Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

fisher

(Encyclopedia)fisher, name of a large North American marten, Martes pennanti. This carnivorous, largely arboreal mammal is found in hardwood forests of Canada, the extreme N United States, and mountain ranges of th...

wolverine

(Encyclopedia)wolverine or glutton, largest member of the weasel family, Gulo gulo, found in the northern parts of North America and Eurasia, usually in high mountains near the timberline or in tundra. It is a heav...

cankerworm

(Encyclopedia)cankerworm, name for two destructive inchworms, or larvae of geometrid moths. The spring cankerworm (Paleacrita vernata) and the fall cankerworm (Alsophila pometaria) are named for the seasons at whic...

Vaughan, Sarah

(Encyclopedia)Vaughan, Sarah (Sarah Lois Vaughan), 1924–90, American jazz singer, b. Newark, N.J. Nicknamed “Sassie” and “the divine one,” she studied piano and organ, began singing in her church choir, a...

bongo

(Encyclopedia)bongo bŏngˈgō [key], spiral-horned antelope, Tragelaphus eurycerus, found in jungles and thick bamboo forests of equatorial Africa. Shy, elusive animals, bongos never emerge into the open and are s...

tempering

(Encyclopedia)tempering, process involving slow and moderate heating to increase the hardness and toughness of metals that have undergone previous heat treatment. Metals are usually hardened (see hardening) by bein...

sandpiper

(Encyclopedia)sandpiper, common name for some members of the large family Scolopacidae, small shore birds, including the snipe and the curlew. Sandpipers are wading birds with relatively long legs and long, slender...

alabaster

(Encyclopedia)alabaster, fine-grained, massive, translucent variety of gypsum, a hydrous calcium sulfate. It is pure white or streaked with reddish brown. Alabaster, like all other forms of gypsum, forms by the eva...

alpaca

(Encyclopedia)alpaca ălpăkˈə [key], partially domesticated South American mammal, Lama pacos, of the camel family. Genetic studies show that it is a descendant of the vicuña. Although the flesh is sometimes us...