Columbia Encyclopedia

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macadamia

(Encyclopedia)macadamia măkˌədāˈmēə [key], name for the nut of the Macadamia ternifolia, an evergreen tree native to Australia, but cultivated elsewhere, including Hawaii and South Africa. The small, edible ...

triathlon

(Encyclopedia)triathlon, athletic event made up of three contests. Since the 1970s the term has come to mean especially a race combining swimming, bicycling, and running. A notable example is Hawaii's Ironman Triat...

Harrison, Benjamin, President of the United States

(Encyclopedia)Harrison, Benjamin, 1833–1901, 23d President of the United States (1889–93), b. North Bend, Ohio, grad. Miami Univ. (Ohio), 1852; grandson of William Henry Harrison. After reading law in Cincinnat...

San Francisco

(Encyclopedia)San Francisco săn frănsĭsˈkō [key], city (2020 pop. 873,965), coextensive with San Francisco co., W ...

Georgia, University of

(Encyclopedia)Georgia, University of, at Athens, Ga.; land-grant and state-supported; coeducational; chartered 1785 as the first state-supported university in the United States, opened 1801. The university's librar...

bird-of-paradise flower

(Encyclopedia)bird-of-paradise flower, large tropical herb (Strelitzia reginae) of the family Musaceae (banana family), native to S Africa. Its large blue and orange blossom resembles an exotic bird; it is cultivat...

Alfred University

(Encyclopedia)Alfred University, at Alfred, N.Y.; state and private support; coeducational; opened as a school 1836, chartered 1857 as Alfred Univ. It is especially known for the New York State College of Ceramics,...

water, desalination of

(Encyclopedia)water, desalination of, process of removing soluble salts from water to render it suitable for drinking, irrigation, or industrial uses. The principal methods used for desalination include distillatio...

French Polynesia

(Encyclopedia)French Polynesia, officially Overseas Lands of French Polynesia, internally self-governing dependency (2015 est. pop. 278,000) of France, consisting of 118 islands in the South Pacific. The capital is...

Columbia, river, Canada and the United States

(Encyclopedia)Columbia, river, c.1,210 mi (1,950 km) long, rising in Columbia Lake, SE British Columbia, Canada. It flows first NW in the Rocky Mt. Trench, then hooks sharply about the Selkirk Mts. to flow S throug...