Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Ute

(Encyclopedia)Ute yo͞ot, yo͞oˈtē [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Shoshonean group of the Uto-Aztecan branch of the Aztec-Tanoan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In t...

Indus

(Encyclopedia)Indus ĭnˈdəs [key], chief river of Pakistan, c.1,900 mi (3,060 km) long, rising in the Kailas range in the Tibetan Himalayas, and flowing NW across Ladakh, India, then SW through Pakistan to the Ar...

Kickapoo

(Encyclopedia)Kickapoo kĭkˈəpo͞o [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages) and who in the late 17t...

sign language

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Manual alphabet sign language, gestural communication used as an alternative or replacement for speech. Sign languages resemble oral languages in every way other than their modality. As with o...

buckwheat

(Encyclopedia)buckwheat, common name for certain members of the Polygonaceae, a family of herbs and shrubs found chiefly in north temperate areas and having a characteristic pungent juice containing oxalic acid. Sp...

Campania

(Encyclopedia)Campania kämpäˈnyä [key], region, 5,249 sq mi (13,595 sq km), central Italy, extending from ...

Constantine, Donation of

(Encyclopedia)Constantine, Donation of, Lat. Constitutum Constantini, forged document, probably drafted in the 8th cent. It purported to be a grant by Roman Emperor Constantine I of great temporal power in Italy an...

inn, lodging

(Encyclopedia)inn, in Great Britain, any hotel, public house, tavern, or coffeehouse where lodging is provided. In American usage, the inn is generally a small rural lodging house for transients. Among the earliest...

Bennett, Arnold

(Encyclopedia)Bennett, Arnold (Enoch Arnold Bennett), 1867–1931, English novelist and dramatist. One of the great 20th-century English novelists, Bennett is famous for his realistic novels about the “Five Towns...

Baltic Shield

(Encyclopedia)Baltic Shield, the continental core of Europe, composed of Precambrian crystalline rock, the oldest of Europe. The tectonically stable region was not affected by the Caledonian, Hercynian, and Alpine ...