Columbia Encyclopedia

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eel

(Encyclopedia)eel, common name for any fish in the order Anguilliformes, and characterized by a long snakelike body covered with minute scales embedded in the skin. Eels lack the hind pair of fins, adapting them fo...

Somerset, Edward Seymour, duke of

(Encyclopedia)Somerset, Edward Seymour, duke of, 1506?–1552, protector of England. He served on various military and diplomatic missions for Henry VIII and, after the marriage of his sister Jane to the king, was ...

rattlesnake

(Encyclopedia)rattlesnake, poisonous New World snake of the pit viper family, distinguished by a rattle at the end of the tail. The head is triangular, being widened at the base. The rattle is a series of dried, ho...

Saint-Simon, Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Simon, Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de klōd äNrē də ro͞ovrwäˈ kôNt də săN-sēmôNˈ [key], 1760–1825, French social philosopher; grand nephew of Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simo...

stellar populations

(Encyclopedia)stellar populations, two broadly contrasting distributions of star types that are characteristic of different parts of a galaxy. Population I stars are young, recently formed stars, whereas population...

Delmedigo, Elijah ben Moses Abba

(Encyclopedia)Delmedigo, Elijah ben Moses Abba dālmĕˈdēgō [key], c.1460–1497, Jewish philosopher and Talmudist, b. Crete, known also as Elijah Cretensis. He emigrated to Italy as a young man. He studied the ...

Douglas, Sir James de, lord of Douglas

(Encyclopedia)Douglas, Sir James de, lord of Douglas, 1286?–1330, Scottish nobleman, called the Black Douglas and Douglas the Good; eldest son of William de Douglas, lord of Douglas. In the war of independence ag...

cutworm

(Encyclopedia)cutworm, name for the larvae of many moths of the family Noctuidae (owlet moths). These larvae, or caterpillars, feed at night on the stems and roots of young plants, often cutting them off near the s...

Columbia Plateau

(Encyclopedia)Columbia Plateau, physiographic region of North America, c.100,000 sq mi (259,000 sq km), NW United States, between the Rocky Mts. and the Cascade Range in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Most of the p...

Evans, Oliver

(Encyclopedia)Evans, Oliver, 1755–1819, American inventor, b. near Newport, Del. He joined his brothers in a flour-milling business in Wilmington, and after studying similar earlier devices, he developed, install...