Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Harris, Joel Chandler

(Encyclopedia)Harris, Joel Chandler, 1848–1908, American short-story writer and humorist, b. Eatonton, Ga., considered one of the great American regionalist writers. As an apprentice to the editor of the Countrym...

Feodosiya

(Encyclopedia)Feodosiya fāˌədôˈsēə [key], city, E Crimea. From 1954 part of Ukraine (then the Ukrainian SSR), ...

ferret

(Encyclopedia)ferret, name for a domesticated polecat, Mustela putorius, common in the Old World. It has been used for centuries to hunt rats, mice, and rabbits. Domestic ferrets are found in many color types inclu...

roulette

(Encyclopedia)roulette ro͞olĕtˈ [key], game of chance popular in gambling casinos, and in a simplified form elsewhere. In gambling houses the roulette wheel is set in an oblong table. Its outer area is marked of...

Pyrenean shepherd

(Encyclopedia)Pyrenean shepherd or Berger des Pyrénées, breed of medium-sized herding dog that originated in the Pyrenees of S France; its name is often shortened to pyr shep. The breed comes in two varieties, th...

gibbon

(Encyclopedia)gibbon, small ape, family Hylobatidae, found in the forests of SE Asia. The gibbons are known as the small, or lesser, apes; they are the most highly adapted of the apes to arboreal life. They are hig...

ink

(Encyclopedia)ink, pigmented fluid used for writing and drawing, or a viscous compound used for printing, both of various colors but most frequently black. The oldest known variety, India ink or China ink, is still...

sunfish

(Encyclopedia)sunfish, common name for members of the family Centrachidae, comprising numerous species of spiny-finned, freshwater fishes with deep, laterally flattened bodies found in temperate North America. All ...

extraterritoriality

(Encyclopedia)extraterritoriality or exterritoriality, privilege of immunity from local law enforcement enjoyed by certain aliens. Although physically present upon the territory of a foreign nation, those aliens po...

Chandos, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Chandos, Sir John shănˈdŏs, chănˈ– [key], d. 1370, English soldier and administrator of English territories in France. A friend of Edward the Black Prince, he won distinction in the Hundred Yea...

Browse by Subject