Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) grouse, common name for a game bird of the colder parts of the Northern Hemisphere. There are about 18 species. Grouse are henlike terrestrial birds, protectively plumaged in shades of red, brown, and...

(Encyclopedia) Magritte, René rənāˈ mägrētˈ [key], 1898–1967, Belgian surrealist painter. Strongly influenced by Chirico, Magritte developed a style in which a misleading sort of realism is combined with mo...

(Encyclopedia) Marie mərēˈ [key], 1875–1938, queen of Romania, consort of Ferdinand. The daughter of Alfred, duke of Edinburgh and of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, she was the granddaughter of Czar Alexander II of Russia ...

(Encyclopedia) Antonelli, Giacomo jäˈkōmō äntōnĕlˈlē [key], 1806–76, Italian cardinal and statesman of the Roman Catholic Church, adviser to Pope Pius IX. He received the red hat of the cardinalate in 184...

(Encyclopedia) apatite ăpˈətīt [key], mineral, a phosphate of calcium containing chlorine or fluorine, or both, that is transparent to opaque in shades of green, brown, yellow, white, red, and purple. Apatite is...

(Encyclopedia) Courteline, Georges zhôrzh ko͞orˌtəlēnˈ [key], 1858–1929, French writer. His prolific humorous and satiric works include sketches, plays, tales, and novels. Bourgeois attitudes are ridiculed i...

(Encyclopedia) heartwood, the central, woody core of a tree, no longer serving for the conduction of water and dissolved minerals; heartwood is usually denser and darker in color than the outer sapwood. Before the s...

(Encyclopedia) Kirshon, Vladimir Mikhailovich vlədyēˈmĭr mēkhīˈləvĭch kērshônˈ [key], 1902–38, Russian dramatist. He began his career with Red Dust (1927, tr. 1930), a play showing the degeneration of ...

(Encyclopedia) winterberry, name for two species of shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex of the family Aquifoliaceae (holly family), native to the eastern half of North America. Both are deciduous but have winter...

(Encyclopedia) Washita wŏshˈĭtô [key], river, c.450 mi (720 km) long, rising in the Texas Panhandle near the Okla. line and flowing generally SE across Oklahoma to Lake Texoma or the Red River. The Native Americ...