ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0-9
alkali feldspar ... Allgemeine Zeitung
alkali feldspar
any of several common silicate minerals that often occur as variously coloured, glassy crystals. They are used in the manufacture of glass and ceramics; transparent, highly coloured, or iridescent varieties ...
alkali flat
a playa, or dried-out desert lake, especially one containing high concentrations of precipitated dry, glistening salts. The term is generally limited to flats in the western United States, the most ...
alkali metal
any of the six chemical elements that make up Group I of the periodic table-namely, lithium (Li), sodium (Na), potassium (K), rubidium (Rb), cesium (Cs), and francium (Fr). (See .) ...
alkaline phosphatase
enzyme that is normally present in high concentrations in growing bone and in bile. It is essential for the deposition of minerals in the bones and teeth. Alkaline phosphatase deficiency ...
alkaline-earth metal
any of the six chemical elements that comprise Group IIa of the periodic table (see ). The elements are beryllium (Be), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), strontium (Sr), barium (Ba), and ...
alkaloid
any of a class of naturally occurring organic nitrogen-containing bases. Alkaloids have diverse and important physiological effects on humans and other animals. Well-known alkaloids include morphine, strychnine, quinine, ephedrine, and ...
alkalosis
abnormally low level of acidity, or high level of alkalinity, in the body fluids, including the blood. Metabolic alkalosis (also called alkalemia) results from either acid loss (which may be ...
Alkan, Valentin
French pianist-composer, one of the leading virtuosos of the 19th century and one of the most enigmatic figures in 19th-century music.
alkanet
any plant of the 50 or so mostly Mediterranean species of the genus Anchusa and the closely related Pentaglottis sempervirens, bearing blue, purple, or white forget-me-not-like flower clusters on hairy, ...
alkaptonuria
rather rare (one in 200,000 births) inherited disorder of protein metabolism characterized by an inability of the body to metabolize the amino acids tyrosine and phenylalanine. In the normal metabolic ...
Alkmaar
gemeente (commune), Noord-Holland provincie, northwestern Netherlands. It lies along the North Holland Canal, 6 miles (10 km) east of the North Sea.
alkylation
in petroleum refining, chemical process in which light, gaseous hydrocarbons are combined to produce high-octane components of gasoline. The light hydrocarbons consist of olefins such as propylene and butylene and ...
all fours
ancestor of a family of card games dating back to 17th-century England and first mentioned in The Complete Gamester of Charles Cotton in 1674. The face card ...
All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd.
the largest domestic air carrier in Japan, and one of the largest in the world. The company was founded in 1952 and is headquartered in Tokyo. Under the Japanese government's ...
All Saints' Day
in the Christian church, a day commemorating all the saints of the church, both known and unknown, celebrated on November 1 in the Western churches and on the first Sunday ...
All Souls' Day
in the Roman Catholic church, a day for commemoration of all the faithful departed, those baptized Christians who are believed to be in purgatory because they have died with the ...
All's Well That Ends Well
comedy in five acts by William Shakespeare, written in 1601-05 and published in the First Folio of 1623 seemingly from a theatrical playbook that still retained certain authorial features or ...
All-America team
honorific title given to outstanding U.S. athletes in a specific sport in a given year competing at the collegiate and secondary school levels. Originally the term referred to a select ...
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
American sports organization that, between 1943 and its dissolution in 1954, grew from a stopgap wartime entertainment to a professional showcase for women baseball players.
All-England Championships
internationally known lawn tennis championships played annually in London at Wimbledon (q.v.).
All-India Trade Union Congress
India's second largest trade union federation after the Indian National Trade Union Congress. The AITUC was formed by the Indian National Congress (the central organ of the independence movement) in ...
all-or-none law
a physiological principle that relates response to stimulus in excitable tissues. It was first established for the contraction of heart muscle by the American physiologist Henry P. Bowditch in 1871. ...
All-Star Game
in American professional baseball, a game between teams of outstanding players chosen from National and American league teams who oppose each other as league against league. Arch Ward, a Chicago ...
All-Union Council of Evangelical Christians and Baptists
voluntary association of Baptist churches in Russia that was formed (in the Soviet Union) in 1944 by uniting the Union of Evangelical Christians and the Russian Baptist Union. The Baptists ...
