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Breze, Pierre II de ... Brikama
Breze, Pierre II de
trusted soldier and statesman of Charles VII of France.
Brezhnev, Leonid Ilich
Soviet statesman and Communist Party official who was, in effect, the leader of the Soviet Union for 18 years.
Brezina, Otakar
poet who had a considerable influence on the development of 20th-century Czech poetry.
Brhaspati
(Sanskrit: "Lord of Prayers"), in Vedic mythology, the preceptor of the gods, the master of sacred wisdom, charms, hymns, and rites, and the sage counselor of Indra in his war ...
Brialmont, Henri-Alexis
Belgian soldier who was the leading fortifications engineer of the late 19th century.
Brian
high king of Ireland from 1002 to 1014.
Brian, Havergal
English musician and self-taught composer.
Brianchon, Charles-Julien
French mathematician who derived a geometrical theorem (now known as Brianchon's theorem) useful in the study of the properties of conic sections (circles, ellipses, parabolas, and hyperbolas) and who was ...
Briancon
city, Hautes-Alpes departement, Provence-Alpes-Cote-d'Azur region, southeastern France. Briancon lies at the confluence of the Durance and Guisanne rivers. Its location at a crossing point for commerce across the Alps made ...
Briand, Aristide
statesman who served 11 times as premier of France, holding a total of 26 ministerial posts between 1906 and 1932. His efforts for international cooperation, the League of Nations, and ...
briard
French sheepdog breed mentioned in French records of the 12th century and depicted in medieval French tapestries. It is known in France as berger de Brie (sheepdog of Brie) but ...
Briareus
in Greek mythology, one of three 100-armed, 50-headed Hecatoncheires (from the Greek words for "hundred" and "hands"), the sons of the deities Uranus and Gaea. The gods called him Briareus; ...
bribery
the act of promising, giving, receiving, or agreeing to receive money or some other item of value with the corrupt aim of influencing a public official in the discharge of ...
Bribie Island
island off the southeastern coast of Queensland, Australia, at the northern extremity of Moreton Bay. The island is 20 miles (32 km) long and from 1 to 5 miles wide ...
Brice, Fanny
popular American singing comedienne who was long associated with the Ziegfeld Follies.
brick and tile
structural clay products, manufactured as standard units, used in building construction.
Bricker, John W.
conservative Republican politician who held state and national public offices for many years; he was the unsuccessful candidate for vice president of the United States in 1944.
Brico, Antonia
Dutch-born American conductor and pianist, the first woman to gain wide recognition and acceptance as a leader of world-class symphony orchestras.
Briconnet, Guillaume
influential Roman Catholic reformer, one of the most energetic personalities in the French church at the beginning of the Reformation.
Bricriu's Feast
in early Irish literature, a comic, rowdy account of rivalry between Ulster warriors. One of the longest hero tales of the Ulster cycle, it dates from the 8th century and ...
Bridalveil Fall
cataract on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada in Yosemite National Park, east-central California, U.S. The waterfall, fed mainly by melting snow, has a height of 620 feet (189 ...
Bridel, Philippe-Sirice
man of letters, known as le doyen Bridel, who advocated an indigenous Swiss literature and tried to awaken a national consciousness in all areas of life. A French-language writer, Bridel ...
bridewealth
the payment made by the groom or his kin to the kin of the wife in order to ratify a marriage. The practice is common in all parts of the ...
bridge
either of two card games, auction bridge and contract bridge, that are derived from whist and retain its essential features. These features are the following: four players participate, two against ...
bridge
in electrical measurement, instrument for measuring electrical quantities. The first such instrument, invented by British mathematician Samuel Christie and popularized in 1843 by Sir Charles Wheatstone, measures resistance by comparing ...
bridge
structure that spans horizontally between supports, whose function is to carry vertical loads. The prototypical bridge is quite simple-two supports holding up a beam-yet the engineering problems that must be ...
bridge
in stringed musical instruments, piece of elastic wood that transmits the vibrations of the string to the resonating body. Bridges are of two kinds. In the pressure bridge, the string ...
bridge whist
card game popular from the 1890s through 1910, and the second step in the historical progression from whist to bridge whist to auction bridge to contract bridge. See whist.
