Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

268 results found

Raglan, Fitzroy James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Raglan, Fitzroy James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron, 1788–1855, British general. He entered the army in 1804 and was made (1814) a lieutenant colonel for his services on the duke of Wellington's staff i...

Nicholas Brothers

(Encyclopedia)Nicholas Brothers, African-American tap dance team consisting of Fayard Antonio Nicholas, 1914–2006, b. Mobile, Ala., and Harold Lloyd Nicholas, 1921–2000, b. Winston-Walem, N.C. Performing on sta...

angina pectoris

(Encyclopedia)angina pectoris ănjīˈnə pĕkˈtərĭs [key], condition characterized by chest pain that occurs when the muscles of the heart receive an insufficient supply of oxygen. This results when the arterie...

parachute

(Encyclopedia)parachute, umbrellalike device designed to retard the descent of a falling body by creating drag as it passes through the air. The development of modern aircraft has led to many experiments in the aer...

Horne, Lena

(Encyclopedia)Horne, Lena (Lena Mary Calhoun Horne), 1917–2010, American singer and actress, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. Elegantly beautiful, Horne entered show business at 16 in the chorus line at Harlem's Cotton Club; sh...

front

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Fronts: A. Advance of a cold front B. Advance of a warm front front, in meteorology, zone of transition between adjacent air masses. If a cold air mass is advancing to replace a warmer one, th...

kale

(Encyclopedia)kale, borecole bôrˈkōl [key], and collards, common names for nonheading, hardy types of cabbage (var. acephala and sometimes others), with thick stems and curly leaves, belonging to the family Cru...

composition board

(Encyclopedia)composition board, wood product produced in the form of a board or sheet, formed of cellulose fibers or particles derived from wood or other sources, and used principally as a building material. The o...

wrasse

(Encyclopedia)wrasse răs [key], common name for a member of the large family Labridae, brilliantly colored fishes found among rocks and kelp in tropical seas. Wrasses, related to the parrotfishes (which are includ...

Calvert, George, 1st Baron Baltimore

(Encyclopedia)Calvert, George, 1st Baron Baltimore, c.1580–1632, English colonizer of North America. In 1606 he became private secretary to Robert Cecil, earl of Salisbury, then a secretary of state. His advance ...