Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

400 results found

Caprivi Strip

(Encyclopedia)Caprivi Strip tsĭpˈfəl [key] [Ger. Zipfel=tip, point], region, c.300 mi (480 km) long and 50 mi (80 km) wide, NE Namibia, bordered on the N by Angola and Zambia and on the S by Botswana. It is name...

Crates

(Encyclopedia)Crates krāˈtēz [key], fl. 449 b.c., Athenian comic dramatist. He is said to have introduced into comedy themes other than those of personal satire, and he was one of the first to show the comic pos...

Cratinus

(Encyclopedia)Cratinus krətīˈnəs [key], d. c.419 b.c., Athenian comic dramatist. He won the prize at the Athenian drama contest when Aristophanes competed with The Clouds and was regarded with Aristophanes and ...

fuse, electric

(Encyclopedia)fuse, electric, safety device used to protect an electric circuit against an excessive current. A fuse consists essentially of a strip of low-melting alloy enclosed in a suitable housing. It is connec...

Hall effect

(Encyclopedia)Hall effect, experiment that shows the sign of the charge carriers in a conductor. In 1879 E. H. Hall discovered that when he placed a metal strip carrying a current in a magnetic field, a voltage dif...

Hamas

(Encyclopedia)Hamas hämäsˈ [key] [Arab., = zeal], Arabic acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement, a Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist organization that was founded in 1987 during the Intifada; it seeks ...

Miyazaki, Hayao

(Encyclopedia)Miyazaki, Hayao mēyäˈzäˌkē [key], 1941–, Japanese animator. Japan's preeminent maker of animated films (anime), Miyazaki is thought by many to be the world's finest living animator. He draws, ...

player piano

(Encyclopedia)player piano, an upright piano incorporating a mechanical system that automatically plays the encoded contents of a paper strip. This strip, perforated with holes whose position and length determine p...

Arkansas City

(Encyclopedia)Arkansas City ärkănˈzəs [key], city, Cowley co., S Kans., at the confluence of the Arkansas and Walnut rivers, near the Okla. border; inc. 1872. Located in an agricult...
 

Browse by Subject