Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

105 results found

radio frequency

(Encyclopedia)radio frequency, range of electromagnetic waves with a frequency or wavelength suitable for communication uses. Some of these waves serve as carriers of the lower-frequency audio waves; others are mod...

horticulture

(Encyclopedia)horticulture [Lat. hortus=garden], science and art of gardening and of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, and ornamental plants. Horticulture generally refers to small-scale gardening, and agric...

Jay, Ricky

(Encyclopedia)Jay, Ricky, 1946–2018, American magician, actor, and writer, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., as Richard Jay Potash. The grandson of a fine amateur magician, Jay first performed at age four and as a teenager bega...

softball

(Encyclopedia)softball, variant of baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Invented (1888) in Chicago as an indoor game, it was at various times called indoor baseball, mush ball, playground ball, ki...

Morse code

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Morse code [for S. F. B. Morse], the arbitrary set of signals used on the telegraph (see code). It may also be used with a flash lamp for visible signaling. The international (or continental) M...

Thorpe, Jim

(Encyclopedia)Thorpe, Jim (James Francis Thorpe), 1888–1953, American athlete, b. near Prague, Okla. Thorpe was probably the greatest all-round male athlete the United States has ever produced. His mother, a Sac,...

Hindemith, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Hindemith, Paul hĭnˈdəmĭth [key], 1895–1963, German-American composer and violist, b. Hanau, Germany. Hindemith combined experimental and traditional techniques into a distinctively modern style...

judo

(Encyclopedia)judo jo͞oˈdō [key], sport of Japanese origin that makes use of the principles of jujitsu, a weaponless system of self-defense. Buddhist monks in China, Japan, and Tibet developed jujitsu over a per...

football

(Encyclopedia)CE5 A professional football field. College teams use a similar field except that the inbound lines are 53 ft 4 in. (16.25 m) from the sidelines. football, any of a number of games in which two opp...

Grand Ole Opry

(Encyclopedia)Grand Ole Opry, weekly American radio program featuring live country and western music. The nation's oldest continuous radio sho...