Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

434 results found

Wyoming, state, United States

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Wyoming wīōˈmĭng [key], least populous state in the United States, one of the Rocky Mt. states of the West. It is bordered by South Dakota and Nebraska (E), Colorado and Utah (S), Idaho (W)...

O'Connell, Daniel

(Encyclopedia)O'Connell, Daniel, 1775–1847, Irish political leader. He is known as the Liberator. Admitted to the Irish bar in 1798, O'Connell built up a lucrative law practice. Gradually he became involved in th...

lighthouse

(Encyclopedia)lighthouse, towerlike structure erected to give guidance and warning to ships and aircraft by either visible or radioelectrical means. Lighthouses were long built to conform in structure to their geog...

mussel

(Encyclopedia)mussel, edible freshwater or marine bivalve mollusk. Mussels are able to move slowly by means of the muscular foot. They feed and breathe by filtering water through extensible tubes called siphons; a ...

language acquisition

(Encyclopedia)language acquisition, the process of learning a native or a second language. The acquisition of native languages is studied primarily by developmental psychologists and psycholinguists. Although how c...

McMurtry, Larry

(Encyclopedia)McMurtry, Larry Jeff, 1936–2021, American novelist, b. Wichita Falls, Tx., grad. North Texas State Univ. (B.A., 1958), Rice Un...

virtual reality

(Encyclopedia)virtual reality (VR) or virtual environment (VE), computer-generated environment with and within which people can interact. The advantage of VR is that it can immerse people in an environment that wou...

uterus

(Encyclopedia)uterus, in most female mammals, hollow muscular organ in which the fetus develops and from which it is delivered at the end of pregnancy. The human uterus is pear-shaped and about 3 in. (7.6 cm) long ...

Stanislaus I

(Encyclopedia)Stanislaus I, 1677–1766, king of Poland (1704–1709, 1733–35) and duke of Lorraine (1735–66). He was born Stanislaus Leszczynski. Early in the Northern War (1700–1721), Charles XII of Sweden ...

stomach

(Encyclopedia)stomach, saclike dilation in the gastrointestinal tract between the esophagus and the intestines, forming an organ of digestion. The stomach is present in virtually all vertebrate animals and in many ...