Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Lepidodendron and Sigillaria

(Encyclopedia)Lepidodendron sĭjĭlârˈēə [key], two principal genera of an extinct group of primitive vascular trees. They dominated the forests of the early Carboniferous period until the ferns gained ascendan...

Lewis and Harris

(Encyclopedia)Lewis and Harris, island (1985 est. pop. 23,500), 825 sq mi (2,137 sq km), largest and northernmost of the Outer Hebrides, Western Isles council area, NW Scotland, 24 mi (35 km) from the mainland acro...

libel and slander

(Encyclopedia)libel and slander, in law, types of defamation. In common law, written defamation was libel and spoken defamation was slander. Today, however, there are no such clear definitions. Permanent forms of d...

arts and crafts

(Encyclopedia)arts and crafts, term for that general field of applied design in which hand fabrication is dominant. The term was coined in England in the late 19th cent. as a label for the then-current movement dir...

Lymington and Pennington

(Encyclopedia)Lymington and Pennington lĭmˈĭngtən [key], town (1991 pop. 11,614), Hampshire, S England, on the Solent channel at the mouth of the Lymington River. It is a market town, resort, and port; coast tr...

Kensington and Chelsea

(Encyclopedia)Kensington and Chelsea, inner borough (1991 pop. 127,600) of Greater London, SE England. Kensington is largely residential with fashionable shopping streets and several luxurious hotels. Portobello Ro...

marque and reprisal

(Encyclopedia)marque and reprisal: see privateering. ...

Masters and Johnson

(Encyclopedia)Masters and Johnson, pioneering research team in the field of human sexuality, consisting of the gynecologist William Howell Masters, 1915–2001, b. Cleveland, and the psychologist Virginia Eshelman ...

Leopold and Loeb

(Encyclopedia)Leopold and Loeb lōb [key], notorious American murderers defended by Clarence Darrow in 1924. The gregarious, dominating Richard A. Loeb (1905–1936) and the shy, submissive Nathan F. Leopold, Jr. (...

lock and key

(Encyclopedia)lock and key, fastening fitted to an entryway, such as a gate or door, or a container, such as a cabinet, drawer or safe, to keep it closed and/or prevent unauthorized access or use. Locks typically c...