Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

staff tree

(Encyclopedia)staff tree, common name for some temperate members of the Celastraceae, a family of trees and shrubs (many of them climbing forms), widely distributed except in polar regions. These plants typically b...

Canadian Shield

(Encyclopedia)Canadian Shield or Laurentian Plateau lôrĕnˈchən [key], U-shaped region of ancient rock, the nucleus of North America, stretching N from the Great Lakes to the Arctic Ocean. Covering more than hal...

prairies

(Encyclopedia)prairies, generally level, originally grass-covered and treeless plains of North America, stretching from W Ohio through Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa to the Great Plains region. The prairie belt also e...

coyote

(Encyclopedia)coyote kīˈōt, kīōˈtē [key] or prairie wolf, small, swift wolf, Canis latrans, native to W North America. Historically found in deserts, prairies, open woodlands, and brush country, it is increa...

honeysuckle

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Trumpet honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens honeysuckle, common name for some members of the Caprifoliaceae, a family comprised mostly of vines and shrubs of the Northern Hemisphere, especially...

log cabin

(Encyclopedia)log cabin or log house, style of home typical of the American pioneer on the Western frontier of the United States in the great westward expansion after 1765. It was constructed with few tools, usuall...

Mennonites

(Encyclopedia)Mennonites mĕnˈnənīts [key], descendants of the Dutch and Swiss evangelical Anabaptists of the 16th cent. The name Mennonite is derived from Menno Simons (c.1496–1561), Dutch reformer and org...

Eielsen, Elling

(Encyclopedia)Eielsen, Elling āēlˈsən [key], 1804–83, Norwegian-American preacher. After itinerant missionary work in Scandinavia he came to the United States in 1839, preached in Chicago the first Norwegian ...

Devon cattle

(Encyclopedia)Devon cattle dĕvˈən [key], breed of cattle originated in England and brought to America by colonists as early as 1623. They range in color from deep red to pale chestnut, the most popular being “...

Cumberland Presbyterian Church

(Encyclopedia)Cumberland Presbyterian Church, branch of the Presbyterian Church in the United States founded in 1810. In 1906 many of its congregations were united with the main body of the church. It began as a re...