Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) credit, granting of goods, services, or money in return for a promise of future payment. Most credit is accompanied by an interest charge, which usually makes the future payment greater than an immedi...

(Encyclopedia) Saint Lawrence Seaway, international waterway, 2,342 mi (3,769 km) long, consisting of a system of canals, dams, and locks in the St. Lawrence River and connecting channels between the Great Lakes; op...

(Encyclopedia) Marshall, George Catlett, 1880–1959, American general and cabinet member, b. Uniontown, Pa. A career army officer, Marshall graduated from the Virginia Military Institute. He first distinguished him...

(Encyclopedia) blood groups, differentiation of blood by type, classified according to immunological (antigenic) properties, which are determined by specific substances on the surface of red blood cells. Blood group...

(Encyclopedia) recognition, acknowledgment of the admission of new states into the international community by political action of states that are already members. Its derivation is found in the policy of the older E...

(Encyclopedia) pearl, hard, rounded secretion formed inside the shell of certain mollusks, used as a gem. It is secreted by the epithelial cells of the mantle, a curtain of tissue between the shell and body mass, an...

(Encyclopedia) glycolysis glīkŏlˈĭsĭs [key], term given to the metabolic pathway utilized by most microorganisms (yeast and bacteria) and by all “higher” animals (including humans) for the degradation of gl...

(Encyclopedia) group psychotherapy, a means of changing behavior and emotional patterns, based on the premise that much of human behavior and feeling involves the individual's adaptation and response to other people...

(Encyclopedia) Neolithic period or New Stone Age. The term neolithic is used, especially in archaeology and anthropology, to designate a stage of cultural evolution or technological development characterized by the ...