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Diamond, Cape ... Dickinson, Emily

Diamond, Cape: promontory in Quebec region, southern Quebec province, Canada. It is part of the city of Quebec and is located west of the confluence of the St. Charles and St. Lawrence ...
Diamond, I.A.L.: Romanian-born American screenwriter who worked with director Billy Wilder to produce such motion pictures as Love in the Afternoon (1957), Some Like It Hot (1959), and The Apartment (1960), for ...
diamondback moth: (Plutella maculipennis), species of insect belonging to the family Plutellidae (order Lepidoptera). They resemble ermine moths, but diamondbacks hold their antennae forward when at rest. The adult moths have a ...
diamondbird: any of several songbirds of the family Dicaeidae (order Passeriformes) with a simple tongue and a thickish, unserrated bill. Most of the seven or eight species, of the genus Pardalotus, ...
Diamper, Synod of: council that formally united the ancient Christian Church of the Malabar Coast (modern Kerala), India, with the Roman Catholic church; it was convoked in 1599 by Aleixo de Meneses, archbishop ...
Diana: in Roman religion, goddess of wild animals and the hunt, virtually indistinguishable from the Greek goddess Artemis. Her name is akin to the Latin words dium ("sky") and dius ("daylight"). ...
diana monkey: arboreal species of guenon named for its crescent-shaped white browband that resembles the bow of the goddess Diana. The diana monkey is generally found well above the ground in West ...
Diana, princess of Wales: former consort (1981-96) of Charles, prince of Wales, and mother of the heir second in line to the British throne, Prince William of Wales (born 1982).
Diane De France, Duchesse De Montmorency Et Angouleme: natural daughter (legitimated) of King Henry II of France by a young Piedmontese, Filippa Duc. (Diane was often thought, however, to have been the illegitimate daughter of Diane de Poitiers.) ...
Diane De Poitiers, Duchesse De Valentinois: mistress of Henry II of France. Throughout his reign she held court as queen of France in all but name, while the real queen, Catherine de Medicis, was forced to ...
Dianthus: plant genus of the pink family. See pink.
diapason: (from Greek dia pason chordon: "through all the strings"), in medieval music, the interval, or distance between notes, encompassing all degrees of the scale-i.e., the octave. In French, diapason indicates ...
diapause: spontaneous interruption of the development of certain animals, marked by reduction of metabolic activity. It is typical of many insects and mites, a few crustaceans and snails, and perhaps certain ...
Diapensiales: order of dicotyledonous flowering plants comprising the family Diapensiaceae, with seven genera of small, evergreen shrubs and basally woody herbs found in Arctic and alpine (high elevation) habitats of Europe, ...
diaper: in architecture, surface decoration, carved or painted, generally composed of square or lozenge shapes but also of other simple figures, each of which contains a flower, a spray of leaves, ...
diaphragm: dome-shaped, muscular and membranous structure that separates the thoracic (chest) and abdominal cavities in mammals; it is the principal muscle of respiration.
diapir: (from Greek diapeirein, "to pierce"), geological structure consisting of mobile material that was forced into more brittle surrounding rocks, usually by the upward flow of material from a parent stratum. ...
diarrhea: abnormally swift passage of waste material through the large intestine, with consequent discharge of loose feces from the anus. Diarrhea may be accompanied by cramping. The disorder has a wide ...
Diarthrognathus: genus of extinct, advanced mammal-like reptiles found as fossils in Late Triassic terrestrial deposits in southern Africa (the Triassic Period lasted from 245 to 208 million years ago). Diarthrognathus was ...
diary: form of autobiographical writing, a regularly kept record of the diarist's activities and reflections. Written primarily for the writer's use alone, the diary has a frankness that is unlike writing ...
Dias, Bartolomeu: Portuguese navigator and explorer who led the first European expedition to round the Cape of Good Hope (1488), opening the sea route to Asia via the Atlantic and Indian oceans. ...
Dias, Dinis: Portuguese navigator and explorer, one of the sea captains sent by Prince Henry the Navigator to open trade with countries of Africa, the Middle East, and India.
