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Kirkwood, James ... kiwi

Kirkwood, James: American librettist, actor, author, and playwright who, together with Nicholas Dante, wrote the text for the Broadway musical A Chorus Line (1975), which in 1983 became the longest-running musical in ...
Kirov: city and administrative centre of Kirov oblast (province), western Russia, on the Vyatka River. The city was founded as Khlynov in 1181 by traders from Novgorod and became the centre ...
Kirov: oblast (province), western Russia. The oblast covers an area of 46,650 square miles (120,800 square km) and occupies almost the entire basin of the Vyatka River. It is a rolling ...
Kirov, Sergey Mironovich: Russian Communist leader whose assassination marked the beginning of the Great Purge in the Soviet Union (1934-38).
Kirovohrad: city and administrative centre of Kirovohrad oblast (province), Ukraine. It lies along the upper Inhul River where the latter is crossed by the Kremenchuk-Odessa railway. Founded as a fortress in ...
Kirovohrad: oblast (province), south-central Ukraine. It extends from the Dnieper River in the northeast across the rolling hills of the Dnieper Upland to the basin of the Southern (Pivdennyy) Buh River ...
Kirovsk: city, Murmansk oblast (province), northwestern Russia, at the edge of the Khibiny Mountains. Until the opening of apatite and nephelinite mines in the region in 1929, Kirovsk was merely open ...
kirsch: dry, colourless brandy distilled from the fermented juice of the black morello cherry. Kirsch is made in the Black Forest of Germany, across the Rhine River in Alsace (France), and ...
Kirsehir: city, central Turkey. It lies along a tributary of the Kizil River at an elevation of 3,248 feet (990 m). It may have been Justinianopolis (Mocissus), which, under the 6th-century ...
Kirsehir rug: handwoven floor covering, usually in a prayer design and made in Kirsehir (Kirshehr), a town between Ankara and Kayseri in central Turkey. The typical Kirsehir prayer rug of the 19th ...
Kirst, Hans Hellmut: West German novelist who wrote more than 40 popular novels, mainly political thrillers and military satires.
Kirstein, Lincoln: American dance authority, impresario, writer, and businessman who collaborated with George Balanchine to found and direct the various ballet companies that eventually became the world-renowned New York City Ballet (directed ...
Kirsten, Dorothy: American opera singer, a lyric soprano who, in her 30-year career with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, specialized in title role interpretations of Giacomo Puccini's operas Manon Lescaut, ...
Kirszenstein-Szewinska, Irena: Polish sprinter who dominated women's athletics for nearly two decades. Between 1964 and 1976, Kirszenstein-Szewinska earned seven Olympic medals, tying the record of Australian Shirley Strickland de la Hunty for ...
kirtana: form of musical worship or group devotion practiced by the Vaisnava sects (followers of the god Vishnu) of Bengal. Kirtana usually consists of a verse sung by a soloist and ...
Kirthar Range: hill region in southern Pakistan. It extends southward for about 190 miles (300 km) from the Mula River in east-central Balochistan to Cape Muari (Monze) west of Karachi on the ...
Kiruna: city in the lan (county) of Norrbotten, northern Sweden. It is situated north of the Arctic Circle on the eastern shore of Lake Luossa and between the rich iron-ore Kiruna ...
Kirwan, Richard: Irish chemist known for his contributions in several areas of science.
Kiryu: city, Gumma ken (prefecture), central Honshu, Japan. It lies on the edge of the Kanto Plain, northwest of Tokyo. In the 17th century fine Kiryu silks were worn by samurai ...
Kisangani: city, northeastern Congo (Kinshasa). The city lies along the Congo River, just below Boyoma (formerly Stanley) Falls. It is the nation's major inland port after Kinshasa. Above Kisangani, the Boyoma ...
Kisarazu: city, Chiba ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. It lies on the west coast of the Boso Peninsula, about 20 miles (32 km) southeast of Tokyo and on the east coast of ...
Kiselyov, Pavel Dmitriyevich: Russian general, statesman, and progressive administrator during the reign of Tsar Nicholas I (1825-55).
