Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Shop

0-9

Grottaglie ... Guadalquivir River

Grottaglie: town, Taranto province, Puglia (Apulia) region, southern Italy. The town's castle dates from the 14th century; the church of the Matrice has a facade of the same period and a ...
grotto: natural or artificial cave used as a decorative feature in 18th-century European gardens. Grottoes derived from natural caves were regarded in antiquity as dwelling places of divinities. Grottoes were often ...
Groulx, Lionel-Adolphe: Canadian priest and historian who for 50 years strongly influenced the Quebec nationalist movement.
ground: in electricity, electrical contact with the Earth, which remains essentially at a constant potential. A grounded wire on a lightning rod leads large electric charges from the atmosphere directly to ...
ground bass: (Italian: "obstinate bass"), in music, a short, recurring melodic pattern in the bass part of a composition, serving as the principal unifying factor of the composition. Early instances are found ...
ground beetle: any member of the more than 20,000 species of the insect family Carabidae, one of the largest families of the order Coleoptera. Ground beetles are recognized by their long legs ...
ground cuckoo: any of about 15 species of birds constituting the subfamily Neomorphinae of the cuckoo family (Cuculidae), noted for terrestrial habits. Of the 11 New World species, three, the striped cuckoo ...
ground pearl: scale insect (order Homoptera) with iridescent globular body (two to four millimetres in length) varying in colour from metallic bronze, red, or gold to cream or silver. They are worldwide ...
ground roller: any of five species of pigeon-sized birds that comprise the family Brachypteracidae (order Coraciiformes) known for their tumbling flight. They are found only in Madagascar. Four species inhabit deep forest; ...
ground squirrel: any of 62 species of long-bodied terrestrial rodents that are active during the day and have short legs, strong claws, small rounded ears, and a short or moderately long tail. ...
ground substance: an amorphous gel-like substance present in the composition of the various connective tissues. It is most clearly seen in cartilage, in the vitreous humour of the eye, and in the ...
ground thrush: any of about 37 species of thrushes of the genus Zoothera (family Turdidae), including birds sometimes placed in the genera Geokichla, Ixoreus, Oreocincla, and Ridgwayia and some that have been ...
Groundhog Day: in the United States and Canada, day (February 2) on which the emergence of the groundhog (woodchuck) from its burrow is said to foretell the weather for the following six ...
groundnut: any of several plants that bear edible fruit or other nutlike parts. Three are members of the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae): Arachis hypogaea, the peanut (q.v.), the fruit of which ...
groundsel: any of about 1,200 species of annual, biennial, and perennial herbs, shrubs, trees, and climbers comprising the genus Senecio of the family Asteraceae, distributed throughout the world. Some species are ...
groundwater: water that occurs below the surface of the Earth, where it occupies all or part of the void spaces in soils or geologic strata. It is also called subsurface water ...
group: in chemistry, a set of chemical elements in the same vertical column of the periodic table. The elements in a group have similarities in the electronic configuration of their atoms, ...
group: in mathematics, set that has a multiplication that is associative [a(bc) = (ab)c for any a, b, c] and that has an identity element and inverses for all elements of the set. ...
Group f.64: loose association of California photographers who promoted a style of sharply detailed, purist photography. The group, formed in 1932, constituted a revolt against the soft-focused, academic photography that was then ...
group insurance: insurance provided to members of a formal group such as employees of a firm or members of an association. Group insurance is distinguished from individual insurance in which single policies ...
group marriage: the marriage of several men with several women. As an institutionalized social practice, group marriage is extremely rare; nowhere does it appear to have existed as the prevailing form of ...
Group Theatre: company of stage craftsmen founded in 1931 in New York City by a former Theatre Guild member, Harold Clurman, in association with the directors Cheryl Crawford and Lee Strasberg, for ...
group therapy: the use of group discussion and other group activities in treatment of psychological disorders. Despite widespread recognition that the groups to which a person belongs may affect his attitudes and ...
grouper: any of numerous species of fishes of the family Serranidae (order Perciformes), many belonging to the genera Epinephelus and Mycteroperca. Groupers, widely distributed in warm seas, are characteristically large-mouthed, rather ...
grouse: any of a number of game birds in the family Tetraonidae (order Galliformes). In addition to species called grouse, the group includes several birds known by particular names, such as ...
