Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

120 results found

Troy , ancient city, Asian Turkey

(Encyclopedia)Troy, ancient city made famous by Homer's account of the Trojan War. It is also called Ilion or, in Latin, Ilium. Its site is almost universally accepted as the mound now named Hissarlik, in Asian Tur...

detergent

(Encyclopedia)detergent dētûrˈjənt, dĭ– [key], substance that aids in the removal of dirt. Detergents act mainly on the oily films that trap dirt particles. The detergent molecules have a hydrocarbon portion...

Avebury

(Encyclopedia)Avebury āˈbərē [key], village, Wiltshire, S central England. The village, with a medieval church and Elizabethan manor house, lies within Avebury Circle, a Neolithic circular group of upright ston...

Natural Bridges National Monument

(Encyclopedia)Natural Bridges National Monument, 7,636 acres (3,093 hectares), SE Utah; est. 1908. Located in an area of colored cliffs and box canyons, the monument contains three huge natural sandstone bridges: O...

mastaba

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Mastaba mastaba măsˈtəbə [key], in Egyptian architecture, a sepulchral structure built aboveground. The mastabas of the early dynastic period (3200–2680 b.c.), such as those of the I dyn...

New Smyrna Beach

(Encyclopedia)New Smyrna Beach smûrˈnə [key], city (1990 pop. 16,543), Volusia co., NE Fla., on Indian River (a lagoon; part of the Intracoastal Waterway) and on Ponce de Leon Inlet of the Atlantic Ocean; inc. 1...

layering

(Encyclopedia)layering, horticultural practice of propagating a plant by rooting a branch before severing it from the mother plant. Typically the branch is bent and a section that has been slit or broken on the und...

breakwater

(Encyclopedia)breakwater, offshore structure to protect a harbor from wave energy or deflect currents. When it also serves as a pier, it is called a quay; when covered by a roadway it is called a mole. In the Unite...

Chinon

(Encyclopedia)Chinon shēnôNˈ [key], town (1993 est. pop. 8,961), Indre-et-Loire dept., W central France, in Touraine, on the Vienne River. Chinon was an important medieval town and many buildings (notably three ...

entasis

(Encyclopedia)entasis ĕnˈtəsĭs [key] [Gr.,=stretching], the slight convex curvature of a classical column that diminishes in diameter as it rises. This device, as used by Greek builders, was of extreme subtlety...