(Hebrew: "Sons of the Covenant"), oldest and largest Jewish service organization in the world, with men's lodges, women's chapters, and youth chapters in countries all over the world.
U.S. variable-wing strategic bomber that entered service in 1986 as a successor to the B-52 Stratofortress. The B-1 was designed to penetrate radar-guided air defenses by flying at low levels. ...
U.S. heavy bomber used during World War II. The B-17 was designed by the Boeing Aircraft Company to specifications written in 1934. A prototype flew in 1935, and the craft ...
long-range heavy bomber used during World War II by the U.S. and British air forces; 19,000 of them were produced, more than any other U.S. aircraft in the war. The ...
U.S. heavy bomber used in World War II. It was the type of airplane that was used to firebomb Tokyo and other Japanese cities and that dropped atomic bombs on ...
U.S. long-range heavy bomber, designed in 1948 and first flown in 1952. Though originally intended to be an atomic-bomb carrier capable of reaching the Soviet Union, it proved adaptable to ...
cheaply produced, formulaic film initially intended to serve as the second feature on a double bill. During the 1930s and '40s, a period often called the Golden Age of Hollywood, ...
in ancient Egyptian religion, with ka and akh, a principal aspect of the soul; the ba appears in bird form, thus expressing the mobility of the soul after death. Originally ...
politician who in 1937 became the first Burmese premier under British rule; he later was head of state in the pro-Japanese government during World War II (August 1943-May 1945).
in Judaism, title bestowed upon men who reputedly worked wonders and effected cures through secret knowledge of the ineffable names of God. Benjamin ben Zerah (11th century) was one of ...
charismatic founder (c. 1750) of Hasidism, a Jewish spiritual movement characterized by mysticism and opposition to secular studies and Jewish rationalism. He aroused controversy by mixing with ordinary people, renouncing ...
town, east-central Iraq. Located on the Diyala River and on a road and a rail line between Baghdad and Iran, it is a regional trade centre for agricultural produce and ...
Arab political party advocating the formation of a single Arab socialist nation. It has branches in many Middle Eastern countries and was the ruling party in Syria from 1963 and ...
god worshiped in many ancient Middle Eastern communities, especially among the Canaanites, who apparently considered him a fertility deity and one of the most important gods in the pantheon. As ...
(from West Semitic ba'alat, "lady"), often used as a synonym for the special goddess of a region; also, the chief deity of Byblos. Very little is known of Baalat, "the ...
large archaeological complex encompassing the ruins of an ancient Roman town in eastern Lebanon. It is located in the broad Al-Biqa' (Bekaa Valley) region, at an elevation of roughly 3,700 ...
municipality, Antwerp province, Belgium, enclave (2.7 sq mi [7 sq km]) in Noord-Brabant province, southern Netherlands, 4 mi (6 km) north of the Belgian border. It has been a separate ...
strait between Arabia (northeast) and Africa (southwest) that connects the Red Sea (northwest) with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean (southeast). The strait is 20 miles (32 km) ...
merchant's son whose claim to be the Bab (Gateway) to the hidden imam (the perfect embodiment of Islamic faith) gave rise to the Babi religion and made him one of ...
in Russian folklore, an ogress who steals, cooks, and eats her victims, usually children. A guardian of the fountains of the water of life, she lives with two or three ...
city, west central Ecuador, on the southern shore of the Rio Babahoyo, a major branch of the Rio Guayas. A processing and trade centre for the surrounding agricultural region, the ...
leader of the Iranian Khorram-dinan, a religious sect that arose following the execution of Abu Muslim, who had rebelled against the 'Abbasid caliphate. Denying that Abu Muslim was dead, the ...
poet and scholar known for his illuminating study of Yoruba ijala (a form of oral poetry) and his translations of numerous folk tales. He devoted much of his career to ...
island and island group in the Banda Sea, Maluku propinsi (province), Indonesia. Located between Timor to the west and the Tanimbar Islands to the east, the group consists of Babar, ...
(Orbignya martiana, O. oleifera, or O. speciosa), tall palm tree with feathery leaves that grows wild in tropical northeastern Brazil. The kernels of its hard-shelled nuts are the source of ...
any of several tin- or lead-based alloys used as bearing material for axles and crankshafts, based on the tin alloy invented in 1839 by Isaac Babbitt for use in steam ...
American composer and theorist known as a leading proponent of total serialism-i.e., musical composition based on prior arrangements not only of all 12 pitches of the chromatic scale (as in ...
any of more than 250 Old World songbirds of the family Timaliidae (order Passeriformes); they are treated by many authorities as a subfamily of the Muscicapidae (q.v.). Noted for their ...
astronomer who with his son Horace Welcome Babcock invented (1951) the solar magnetograph, an instrument allowing detailed observation of the Sun's magnetic field. With their magnetograph the Babcocks demonstrated the ...
American astronomer who with his father, Harold Delos Babcock, invented the solar magnetograph, an instrument allowing detailed observation of the Sun's magnetic field.
agricultural research chemist, often called the father of scientific dairying chiefly because of his development of the Babcock test, a simple method of measuring the butterfat content of milk. Introduced ...
