Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

St. Clair, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)St. Clair, Arthur, 1734–1818, American general, b. Thurso, Scotland. He left the Univ. of Edinburgh to become (1757) an ensign in the British army and served in the French and Indian War at Louisbur...

Tortuga

(Encyclopedia)Tortuga tōrto͞oˈgä [key] [Span.,=turtle], island, c.70 sq mi (180 sq km), off N Haiti. It was a notorious rendezvous of pirates in the 17th cent. It is called Île de la Tortue by the Haitians. ...

Miami, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Miami mīămˈē, –ə [key], group of Native Americans of the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). They shared the cultural traits of the Ea...

Potawatomi

(Encyclopedia)Potawatomi pŏtˌəwŏtˈəmē [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). They are close...

Van Druten, John William

(Encyclopedia)Van Druten, John William văn dro͞oˈtən [key], 1901–57, English dramatist. His best-known plays, primarily light comedies, include Old Acquaintance (1940), The Voice of the Turtle (1943), I Remem...

tortoiseshell

(Encyclopedia)tortoiseshell, horny, translucent, mottled plates covering the carapace of the tropical hawksbill turtle. The plates, too thin for most purposes in their original form, are usually built up in layers ...

carapace

(Encyclopedia)carapace kârˈəpās [key], shield, or shell covering, found over all or part of the anterior dorsal portion of an animal. In lobsters, shrimps, crayfish, and crabs, the carapace is the part of the e...

bog

(Encyclopedia)bog, very old lake without inlet or outlet that becomes acid and is gradually overgrown with a characteristic vegetation (see swamp). Peat moss, or sphagnum, grows around the edge of the open water of...

concretion

(Encyclopedia)concretion, mass or nodule of mineral matter, usually oval or nearly spherical in shape, and occurring in sedimentary rock. It is formed by the accumulation of mineral matter in the pore spaces of the...

Ojibwa

(Encyclopedia)Ojibwa chĭpˈəwäˌ, –wə [key], group of Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). Their ...