Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

helicopter

(Encyclopedia)helicopter, type of aircraft in which lift is obtained by means of one or more power-driven horizontal propellers called rotors. When the rotor of a helicopter turns it produces reaction torque which ...

Handke, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Handke, Peter pāˈtər häntˈkə [key], 1942–, Austrian novelist and playwright. His controversial, avant-garde works often reflect his ironic sense of the constricting limitations of language and...

British Library

(Encyclopedia)British Library, national library of Great Britain, located in London; one of the world's great libraries. Long a part of the British Museum, the library collection originated in 1753 when the governm...

Catherine of Siena, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Catherine of Siena, Saint sēĕnˈə [key], 1347–80, Italian mystic and diplomat, a member of the third order of the Dominicans, Doctor of the Church. The daughter of Giacomo Benincasa, a Sienese dy...

Rio de Janeiro, city, Brazil

(Encyclopedia)Rio de Janeiro rēˈō də zhänāˈrō, Port. rēˈo͝o ᵺĭ zhənĕēˈro͝o [key] [Port.,=river of January], city (1990 pop. 5,533,011; 1995 metropolitan area est. pop. 10,181,000), capital of Rio...

Milan, city, Italy

(Encyclopedia)Milan mĭlănˈ, –änˈ [key], Ital. Milano, Lat. Mediolanum, city (1991 pop. 1,369,231), capital of Lombardy and of Milan prov., N Italy, at the heart of the Po basin. Because of its strategic posi...

Medici, Cosimo de'

(Encyclopedia)Medici, Cosimo de' dā mĕˈdĭchē, Ital. māˈdēchē [key], 1389–1464, Italian merchant prince, first of the Medici family to rule Florence. He is often called Cosimo the Elder. After the death ...

Brazil

(Encyclopedia) CE5 Brazil brəzĭlˈ [key], Port. Brasil, officially Federative Republic of Brazil, repub...
 

Browse by Subject