Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

grenade

(Encyclopedia)grenade grĭnādˈ [key], small bomb either thrown by hand or shot from a modified rifle or a grenade launcher. It may be filled with gas or chemicals but more often holds an explosive charge that fra...

hoe

(Encyclopedia)hoe, usually a flat blade, variously shaped, set in a long wooden handle and used primarily for weeding and for loosening the soil. It was the first distinctly agricultural implement. The earliest hoe...

Indian Territory

(Encyclopedia)Indian Territory, in U.S. history, name applied to the country set aside for Native Americans by the Indian Intercourse Act (1834). In the 1820s, the federal government began moving the Five Civilized...

piezoelectric effect

(Encyclopedia)piezoelectric effect pīēˌzōĭlĕkˈtrĭk [key], voltage produced between surfaces of a solid dielectric (nonconducting substance) when a mechanical stress is applied to it. A small current may be ...

Nasser, Gamal Abdal

(Encyclopedia)Nasser, Gamal Abdal gəmälˈ ăbˈdəl näˈsər [key], 1918–70, Egyptian army officer and political leader, first president of the republic of Egypt (1956–70). A revolutionary since youth, he wa...

Sinaia

(Encyclopedia)Sinaia sēnīˈä [key], town (1990 pop. 15,817), S central Romania, in Walachia, in the Transylvanian Alps. It is a health and winter sports resort and has a metalworking plant and manufactures such ...

Sloane, Sir Hans

(Encyclopedia)Sloane, Sir Hans, 1660–1753, British physican and naturalist, president of the Royal College of Physicians (1719–35) and of the Royal Society (1727–40). His collection of botanical specimens (so...

Plymouth, city, England

(Encyclopedia)Plymouth, city and unitary authority (1991 pop. 238,583), SW England, on Plymouth Sound. The three towns that Plymouth has comprised since 1914 are Plymouth, Stonehouse, and Devonport; the suburbs of ...

Athabasca

(Encyclopedia)Athabasca ăthəbăsˈkə [key], river, 765 mi (1,231 km) long, rising in the Columbia snowfield of the Canadian Rockies near the Alta.–British Columbia line and flowing N through Jasper National Pa...

Atholston, Hugh Graham, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Atholston, Hugh Graham, 1st Baron ăthˈəlstən [key], 1848–1938, Canadian newspaper publisher. He was the founder and proprietor (1869) of the evening paper the Montreal Star, which became Canada'...