Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

294 results found

castration

(Encyclopedia)castration, removal of the sex glands of an animal, i.e., testes in the male, or ovaries and often the uterus in the female. Castration of the female animal is commonly referred to as spaying. Castrat...

Castro, Rosalía de

(Encyclopedia)Castro, Rosalía de käsˈtrō [key], 1837–85, Spanish poet and novelist. Castro's book of verse Cantares gallegos (1863) was the first important poetry in Galician since the 13th cent.; it reflect...

betel

(Encyclopedia)betel bēˈtəl [key], masticatory made from slices of betel palm seeds (called betel nuts) smeared onto a betel pepper leaf together with other aromatic flavorings and lime paste and rolled up. The b...

vitiligo

(Encyclopedia)vitiligo, condition that causes irregular patches of skin to lose pigment and turn white. The exact cause is unknown, but it occurs when the immune system attacks and destroys melanocytes, the cells t...

tody

(Encyclopedia)tody tōˈdē [key], common name for small (3–4 in./9–10 cm) West Indian birds of the family Todidae, comprising the single genus Todus. Bright green above with red throats, they are forest birds ...

parakeet

(Encyclopedia)parakeet or parrakeet, common name for a widespread group of small parrots, native to the Indo-Malayan region and popular as cage birds. Parakeets have long, pointed tails, unlike the chunky lovebirds...

plastic surgery

(Encyclopedia)plastic surgery, surgical repair of congenital or acquired deformities and the restoration of contour to improve the appearance and function of tissue defects. Development of this specialized branch o...

adolescence

(Encyclopedia)adolescence, time of life from onset of puberty to full adulthood. The exact period of adolescence, which varies from person to person, falls approximately between the ages 12 and 20 and encompasses b...

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

(Encyclopedia)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at Cambridge; coeducational; chartered 1861, opened 1865 in Boston, moved 1916. It has long been recognized as an outstanding technological institute and its Slo...

Rosset, Barney Lee, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Rosset, Barney Lee, Jr., 1922–2012, American publisher, b. Chicago. As head (1951–85) of Grove Press, he published literary works previously deemed too obscene or unconventional for the reading pu...