Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Le Gallienne, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Le Gallienne, Richard, 1866–1947, English man of letters. As literary critic and contributor to the Yellow Book, he was associated with the fin-de-siècle aesthetes of the 1890s before becoming a re...

Riley, Bridget

(Encyclopedia)Riley, Bridget, 1931–, English painter. Associated with the pop art movement, Riley covers large canvases with interlocking bands, undulating curves, scattered discs, or repeated squares or triangle...

coreopsis

(Encyclopedia)coreopsis kōrēŏpˈsĭs [key], or tickseed, names for species of Coreopsis, a chiefly North American genus of the family Asteraceae (aster family). They are easily cultivated annuals or perennials w...

chartreuse

(Encyclopedia)chartreuse shärtro͞ozˈ [key], liqueur made exclusively by Carthusians at their monastery, La Grande Chartreuse, France, until their expulsion in 1903. The French distillery and trademark were sold,...

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins

(Encyclopedia)Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, 1860–1935, American feminist and reformer, b. Hartford, Conn.; great-granddaughter of Lyman Beecher. Prominent as a lecturer and writer on the labor movement and feminism,...

ambergris

(Encyclopedia)ambergris ămˈbərgrēs [key], waxlike substance originating as a morbid concretion in the intestine of the sperm whale. Lighter than water, it is found floating on tropical seas or cast up on the sh...

umkokola

(Encyclopedia)umkokola, small, thorny S and E African tree (Dovyalis caffra, also called kei-apple), widely cultivated in its native area for the round or oval bright yellow fruits. Their juicy pulp, acid in flavor...

Ganghwa

(Encyclopedia)Ganghwa, Kanghwa, or Kanghoa all: gängˈhwäˈ [key], administrative district, 163 sq m...

tanzanite

(Encyclopedia)tanzanite tănzănˈīt [key], beautiful gemstone discovered in 1967 in the Umba Valley near the Usambara Mts. in Tanzania, a precious variety of the mineral zoisite, a calcium aluminum silicate. Zois...

winterberry

(Encyclopedia)winterberry, name for two species of shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex of the family Aquifoliaceae (holly family), native to the eastern half of North America. Both are deciduous but have winter...