Bridge, Frank
English composer, viola player, and conductor, one of the most accomplished musicians of his day, known especially for his chamber music and songs.
Bridgend
town, Bridgend county borough, historic county of Glamorgan (Morgannwg), Wales, on the River Ogmore. It has grown up on the site of medieval riverside twin villages (Oldcastle and Newcastle) with ...
Bridgend
county borough, historic county of Glamorgan (Morgannwg), southern Wales. Bridgend county borough extends from the mining valleys of Ogmore, Garw, and Llynfi in the north to the arable lowlands and ...
Bridgeport
city, coextensive with the town (township) of Bridgeport, Fairfield county, southwestern Connecticut, U.S. The city, the most populous in the state, is a port on Long Island Sound at the ...
Bridgeport, University of
private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Bridgeport, Conn., U.S. The university is composed of the College of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies (including the schools of arts, humanities, and social ...
Bridger, Jim
American fur trader, frontiersman, scout, the "mountain man" par excellence.
Bridges, Calvin Blackman
American geneticist who helped establish the chromosomal basis of heredity and sex.
Bridges, Harry
Australian-born American labour leader, president of the San Francisco-based International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU) from 1937 to 1977.
Bridges, Robert
English poet noted for his technical mastery of prosody and for his sponsorship of the poetry of his friend Gerard Manley Hopkins.
Bridget of Sweden, Saint
patron saint of Sweden, founder of the Brigittine Order, and a mystic whose revelations were influential during the European Middle Ages.
Bridgeton
city, seat (1749) of Cumberland county, southwestern New Jersey, U.S. It lies along Cohansey Creek, 38 miles (61 km) south of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The site was settled by Richard Hancock ...
Bridgetown
capital and only port of entry of the island-state of Barbados, in the West Indies. It is on the southwestern end of the island, on the wide curve of Carlisle ...
Bridgettine
a religious order of cloistered nuns founded by St. Bridget of Sweden in 1344 and approved by Pope Urban V in 1370. Bridget believed that she was called by Christ ...
Bridgewater Canal
British canal now extending from Worsley to Liverpool. An engineering masterpiece of the 18th century, the Bridgewater Canal was executed by James Brindley, a brilliant, self-taught mechanic and engineer in ...
Bridgewater, Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of, Marquess Of Brackley, Earl of Bridgewater, Viscount Brackley, Baron Of Ellesmere
founder of British inland navigation, whose canal, built from his estates at Worsley to the city of Manchester, is called the Bridgewater canal.
Bridgman, Laura Dewey
one of the first blind deaf-mute persons for whom systematic education proved successful.
Bridgman, Percy Williams
American experimental physicist noted for his studies of materials at high temperatures and pressures. For his work he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1946.
Bridgnorth
town and district, administrative and historic county of Shropshire, England. The district covers a rural area encompassing many small agricultural villages in the southeastern part of the county.
Bridgwater
Bristol Channel seaport, Sedgemoor district, administrative and historic county of Somerset, England. The town, which is located in Sedgemoor district, lies to the east of the Quantock Hills, mainly on ...
Bridie, James
playwright whose popular, witty comedies were significant to the revival of the Scottish drama during the 1930s.
bridle
headgear by which a horse or other burden-bearing or pulling animal is governed, consisting of bit, headstall, and reins. The bit is a horizontal metal bar placed in the animal's ...
Brie
soft-ripened cow's-milk cheese named for the district in northeastern France in which it is made.
Brie
natural region of northern France between the Seine and Marne valleys. It occupies most of Seine-et-Marne departement and parts of adjacent departements. The region was historically divided between the king ...
brief
in law, a document often in the form of a summary or abstract. The term is used primarily in common-law countries, and its exact meaning varies across jurisdictions.
