Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

antenna

(Encyclopedia)antenna ăntĕnˈə [key], in electronics, system of wires or other conductors used to transmit or receive radio or other electromagnetic waves (see radio); sometimes called an aerial. The idea of usi...

Lucy, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Lucy, Saint, d. 304?, Sicilian virgin martyr. According to legend, at an early age she vowed herself to God. She rejected a pagan suitor, who then denounced her during the persecutions under Diocletia...

John I, king of Aragón and count of Barcelona

(Encyclopedia)John I, 1350–95, king of Aragón and count of Barcelona (1387–95), son and successor of Peter IV. During his reign Aragón lost (1388) the duchy of Athens. An enthusiastic patron of learning and a...

Næstved

(Encyclopedia)Næstved nĕstˈvĕᵺ [key], city (1992 pop. 38,185), Storstrøm co., SE Denmark. It is a seaport, linked (since 1938) with the Karrebæk Fjord (an arm of the Store Bælt) by a 5-mi (8.1-km) canal. I...

Fort Frances

(Encyclopedia)Fort Frances, town, SW Ont., Canada, on Rainy River, opposite International Falls, Minn. It is chiefly a lumbering center with sawmills and a pulp and p...

Ishim, city, Russia

(Encyclopedia)Ishim ēshēmˈ [key], city (1989 pop. 66,000), W Siberian Russia, on the Ishim River and the Trans-Siberian RR. An agricultural center, it produces farm machinery and processes food. An old trading t...

Paris green

(Encyclopedia)Paris green, also called Schweinfurt green, an extremely poisonous, bright green powder that was formerly used extensively as a pigment (e.g., in wallpaper) and that is sometimes used as an insecticid...

Turati, Filippo

(Encyclopedia)Turati, Filippo, 1857–1932, Italian political leader. An advocate of a moderate, nonviolent form of socialism, Turati cofounded the Italian Socialist party in 1892. In 1926, threatened by the growin...

Tokat

(Encyclopedia)Tokat tōkätˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 83,174), capital of Tokat prov., N central Turkey. It is an agricultural market with copper manufactures. An important town in Roman times, it declined under the...

retable

(Encyclopedia)retable rēˈtābəl [key], frame for decorative panels at the back of an altar in European churches. Retables, often sumptuously decorated in alabaster and gold, generally contained scenes from the B...