Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) distortion, in electronics, undesired change in an electric signal waveform as it passes from the input to the output of some system or device. In an audio system, distortion results in poor reproduct...

(Encyclopedia) Cameron, John kămˈərən [key], c.1579–1625, Scottish scholar and theologian. As teacher, lecturer, and preacher at Bordeaux, Saumur, and other cities on the Continent, he came to be celebrated fo...

(Encyclopedia) caracal kărˈəkəl [key] or Persian lynx, mammal of the family Felidae (cat family), native to Asia and Africa. The caracal, Caracal caracal, is reddish brown with black-tufted ears. Its total lengt...

(Encyclopedia) classical swine fever or hog cholera, acute, highly infectious viral disease of swine, historically perhaps the most serious disease of swine in North America. It is characterized by dullness and list...

(Encyclopedia) internment, in international law, detention of the nationals or property of an enemy or a belligerent. A belligerent will intern enemy merchant ships or take them as prize, and a neutral should intern...

(Encyclopedia) conscience, sense of moral awareness or of right and wrong. The concept has been variously explained by moralists and philosophers. In the history of ethics, the conscience has been looked upon as the...

(Encyclopedia) credit, letter of, commercial instrument through which a bank or other financial institution instructs a correspondent institution to advance a specified sum of money to the bearer. The document is ca...

(Encyclopedia) fetish fĕtˈĭsh [key], inanimate object believed to possess some magical power. The fetish may be a natural thing, such as a stone, a feather, a shell, or the claw of an animal, or it may be artific...

(Encyclopedia) short takeoff and landing aircraft (STOL), heavier-than-air craft, capable of rising from and descending to the ground with only a short length of runway, but incapable of doing so vertically. The pre...

(Encyclopedia) sidereal time (ST), time measured relative to the fixed stars; thus, the sidereal day is the period during which the earth completes one rotation on its axis so that some chosen star appears twice on ...