Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) piccolo, small transverse flute pitched an octave higher than the standard flute. Its tone is bright and shrill, and it can produce the highest notes in the orchestral range. The piccolo is used in or...

(Encyclopedia) Howe, Samuel Gridley, 1801–76, American reformer and philanthropist, b. Boston, Mass., grad. Brown, 1821, M.D. Harvard, 1824. He began his life-long service to others by going to Greece to aid in it...

(Encyclopedia) shrew, common name for the small, insectivorous mammals of the family Soricidae, related to the moles. Shrews include the smallest mammals; the smallest shrews are under 2 in. (5.1 cm) long, excluding...

(Encyclopedia) Mezzogiorno mĕtˌsōjôrˈnō [key], region of S Italy. The Mezzogiorno comprises the modern Italian regions of Abruzzi, Campania, Molise, Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria, and the islands of Sicily and ...

(Encyclopedia) waterspout, tornado occurring at sea or over inland waters. The characteristic funnel-shaped cloud is formed at the base of a cumulus-type cloud and extends downward to the water surface, where it pic...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Antigua and Barbuda ăntēˈgə, –gwə, bärbo͞oˈdə, –byo͞oˈ– [key], independent Commonwealth nation (2020 est. pop. 97,928), 171 sq mi (442 sq km), We...

(Encyclopedia) Hartford. <1> City (2020 pop. 121,054), state capital, Hartford co., central Conn., on the west bank of the Connecticut River; settled as Newtown ...

(Encyclopedia) Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Associations (YMHA, YWHA), organizations that promote health, social activities, recreation, acculturation of new Jewish Americans, and Jewish culture among Jews o...

(Encyclopedia) Tuskegee University, at Tuskegee, Ala.; coeducational; chartered and opened 1881 by Booker T. Washington as Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. It became Tuskegee Institute in 1937 and adopted i...

(Encyclopedia) Darboux, Jean Gaston zhäN gästôNˈ därbo͞oˈ [key], 1842–1917, French mathematician. He is known for his work on orthogonal surfaces and for his application of infinitesimal calculus to geometr...