Scottish judge who, by frequently shifting his political allegiances, influenced the course of events in the early years of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland.
island and propinsi ("province") in the Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia, 1 mile (1.6 km) east of the island of Java. Most of Bali is mountainous (essentially an extension of the ...
city, northwestern Turkey, situated on rising ground above a fertile plain that drains to the Sea of Marmara. It lies about where the ancient Roman town of Hadrianutherae lay. In ...
bay and seaport, Kalimantan Timur propinsi ("province"), Indonesia, situated on the eastern coast of Indonesian Borneo, facing the Makasar Strait. It is the site of a major oil refinery that ...
people of the island Bali, Indonesia. They differ from other Indonesians in adhering to the Hindu religion, though their culture has been heavily influenced by the Javanese. Their language belongs ...
(Feb. 9, 1934), mutual-defense agreement between Greece, Turkey, Romania, and Yugoslavia, intended to guarantee the signatories' territorial integrity and political independence against attack by another Balkan state (i.e., Bulgaria or ...
(1866-68), an alliance organized by the Serbian prince Michael III (Mihailo Obrenovic). Concluded by the governments of Serbia, Romania, Montenegro, and Greece and a Bulgarian revolutionary society, it tried to ...
(1912-13), alliance of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and Montenegro, which fought the First Balkan War against Turkey (1912-13). Ostensibly created to limit increasing Austrian power in the Balkans, the league was ...
chief range of the Balkan Peninsula and Bulgaria and an extension of the Alpine-Carpathian folds. The range extends from the Timok River valley near the Yugoslav (Serbian) border, spreading out ...
division of a multinational state into smaller ethnically homogeneous entities. The term also is used to refer to ethnic conflict within multiethnic states. It was coined at the end of ...
easternmost of Europe's three great southern peninsulas, comprising the countries of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, and Moldova.
village in northern Afghanistan that was formerly Bactra, the capital of ancient Bactria. It lies 14 miles (22 km) west of the city of Mazar-e Sharif and is situated along ...
lake, situated in east-central Kazakstan. The lake lies in the vast Balqash-Alakol basin at 1,122 feet (342 m) above sea level and is situated 600 miles (966 km) east of ...
group of billiard games played with three balls (red, white, and white with a spot) on a table without pockets, upon which lines are drawn parallel to all cushions and ...
spherical or ovoid object for throwing, hitting, or kicking in various sports and games. The ball is mentioned in the earliest recorded literatures and finds a place in some of ...
one of the two members of the class of rolling, or so-called antifriction, bearings (the other member of the class is the roller bearing). The function of a ball bearing ...
any of 25 species of the genus Notocactus, family Cactaceae, native in grasslands of South America. Small, globose to cylindroid, they are commonly cultivated as potted plants. N. scopa and ...
a rare aerial phenomenon in the form of a luminous sphere that is generally several centimetres in diameter. It usually occurs near the ground during thunderstorms, in close association with ...
public, coeducational institution of higher learning located in Muncie, Ind., U.S. The university comprises the colleges of applied sciences and technology, sciences and humanities, fine arts, architecture and planning, communication, ...
writer, actor, and dramatist, a harsh social critic, and an early critical biographer of German novelist Hermann Hesse (Hermann Hesse, sein Leben und sein Werk, 1927; "Hermann Hesse, His Life ...
radio and motion-picture actress and longtime comedy star of American television, best remembered for her classic television comedy series I Love Lucy.
rear admiral, a close friend of Admiral Lord Nelson, who directed the blockade of Malta (1798-1800) and served as civil commissioner (governor) of the island (1802-09).
in vertebrate anatomy, a joint in which the rounded surface of a bone moves within a depression on another bone, allowing greater freedom of movement than any other kind of ...
short narrative folk song whose distinctive style crystallized in Europe in the late Middle Ages and persists to the present day in communities where literacy, urban contacts, and mass media ...
characteristic English type of comic opera, originating in the 18th century and featuring farcical or extravaganza plots. The music was mainly confined to songs or interludes interspersed in spoken dialogue. ...
the interest in folk poetry evinced within literary circles, especially in England and Germany, in the 18th century. Actually, it was not a revival but a new discovery and appreciation ...
a verse stanza common in English ballads that consists of two lines in ballad metre, usually printed as a four-line stanza with a rhyme scheme of abcb, as in The ...
one of several formes fixes ("fixed forms") in French lyric poetry and song, cultivated particularly in the 14th and 15th centuries (compare rondeau; virelai). Strictly, the ballade consists of three ...
prime minister of New Zealand (1891-93) who unified the Liberal Party, which held power for 20 years; he also played a major role in the enactment of social welfare legislation.
religious and social philosopher who influenced the Romantic writers and played an important part in the development of French thought in the early decades of the 19th century. The Romantics ...
Norwegian speed skater who, with Clas Thunberg of Finland, dominated speed-skating competitions in the 1920s and '30s. He won seven Olympic medals in his career, as well as four world ...
Scottish author chiefly famous for his adventure story The Coral Island (1858). This and all of Ballantyne's stories were written from personal experience. The heroes of his books are models ...
city, central Victoria, Australia, on the Yarrowee River. The area was first settled in 1838 by sheepherders and developed rapidly after the discovery of rich alluvial gold deposits in 1851. ...
