Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

blackbird

(Encyclopedia)blackbird, common name in North America of a perching bird allied to the bobolink, the meadow lark, the oriole, and the grackle and belonging to the family Icteridae. The European blackbird, Turdus me...

Mabinogion

(Encyclopedia)Mabinogion măbĭnōˈgēən [key], title given to a collection of medieval Welsh stories. Scholars differ as to the meaning of the word mabinogion: some think it to be the plural of the Welsh word ma...

Atchafalaya

(Encyclopedia)Atchafalaya əchăˈfəlīˌə [key], navigable river, c.170 mi (270 km) long, S central La. The Atchafalaya meanders south, in a former channel of the Mississippi, to the Gulf of Mexico. A distributa...

Saint Boniface

(Encyclopedia)Saint Boniface sānt bŏnˈĭfās [key], former city and historic community, SE Man., Canada, on the Red River opposite Winnipeg. It is now part of Winnipeg. It is an industrial center, with large sto...

Theorell, Axel Hugo Teodor

(Encyclopedia)Theorell, Axel Hugo Teodor, 1903–82, Swedish biochemist, M.D. Caroline Institute, Stockholm, 1930. The results of an illness caused him to abandon his career as a physician, and he began to teach at...

Seaver, Tom

(Encyclopedia)Seaver, Tom (George Thomas Seaver), 1944–2020, American baseball pitcher and sportscaster, b. Fresno, Calif. During his career (1967–86), he won a total of 311 games for the New York Mets, Cincinn...

Dionne, Marcel

(Encyclopedia)Dionne, Marcel, 1951–, Canadian hockey player, b. Drummondville, Quebec. A talented offensive center, he was drafted (1971) by the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Detroit Red Wings. Moving to the Los...

Disko

(Encyclopedia)Disko dĭsˈkō [key], island, 3,312 sq mi (8,578 sq km), in the Davis Strait off W Greenland. It is mountainous (rising to 6,296 ft/1,919 m) and partly glaciated. Telluric iron and lignite have been ...

Euphronios

(Encyclopedia)Euphronios yo͞ofrōˈnēəs [key], c.520–470 b.c., Greek potter and painter. He spent his early career as a painter, working mainly in the red-figure style. In his later years, he was known primari...

pyrrhotite

(Encyclopedia)pyrrhotite pĭrˈətīt [key] or magnetic pyrites, bronze-yellow to bronze-red mineral, a sulfide of iron sometimes containing nickel. It tarnishes easily and is somewhat magnetic. It crystallizes in ...

Browse by Subject