Allah
(Arabic: "God"), the one and only God in the religion of Islam. Etymologically, the name Allah is probably a contraction of the Arabic al-Ilah, "the God." The name's origin can ...
Allahabad
city, southern Uttar Pradesh state, northern India. It is situated at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna (Jumna) rivers. Allahabad stands on the site of ancient Prayag, a holy ...
Allais, Maurice
French economist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1988 for his development of principles to guide efficient pricing and resource allocation in large monopolistic enterprises.
Allan, Maud
Canadian-born interpretative dancer and teacher, one of the forerunners of modern dance.
Allan, Sir Hugh
Canadian financier and shipbuilder whose contribution of $300,000 to the Conservative Party campaign in 1872 precipitated the Pacific Scandal that brought down Sir John Macdonald's government.
allantois
an extra-embryonic membrane of reptiles, birds, and mammals arising as a pouch, or sac, from the hindgut. In reptiles and birds it expands greatly between two other membranes, the amnion ...
Allbutt, Sir Thomas Clifford
English physician, the inventor of the short clinical thermometer. His investigations also led to the improved treatment of arterial diseases.
allee
feature of the French formal garden that was both a promenade and an extension of the view. It either ended in a terminal feature, such as a garden temple, or ...
Allee, Warder Clyde
zoologist and ecologist noted for his research on social behaviour, aggregations, and distribution of animals in both aquatic and terrestrial environments.
Allegany
county, western Maryland, U.S. It consists of an irregular neck of land between Pennsylvania to the north and West Virginia to the south (the North Branch Potomac River constituting the ...
Allegany
county, southwestern New York state, U.S., bordered to the south by Pennsylvania and comprising a region of moderate relief. The principal waterways are the Genesee River and Rushford and Cuba ...
Alleghenian orogeny
a mountain-building event that affected the Appalachian Geosyncline in late Paleozoic (Permian) time, from about 300 million to 250 million years ago. The term Appalachian Revolution formerly was applied to ...
Allegheny
county, southwestern Pennsylvania, U.S., consisting of a hilly region on the Allegheny Plateau bounded to the southeast by the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers and to the northeast by the Allegheny ...
Allegheny College
private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Meadville, Pennsylvania, U.S. The college offers bachelor's degrees in the liberal arts and sciences. It also sponsors study-abroad programs in various countries. The ...
Allegheny Mountains
mountainous eastern part of the Allegheny Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains, U.S. The Allegheny range extends south-southwestward for more than 500 miles (800 km) from north-central Pennsylvania to southwestern Virginia. ...
Allegheny Plateau
western section of the Appalachian Mountains, U.S., extending southwestward from the Mohawk River valley in central New York to the Cumberland Plateau in southern West Virginia. Generally sloping toward the ...
Allegheny River
river rising in the hilly plateau region of Potter county, Pennsylvania, U.S., and flowing generally northward for about 80 miles (130 km). The river enters New York state where the ...
allegory
a symbolic fictional narrative that conveys a secondary meaning not explicitly set forth in the literal narrative. Allegory encompasses such forms as fable, parable, and apologue and may involve either ...
Allegret, Marc
French motion-picture director known for his exacting film technique.
Allegret, Yves
French motion-picture director who gained fame for his work in the "film noir" genre that was popular in the late 1940s.
allele
any one of two or more genes that may occur alternatively at a given site (locus) on a chromosome. Alleles may occur in pairs, or there may be multiple alleles ...
allemande
processional couple dance with stately, flowing steps, fashionable in 16th-century aristocratic circles; also an 18th-century figure dance. The earlier dance apparently originated in Germany but became fashionable both at the ...
allemontite
the mineral arsenic antimonide (AsSb). It commonly occurs in veins, as at Allemont, Isere, Fr.; Valtellina, Italy; and the Comstock Lode, Nevada. It also is present in a lithium pegmatite ...
Allen, Bog of
group of peat bogs between the Liffey and the Shannon rivers in east-central Ireland in Counties Kildare, Offaly, Laoighis, and Westmeath. Some 370 square miles (958 square km) in area, ...
