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Kerguelen Islands ... Key deer

Kerguelen Islands: archipelago in the southern Indian Ocean. Administratively a part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (Terres Australes et Antarctiques Francaises), it consists of the island of Kerguelen (also known ...
Kerkrade: gemeente (commune), Limburg provincie, southeastern Netherlands, east of Maastricht on the German border. One of Europe's oldest coal-mining towns, Kerkrade served as an important coal-mining centre from 1113 until the ...
Kerll, Johann Caspar von: leading master of the middle-Baroque generation of south-German Catholic composers.
Kermadec Islands: volcanic island group in the South Pacific Ocean, 600 mi (1,000 km) northeast of Auckland, New Zealand; they are a dependency of New Zealand. They include Raoul (Sunday), Macauley, and ...
Kermadec Trench: submarine trench in the floor of the South Pacific Ocean, about 750 mi (1,200 km) in length, forming the eastern boundary of the Kermadec Ridge. The two together comprise the ...
Kerman: city, provincial capital, and ostan (province), southeastern Iran. The city lies on a sandy plain, 5,738 ft (1,749 m) above sea level, under barren, rocky hills. Surrounded by mountains on ...
Kerman carpet: floor covering handwoven in or about the city of Kerman in southern Iran, which has been the origin since the 16th century of highly sophisticated carpets in well-organized designs. To ...
Kermanshah: city, western Iran. The city lies in the fertile valley of the Qareh Su River and is situated on the ancient caravan route between the Mediterranean Sea and Central Asia. ...
kermes: either the scale insect (Kermes ilicis) or the bright-red dye obtained from the dried bodies of these insects. The dye was often part of the tribute paid to conquering Roman ...
Kern, Jerome: one of the major U.S. composers of musical comedy, whose Show Boat (with libretto by Oscar Hammerstein II) inaugurated the serious musical play in U.S. theatre.
Kern, Johann Conrad: longtime Swiss minister to France and one of the authors of the Swiss federal constitution of 1848.
kernel: in mathematics, known function that appears in the integrand of an integral equation. Thus, in the equation
Kerner, Justinus Andreas Christian: German poet and spiritualist writer. He and the poet Ludwig Uhland founded the so-called Swabian group of late Romantic poets.
kernicterus: severe brain damage caused by an abnormal concentration of the bile pigment bilirubin in brain tissues at or shortly after birth. Kernicterus may occur because of Rh blood-group incompatibility between ...
kernite: borate mineral, hydrated sodium borate (Na₂B₄O₇·4H₂O), that was formerly the chief source of borax (q.v.). It forms very large crystals, often 60 to 90 centimetres (2 to 3 feet) thick; ...
kerogen: complex mixture of compounds with large molecules containing mainly hydrogen and carbon but also oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur. It is the organic component of oil shales, hence their alternative names ...
kerosene: flammable pale yellow or colourless oily liquid with a not-unpleasant characteristic odour. It is obtained from petroleum and used for burning in lamps and domestic heaters or furnaces, as a ...
kerosene lamp: vessel containing kerosene with a wick for burning to provide light. Such lamps were widely used from the 1860s, when kerosene first became plentiful, until the development of electric lighting. ...
Kerouac, Jack: U.S. poet and novelist, leader and spokesman of the Beat movement. Kerouac gave the Beat movement its name and celebrated its code of poverty and freedom in a series of ...
Kerouane: town and administrative capital of Kerouane region, southeastern Guinea, West Africa, on the road from Beyla to Kankan. It is the chief trading town (rice, millet, cattle) for savanna lands ...
Kerr electro-optic effect: in physics, the inducement of double refraction of light in a transparent substance when a strong electric field is applied in a direction transverse to the beam of light. In ...
Kerr, Deborah: British motion-picture and theatre actress known for the poise and serenity she exhibited in portraying complex characters. Kerr is one of the great British actresses to have made a significant ...
Kerr, Jean: American writer, remembered for her plays and for her humorous prose on domestic themes.
Kerr, Roy P: New Zealander mathematician who solved (1963) Einstein's field equations of general relativity to describe rotating black holes, thus providing a major contribution to the field of astrophysics.