Diaspora: the dispersion of Jews among the Gentiles after the Babylonian Exile; or the aggregate of Jews or Jewish communities scattered "in exile" outside Palestine or present-day Israel. Although the term ...
diaspore: white or grayish, hard, glassy aluminum oxide mineral (HAlO₂) that is associated with corundum in emery and is widespread in laterite, bauxite, and aluminous clays. It is abundant in Hungary, ...
diastereoisomer: either member of a pair of substances that differ with respect to the configurations of their molecules (i.e., stereoisomers) and that lack a mirror-image relationship (i.e., are not enantiomorphs). An ...
diastole: in the cardiac cycle, period of relaxation of the heart muscle, accompanied by the filling of the chambers with blood. Diastole is followed in the cardiac cycle by a period ...
diastrophism: large-scale deformation of the Earth's crust by natural processes, which leads to the formation of continents and ocean basins, mountain systems and rift valleys, and other features by mechanisms such ...
Diatessaron: the four New Testament Gospels compiled as a single narrative by Tatian (q.v.) about AD 150. It was the standard Gospel text in the Syrian Middle East until about AD ...
diathermy: form of physical therapy in which deep heating of tissues is accomplished by the use of high-frequency electrical current. American engineer and inventor Nikola Tesla in 1891 first noted that ...
diatom: any member of the algal division or phylum Bacillariophyta (about 16,000 species) found floating in all the waters of the Earth. Diatoms may be either unicellular or colonial. The silicified ...
diatomaceous earth: light-coloured, porous, and friable sedimentary rock that is composed of the siliceous shells of diatoms, unicellular aquatic plants of microscopic size. It occurs in earthy beds that somewhat resemble chalk, ...
diatonic: in music, originally, one of the three tetrachords basic to ancient Greek theory; more generally, any stepwise arrangement of the seven "natural" pitches forming an octave devoid of chromatic alterations, ...
Diatryma: extinct, giant flightless bird found as fossils in Early Eocene rocks in North America and Europe (the Eocene Epoch lasted from 57.8 to 36.6 million years ago). Diatryma grew to ...
Diavolo, Fra: Italian brigand chief who repeatedly fought against the French occupation of Naples; he is celebrated as a popular guerrilla leader in folk legends and in the novels of the French ...
Diaz de La Pena, Narcisse-Virgile: French painter and lithographer of the group of landscape painters known as the Barbizon school, who is distinguished for his numerous Romantic depictions of the forest of Fontainebleau and his ...
Diaz de Solis, Juan: chief pilot of the Spanish navy and one of the first explorers to enter the Rio de la Plata estuary in South America.
Diaz del Castillo, Bernal: Spanish soldier and author, who took part in the conquest of Mexico.
Diaz Ordaz, Gustavo: president of Mexico from 1964 to 1970.
Diaz, Abby Morton: American novelist and writer of children's literature whose popular and gently humorous work bespoke her belief in children's innate goodness.
Diaz, Armando: Italian general who became chief of staff during World War I.
Diaz, Porfirio: soldier and president of Mexico (1877-80, 1884-1911), who established a strong centralized state that he held under firm control for more than three decades.
diazepam: tranquilizing drug used in the treatment of anxiety and as an aid in preoperative and postoperative sedation. Diazepam also is used to treat skeletal muscle spasms. It belongs to a ...
diazo compound: any of a class of organic substances that have as part of their molecular structure the characteristic atomic grouping
diazonium salt: any of a class of organic compounds that have the molecular structure
Dib, Mohammed: Algerian novelist, poet, and playwright, known for his early trilogy on Algeria, La Grande Maison (1952; "The Big House"), L'Incendie (1954; "The Fire"), and ...
Diba al-Hisn: settlement and port town, on the eastern (Gulf of Oman) coast of the Oman Promontory of the Arabian Peninsula. It is situated on Diba Bay and is surrounded by mountains. ...
Dibang Valley: region, northeastern Arunachal Pradesh state, eastern India. The region is located in the Great Himalayan Mountain Range, with its northern and eastern reaches fronting Tibet. The Mishmi Hills, a southward ...
dibatag: (Ammodorcas clarkei), slender north African antelope, family Bovidae (order Artiodactyla), that lives alone or in small groups in grass and thorn brush. The dibatag is a long-legged, long-necked animal with ...
Dibdin, Charles: composer, author, actor, and theatrical manager whose sea songs and operas made him one of the most popular English composers of the late 18th century.
