Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

age of consent

(Encyclopedia)age of consent, the age at which, according to the law, persons are bound by their words and acts. There are different ages at which one acquires legal capacity to consent to marriage, to choose a gua...

plow

(Encyclopedia)plow or plough, agricultural implement used to cut furrows in and turn up the soil, preparing it for planting. The plow is generally considered the most important tillage tool. Its beginnings in the B...

Javanese music

(Encyclopedia)Javanese music, one of the richest and most distinctive of Asian musical cultures. It was and is of enormous importance in religious, political, and entertainment functions. It possesses two separate ...

Thíra

(Encyclopedia)Thíra or Thera both: thērˈə [key], volcanic island (1991 pop. 9,360), c.30 sq mi (80 sq km), SE Greece, in the Aegean Sea. One of the Cyclades, Thíra is also known as Santorini, for St. Irene, th...

Heraclea

(Encyclopedia)Heraclea hĕrəklēˈə [key], ancient Greek city, in Lucania, S Italy, not far from the Gulf of Tarentum (Taranto). There Pyrrhus defeated the Romans in 280 b.c. Bronze tablets giving Roman municipal...

Bolt, Usain St. Leo

(Encyclopedia)Bolt, Usain St. Leo, 1986–, Jamaican sprinter. Unusually tall (6 ft 5 in./1.96 m) for his sport, he won the gold medal for the 200-m sprint at the 2002 world junior championships and then broke the ...

dating

(Encyclopedia)dating, the determination of the age of an object, of a natural phenomenon, or of a series of events. There are two basic types of dating methods, relative and absolute. In relative dating, the tempor...

Greek fire

(Encyclopedia)Greek fire, a flammable composition believed to have consisted of sulfur, naphtha, and quicklime. Although known in antiquity, it was first employed on a large scale by the Byzantines. Bronze tubes th...

Finelli, Giuliano

(Encyclopedia)Finelli, Giuliano jo͞olyäˈnō fēnĕlˈlē [key], 1605–57, Italian sculptor. Working as assistant to Bernini, Finelli rejected the baroque aesthetic and adopted a mannered style of expression inf...

rococo, in architecture

(Encyclopedia)rococo rəkōˈkō, rō– [key], style in architecture, especially in interiors and the decorative arts, which originated in France and was widely used in Europe in the 18th cent. The term may be der...
 

Browse by Subject