Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Rimac

(Encyclopedia)Rimac rēˈmäk [key], river, c.80 mi (130 km) long, rising in the Andes of W Peru, and flowing W through Lima to the Pacific Ocean near Callao. It is used extensively for irrigation. The scenic Rimac...

still life

(Encyclopedia)still life, a pictorial representation of inanimate objects. The term derives from the 17th-century Dutch still-leven, meaning a motionless natural object or objects. In East Asia still-life subj...

Star-Spangled Banner, The

(Encyclopedia)Star-Spangled Banner, The, American national anthem, beginning, “O say can you see by the dawn's early light.” The words were written by Francis Scott Key, a young Washington attorney who during t...

Ambala

(Encyclopedia)Ambala əmbäˈlə [key], city, Haryana state, NW India. It is a district administrative headquarters, a military station, and a transportation center, with an airport and...

Montes Claros

(Encyclopedia)Montes Claros môNˈtəsh kläˈro͝osh [key], city (1996 pop. 271,324), Minas Gerais state, E central Brazil. Cattle breeding is the chief economic activity, and agriculture is important. Montes Clar...

Rewa

(Encyclopedia)Rewa rāˈvə [key], walled city (1991 pop. 128,648), Madhya Pradesh state, central India. It is the administrative center of a district rich in coal, corundum, and limestone. Rewa is a market for tim...

Loomis, Mahlon

(Encyclopedia)Loomis, Mahlon, 1826–86, American inventor, b. Oppenheim, N.Y. He was a dentist by profession but spent much of his time pioneering in wireless communication. Using aerials borne by kites, he succes...

Carías Andino, Tiburcio

(Encyclopedia)Carías Andino, Tiburcio tēbo͞orˈsyō kärēˈäs ändēˈnō [key], 1876–1969, president of Honduras (1933–49). A strong-handed dictator, his term was twice extended by congress. Some improvem...

body language

(Encyclopedia)body language, nonverbal communication by means of facial expessions, eye behavior, gestures, posture, and the like. Body language expresses emotions, feelings, and attitudes, sometimes even contradic...

Lenormand, Henri René

(Encyclopedia)Lenormand, Henri René äNrēˈ rənāˈ lənôrmäNˈ [key], 1882–1951, French dramatist. His plays, Freudian in tone and theme and often heavily symbolic, include Les Ratés (1918, tr. The Failure...