Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Mascarene Islands

(Encyclopedia)CEE Mascarene Islands măskərēnˈ [key], in the Indian Ocean, E of Madagascar. They include Mauritius, Réunion, and Rodriguez. Apparently known to the Arabs, they were rediscovered by the Portug...

teleportation, in science fiction

(Encyclopedia)teleportation, in science fiction, the process of instantaneously transporting a person or an object between two points, usually by disappearing from one place and reappearing at a second place as a p...

colonnade

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Colonnade colonnade kŏlənādˈ [key], a row of columns usually supporting a roof. Colonnades were popular with the Greeks and Romans, who employed them in the stoa and the portico; they have...

geodesic dome

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Geodesic dome geodesic dome jēˌədĕsˈĭk, –dēˈsĭk [key], structure that roughly approximates a hemisphere. Popular in recent years as economical, easily erected buildings, geodesic do...

analogy

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Analogy in bird and insect wings analogy, in biology, the similarities in function, but differences in evolutionary origin, of body structures in different organisms. For example, the wing of ...

truss

(Encyclopedia)CE5 A. King post truss B. Queen, with princess posts truss, in architecture and engineering, a supporting structure or framework composed of beams, girders, or rods commonly of steel or wood lying...

sitar

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Sitar sitar sĭtärˈ [key], fretted string instrument with a gourdlike body and a long neck, similar to the lute. It has from 3 to 7 gut strings, tuned in fourths or fifths (or both), and a l...

squinch

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Squinch squinch, in architecture, a piece of construction used for filling in the upper angles of a square room so as to form a proper base to receive an octagonal or spherical dome. It was th...

volume

(Encyclopedia)CE5 volume, measure of solid content or capacity, usually expressed in units that are the cubes of linear units, such as cubic inches and cubic centimeters, or in units of dry and liquid measure, s...

electricity

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Electrical and radio symbols electricity, class of phenomena arising from the existence of charge. The basic unit of charge is that on the proton or electron—the proton's charge is designate...