Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

217 results found

sandstorm

(Encyclopedia)sandstorm, strong dry wind blowing over the desert that raises and carries along clouds of sand or dust often so dense as to obscure the sun and reduce visibility almost to zero; also known as a dusts...

whirlwind

(Encyclopedia)whirlwind, revolving mass of air resulting from local atmospheric instability, such as that caused by intense heating of the ground by the sun on a hot summer day. Examples of whirlwinds are waterspou...

Belichick, Bill

(Encyclopedia)Belichick, Bill (William Stephen Belichick), 1952–, American professional football coach, b. Nashville, Tenn. The son of a college coach, he played football at Wesleyan Univ. He held various coachin...

Owens

(Encyclopedia)Owens, river, c.120 mi (190 km) long, rising in the Sierra Nevada, E Calif., SE of Yosemite National Park and flowing SE, to enter Owens Lake, near Mt. Whitney. Since 1913, at a point c.45 mi (70 km) ...

Aphrah

(Encyclopedia)Aphrah ăfˈrə [key], in the punning passage of the Book of Micah, apparently the name of a town. The name meant “dust” in Hebrew or sounded like a word meaning “dust,” hence probably the use...

Ursa Major and Ursa Minor

(Encyclopedia)Ursa Major ûrˈsə [key] and Ursa Minor [Lat.,=the great bear; the little bear], two conspicuous northern constellations. Known to many peoples from ancient times, these constellations have had vario...

Brees, Drew

(Encyclopedia)Brees, Drew (Andrew Christopher Brees) brēz [key], 1979–, American football player, b. Austin, Tex. At Purdue in 2000 he quarterbacked the Boilermakers to the Big 10 championship (shared with Michi...

Shula, Don

(Encyclopedia)Shula, Don (Donald Francis Shula) sho͞oˈlə [key], 1930–2020, American football coach, b. Grand River, Ohio. A player at John Carroll Univ. and from 1951 to 1957 with the Cleveland Browns, Baltimo...

Steinbeck, John

(Encyclopedia)Steinbeck, John, 1902–68, American writer, b. Salinas, Calif., studied at Stanford. He is probably best remembered for his strong sociological novel The Grapes of Wrath, considered one of the great ...

khaki

(Encyclopedia)khaki kăkˈē, käˈkē [key] [Hindi,=dust-colored], closely twilled cloth of linen or cotton, dyed a dust color. It was first used (1848) for uniforms for the English regiment of Sir Harry Burnett L...