American rhythm-and-blues singer and songwriter best remembered for songs that were frequently as scandalous as they were inventive, most notably the salacious Work with Me, Annie (1954). ...
American oceanographer and marine geologist whose pioneering use of deep-diving submersibles laid the foundations for deep-sea archaeology. He is best known for discovering the wreck of the
theatrical dance in which a formal academic dance technique-the danse d'ecole-is combined with other artistic elements such as music, costume, and stage scenery. The academic technique itself ...
court entertainment that is considered the first ballet. Enacted in 1581 at the French court of Catherine de Medicis by the Queen, her ladies, and the nobles of the court ...
ballet in which all the elements of production (e.g., choreography, set design, and costuming) are subordinate to the plot and theme. John Weaver, an English ballet master of the early ...
in classical ballet, any of the formalized actions of a dancer that follow specific rules regarding the positions of the arms, feet, and body. Ballet choreography is based on combinations ...
any of the five positions of the feet fundamental to all classical ballet. The term may also denote the various poses of the body. First used by Thoinot Arbeau in ...
oldest existing ballet company in England. Since the 1930s the Ballet Rambert has been an important training ground for young talent; among the famous artists who gained early experience with ...
ballet company founded in Monte-Carlo in 1932. The name Ballets Russes had been used by the impresario Sergey Diaghilev for his company, which revolutionized ballet in the first three decades ...
ballet company founded in Paris in 1909 by the Russian impresario Sergey Diaghilev. The original company included the choreographer Michel Fokine and the dancers Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky; the ...
in music, genre of light vocal composition of the late 16th-early 17th centuries, originating in Italy. Dancelike and having much in common with the madrigal, a major vocal form of ...
town, eastern Uttar Pradesh state, northern India. It lies along the Ganges River, 75 miles (120 km) northeast of Varanasi (Benares). An ancient settlement, the town has occasionally been moved ...
urban district, County Mayo, Ireland, on the River Moy. The town, the largest in Mayo, has a modern Roman Catholic cathedral and the remains of an Augustinian friary founded about ...
town and port, north coastal New South Wales, Australia, at the mouth of the Richmond River. Founded (1842-43) as the shipping outlet for the river valley, it was significantly affected ...
market town and urban district, County Galway, Ireland, on the River Suck and a northerly extension of the Grand Canal. Originally a small settlement beside the medieval castle guarding the ...
U.S. secretary of the interior (1909-11) whose anti-conservationist policy contributed to the rift between the conservative and progressive factions in the Republican party.
built Barnard Castle and was the first of his family to receive lands in Scotland. He fought against David I of Scotland at Northallerton in 1138, and with King Stephen ...
ancient heavy missile launcher designed to hurl javelins or heavy balls. A smaller ballista was basically a large crossbow fastened to a mount. The huge and complicated Roman ballista, however, ...
device for measuring the velocity of a projectile, such as a bullet. A large wooden block suspended by two cords serves as the pendulum bob. When a bullet is fired ...
science of the propulsion, flight, and impact of projectiles. It is divided into several disciplines. Internal and external ballistics, respectively, deal with the propulsion and the flight of projectiles. The ...
graphic recording of the stroke volume of the heart for the purpose of calculating cardiac output. The heartbeat results in motion of the body, which in turn causes movements in ...
in fungi, a spore forcibly propelled from its site. The basidiospores of the mushrooms, produced on the gills and on the walls of the spores, are ballistospores. They are shot ...
predecessor to modern Lake Titicaca, on the Bolivia-Peru border during Pleistocene times (1,600,000 to 10,000 years ago). Its surface is thought to have been at least 330 feet (100 m) ...
large airtight bag filled with hot air or a lighter-than-air gas, such as helium or hydrogen, to provide buoyancy so that it will rise and float in the atmosphere. Transport ...
any insect of the family Acroceridae (order Diptera), so named because of its swollen abdomen. It is also characterized by an extremely small head and a humped back. Those adults ...
framework of a wooden building in which the elements consist of small members nailed together. In balloon framing, the studs (vertical members) extend the full height of the building (usually ...
(species Cardiospermum halicacabum), woody perennial vine in the soapberry family (Sapindaceae) that is native to subtropical and tropical America. It is naturalized and cultivated widely as an ornamental for its ...
plant that is the only species of its genus, an East Asian perennial of the bellflower family (Campanulaceae). The balloonflower has balloonlike buds that become flaring, five-lobed, bell-shaped flowers with ...
unpowered balloon flight in competition or for recreation, a sport that became popular in the 1960s. The balloons used are of plastic, nylon, or polyethylene, and are filled with hydrogen, ...
European and American social dancing performed by couples. It includes the standard repertory of dances such as the fox-trot, waltz, polka, and tango as well as various fad dances from ...
city, southeastern West Bengal state, northeastern India. Bally lies just west of the Hooghly River. A part of the Howrah urban agglomeration, it is connected by road and rail with ...
town, Moyle district (established 1973), formerly in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is situated along Ballycastle Bay, opposite Rathlin Island, where Robert Bruce, king of Scotland, is said to have ...