Kerr, Sir John Graham: English embryologist and pioneer in naval camouflage who greatly advanced knowledge of the evolution of vertebrates and, in 1914, was among the first to advocate camouflage of ships by means ...
Kerrier: district, administrative and historic county of Cornwall, southwestern England, near the western tip of England and including the southernmost point of the island of Great Britain. Kerrier district spans the ...
Kerry: county in the province of Munster, southwestern Ireland. Kerry is bounded by Counties Limerick and Cork to the east and by the Atlantic Ocean or its inlets to the south, ...
Kerry blue terrier: versatile breed of working terrier that is used as a hunter, land and water retriever, and sheep and cattle herder. The Kerry blue originated in County Kerry, Ireland, where it ...
Kerry, John: U.S. senator who was the Democratic Party's nominee for president in 2004.
Kerschensteiner, Georg: German educational theorist and reformer who was a leader in the growth of vocational education in Germany.
Kershaw: county, central South Carolina, U.S., northeast of Columbia. The Lynches River forms the northeastern border. The county is also drained by the Wateree River, which is impounded by Wateree Dam ...
Kertanagara: last king (1268-92) of Tumapel (or Singhasari) in Java, still venerated among the Javanese as one of their greatest rulers. He united Java, extended his influence over Sumatra, and resisted ...
Kertesz, Andre: Hungarian-born American photographer known for his lyrical, spontaneous pictures of everyday life. His work exerted a strong influence on 20th-century magazine photography.
Kertesz, Imre: Hungarian author best known for his semiautobiographical accounts of the Holocaust. In 2002 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature.
kerygma and catechesis: in Christian theology, respectively, the initial proclamation of the gospel message and the oral instruction given before baptism to those who have accepted the message. Kerygma refers primarily to the ...
keryx: inviolable ancient Greek messenger. In Homer's time, the keryx was simply a trusted attendant or retainer of a chieftain. The role of kerykes expanded, however, to include acting as inviolable ...
Kesennuma: city, northeastern Miyagi ken (prefecture), northern Honshu, Japan. It lies on the deeply indented Pacific Ocean coast at the head of Kesennuma Bay, which shelters the city's ...
Kesey, Ken: American writer who was a hero of the countercultural revolution and the hippie movement of the 1960s.
Keshab Chunder Sen: Hindu philosopher and social reformer who attempted to incorporate Christian theology within the framework of Hindu thought.
kesi: Chinese silk tapestry woven in a pictorial design. The designation kesi, which means "cut silk," derives from the visual illusion of cut threads that is created by ...
Keski-Suomi: laani (province), south-central Finland. Its area encompasses much of the Paijanne and Keitele lake systems. The administrative capital is Jyvaskyla. Keski-Suomi generally consists of flat farming and timber lands broken ...
Kesselring, Albert: field marshal who, as German commander in chief, south, became one of Adolf Hitler's top defensive strategists during World War II.
Kesteven, Parts of: formerly one of the three separately administered divisions of the historic county of Lincolnshire, England. It now forms two county districts: North Kesteven and South Kesteven. Both are part of ...
kestrel: any of several small birds of prey of the genus Falco (family Falconidae) known for their habit of hovering while hunting. Kestrels prey on large insects, birds, and small mammals. ...
Kestutis: grand duke of Lithuania (1381-82) who defended his country's western borders against the Teutonic Knights.
Keswick: town ("parish"), Allerdale district, administrative county of Cumbria, historic county of Cumberland, England. It lies at the north end of the Derwent Water (lake), below the peak of Skiddaw. Keswick ...
Ket: indigenous people of central Siberia who live in the Yenisey River basin; in the late 20th century they numbered about 500. Certain traits of the Ket suggest a southerly origin. ...
Ket language: one of two surviving members of the Yeniseian family of languages spoken by about 500 people living in central Siberia. (The other, a moribund close relative called Yug [Yugh], or ...
Ket, Robert: English leader of the Norfolk rising of 1549, which was afterwards known as Ket's Rebellion. He was either a tanner or, more probably, a small landowner.
Keta: town, southeastern Ghana, on the Gulf of Guinea of the Atlantic Ocean, near the Volta River mouth. It is built on a sandspit separating the Atlantic from the Keta Lagoon. ...
