Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

lemming

(Encyclopedia)lemming, name for several species of mouselike rodents related to the voles. All live in arctic or northern regions, inhabiting tundra or open meadows. They frequently nest in underground burrows, par...

Bermuda

(Encyclopedia)Bermuda bûrmyo͞oˈdə [key], British dependency (2015 est. pop. 70,000), 21 sq mi (53 sq km), comprising some 150 coral rocks, islets, and islands (of which some 20 are inhabited), in the Atlantic O...

dextrin

(Encyclopedia)dextrin, any one of a number of carbohydrates having the same general formula as starch but a smaller and less complex molecule. They are polysaccharides and are produced as intermediate products in t...

dolomite

(Encyclopedia)dolomite dōˈləmītˌ, dŏlˈə– [key]. 1 Mineral, calcium magnesium carbonate, CaMg (CO3)2. It is commonly crystalline and is white, gray, brown, or reddish in color with a vitreous to pearly lus...

coquilla nut

(Encyclopedia)coquilla nut kōkēˈyə, kōkēlˈyə [key] [Span.,=little coconut], fruit of a Brazilian palm (Attalea funifera), closely related to the coconut palm. Its fruit, 3 to 4 in. (7.6–10.2 cm) long, is ...

Cooper, Leon Neil

(Encyclopedia)Cooper, Leon Neil, 1930–, American neuroscientist, b. New York City, Ph.D. Columbia, 1954. Cooper was a researcher at the Univ. of Illinois from 1955 to 1957 and at Ohio State Univ. from 1957 to 195...

Colorado Plateau

(Encyclopedia)Colorado Plateau, physiographic region of SW North America, c.150,000 sq mi (388,500 sq km), in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico, including the “Four Corners” area. It is characterized by b...

Clark, Kenneth Bancroft

(Encyclopedia)Clark, Kenneth Bancroft, 1914–2005, American psychologist and educator, b. Panama Canal Zone, grad. Howard (B.A., 1935) and Columbia (Ph.D., 1940). Clark taught psychology at Howard (1937–38) and ...

Churchill, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Churchill, Charles chûrˈchĭl [key], 1731–64, English poet and satirist. Upon his family's insistence he took religious orders in 1756, but life as a London dandy suited him more, and he resigned ...

Akita, breed of dog

(Encyclopedia)Akita äkēˈtə [key], breed of large dog developed in Japan from ancient ancestry and used originally as a hunter of such game as deer, wild boar, and bear. It stands from 20 to 27 in. (50.8–68.6 ...