Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Parker, Dorothy (Dorothy Rothschild Parker), 1893–1967, American short-story and verse writer, b. West End, N.J. While serving as drama critic for Vanity Fair (1916–17) and book critic for the New...

(Encyclopedia) trunkfish, any member of a family of fishes, Ostraciidae, also called boxfishes, that have short triangular bodies covered by firmly united hexagonal bony plates. Only the jaw, the bases of the fins, ...

(Encyclopedia) Portage Lake, inlet of Keweenaw Bay, c.20 mi (32 km) long and 2 mi (3.2 km) wide, N Mich., indenting the southeast shore of Keweenaw peninsula. An old portage route connected it with Lake Superior, an...

(Encyclopedia) Frame, Janet (Janet Paterson Frame Clutha) klo͞oˈthə [key], 1924–2004, New Zealand novelist, b. Dunedin. Frame's complex, disturbing novels are marked by startling images and masterful language. ...

(Encyclopedia) Tibetan language, member of the Tibeto-Burman subfamily of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages (see Sino-Tibetan languages). It is spoken by 5 million people in the Tibet autonomous region and the Qi...

(Encyclopedia) Henry I, 1204–17, Spanish king of Castile (1214–17), son and successor of Alfonso VIII. At his death after a short, uneventful reign, his sister Berenguela renounced her rights to the crown in fav...

(Encyclopedia) Munro, H. H. (Hector Hugh Munro), pseud. Saki säˈkē [key], 1870–1916, English author, b. Burma (now Myanmar). He began his career writing political satires for the Westminster Gazette, and from 1...

(Encyclopedia) corm, short, thickened underground stem, usually covered with papery leaves. A corm grows vertically, producing buds at the upper nodes and roots from the lower surface. Corms serve as organs of food ...

(Encyclopedia) Iskander, Fazil Abdulovich, 1929–2016, Russian writer, grad. Moscow Library Institute, 1954. Iskander's novels and stories, mainly set in his native Abkhazia, are charmingly satirical portraits of v...

(Encyclopedia) O'Hara, John, 1905–70, American novelist and short-story writer, b. Pottsville, Pa. He worked at a number of jobs and ultimately became a newspaperman before the appearance of his first novel, Appoi...