Kiselyovsk: city, Kemerovo oblast (province), central Russia. It developed in the 1930s as an industrial and coal-mining centre. Much of the coal is used for coking. Kiselyovsk's engineering industries produce drilling ...
Kisfaludy, Karoly: Romantic dramatist, the first Hungarian playwright to achieve considerable popular success.
Kish: ancient Mesopotamian city-state located east of Babylon in what is now south-central Iraq. According to ancient Sumerian sources it was the seat of the first postdiluvian dynasty; most scholars believe ...
Kishangarh: city, central Rajasthan state, northwestern India. It is situated about 50 miles (80 km) southwest of Jaipur on the banks of Lake Gundalao. The city, with its fort and palace, ...
Kishangarh painting: 18th-century school of the Rajasthani style of Indian painting that arose in the princely state of Kishangarh (central Rajasthan state). The school is clearly distinguished by its individualistic facial type ...
Kishi Nobusuke: statesman whose term as prime minister of Japan (1957-60) was marked by a turbulent opposition campaign against a new U.S.-Japan security treaty agreed to by his government.
Kishiwada: city, Osaka fu (urban prefecture), Honshu, Japan, facing Osaka Bay. The city developed around the castle founded by the Wada family in the 14th century. It passed into the possession ...
Kishorganj: town, east-central Bangladesh. It lies along the Kundali Khal River, which is navigable during the rainy monsoon season. Formerly noted for muslin manufacture, it was the site of a factory ...
Kisi: group of some 120,000 people inhabiting a belt of hills covered by wooded savannas where Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia meet; they speak a language of the Atlantic branch of ...
kiskadee: (genus Pitangus), either of two similar New World bird species of flycatchers (family Tyrannidae, order Passeriformes), named for the call of the great kiskadee, or derby flycatcher (P. sulphuratus). The ...
Kiskunfelegyhaza: town, Bacs-Kiskun megye (county), central Hungary. It is in the region between the Danube and the Tisza rivers, formerly known as Kiskunsag (Little Kumania, from the immigrant Cuman [Kipchak] settlements ...
Kislovodsk: city, Stavropol kray (region), southwestern Russia. It lies along the Podkumok River in the Caucasus foothills just southwest of Pyatigorsk. Founded in 1803 as a spa based on abundant local ...
Kismaayo: seaport, southern Somalia. It lies along the Indian Ocean, near the mouth of the Jubba River. Founded in 1872 by the sultan of Zanzibar, the town was taken by the ...
kiss: a touch or caress of the lips upon the lips, cheek, hand, or feet of another to signify affection, greeting, reverence, or sexual attraction.
Kissidougou: town and administrative capital of Kissidougou region, southeastern Guinea, West Africa. It is located at the intersection of roads from Faranah, Gueckedou, and Kankan. The town was founded in the ...
Kissimmee River: river in central Florida, U.S., flowing between Lakes Kissimmee (north) and Okeechobee (south). It originally had a course of about 100 miles (160 km), but in the 1960s it was ...
Kissinger, Henry A.: American political scientist, who, as adviser for national security affairs and secretary of state, was a major influence in the shaping of foreign policy from 1969 to 1976 under Presidents ...
Kisumu: town, capital of Nyanza province, Kenya, East Africa, on the northeastern shore of Lake Victoria. It is the commercial, industrial, and transportation centre of western Kenya, serving a hinterland populated ...
kiswah: black brocade cloth that covers the most sacred shrine of Islam, the Ka'bah (q.v.) in Mecca. A new kiswah is made in Egypt every year and carried to Mecca by ...
kit: small fiddle with a muted tone, carried by dancing masters in their pockets in the 16th-18th century. A last descendant of the medieval rebec, the kit evolved as a narrow, ...
Kita-Ibaraki: city, northern Ibaraki ken (prefecture), east-central Honshu, Japan, facing the Pacific Ocean. The western part of the city occupies hills that slope toward the rest of the ...
Kita-Kyushu: (Japanese: North Kyushu), city, Fukuoka Prefecture (ken), Kyushu, Japan, on the Shimonoseki and Tsushima straits. It was created in 1963 by the amalgamation of the cities of Wakamatsu, Yawata (Yahata), ...
