Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) pimento or allspice, common names for a tree (Pimenta dioica or P. officinalis) of the family Myrtaceae (myrtle family) cultivated in the West Indies for its dried unripe berries, used medicinally and...

(Encyclopedia) bittersweet, name for two unrelated plants, belonging to different families, both fall-fruiting woody vines sometimes cultivated for their decorative scarlet berries. One, called also woody nightshade...

(Encyclopedia) Kalb, Johann Ger. yōˈhän kälp [key], 1721–80, American general in the Revolution, known generally as Baron de Kalb, b. Hüttendorf, Germany. He assumed his title for military reasons and as Jean...

(Encyclopedia) Smith, Dean Edwards, 1931–2015, American college basketball coach, b. Emporia, Kans. After playing basketball at the Univ. of Kansas (grad. 1953), Smith joined (1954) the Air Force and became an ass...

(Encyclopedia) Gibbons, James, 1834–1921, American churchman, cardinal of the Roman Catholic church, b. Baltimore. Ordained in 1861, he became secretary to the archbishop of Baltimore in 1865, vicar apostolic of N...

(Encyclopedia) integration, in U.S. history, the goal of an organized movement to break down the barriers of discrimination and segregation separating African Americans from the rest of American society. Racial segr...

(Encyclopedia) National Marine Sanctuary Program, federally owned marine and Great Lakes reserves, administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The program consists of 13 marine sanctu...

(Encyclopedia) Durham dûrˈăm [key], city (2020 pop. 324,833), seat of Durham co., N central N.C., in the ...

(Encyclopedia) box turtle, hard-shelled land turtle of the genus Terrapene, native to North America. Its lower shell, or plastron, has a hinge dividing it into front and rear sections; the animal can raise these sec...

(Encyclopedia) china clay, one of the purest of the clays, composed chiefly of the mineral kaolinite usually formed when granite is changed by hydrothermal metamorphism. Usage of the terms china clay and kaolin is n...