Soviet short-story writer noted for his war stories and Odessa tales. He was considered an innovator in the early Soviet period and enjoyed a brilliant reputation in the early 1930s.
in biblical literature, structure built in the land of Shinar (Babylonia) some time after the Deluge. The story of its construction, given in Genesis 11:1-9, appears to be an attempt ...
largest of the Caroline Islands and largest island within Palau (a sovereign state since 1994). It has an area of 143 square miles (370 square km) and lies in the ...
Austrian ruling house in the 10th-13th century. Leopold I of Babenberg became margrave of Austria in 976. The Babenbergs' power was modest, however, until the 12th century, when they came ...
district, administrative and historic county of Suffolk, England. Babergh extends across the southern part of Suffolk. Babergh includes much of the area made familiar by the paintings of John Constable ...
any of a group of tick-borne diseases of animals caused by species of Babesia, protozoans that destroy red blood cells and thereby cause anemia. Cattle tick fever, from B. bigemina, ...
early political journalist and agitator in Revolutionary France whose tactical strategies provided a model for left-wing movements of the 19th century and who was called Gracchus for the resemblance of ...
highest mountain (5,659 feet [1,725 m] at Diablok) peak in the Beskid Mountains, on the Slovakia-Poland border and one of the highest peaks in Poland. It is 12 miles (19 ...
English conspirator, a leader of the unsuccessful "Babington Plot" to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I and install Elizabeth's prisoner, the Roman Catholic Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, on the English throne.
Hungarian poet, novelist, essayist, and translator who, from the publication of his first volume of poetry in 1909, played an important role in the literary life of his country.
city, northern Iran, on the Babol River, about 15 miles (24 km) south of the Caspian Sea. Babol gained importance during the reign (1797-1834) of Fath 'Ali Shah, though 'Abbas ...
any of five species of large, robust, and primarily terrrestrial monkeys found in dry regions of Africa and Arabia. Males of the largest species, the chacma baboon (Papio ursinus), average ...
author of the oldest surviving collection of fables in Greek. Nothing is known of the author. The fables are for the most part versions of the stock stories associated with ...
private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Wellesley, Massachusetts, U.S. Business management education is emphasized at the college, which offers B.S. and M.B.A. degrees. It consists of divisions of accounting ...
emperor (1526-30) and founder of the Mughal dynasty of India, a descendant of the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan and also of Timur (Tamerlane). He was a military adventurer and soldier ...
Dutch painter who was a leading member of the Utrecht school, which was influenced by the dramatic chiaroscuro style of the Italian painter Caravaggio.
island group of the Philippines that is a northerly extension of the Philippine archipelago. The Babuyan Islands lie in the Luzon Strait, south of the Batan Islands and Balintang Channel. ...
large ravine on the northern edge of the city of Kiev in Ukraine, the site of a mass grave of victims, mostly Jews, whom Nazi German SS squads killed between ...
either of two species of herbaceous plants of the genus Gypsophila, of the pink family (Caryophyllaceae), having profuse small blossoms. Both G. elegans, an annual, and G. paniculata, a perennial, ...
town (township), Suffolk county, southeastern New York, U.S. It lies on southern Long Island, along Great South Bay, east of Freeport. Established in 1872 after separation from Huntington (founded 1653), ...
one of the most famous cities of antiquity. It was the capital of southern Mesopotamia (Babylonia) from the early 2nd millennium to the early 1st millennium BC and capital of ...
ancient cultural region occupying southeastern Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (modern southern Iraq from around Baghdad to the Persian Gulf). Because the city of Babylon was the capital ...
chronological system used in ancient Mesopotamia, based on a year of 12 synodic months; i.e., 12 complete cycles of phases of the Moon. This lunar year of about 354 days ...
the forced detention of Jews in Babylonia following the latter's conquest of the kingdom of Judah in 598/7 and 587/6 BC. The exile formally ended in 538 BC, when the ...
one of two compilations of Jewish religious teachings and commentary that was transmitted orally for centuries prior to its compilation by Jewish scholars in Babylon about the 5th century AD. ...
city, eastern Ca Mau Peninsula, southern Vietnam. It has a hospital and a commercial airport and is linked by highway to Ho Chi Minh City, 120 miles (195 km) to ...
in Mayan mythology, any of four gods, thought to be brothers, who, with upraised arms, supported the multilayered sky from their assigned positions at the four cardinal points of the ...
American motion-picture and stage actress known for her portrayals of provocative women who hid their soft core underneath a layer of hard-edged pragmatism.
island, Maluku Utara kabupaten (North Molucca regency), Maluku provinsi (province), Indonesia, one of the northern Moluccas in the Molucca Sea. The islands of Kasiruta ...
city, capital of Bacau judet (county), eastern Romania, near the confluence of the Bistrita and Siret rivers, 150 miles (240 km) northeast of Bucharest. Bacau was an ...
judet (county), eastern Romania, occupying an area of 2,551 square miles (6,606 square km). The Eastern Carpathians and the sub-Carpathians rise above the settlement areas that are ...
casino card game resembling, but simpler than, blackjack. In basic baccarat the house is the bank. In the related game chemin de fer, or chemmy, the bank passes from player ...
glassware produced by an important glasshouse founded in 1765 at Baccarat, Fr. Originally a producer of soda glass for windows, tableware, and industrial uses, Baccarat was acquired by a Belgian ...
