Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) mode, in music. 1 A grouping or arrangement of notes in a scale with respect to a most important note (in the pretonal modes of Western music, this note is called the final or finalis), and the patter...

(Encyclopedia) psaltery sôlˈtərē, –trē [key], stringed musical instrument. It has a flat soundboard over which a variable number of strings are stretched. Its origin was in the Middle East, and it is referred...

(Encyclopedia) dulcimer dŭlˈsĭmər [key], stringed musical instrument. It is a wooden box with strings stretched over it that are struck with small mallets. The number of strings may vary. The dulcimer is related...

(Encyclopedia) Malvasia môˌnĕmväsēˈä [key], village, S Greece, in the Peloponnesus, on a rocky island joined to the mainland by a mole. In the Middle Ages it was a fortress and an important commercial port, e...

(Encyclopedia) Nikšić nēkˈshĭch [key], city (2011 pop. 72,443), central Montenegro. It is the commercial center of an agricultural region. It is also an important industrial city with a steel mill, sawmill, iro...

(Encyclopedia) Carmarthen kərmärˈᵺən [key], Welsh Caerfyrddin, town, Carmarthenshire, S Wales, on the ...

(Encyclopedia) homily hŏmˈəlē [key], type of oral religious instruction delivered to a church congregation. In the patristic period through the Middle Ages the focus of the homily was on the explanation and appl...

(Encyclopedia) curfew [O.Fr.,=cover fire], originally a signal, such as the ringing of a bell, to damp the fire, extinguish all lights in the dwelling, and retire for the night. The custom originated as a precaution...

(Encyclopedia) Kołobrzeg kôlôbˈzhĕk [key] or Kolberg, town (1994 est. pop. 46,300), Zachodniopomorskie prov., NW Poland, on the Baltic Sea at the mouth of the Prośnica River. It is a seaport, seaside resort, a...

(Encyclopedia) Karlstad kärlˈstäd [key], city (1990 pop. 52,930), capital of Värmland co., S Sweden, on Lake Vänern. It has ironworks and machine shops and other industries that manufacture forest products and ...