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B'nai B'rith ... Baccarat glass
B'nai B'rith
(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.
B-1
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. ...
B-17
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 ...
B-24
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 ...
B-29
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 ...
B-52
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 ...
B-film
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, ...
B.E.M.
recipient of the British Empire Medal. See British Empire, The Most Excellent Order of the.
ba
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 ...
Ba Jin
Chinese anarchist writer whose novels and short stories achieved widespread popularity in the 1930s and '40s.
Ba Maw
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).
ba'al shem
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 ...
Ba'al Shem Tov
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 ...
Ba'qubah
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 ...
Ba'th Party
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 ...
Baader, Franz Xaver von
Roman Catholic layman who became an influential mystical theologian and ecumenicist.
Baal
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 ...
Baalat
(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 ...
Baalbeck
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 ...
Baarle-Hertog
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 ...
Bab el-Mandeb Strait
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) ...
Bab, the
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 ...
Baba Taher
one of the most revered early poets in Persian literature.
Baba-Yaga
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 ...
Babahoyo
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 ...
Babak
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 ...
Babalola, S Adeboye
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 ...
Babangida, Ibrahim
Nigerian military leader, who served as head of state (1985-93).
Babar Island
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, ...
Babashoff, Shirley
American swimmer who won eight Olympic medals and was one of only two women to win five medals in swimming during one Olympic Games.
babassu palm
(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 ...
Babbage, Charles
English mathematician and inventor who is credited with having conceived the first automatic digital computer.
babbitt metal
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 ...
Babbitt, Irving
American critic and teacher, leader of the movement in literary criticism known as the "New Humanism," or Neohumanism.
Babbitt, Isaac
American inventor of a tin-based alloy (now known as babbitt) widely used for bearings.
Babbitt, Milton
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 ...
babbler
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 ...
Babcock, Harold Delos
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 ...
Babcock, Horace Welcome
American astronomer who with his father, Harold Delos Babcock, invented the solar magnetograph, an instrument allowing detailed observation of the Sun's magnetic field.
Babcock, Stephen Moulton
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 ...
Babel, Isaak Emmanuilovich
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.
Babel, Tower of
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 ...
Babelthuap
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 ...
Babenberg, House of
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 ...
Babenco, Hector
Brazilian film director known for socially conscious films that examine the lives of society's outsiders.
Babergh
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 ...
babesiosis
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, ...
Babeuf, Francois-Noel
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 ...
Babia, Mount
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 ...
Babington, Anthony
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.
babirusa
(Babirousa babyrussa), wild East Indian swine, family Suidae (order Artiodactyla), of Celebes and the Molucca islands.
Babism
religion that developed in Iran around Mirza 'Ali Mohammad's claim to be a bab (Arabic: "gateway"), or divine intermediary, in 1844. See Bab, the.
Babits, Mihaly
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.
Babol
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 ...
baboon
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 ...
Babrius
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 ...
Babson College
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 ...
Babur
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 ...
Baburen, Dirck van
Dutch painter who was a leading member of the Utrecht school, which was influenced by the dramatic chiaroscuro style of the Italian painter Caravaggio.
Babuyan Islands
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. ...
Baby Yar
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 ...
baby's breath
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, ...
Babylon
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), ...
Babylon
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 ...
Babylonia
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 ...
Babylonian calendar
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 ...
Babylonian Exile
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 ...
Babylonian Talmud
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. ...
Bac Lieu
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 ...
Bacab
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 ...
Bacall, Lauren
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.
Bacan
island, Maluku Utara kabupaten (North Molucca regency), Maluku provinsi (province), Indonesia, one of the northern Moluccas in the Molucca Sea. The islands of Kasiruta ...
Bacau
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 ...
Bacau
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 ...
baccarat
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 ...
Baccarat glass
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 ...