Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) kiwi ăpˈtərĭks [key], common name for the smallest member of an order of primitive flightless birds related to the ostrich, the emu, and the cassowary. The kiwi, named by the Maoris for its shrill...

(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) country music, American popular music form originating in the Southern and Western United States. Country music is directly descended from the folk songs, ballads, and popular songs of the English, Sc...

(Encyclopedia) guild socialism, form of socialism developed in Great Britain that advocated a system of industrial self-government through national worker-controlled guilds. The theory, as originated by Arthur J. Pe...

(Encyclopedia) Eyre, Edward John âr [key], 1815–1901, British colonial administrator. In Australia (1833–45) he was a magistrate, explorer, and writer on Australian geography, and had a reputation for sympathy ...

(Encyclopedia) Grosse Pointe grōs point [key], name referring to five residential suburbs of Detroit, Wayne co., ...

(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...