Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Ghardaïa

(Encyclopedia)Ghardaïa gärdäyäˈ [key], town, N Algeria. It is the chief town of the Mzab, a stony, barren ...

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...

Wandsworth

(Encyclopedia)Wandsworth, inner borough (1991 pop. 237,500) of Greater London, SE London, on the Thames River. An area along the Thames is industrialized, with gasworks, breweries, and candle and paint manufacture....

Ypres

(Encyclopedia)Ypres ēˈprə [key], Du. Ieper, commune (1991 pop. 35,235), West Flanders prov., SW Belgium, near the French border. It is an agricultural market and an industrial center. Manufactures include textil...

Ponge, Francis

(Encyclopedia)Ponge, Francis fräNsēsˈ pôNzh [key], 1899–1988, French essayist and poet. A controversial figure, he was opposed to emotional and symbolic poetic methods. His method was to observe things meticu...

Cankar, Ivan

(Encyclopedia)Cankar, Ivan ēvänˈ tsänˈkär [key], 1876–1918, Slovenian poet. Considered one of the great Slovenian literary figures, he was influential in the development of modern satire, symbolic drama, an...

logic circuit

(Encyclopedia)logic circuit, electric circuit whose output depends upon the input in a way that can be expressed as a function in symbolic logic; it has one or more binary inputs (capable of assuming either of two ...

Tantra

(Encyclopedia)Tantra tŭnˈtrə [key], in both Hinduism and Buddhism, esoteric tradition of ritual and yoga known for elaborate use of mantra, or symbolic speech, and mandala, or symbolic diagrams; the importance o...

textiles

(Encyclopedia)textiles, all fabrics made by weaving, felting, knitting, braiding, or netting, from the various textile fibers (see fiber). Yarn, fabrics, and tools for spinning and weaving have been found among...

Cuiabá

(Encyclopedia)Cuiabá ko͞oyəbäˈ [key], city, capital of Mato Grosso state, SW Brazil, at the head of na...