Columbia Encyclopedia

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doll

(Encyclopedia)doll, small figure of a human being, usually used as a child's toy. The many types of dolls found among the relics of primitive peoples were cult objects. Egypt, Greece, and Rome have left well-preser...

balance of payments

(Encyclopedia)balance of payments, balance between all payments out of a country within a given period and all payments into the country, an outgrowth of the mercantilist theory of balance of trade. Balance of paym...

public ownership

(Encyclopedia)public ownership, government ownership of lands, streets, public buildings, utilities, and other business enterprises. The theory that all land and its resources belong ultimately to the people and th...

hemp

(Encyclopedia)hemp, common name for a tall annual herb (Cannabis sativa) of the family Cannabinaceae, native to Asia but now widespread because of its formerly large-scale cultivation for the bast fiber (also calle...

storm

(Encyclopedia)storm, disturbance of the ordinary conditions of the atmosphere attended by wind, rain, snow, sleet, hail, or thunder and lightning. Types of storms include the extratropical cyclone, the common, larg...

Stuttgart, city, Germany

(Encyclopedia)Stuttgart shto͝otˈgärt [key], city (1994 pop. 594,406), capital of Baden-Württemberg, SW Germany, on the Neckar River. It is a major transportation point, with a large river port and an internatio...

Calabria

(Encyclopedia)Calabria käläˈbrēä [key], region, 5,822 sq mi (15,079 sq km), S Italy, a peninsula projecting ...

blackbody

(Encyclopedia)blackbody, in physics, an ideal black substance that absorbs all and reflects none of the radiant energy falling on it. Lampblack, or powdered carbon, which reflects less than 2% of the radiation fall...

wind

(Encyclopedia)wind, flow of air relative to the earth's surface. A wind is named according to the point of the compass from which it blows, e.g., a wind blowing from the north is a north wind. The diurnal, or dai...

musical notation

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Musical notation musical notation, symbols used to make a written record of musical sounds. Two different systems of letters were used to write down the instrumental and the vocal music of anc...