Allen, Elizabeth Anne Chase Akers
American journalist and poet, remembered chiefly for her sentimental poem "Rock Me to Sleep," which found especial popularity during the Civil War.
Allen, Ethan
soldier and frontiersman, leader of the Green Mountain Boys during the American Revolution.
Allen, Florence Ellinwood
American jurist who became the first woman to serve on the bench in a number of state courts and one federal jurisdiction.
Allen, Fred
American humorist whose laconic style, dry wit, and superb timing influenced a generation of radio and television performers.
Allen, Henry
African-American jazz musician, one of the major trumpeters of the swing era, he also sang and led small bands.
Allen, Hervey
American poet, biographer, and novelist who had a great impact on popular literature with his historical novel Anthony Adverse.
Allen, Paula Gunn
American poet, novelist, and scholar whose work combines the influences of feminism and her Native American heritage.
Allen, Phog
American college basketball coach who is regarded as the first great basketball coach. He was also instrumental in making basketball an Olympic sport.
Allen, Richard
founder and first bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, a major American denomination.
Allen, Sir Hugh
organist and musical educator who exerted a far-reaching influence on the English musical life of his time.
Allen, Sir James
statesman, leader of the New Zealand Reform Party, and minister of defense (1912-20) who was instrumental in the development of New Zealand's navy and expeditionary military force.
Allen, Steve
pioneer American television entertainer, versatile author, songwriter, and comedian who performed in radio, motion pictures, and theatre as well as television.
Allen, Viola
American actress, especially famous for her Shakespearean roles and for her roles in Frances Eliza Burnett's Little Lord Fauntleroy and Bronson Howard's Shenandoah, both extremely popular plays.
Allen, Walter
British novelist and critic best known for the breadth and accessibility of his criticism.
Allen, William
English cardinal and scholar who supervised the preparation of the Roman Catholic Douai-Reims translation of the Bible and engaged in intrigues against the Protestant regime of Queen Elizabeth I.
Allen, Woody
American motion-picture director, screenwriter, actor, and author, best known for his bittersweet comic films containing elements of parody, slapstick, and the absurd. He was also known as a sympathetic director ...
Allenby, Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount
field marshal, the last great British leader of mounted cavalry, who directed the Palestine campaign in World War I.
Allendale
county, southern South Carolina, U.S. It is a rural area on the Coastal Plain. The Savannah River border with Georgia defines the western boundary, the Salkehatchie River the northeastern. It ...
Allende, Isabel
Chilean writer in the magic realist tradition who is considered one of the first successful woman novelists in Latin America.
Allende, Salvador
Chile's first socialist president.
Allentown
city, seat (1812) of Lehigh county, eastern Pennsylvania, U.S. Situated on the Lehigh River, Allentown, with Bethlehem and Easton, forms an industrial complex. William Allen, mayor of Philadelphia and later ...
Alleppey
city, southern Kerala state, southwestern India. It lies on a narrow land spit between the Arabian Sea and Vembanad Lake, south of Kochi (formerly Cochin). Alleppey's port was opened to ...
Allerdale
district, administrative county of Cumbria, historic county of Cumberland, northwestern England, in the northwestern part of the county along the coast of the Solway Firth. Except for its coastal plain ...
allergen
substance that in some persons induces the hypersensitive state of allergy and stimulates the formation of reaginic antibodies. Allergens may be naturally occurring or of synthetic origin and include pollen, ...
allergy
hypersensitivity reaction by the body to foreign substances (antigens) that in similar amounts and circumstances are harmless within the bodies of other people.
Alleyn, Edward
one of the greatest actors of the Elizabethan stage and founder of Dulwich College, London. Rivaled only by Richard Burbage, Alleyn won the outspoken admiration of such authors as Ben ...
Allgemeine Enzyklopadie der Wissenschaften und Kunste
(German: "Universal Encyclopaedia of Sciences and Arts"), monumental uncompleted German encyclopaedia of which 167 volumes were published from 1818 to 1889. Founded by a German bibliographer, Johann Samuel Ersch, who ...
Allgemeine Zeitung
(German: "General Newspaper"), greatest German newspaper in the 19th century, founded at Tubingen in 1798 by Johann Friedrich Cotta, later Freiherr (baron) von Cottendorf. Censorship and other pressures forced it ...