Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Smith, Thomas, Captain

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Thomas, Captain, American painter, active in New England from 1675 to 1690. Smith introduced baroque painting techniques into American art. He made use of chiaroscuro technique to render solid ...

bone black

(Encyclopedia)bone black, solid black material, largely carbon, produced by heating animal bones to high temperatures in the absence of air so as to drive off volatile substances. Finely divided bone black is usefu...

Granville-Barker, Harley

(Encyclopedia)Granville-Barker, Harley, 1877–1946, English dramatist, actor, producer, and critic. As comanager of the Court Theatre from 1904 to 1907 he was an advocate and producer of “uncommercial” and exp...

kidney, artificial

(Encyclopedia)kidney, artificial, mechanical device capable of assuming the functions ordinarily performed by the kidneys. In treating cases of kidney failure a tube is inserted into an artery in the patient's arm ...

Charolais cattle

(Encyclopedia)Charolais cattle shârˈəlāˌ [key], breed of beef animal with a rugged, muscular appearance and solid creamy to wheat-colored coat. Originated in France, it was first imported to the United States ...

Bani Hasan

(Encyclopedia)Bani Hasan bäˈnē häsänˈ [key], village, E central Egypt, on the Nile near Al Minya. There are 39 tombs, carved out of solid rock in the XII dynasty of ancient Egypt. The name is also spelled Ben...

sodium hydroxide

(Encyclopedia)sodium hydroxide, chemical compound, NaOH, a white crystalline substance that readily absorbs carbon dioxide and moisture from the air. It is very soluble in water, alcohol, and glycerin. It is a caus...

mignonette

(Encyclopedia)mignonette mĭnˌyənĕtˈ [key], common name for some members of the Resedaceae, a small family of herbs and a few shrubs inhabiting arid regions. The main genus, the mignonettes (genus Reseda), chie...

viscosity

(Encyclopedia)viscosity, resistance of a fluid to flow. This resistance acts against the motion of any solid object through the fluid and also against motion of the fluid itself past stationary obstacles. Viscosity...

vaporization

(Encyclopedia)vaporization, change of a liquid or solid substance to a gas or vapor. There is fundamentally no difference between the terms gas and vapor, but gas is used commonly to describe a substance that appea...