Grove, Frederick Philip: Canadian novelist whose fame rests on sombre naturalistic works that deal frankly and realistically with pioneer life on the Canadian prairies.
Grove, Lefty: American professional baseball player, one of the greatest left-handed pitchers in history.
Grove, Sir George: English writer on music famous for his multivolume Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
Grove, Sir William Robert: British physicist and a justice of Britain's high court (from 1880), who first offered proof of the thermal dissociation of atoms within a molecule. He showed that steam in contact ...
growing season: period of the year during which growing conditions for indigenous vegetation and cultivated crops are most favourable. It usually becomes shorter as distance from the Equator increases. In equatorial and ...
growth: the increases in cell size and number that take place during the life history of an organism.
growth hormone: peptide hormone secreted by the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland. It stimulates growth of bone and essentially all tissues of the body by stimulating protein synthesis and breaking down ...
growth medium: solution freed of all microorganisms by sterilization (usually in an autoclave, where it undergoes heating under pressure for a specific time) and containing the substances required for the growth of ...
growth ring: in a cross section of the stem of a woody plant, the increment of wood added during a single growth period. In temperate regions the growth period is usually one ...
Grozny: city and capital of the republic of Chechnya, Russia. It lies along the Sunzha River at the foot of the Sunzha Range of the Caucasus. Grozny was founded in 1818 ...
Grub Street: the world of literary hacks, or mediocre, needy writers who write for hire. The term originated in the 18th century. According to Dr. Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, Grub Street was "originally ...
Grubbs, Robert H.: American chemist who, with Richard R. Schrock and Yves Chauvin, won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2005 for developing metathesis, an important type of chemical reaction used in organic ...
Grubenmann, Hans Ulrich; and Grubenmann, Johannes: Swiss carpenters and bridge builders whose bridge (1758) over the Limmat River at the town of Wettingen, near Zurich, is believed to be the first timber bridge to employ a ...
Grudziadz: city, Kujawsko-Pomorskie wojewodztwo (province), north-central Poland, on the lower Vistula River. Founded in the 10th century as a Polish stronghold against Prussian attack, Grudziadz in the 1230s ...
Gruen, Victor: Austrian-born American architect and city planner best known as a pioneer of the regional shopping centre (Northland, Detroit, Mich., 1952) and of the renewal and revitalization of city core areas ...
Gruffydd, William John: Welsh-language poet and scholar whose works represented first a rebellion against Victorian standards of morality and literature and later a longing for the society he knew as a youth.
gruiform: (order Gruiformes), any member of a rather loose assemblage of 12 families of birds that are generally agreed to be related but that differ widely in many aspects. They are ...
Grumbach, Wilhelm von: German knight and adventurer who led several attempts by German imperial knights to destroy the power of Germany's territorial princes. Chiefly known through his own quarrels, the so-called Grumbach feuds, ...
Grumiaux, Arthur, Baron: Belgian violinist noted for both his performing and his teaching.
Grumman, Leroy Randle: American aeronautical engineer and founder of the Grumman Aerospace Corp. He designed some of the most effective naval aircraft used in World War II.
Grun, Anastasius: Austrian poet and statesman known for his spirited collections of political poetry.
Grundschule: in Germany, the first four years of primary school (in certain cities of Germany, the first six years).
Grundtvig, N.F.S.: Danish bishop and poet, founder of Grundtvigianism, a theological movement that revitalized the Danish Lutheran church. He was also an outstanding hymn writer, historian, and educator and a pioneer of ...
Grundy, Mrs.: imaginary English character who typifies the censorship enacted in everyday life by conventional opinion. She first appears (but never onstage) in Thomas Morton's play Speed the Plough (produced 1798), in ...
Grunewald, Matthias: one of the greatest German painters of his age, whose works on religious themes achieve a visionary expressiveness through intense colour and agitated line. The wings of the altarpiece of ...
grunge: genre of rock music that flourished in the late 1980s and early 1990s and, secondarily, its attendant fashion. The term grunge was first used to describe the ...
grunion: (species Leuresthes tenuis), small Pacific fish of the family Atherinidae (order Atheriniformes). The species is found in the Pacific Ocean along the western coast of the United States. A unique ...
grunt: any of about 75 species of marine fishes of the families Pomadasyidae and Banjosidae (order Perciformes). Grunts are found along shores in warm and tropical waters of the major oceans. ...
