(Italian: "in the church style"), performance of a polyphonic (multipart) musical work by unaccompanied voices. Originally referring to sacred choral music, the term now refers to secular music as well.
in Spanish literature, the recasting of a secular work as a religious work, or, more generally, a treatment of a secular theme in religious terms through the use of allegory, ...
in Western philosophy since the time of Immanuel Kant, knowledge that is independent of all particular experiences, as opposed to a posteriori knowledge, which derives from experience alone. The Latin ...
the third and most favoured wife of the Prophet Muhammad (the founder of Islam), who played a role of some political importance after the Prophet's death.
pre-Islamic poet whose qasidah ("ode") is included by the critic Abu 'Ubaydah (d. 825) in the celebrated Mu'allaqat, a collection of seven pre-Islamic qasidahs, each of which was considered by ...
city in Heilungkiang sheng (province), China. Located southeast of Harbin (Ha-erh-pin) in the basin of the A-shih River, it is a collecting and commercial centre for a rich agricultural district ...
mountain range in southern Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang, China. Branching off from the Kunlun Mountains, the range runs from southwest to northeast to form the boundary between the Tarim ...
one of three regions into which the area of central Asia inhabited by Tibetans is traditionally divided. During the 7th to 9th centuries, the central Tibetan kingdom was extended until ...
city, North Rhine-Westphalia Land (state), western Germany. Its municipal boundaries coincide on the west with the frontiers of Belgium and The Netherlands. It was a royal residence ...
city, Baden-Wurttemberg Land (state), southern Germany, on the Kocher River, at the northern foot of the Schwabische Alb (Swabian Alps), 30 miles (48 km) north of Ulm. It originated around ...
gemeente (commune), Noord-Holland provincie, western Netherlands, 8 miles (13 km) southwest of Amsterdam, on the Ring Canal and Westeinder Lake, a remnant of Haarlem Lake. The older part of the ...
municipality, East Flanders province, north-central Belgium, on the Dender River, 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Brussels. The town hall (begun in the middle of the 12th century), with its ...
Finnish architect, city planner, and furniture designer whose international reputation rests on a distinctive blend of modernist refinement, indigenous materials, and personal expression in form and detail. His mature style ...
capital of Aargau canton, northern Switzerland, at the southern foot of the Jura Mountains, on the right bank of the Aare River, west of Zurich. Founded about 1240 by the ...
stocky African mammal found south of the Sahara Desert in savanna and semiarid areas. The name aardvark-Afrikaans for "earth pig"-refers to its piglike face and burrowing habits. The aardvark weighs ...
insectivorous carnivore that resembles a small striped hyena. The shy, mainly nocturnal aardwolf lives on the arid plains of Africa. There are two geographically separate populations, one centred in South ...
tributary of the Rhine and the longest stream (183 miles [295 km]) entirely within Switzerland; it drains an area of 6,865 square miles (17,779 square km). The river rises in ...
canton, northern Switzerland. It borders Germany to the north and is bounded by the demicanton of Basel-Laandschaft and by the cantons of Solothurn and Bern to the west, Luzern to ...
the traditional founder and head of the Jewish priesthood, who, with his brother Moses, led the Israelites out of Egypt. The figure of Aaron as it is now found in ...
theologian of Constantinople (now Istanbul), the only scholar to seek a philosophical basis for Karaite beliefs. Karaism, a Jewish movement originating in 8th-century Iran, rejected the oral tradition and challenged ...
American professional baseball player who, during 23 seasons in the major leagues (1954-76), surpassed batting records set by some of the greatest hitters in the game, including Babe Ruth, Ty ...
in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the lesser of the two categories of priests, concerned principally with church finances and administration. See Mormon.
in literature, the practice of beginning a poetic narrative at the earliest possible chronological point. The Latin poet and critic Horace approvingly notes in Ars poetica that Homer does not ...
city, Abia state, southern Nigeria. It lies along the west bank of the Aba River, at the intersection of roads from Port Harcourt, Owerri, Umuahia, Ikot Ekpene, and Ikot Abasi ...
(Musa textilis), plant of the family Musaceae, and its fibre, which is second in importance among the leaf fibre (q.v.) group. Abaca fibre, unlike most other leaf fibres, is obtained ...
calculating device, probably of Babylonian origin, that was long important in commerce. It is the ancestor of the modern calculating machine and computer.
city, extreme southwestern Iran. The city is situated in Khuzestan, part of the oil-producing region of Iran. Abadan lies on an island of the same name along the eastern bank ...
ancient town in the northeast corner of Phocis, Greece. The town was famous for its oracle of Apollo, which was one of those consulted by the Lydian king Croesus. Although ...
