Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

387 results found

marram grass

(Encyclopedia)marram grass: see beach grass.

Boudin, Eugène Louis

(Encyclopedia)Boudin, Eugène Louis özhĕnˈ lwē bo͞odăNˈ [key], 1824–98, French painter. He began painting at 25 in Paris. His best-known paintings are beach scenes of Brittany, Normandy, and the Netherland...

Wilson, Brian

(Encyclopedia) Wilson, Brian: see Beach Boys, The . ...

anthemion

(Encyclopedia)anthemion ănthēˈmēən [key], commonly called a palmette, a radiating, fan-shaped ornament or motif suggestive of a palm leaf or of honeysuckle and found in Egyptian, Assyrian, and Aegean art. It w...

hand

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Bones of right wrist and hand, dorsal view hand, terminal part of the forelimb in primates. The human hand consists of the wrist, palm, four fingers, and thumb. In humans and other primates, t...

Porto-Novo

(Encyclopedia)Porto-Novo pôrˈtō nōˈvō [key], city (1992 pop. 179,138), capital of Benin, S Benin, a port on Porto-Novo lagoon, an arm of the Gulf of Guinea. It is Benin's second largest city and an administra...

Coney Island

(Encyclopedia)Coney Island kōˈnē [key], beach resort, amusement center, and neighborhood of S Brooklyn borough of New York City, SE N.Y., on the Atlantic Ocean. The tidal creek that once separated the island fro...

Day, Benjamin Henry

(Encyclopedia)Day, Benjamin Henry, 1810–89, American journalist. He learned the printer's trade in the office of the Springfield (Mass.) Republican and opened a printing office in New York City. Lack of work duri...

arrack

(Encyclopedia)arrack ârˈək [key], strong spirits distilled chiefly in Asia from fermented fruits, grains, or sugarcane. In the 19th cent., Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) became quite noted for palm toddy arrack and in m...

Benin, Bight of

(Encyclopedia)Benin, Bight of, northern arm of the Gulf of Guinea, c.550 mi (885 km) wide, W Africa, between Cape Three Points, S Ghana, and the Niger River delta, SW Nigeria. The bight was an important area for sl...