Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Westwood

(Encyclopedia)Westwood. 1 Residential town (1990 pop. 12,557), Norfolk co., E Mass., in the greater Boston area; settled 1640, inc. 1897. Clothing is manufactured, and the town has several early 18th-century buildi...

dubnium

(Encyclopedia)dubnium do͞obˈnēəm [key], artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Db; at. no. 105; mass number of most stable isotope 268; m.p., b.p., and sp. gr. unknown; valence +5. Situated ...

element

(Encyclopedia)CE5 element, in chemistry, a substance that cannot be decomposed into simpler substances by chemical means. A substance such as a compound can be decomposed into its constituent elements by means o...

Odebrecht corruption scandal

(Encyclopedia)Odebrecht corruption scandal, series of graft scandals involving the Odebrecht (now Novonor), a Brazilian construction and petrochemicals conglomerate, as well as Petrobras, the Brazilian multinationa...

San Francisco Bay

(Encyclopedia)San Francisco Bay, 50 mi (80 km) long and from 3 to 13 mi (4.8–21 km) wide, W Calif.; entered through the Golden Gate, a strait between two peninsulas. The bay is as deep as 100 ft (30 m) in spots, ...

Trans-Dniester Region

(Encyclopedia)Trans-Dniester Region or Transnistria, region (2004 preliminary pop. 555,000), E Moldova, between the Dniester River and the Ukrainian border. A narrow territory some 120 mi (195 km) long but barely 2...

subsidy

(Encyclopedia)subsidy, financial assistance granted by a government or philanthropic foundation to a person or association for the purpose of promoting an enterprise considered beneficial to the public welfare. Sub...

Norwood

(Encyclopedia)Norwood. 1 Town (1990 pop. 28,700), Norfolk co., E Mass.; settled 1678, set off from Dedham and Walpole and inc. 1872. Chiefly residential, its industries include printing and publishing and the manuf...

Salve Regina

(Encyclopedia)Salve Regina sälˈvā rājēˈnə [key] [Lat.,=hail, queen], prayer or hymn to the Virgin Mary, traditionally said, usually in the vernacular, after Low Mass and also, during part of the year, at ves...

Coffin, Sir Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Coffin, Sir Isaac, 1759–1839, British naval officer, b. Boston, Mass. From a loyalist family, he fought for the British in the American Revolution and in the French Revolutionary Wars; at the end of...