Columbia Encyclopedia

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stilt

(Encyclopedia)stilt, common name for some members of the family Recurvirostridae, shore birds including the avocet. Stilts, as their name implies, have the longest legs of any bird except the flamingo. They frequen...

Soweto

(Encyclopedia)Soweto [acronym for south-west townships], city, now part of City of Johannesburg metropolitan municipality, Gauteng prov., NE South Africa. Located 10 mi (16 km) SW of Johannesburg, Soweto grew as bl...

airedale terrier

(Encyclopedia)airedale terrier ârˈdāl [key], breed of dog developed in England in the 19th cent. It is the largest of the terrier group, standing about 23 in. (58.4 cm) high at the shoulder and weighing from 40 ...

carpetbaggers

(Encyclopedia)carpetbaggers, epithet used in the South after the Civil War to describe Northerners who went to the South during Reconstruction. Although regarded as transients because of the carpetbags in which the...

Cooper, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Cooper, Peter, 1791–1883, American inventor, industrialist, and philanthropist, b. New York City. After achieving success in the glue business, Cooper, with two partners, erected (1829) the Canton I...

Kuban

(Encyclopedia)Kuban ko͞obănˈ, –bänˈ, Rus. ko͞obäˈnyə [key], river, c.570 mi (920 km) long, rising in the Greater Caucasus on the western slopes of Mt. Elbrus, S European Russia, and flowing north in a wi...

Randolph, Asa Philip

(Encyclopedia)Randolph, Asa Philip, 1889–1979, U.S. labor leader, b. Crescent City, Fla., attended the College of the City of New York. As a writer and editor of the black magazine The Messenger, which he helped ...

pigment

(Encyclopedia)pigment, substance that imparts color to other materials. In paint, the pigment is a powdered substance which, when mixed in the liquid vehicle, imparts color to a painted surface. The pigments used i...

Edward III

(Encyclopedia)Edward III, 1312–77, king of England (1327–77), son of Edward II and Isabella. Edward's long reign saw many constitutional developments. Most important of these was the emergence of the Commons ...

colorization, motion picture

(Encyclopedia)colorization, motion picture, electronic process that uses computers to add color to black-and-white movies, creating new colored videotape versions. Invented by Canadians Wilson Markle and Brian Hunt...