Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) mummy, dead human or animal body preserved by embalming or by unusual natural conditions. As a rule mummies are from ancient times. The word is of Arabic derivation and refers primarily to the burials...

(Encyclopedia) handball, court, indoor or outdoor game played by striking a ball against a wall or walls with the palm of the hand. Play may be for singles or doubles (four players) on a court with one, three, or fo...

(Encyclopedia) rowing, the art of propelling a boat by means of oars operated by hand. Boats propelled by oars (e.g., the galley) were used in ancient times for both war and commerce. Rowing is now generally used on...

(Encyclopedia) Uranus yo͝orāˈnəs, yo͝orˈə– [key], in astronomy, 7th planet from the sun, at a mean distance of 1.78 billion mi (2.87 billion km), with an orbit lying between those of Saturn and Neptune; its...

(Encyclopedia) plover plŭvˈər [key], common name for some members of the large family Charadriidae, shore birds, small to medium in size, found in ice-free lands all over the world. Plovers are plumpish wading bi...

(Encyclopedia) estuary ĕsˈcho͝oĕrˌē [key], partially enclosed coastal body of water, having an open connection with the ocean, where freshwater from inland is mixed with saltwater from the sea. One type of est...

(Encyclopedia) Dumont d'Urville, Jules Sébastien César zhül sābästyăNˈ sāzärˈ dümôNˈ dürvēlˈ [key], 1790–1842, French navigator. While on duty (1819–20) in the E Mediterranean, he saw and recogni...

(Encyclopedia) Sverdrup, Otto svĕrˈdro͝op [key], 1855–1930, Norwegian arctic explorer. A companion of Fridtjof Nansen on the voyage across Greenland in 1888 and on Nansen's later (1893–96) polar expedition, ...

(Encyclopedia) Ellesmere Island, 82,119 sq mi (212,688 sq km), c.500 mi (800 km) long, in the Arctic Ocean, N Nunavut Territory, Canada; second largest and northernmost island of the Arctic Archipelago. It is separa...

(Encyclopedia) penguin, originally the common name for the now extinct great auk of the N Atlantic and now used (since the 19th cent.) for the unrelated, generally antarctic diving birds of the Southern Hemisphere. ...