Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

gnu

(Encyclopedia)gnu wĭlˈdəbēstˌ [key], large African antelope, genus Connochaetes. Its heavy head and humped shoulders resemble those of a buffalo, while the compact hindquarters are like those of a horse. The g...

tartar emetic

(Encyclopedia)tartar emetic, poisonous, odorless, transparent rhombic crystals or white powder with a metallic, sweetish taste. Chemically, it is potassium antimony tartrate, KSbC4H4O7·1⁄2H2O. It is used as a mo...

Epsom salts

(Encyclopedia)Epsom salts, common name for magnesium sulfate heptahydrate, MgSO4·7H2O, a water-soluble bitter-tasting compound that occurs as white or colorless needle-shaped crystals. It was first prepared from t...

Guernsey cattle

(Encyclopedia)Guernsey cattle, breed of dairy cattle developed on the islands of Alderney, Guernsey, and Sark near the north coast of France. First imported to the United States in about 1830, they are fawn-colored...

Josetsu

(Encyclopedia)Josetsu jōˌsāˈtso͞o [key], fl. 1425, Japanese landscape painter, teacher, and priest. His work shows the formal characteristics of Chinese suiboku-ga (black-and-white) painting. He worked in Kyot...

Apo, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Apo, Mount äˈpō [key], active volcano, 9,690 ft (2,953 m) high, on S Mindanao island, the Philippines. It is the highest peak of the islands. Mt. Apo has a snowcapped appearance but is actually cov...

Paine, Albert Bigelow

(Encyclopedia)Paine, Albert Bigelow, 1861–1937, American author, b. New Bedford, Mass. He is best remembered as the author of the authorized biography of Mark Twain (3 vol., 1912) and as the editor of Twain's let...

Mansfield, city and district, England

(Encyclopedia)Mansfield, city (71,325) and district, Nottinghamshire, central England, on the western border of Sherwood Forest. The city lies in a coal district, with manufactures of hosiery, shoes, and metal prod...

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

(Encyclopedia)Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse əpŏkˈəlĭps [key], allegorical figures in the Book of Revelation in the Bible. The rider on the white horse has many interpretations—one is that he represents Chr...

Zeitz

(Encyclopedia)Zeitz tsīts [key], city (1994 pop. 37,461), Saxony-Anhalt, E central Germany, on the White Elster River. Manufactures include machinery, chocolate, sugar, and textiles. Of note in the city are the la...
 

Browse by Subject