Ketch, Jack: English executioner notorious for his barbarous inefficiency; for nearly two centuries after his death his nickname was popularly applied to all of England's executioners.
Ketchel, Stanley: American professional boxer, considered by some boxing historians to be the greatest fighter in the history of the middleweight division.
Ketchikan: city, port of entry, southeastern Alaska, U.S. Situated on southwestern Revillagigedo Island and part of the Alexander Archipelago, it lies 235 miles (380 km) south of Juneau. The site was ...
Keteleeria: a genus in the family Pinaceae, containing two or three species of coniferous evergreen trees, native to China and Taiwan. The trees resemble true firs (members of the genus Abies) ...
ketene: any of a class of organic compounds containing the functional grouping C=C=O; the most important member of the class being ketene itself, CH₂=C=O, which is used in the manufacture of ...
ketone: any of a class of organic compounds characterized by the presence of a carbonyl group in which the carbon atom is covalently bonded to an oxygen atom. The remaining two ...
ketosis: metabolic disorder marked by high levels of ketones in the tissues and body fluids, including blood and urine. There is less sugar than normal in the blood and less glycogen ...
Ketteler, Wilhelm Emmanuel, Baron von: social reformer who was considered by some to have been Germany's outstanding 19th-century Roman Catholic bishop.
Kettering: city, Montgomery county, southwestern Ohio, U.S. It lies immediately south of Dayton, in the Miami River valley. Stone quarries first attracted settlers to the site, which was organized in 1841 ...
Kettering: town and borough (district), administrative and historic county of Northamptonshire, England. From the 17th century Kettering was a centre for the production of woolen cloth, and later of silk and ...
Kettering, Charles F.: American engineer whose inventions, which included the electric starter, were instrumental in the evolution of the modern automobile.
Ketterle, Wolfgang: German-born physicist who, with Eric A. Cornell and Carl E. Wieman, won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2001 for creating a new ultracold state of matter, the so-called Bose-Einstein ...
kettle: in geology, depression in a glacial outwash drift made by the melting of a detached mass of glacial ice that became wholly or partly buried. The occurrence of these stranded ...
kettle gong: percussion instrument of the Bronze Age cultures of China, Indochina, and Indonesia. It was used mainly in rainmaking rites. Some kettle gongs from northern Vietnam are dated between the 5th ...
kettledrum: percussion instrument in which a membrane is stretched over a hemispheric or similar-shaped shell and held taut, usually by a hoop with rope lacings, adjusting screws, or various mechanical devices; ...
ketubba: formal Jewish marriage contract written in Aramaic and guaranteeing a bride certain future rights before her marriage. Since Jewish religious law permits a man to divorce his wife at any ...
Ketuvim: the third division of the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament. Divided into four sections, the Ketuvim include: poetical books (Psalms, Proverbs, and Job), the Megillot, or Scrolls (Song of Solomon, ...
Kevin, Saint: one of the patron saints of Dublin, founder of the monastery of Glendalough.
Kew Gardens: botanical garden located at Kew, site of a former royal estate in the London borough of Richmond upon Thames.
Kewanee: city, Henry county, northwestern Illinois, U.S. It lies about 45 miles (70 km) northwest of Peoria. Potawatomi, Winnebago, Sauk, and Fox Indians were early inhabitants of the area. Kewanee was ...
Keweenaw Bay: inlet of southern Lake Superior, indenting for 22 mi (35 km) the coast of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, U.S. The bay narrows from a 12-mi width at its mouth, ...
Keweenawan System: division of late Precambrian rocks and time in North America (the Precambrian began about 3.8 billion years ago and ended 540 million years ago). Rocks of the Keweenawan System are ...
key: in machine construction, a device used to prevent rotation of a machine component, such as a gear or a pulley, relative to the shaft on which it is mounted. A ...
key: in music, closed system of functionally related chords generated by certain tonal conventions associated with the Western concept of diatonic major and minor scales. Each of the pitches, or tones, ...
key: in locksmithing, an instrument, usually of metal, by which the bolt of a lock (q.v.) is turned.
Key deer: subspecies of white-tailed deer (q.v.).