Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) porcupine, member of either of two rodent families, characterized by having some of its hairs modified as bristles, spines, or quills. The quills are loosely attached to the porcupines' skin and pull ...

(Encyclopedia) Saint James, uninc. town (1990 pop. 12,800), Suffolk co., SE N.Y., on Long Island, in a farm and resort area. It is residential.

(Encyclopedia) Ouse o͞oz [key]. 1 Also Great Ouse, river, c.155 mi (250 km) long, rising in the Northampton Highlands, Northamptonshire, S central England. The Great Ouse flows generally NE past Bedford and Ely to ...

(Encyclopedia) Post, C. W. (Charles William Post), 1854–1914, American food manufacturer and developer of breakfast cereals, b. Springfield, Ill. He worked (1872–86) selling agricultural machines and invented a ...

(Encyclopedia) Downpatrick dounˌpătˈrĭk [key], town, Down dist., E Northern Ireland, at the southwest extremity of ...

(Encyclopedia) calendula kəlĕnˈjələ [key], any species of the genus Calendula, Old World plants of the family Asteraceae (aster family). The common calendula (C. officinalis), an annual with yellow to deep oran...

(Encyclopedia) Chao Phraya both: mănämˈ [key], chief river of Thailand, c.140 mi (230 km) long, formed by the confluence of the Ping (c.300 mi/480 km long) and the Nan (c.500 mi/800 km) rivers at Nakhon Sawan, W ...

(Encyclopedia) Chase, William Merritt, 1849–1916, American painter, b. Williamsburg, Ind., studied in Indianapolis and in Munich under Piloty. In 1878 he began his long career as an influential teacher at the Art ...

(Encyclopedia) Skagit skăjˈĭt [key], river, c.150 mi (240 km) long, rising in the Cascade Range, British Columbia, and flowing SW through Wash. into Puget Sound. Gorge High Dam, Diablo Dam, and Ross Dam provide e...

(Encyclopedia) Woollcott, Alexander, 1887–1943, American author and critic, b. Phalanx, N.J., grad. Hamilton College, 1909. Woollcott's flamboyant personality combined sharpness of wit with sentimentality. He was ...