Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

488 results found

chivalry

(Encyclopedia)chivalry shĭvˈəlrē [key], system of ethical ideals that arose from feudalism and had its highest development in the 12th and 13th cent. Chivalric ethics originated chiefly in France and Spain and ...

skiing

(Encyclopedia)skiing, sport of sliding over snow on skis—long, narrow, flexible runners. Water skiing is a warm-weather sport in which a motor-propelled craft tows a skier through the water. Although its orig...

canal

(Encyclopedia)canal, an artificial waterway constructed for navigation or for the movement of water. The digging of canals for irrigation probably dates back to the beginnings of agriculture, and traces of canals h...

television

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Video transmission and reception of color and black-and-white television: The camera lens focuses collected light rays into mirrors, which separate the image into its three primary color compon...

fuel

(Encyclopedia)fuel, material that can be burned or otherwise consumed to produce heat. The common fuels used in industry, transportation, and the home are burned in air. The carbon and hydrogen in fuel rapidly comb...

orbit

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Important points in a planet's orbit as seen from the earth orbit, in astronomy, path in space described by a body revolving about a second body where the motion of the orbiting bodies is domi...

Springfield

(Encyclopedia)Springfield. 1 City (1990 pop. 105,227), state capital and seat of Sangamon co., central Ill., on the Sangamon River; settled 1818, inc. as a city 1840. In a rich agricultural region (sorghum, corn, c...

infertility

(Encyclopedia)infertility, inability to conceive or carry a child to delivery. The term is usually limited to situations where the couple has had intercourse regularly for one year without using birth control. The ...

plastic

(Encyclopedia)plastic, any organic material with the ability to flow into a desired shape when heat and pressure are applied to it and to retain the shape when they are withdrawn. The first important plastic, cel...

reproductive system

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Reproductive system reproductive system, in animals, the anatomical organs concerned with production of offspring. In humans and other mammals the female reproductive system produces the femal...