Gruppe 47: informal association of German-speaking writers that was founded in 1947 (hence its name). Gruppe 47 originated with a group of war prisoners in the United States who were concerned with ...
Gruppo 63: avant-garde Italian literary movement of the 1960s. It was composed of Italian intellectuals who shared the desire for a radical break from the conformity present in traditional Italian society.
Grusi: ethnolinguistic group among the inhabitants of northern Ghana and adjacent areas of Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) and Togo. The linguistic groups and subgroups of the area are difficult to ...
Gruyere: hard cow's-milk cheese produced in the vicinity of La Gruyere in southern Switzerland and in the Alpine Comte and Savoie regions of eastern France.
Gryphaea: extinct molluskan genus found as fossils in rocks from the Jurassic period to the Eocene epoch (between 208 million and 36.6 million years ago). Related to the oysters, Gryphaea is ...
Gryphius, Andreas: lyric poet and dramatist, one of Germany's leading writers in the 17th century.
Gsta Canal: artificial waterway that crosses southern Sweden to connect Lake Vanern with the Baltic Sea. For most of its course it passes through lakes, providing inland navigation from Goteborg to Stockholm. ...
Gstaad: Alpine village and resort, Saanen commune, Bern canton, west-central Switzerland, lying in the valley of the Saane River. Situated on the northwest side of ...
gsung-'bum: the collected writings of a Tibetan or Mongolian lama. These series of works represent an indigenous contribution to Buddhist thought, as distinguished from the numerous texts originating in India and ...
GTE Corporation: U.S. holding company for several U.S. and international telephone companies. It also manufactures electronic consumer and industrial equipment. It is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.
gtor-ma: sacrificial cakes used in Tibetan Buddhist ceremonies as offerings to deities. The unbaked cakes are prepared by kneading parched barley flour and butter into the shapes of cones, decorated with ...
Gtsang Dynasty: (c. 1565-1642), Chinese royal dynasty whose rule was centred in the province of Gtsang, or gTsang. The Gtsang was the last secular native ruling house in Tibet. After overthrowing the ...
gu: type of Chinese vessel, it was a tall wine beaker with a trumpet-shaped top, a restricted centre section, and a slightly flared base; the whole silhouette was unusually taut and ...
Gu Kaizhi: one of the earliest many-faceted artists in China, he probably set new standards for figure painting. Gu Kaizhi was an eccentric courtier who is most famous as a painter of ...
Gu Yanwu: one of the most famous of the Ming dynasty loyalists, whose rationalist critiques of the useless book learning and metaphysical speculations of the neo-Confucian philosophy (that had been the underpinning ...
Guacanayabo, Gulf of: inlet of the Caribbean Sea, southeastern Cuba. The gulf stretches in a broad horseshoe shape from the southern coast of Camaguey province approximately 70 mi (110 km) to the southwestern ...
Guadalajara: city, capital of Guadalajara province, in the autonomous community (region) of Castile-La Mancha, central Spain, northeast of Madrid, situated on the Rio Henares. The city, the ancient Arriaca, is Iberian ...
Guadalajara: metropolitan area and capital, Jalisco state, west central Mexico, in the Atemajac Valley, near the Rio Grande de Santiago, at 5,141 ft (1,567 m) above sea level. Except for the ...
Guadalajara: province, in the autonomous community (region) of Castile-La Mancha, central Spain, occupying part of the uptilted northeastern edge of the Meseta Central (plateau). In the north are highlands that reach ...
Guadalajara, University of: coeducational state-supported autonomous institution of higher learning at Guadalajara, Mex., founded in 1792 and restructured in 1925. Dissident students and professors from the university formed a private Autonomous University of ...
Guadalcanal: largest island of the Solomon Islands, southwestern Pacific Ocean. With an area of some 2,047 square miles (5,302 square km), it is of volcanic origin with a mountainous spine (Kavo ...
Guadalcanal, Battle of: (August 1942-February 1943), series of World War II land and sea clashes between Allied and Japanese forces on and around Guadalcanal, one of the southern Solomon Islands, in the South ...
Guadalquivir River: major watercourse of southern Spain. Rising in the mountains of Jaen province, it flows in a generally westward direction for 408 miles (657 km), emptying into the Atlantic Ocean at ...