Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

440 results found

calligraphy

(Encyclopedia)calligraphy kəlĭgˈrəfē [key] [Gr.,=beautiful writing], skilled penmanship practiced as a fine art. See also inscription; paleography. The art of calligraphy is also practiced with the limited l...

color

(Encyclopedia)color, effect produced on the eye and its associated nerves by light waves of different wavelength or frequency. Light transmitted from an object to the eye stimulates the different color cones of the...

probability

(Encyclopedia)probability, in mathematics, assignment of a number as a measure of the “chance” that a given event will occur. There are certain important restrictions on such a probability measure. In any exper...

milk, food

(Encyclopedia)milk, liquid secreted by the mammary glands of female mammals as food for their young. The milk of the cow is most widely used by humans, but the milk of the mare, goat, ewe, buffalo, camel, ass, zebr...

lizard

(Encyclopedia)lizard, a reptile of the order Squamata, which also includes the snake. Lizards form the suborder Sauria, and there are over 3,000 lizard species distributed throughout the world (except for the polar...

coal

(Encyclopedia)coal, fuel substance of plant origin, largely or almost entirely composed of carbon with varying amounts of mineral matter. Coal is found in beds or seams interstratified with shales, clays, sands...

barnacle

(Encyclopedia)barnacle, common name of the sedentary crustacean animals constituting the infraclass Cirripedia. Barnacles are exclusively marine and are quite unlike any other crustacean because of the permanently ...

thorium

(Encyclopedia)thorium thôrˈēəm [key] [from Thor], radioactive chemical element; symbol Th; at. no. 90; mass number of most stable isotope 232; m.p. about 1,750℃; b.p. about 4,790℃; sp. gr. 11.7 at 20℃; va...

geometry

(Encyclopedia)geometry [Gr.,=earth measuring], branch of mathematics concerned with the properties of and relationships between points, lines, planes, and figures and with generalizations of these concepts. Eucli...

vocational education

(Encyclopedia)vocational education, training designed to advance individuals' general proficiency, especially in relation to their present or future occupations. The term does not normally include training for the ...