Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

478 results found

Kalávrita

(Encyclopedia)Kalávrita kəläˈvrĭtə [key], ancient Cynaetha, town, central Greece, It is chiefly a summer resort. At the nearby monastery of Hagia Laura (founded 961) the Greeks first rallied (1821) in the War...

Moschus

(Encyclopedia)Moschus mŏsˈkəs [key], fl. c.150 b.c., Greek bucolic poet of the school of Theocritus. He is called a Syracusan and lived in Alexandria. Among his few extant pieces is an idyl on Europa. Although L...

Year 2000 problem

(Encyclopedia)Year 2000 problem, Y2K problem, or millennium bug, in computer science, a design flaw in the hardware or software of a computer that caused erroneous results when working with dates beyond Dec. 31, 1...

Aubusson

(Encyclopedia)Aubusson ōbüsôN [key], town (1993 est. pop. 5,546), Creuse dept., central France, in the former province of Marche, on the Creuse River. Its famous tapestry and carpet manufactures date from the 15...

Himera

(Encyclopedia)Himera hĭmˈərə [key], ancient city on the north coast of Sicily, founded by Greeks in the 7th cent. b.c. Here in 480 b.c. (a traditional date) forces led by Gelon routed the Carthaginians led by H...

April Fool's Day

(Encyclopedia)April Fool's Day or All Fool's Day, holiday of uncertain origin, known for practical joking and celebrated on the first of April. Prior to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1564, the date was ...

Matera

(Encyclopedia)Matera mätĕˈrä [key], city (1991 pop. 54,919), capital of Matera prov., in Basilicata, S Italy, in the Apennines. It is an agricultural and industrial center with woolen textile mills and ceramics...

Sagua la Grande

(Encyclopedia)Sagua la Grande säˈgwä lä gränˈdā [key], city (1984 pop. 50,000), Villa Clara prov., central Cuba, on the Sagua la Grande River. It is a road and rail hub and the commercial and processing cent...

Elephantine

(Encyclopedia)Elephantine ĕlˌəfăntīˈnē [key], island, SE Egypt, in the Nile below the First Cataract, near Aswan. In ancient times it was a military post guarding the southern frontier of Egypt. The Elephant...

Doomsday 2000

(Encyclopedia)Doomsday 2000, term coined by Canadian computer consultant Peter de Jager in 1993 to describe the operational and financial impact of a defect of contemporary computer hardware and software, known as ...