Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) signing statement, written comment issued by the executive of a government when signing a bill into law. In the United States, such statements have traditionally been comparatively neutral declaration...

(Encyclopedia) plover plŭvˈər [key], common name for some members of the large family Charadriidae, shore birds, small to medium in size, found in ice-free lands all over the world. Plovers are plumpish wading bi...

(Encyclopedia) Lecompton ləkŏmpˈtən [key], small town, Douglas co., NE Kans., on the Kansas River between Lawrence and Topeka. The pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution was formulated (Sept., 1857) there, and was r...

(Encyclopedia) Keaton, Buster (Joseph Francis Keaton), 1895–1966, American movie actor, b. Piqua, Kans. Considered one of the greatest comic actors in film history, Keaton used his considerable acrobatic skills, w...

(Encyclopedia) Arcaro, Eddie (George Edward Arcaro) ärkârˈō [key], 1916–97, American jockey, b. Cincinnati. In a thirty-year career (1931–62), he won 4,779 races and his mounts won $30,039,543 in purses, lea...

(Encyclopedia) Noll, Chuck (Charles Henry Noll), 1932–2014, American professional football coach, b. Cleveland, B.S. Univ. of Dayton, 1953. A guard and linebacker in college and with the Cleveland Browns (1953–5...

(Encyclopedia) Sherbrooke, Robert Lowe, Viscount shûrˈbro͝ok [key], 1811–92, British statesman. He emigrated (1842) to Australia and achieved recognition as a reform politician. Returning (1850) to England, he ...

(Encyclopedia) dodo, a flightless forest-dwelling bird of Mauritius, extinct since the late 17th cent. The dodo was closely related to the Rodrigues solitaire, extinct flightless giant found on another island in the...

(Encyclopedia) Clements, Vassar, 1928–2005, American virtuoso fiddle player, b. Kinards, S.C. Self-taught, he played with Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys from 1949 to 1956. Though his roots were in country and weste...

(Encyclopedia) Hand, Learned lûrˈnəd [key], 1872–1961, American jurist, b. Albany, N.Y. He received his law degree from Harvard in 1896. He was a judge of the U.S. District Court for New York's Southern Distric...