Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Vorkuta

(Encyclopedia)Vorkuta vərko͞otäˈ [key], city (2010 pop. 70,548), Komi Republic, NE European Russia, above the Arctic Circle. It is the industrial center of the Pechora coal basin. Founded in 1932 as the site of...

Walafrid Strabo

(Encyclopedia)Walafrid Strabo (Walafrid the Squinter), c.809–849, German scholar, b. Swabia. Educated at the abbey of Reichenau, he wrote, at 18, a Latin verse account of a journey to the hereafter, Visio Wettini...

Aijalon

(Encyclopedia)Aijalon ăˈjəlŏn, īˈ–, āˈ– [key], in the Bible. 1 Town, on the border between Philistia and Israel, the modern Yalo (Israel), NW of Jerusalem. In the Tell el Amarna letters it is called Aia...

Celle

(Encyclopedia)Celle tsĕlˈə [key], city, Lower Saxony, N Germany, on the Aller River. Its manufactures in...

Bideford

(Encyclopedia)Bideford bĭdˈəfərd [key], town (1985 est. 12,300), Devon, SW England, on the Torridge estuary. Formerly a major seaport, it still maintains some foreign trade (timber is imported) and has a boatbu...

micromechanics

(Encyclopedia)micromechanics, the combination of minuscule electrical and mechanical components in a single device less than 1 mm across, such as a valve or a motor. Although micromechanical production processes an...

ibex

(Encyclopedia)ibex īˈbĕks [key], wild goat, genus Capra, found in rugged country on mountain ranges from central Asia to the Himalayas, S Europe, and NE Africa. Ibexes are surefooted and agile; they usually trav...

Kano, family or school of Japanese painters

(Encyclopedia)Kano käˈnō [key], family or school of Japanese painters. Kano Masanobu, c.1434–c.1530, the forerunner of the school, was attached to the shogun Yoshimasa's court. He painted landscapes, birds, an...

sulfa drug

(Encyclopedia)sulfa drug, any of a class of synthetic chemical substances derived from sulfanilamide, or para-aminobenzenesulfonamide. Sulfa drugs are used to treat bacterial infections, although they have largely ...

Winchester, city, England

(Encyclopedia)Winchester wĭnˈchĭstər [key], city and district (1991 pop. 34,127), county seat of Hampshire, S central England. Winchester was called Caer Gwent by the Britons, Venta Belgarum by the Romans, and ...

Browse by Subject