Manchurian tribal leader who, in 1636, became emperor of the Manchus, Mongols, and Chinese in Manchuria and, for his family, adopted the name of Ch'ing.
coral atoll of the Gilbert Islands, part of Kiribati, in the west-central Pacific Ocean. Comprising six islets in the northern Gilberts with a total land area of 6 square miles ...
volcanic segment of the Colorado Plateau, in San Juan county, southeastern Utah, U.S. Abajo Peak (11,362 feet [3,463 metres]) is the highest point in the mountains, which comprise eight summits ...
town, Enugu state, southeastern Nigeria. It lies at the intersection of roads from Enugu, Afikpo, and Ogoja. An agricultural trade centre (yams, cassava, rice, and palm oil and kernels) for ...
city and administrative centre of the republic of Khakassia, south-central Russia. The city lies on the left bank of the Abakan River near its confluence with the Yenisey River. The ...
any of several marine snails of the subclass Prosobranchia (class Gastropoda) constituting the genus Haliotis and family Haliotidae, in which the shell has a row of holes on its outer ...
in Anglo-American property law, the relinquishment of possession of property with an intent to terminate all ownership interests in that property. Abandonment may occur by throwing away the property, by ...
in law, the interruption of a legal proceeding upon the pleading by a defendant of a matter that prevents the plaintiff from going forward with the suit at that time ...
language spoken primarily in the western part of the Caucasus Mountains and in northeastern Turkey. Abaza is related to Abkhaz, Adyghian, Kabardian (Circassian), and Ubykh, which constitute the Abkhazo-Adyghian, or ...
Muslim-Arab dynasty of Andalusia that arose in Sevilla (Seville) in the 11th century, in the period of the factions, or "party kingdoms" (ta'ifahs), following the downfall of ...
two brothers who, as geographers and travelers, conducted extensive investigations of the geography, geology, archaeology, and natural history of Ethiopia.
Italian conductor and music director of the Vienna State Opera (1986-91) and principal conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (from 1971), the London Symphony Orchestra (1979-88), and the Berlin Philharmonic ...
shah of Persia from 1588 to 1629, who strengthened the Safavid dynasty by expelling Ottoman and Uzbek troops from Persian soil and by creating a standing army. He also made ...
khedive (viceroy) of Egypt under the Ottomans from 1848 to 1854. During his reign he deliberately opposed change, such as the Western-inspired reforms initiated by his grandfather Muhammad 'Ali Pasha ...
last khedive (viceroy) of Egypt, from 1892 to 1914, when British hegemony was established. His opposition to British power in Egypt made him prominent in the nationalist movement.
Palestinian politician, who served briefly as prime minister of the Palestinian Authority in 2003 and was elected its president in 2005 following the death of Yasir 'Arafat.
second of the two great dynasties of the Muslim Empire of the Caliphate. It overthrew the Umayyad caliphate in AD 750 and reigned as the 'Abbasid caliphate until destroyed by ...
painter of the Bolognese school who, along with others, introduced the post-Renaissance Italian style of painting known as Mannerism to France and helped to inspire the French classical school of ...
physicist whose theoretical and technical innovations in optical theory led to great improvements in microscope design (such as the use of a condenser to provide strong, even illumination, introduced in ...
the title of a superior of certain communities of nuns following the Benedictine Rule, of convents of the Second Order of St. Francis (Poor Clares), and of certain communities of ...
city, seat (1854) of Vermilion parish, southern Louisiana, U.S., on the Vermilion River, 20 miles (32 km) south-southwest of Lafayette. It was founded in 1843 by a Capuchin missionary, Pere ...
city, seat of Abbeville county, northwestern South Carolina, U.S. French Huguenots in 1764 settled the site, which was named for Abbeville, France, by John de la Howe. The city is ...
town, Somme departement, Picardy region, northern France, near the mouth of the canalized Somme, northwest of Amiens. Stone Age artifacts unearthed by Boucher de ...
county, northwestern South Carolina, U.S. It lies in a hilly piedmont region bounded to the southwest by the state's Richard B. Russell Lake border with Georgia; the Saluda River forms ...
prehistoric stone-tool tradition generally considered to represent the oldest occurrence in Europe of a bifacial (hand-ax) technology. The Abbevillian industry dates from an imprecisely determined part of the Middle Pleistocene, ...
group of buildings housing a monastery or a convent, centred on an abbey church or a cathedral and under the direction of an abbot or an abbess. In this sense, ...
Dublin theatre, established in 1904. It grew out of the Irish Literary Theatre (founded in 1899 by William Butler Yeats and Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory, and devoted to fostering Irish ...
the superior of a monastic community that follows the Benedictine Rule (Benedictines, Cistercians, Camaldolese, Trappists) and of certain other orders (Premonstratensians, canons regular of the Lateran). The word derives from ...
American astrophysicist who, as director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Washington, D.C., for almost four decades, engaged in a career-long campaign to demonstrate that the Sun's energy output varies ...
former home of the 19th-century novelist Sir Walter Scott, situated on the right bank of the River Tweed, Scottish Borders council area, historic county of Roxburghshire, Scotland. Scott purchased the ...
American comedic duo who performed on stage and in films, radio, and television. Specializing in rapid-fire patter and knockabout slapstick, they are regarded as the archetypical team of burlesque comedy.
British politician, the first woman of African descent elected to the House of Commons. Abbott's parents, originally from Jamaica, immigrated to the United Kingdom in the early 1950s. She was ...