Brieux, Eugene
French dramatist, one of the leading exponents of the realist drama, whose somewhat didactic works attacked the social evils of his day. Brieux's works formed part of the repertory of ...
brig
two-masted sailing ship with square rigging on both masts. Brigs were used for both naval and mercantile purposes. As merchant vessels, they plied mostly coastal trading routes, but oceanic voyages ...
brigade
a unit in military organization commanded by a brigadier (brigadier general) or colonel and composed of two or more subordinate units, such as regiments or battalions.
brigadier general
a military rank just above that of colonel. In both the British and U.S. armies of World War I, a brigadier general commanded a brigade. When the British abolished the ...
Brigadier Gerard
(foaled 1968), English racehorse (Thoroughbred) who won all but one of his 18 races in his three-year racing career, winning more than $581,000. He was sired by Queen's Hussar and ...
Brigantes
in ancient Britain, a tribe conquered by the Romans during the reign of Antoninus Pius (c. AD 155). The Brigantes occupied the region south of the Antonine Wall, extending to ...
brigantine
two-masted sailing ship with square rigging on the foremast and fore-and-aft rigging on the mainmast. The term originated with the two-masted ships, also powered by oars, on which pirates, or ...
Briggs, Emily Pomona Edson
American journalist, one of the first women to acquire a national reputation in the field.
Briggs, Henry
English mathematician who invented the common, or Briggsian, logarithm. His writings were mainly responsible for the widespread acceptance of logarithms throughout Europe. His innovation was instrumental in easing the burden ...
Brigham City
city, seat of Box Elder county, near Bear River Bay of Great Salt Lake, northern Utah, U.S., at the foot of the Wasatch Range, 21 miles (34 km) north of ...
Brigham Young University
private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Provo, Utah, U.S. The university is supported by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) and has branch campuses in Laie, ...
Brighella
stock character of the Italian commedia dell'arte; a roguish, quick-witted, opportunistic, and sometimes lascivious and cruel figure. Originally one of the comic servants, or zanni, of the commedia, Brighella was ...
Bright's disease
inflammation of the structures in the kidney that produce urine: the glomeruli and the nephrons. The glomeruli are small round clusters of capillaries (microscopic blood vessels) that are surrounded by ...
Bright, John
British reform politician and orator active in the early Victorian campaigns for free trade and lower grain prices (he was a co-founder of the Anti-Corn Law League), as well as ...
Bright, Richard
British physician who was the first to describe the clinical manifestations of the kidney disorder known as Bright's disease, or nephritis.
Bright, Sir Charles Tilston
British engineer who superintended the laying of the first Atlantic telegraph cable.
bright-cut
type of decorative engraving used on metal objects, especially those made of silver. The decorative designs are created by making a series of short cuts into the metal, using a ...
brightness
in physics, the subjective visual sensation related to the intensity of light emanating from a surface or from a point source (see luminous intensity).
Brighton
city, seat (1902) of Adams county (and lying partially within Weld county), north-central Colorado, U.S., on the South Platte River. Originally a rest stop on a fur-trading trail between Fort ...
Brighton
town, unitary authority of Brighton and Hove, historic county of Sussex, England. It is a seaside resort on the English Channel, 51 miles (82 km) south of London. Brighton spreads ...
Brighton and Hove
unitary authority, geographic county of East Sussex, historic county of Sussex, southeastern England. It is located on the English Channel 51 miles (82 km) south of London, with which it ...
Brigit
in Celtic religion, ancient goddess of the poetic arts, crafts, prophecy, and divination; she was the equivalent of the Roman goddess Minerva (Greek Athena). In Ireland this Brigit was one ...
Brigit of Ireland, Saint
virgin and abbess of Kildare, one of the patron saints of Ireland.
Brikama
town, western Gambia, on the road from Banjul (formerly Bathurst) to Mansa Konko. An agricultural trade centre (peanuts [groundnuts], palm oil, and kernels) among the Muslim Malinke (Mandingo) and Dyola ...