit; son of Charles A. Lindbergh (1859–1924). He left the Univ. of Wisconsin (1...