Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

250 results found

aberration

(Encyclopedia)CE5 A. Spherical aberration: Light rays near the edge of the lens are bent more and brought to focus nearer to the lens. B. Chromatic aberration: Shorter wavelengths (higher frequencies) are bent m...

Domenchina, Juan José

(Encyclopedia)Domenchina, Juan José hwän hōsāˈ dōmānchēˈnä [key], 1898–1959, Spanish poet and critic, b. Madrid. He was active in the transition from modernismo to the “new poetry.” Such early volum...

Dumdum

(Encyclopedia)Dumdum dŭmˈdəm [key], four towns in Suburban Kolkata (Calcutta), West Bengal state, E cent...

Hinggan Ling, Da

(Encyclopedia)Hinggan Ling, Da, or Great Khingan both: hĭngˈgänˈ [key], mountain range, Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, NE China, extending c.750 mi (1,210 km) from the Amur River south to the Liao River; th...

Joplin

(Encyclopedia)Joplin jŏpˈlĭn [key], city (1990 pop. 40,961), Jasper and Newton counties, SW Mo., at the edge of the Ozarks; settled c.1839, inc. 1873. It is a railroad center, the shipping and processing point o...

periwinkle, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)periwinkle, any of a group of marine gastropod mollusks having conical, spiral shells. Periwinkles feed on algae and seaweed. They are found at the water's edge; out of water, they resist drying by cl...

flight

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Aircraft motions and control surfaces: Yaw, or motion to the left or right, is controlled by the rudder. Pitch, or climbing or dropping, is controlled by the elevators, which move in the same d...

horseshoe

(Encyclopedia)horseshoe, narrow plate, commonly of iron or steel, shaped to fit a horse's hoof and attached to the hoof by nailing it to the inner edge of the horny wall of the hoof. Horseshoes vary from the light ...

Bam

(Encyclopedia)Bam bäm [key], town, Kerman prov., SE Iran, on the intermittent Bam River. Located on the we...

chiton

(Encyclopedia)CE5 A. Dorsal view of a chiton, representative mollusk of the class Amphineura B. Internal anatomy of a chiton chiton kīˈtən [key], common name for rock-clinging marine mollusks of the class Po...

Browse by Subject