Dibdin, Thomas Frognall: English bibliographer who helped to stimulate interest in bibliography by his own enthusiastic though often inaccurate books, by his share in founding the first English private publishing society, and by ...
Dibelius, Martin: German biblical scholar and pioneer of New Testament form criticism (the analysis of the Bible's literary forms).
Dibiasi, Klaus: Austrian-born Italian diver who dominated the platform event from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s, winning three Olympic gold medals. He was the first Italian to win a gold medal ...
Dibner, Bern: American engineer and historian of science.
Dibon: ancient capital of Moab, located north of the Arnon River in west-central Jordan. Excavations conducted there since 1950 by the archaeologists affiliated with the American School of Oriental Research in ...
Dibrugarh: town, northeastern Assam state, northeastern India. Dibrugarh is situated along the Brahmaputra River and is an important commercial centre, a port, and a rail terminus. Its industries include tea processing ...
Dicaearchus: Greek Peripatetic philosopher of Messina in Sicily, a pupil of Aristotle and a scholar of wide learning who influenced such people as Cicero and Plutarch. He spent most of his ...
Dicaeidae: songbird family, of the order Passeriformes, including the diamondbird and flowerpecker (qq.v.) groups.
dicastery: a judicial body in ancient Athens. Dicasteries were divisions of the Heliaea from the time of the democratic reforms of Cleisthenes (c. 508-507 BC), when the Heliaea was transformed from ...
dice: small objects (polyhedrons) used as implements for gambling and the playing of social games. The most common form of die is the cube, with each side marked with from one ...
Dicentra: genus of flowering plants of the fumitory family (Fumariaceae) that includes such popular wild garden representatives as bleeding heart, Dutchman's-breeches, and squirrel corn (qq.v.).
Dicey, Albert Venn: British jurist whose Lectures Introductory to the Study of the Law of the Constitution (1885) is considered part of the British constitution, which is an amalgam of ...
dichlorobenzene: any of three isomeric substances produced by the chlorination of benzene or chlorobenzene in the presence of iron(III) chloride. All three are colourless, denser than water, and insoluble in it. ...
Dichondra: any of several species of low, creeping plants of the morning glory family (Convolvulaceae) that are used in warm climates as grass substitutes. The plants are from 2 12 to ...
dichotomy: (from Greek dicha, "apart," and tomos, "cutting"), a form of logical division consisting of the separation of a class into two subclasses, one of which has and the other has ...
Dick, George Frederick: American physician and pathologist who, with his wife, Gladys Henry Dick, discovered the cause of, and devised means of preventing, scarlet fever.
Dick, Philip K.: American science-fiction writer whose novels and short stories often depict the psychological struggles of characters trapped in illusory environments.
dickcissel: American bird usually placed in the subfamily Cardinalinae of the family Fringillidae (the Emberizidae of some authors). The male dickcissel-named for its song-is a streaky brown bird 16 cm (6.5 ...
Dicke, Robert H.: American physicist noted for his theoretical work in cosmology and investigations centring on the general theory of relativity. He also made a number of significant contributions to radar technology and ...
Dickens, Charles: English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian era. His many volumes include such works as A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield,
Dickey, Bill: professional baseball player who caught for the New York Yankees (1928-43 and 1946) of the American League. Dickey spanned two eras in Yankee history, playing at the end of Babe ...
Dickey, James: American poet, novelist, and critic best known for his poetry combining themes of nature mysticism, religion, and history and for his novel Deliverance (1970).
Dickey, Sarah Ann: American educator who devoted her efforts in the post-Civil War United States to creating and enhancing educational opportunities for African-American students.
Dickinson: city, seat (1883) of Stark county, southwestern North Dakota, U.S. It lies on the Heart River, about 100 miles (160 km) west of Bismarck. Founded in 1880 as a stop ...
Dickinson College: private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, U.S. It is a liberal arts college offering undergraduate degrees in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences and in preprofessional ...
Dickinson, Anna Elizabeth: American lecturer on abolitionism, women's rights, and other reform topics, remembered for the articulate but emotionally blistering rhetoric that characterized her speaking style.
Dickinson, Emily: American lyric poet who has been called "the New England mystic" and who experimented with poetic rhythms and rhymes. Almost all her poetry was published posthumously.