Kitabatake Chikafusa: Japanese warrior, statesman, and author of the influential politico-historical treatise Jinno shotoki ("Record of the Legitimate Succession of the Divine Emperors"), which set forth the mystic and nationalist doctrine that ...
Kitahara Hakushu: Japanese poet who was a major influence in modern Japanese poetry with his aesthetic and symbolic style.
Kitaj, R B: U.S.-born painter noted for his eclectic and original contributions to Pop Art.
Kitakami-sammyaku: (Japanese: Kitakami Range), mountain range, in northeastern Honshu, Japan, paralleling the Pacific coast and extending for about 155 mi (250 km) from southern Aomori Prefecture, through Iwate and Miyagi prefectures, ...
Kitami: city, northeastern Hokkaido, Japan, facing the Sea of Okhotsk at the confluence of the Tokoro-gawa (Tokoro River) and the Muka-gawa. It occupies 163 sq mi (421 sq km) on the ...
Kitami-sammyaku: (Japanese: Kitami Range), mountain range, northeastern Hokkaido, Japan, extending 180 mi (290 km) along the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. The range is basically an upwarped block except in ...
Kitasato Shibasaburo: Japanese physician and bacteriologist who helped discover a method to prevent tetanus and diphtheria and, in the same year as Alexandre Yersin, discovered the infectious agent responsible for the bubonic ...
Kitay-gorod: rayon (sector) of the city of Moscow, bordering the Kremlin on the east, Staraya and Novaya squares on the west, and the Moskva River on the south and including the ...
Kitchener: city, regional municipality of Waterloo, southeastern Ontario, Canada. It is situated in the Grand River valley, 60 miles (95 km) west-southwest of Toronto. Founded by Bishop Benjamin Eby and settled ...
Kitchener, Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl: British field marshal, imperial administrator, conqueror of The Sudan, commander in chief during the South African War, and (perhaps his most important role) secretary of state for war at the ...
kite: oldest known heavier-than-air craft designed to gain lift from the wind while being flown from the end of a flying line, or tether.
kite: any of numerous birds of prey belonging to one of three subfamilies (Milvinae, Elaninae, Perninae) of the family Accipitridae. Typically, a kite is lightly built, with a small head, partly ...
kithara: stringed musical instrument, one of the two principal types of ancient Greek lyres. It had a wooden soundboard and a box-shaped body, or resonator, from which extended two hollow arms ...
Kitikmeot: westernmost of the three regions of Nunavut territory, Canada. It was designated the Central Arctic region of the Northwest Territories in 1981, being formed from the northern part of Fort ...
Kitimat: district municipality, on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada. It lies at the head of the Douglas Channel, a deepwater fjord extending inland from Hecate Strait for 80 miles ...
Kitt Peak National Observatory: astronomical observatory located on the Papago Indian Reservation 50 miles (80 km) southwest of Tucson, Ariz., U.S., at an elevation of 6,888 feet (2,100 m). It was established in 1958 ...
Kitt, Eartha: American singer and dancer noted for her sultry vocal style and slinky beauty who also achieved success as a dramatic stage and film actress.
kittel: in Judaism, a white robe worn in the synagogue on such major festivals as Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. The rabbi wears it, as does the cantor, the blower of ...
Kittery: town, York county, southwestern Maine, U.S., at the mouth of the Piscataqua River, on the Atlantic coast opposite Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The town includes the communities of Kittery and Kittery ...
kittiwake: (Rissa tridactyla), oceanic gull, a white bird with pearl-gray mantle, black-tipped wings, black feet, and yellow bill. It nests on the North and South Atlantic coasts. Kittiwakes have evolved a ...
Kittredge, George Lyman: American literary scholar and teacher, one of the foremost authorities of his time on the writings of Shakespeare, Chaucer, and Sir Thomas Malory.
Kitty Hawk: town, Dare county, northeastern North Carolina, U.S. It lies on Bodie Island, a narrow sand barrier (one of the Outer Banks) facing the Atlantic Ocean opposite Albemarle Sound. Immediately south ...
Kitwe: city, northern Zambia, southern Africa. It is the third largest city in Zambia and is the main industrial and commercial centre of the copper-belt region. Founded in 1936, Kitwe grew ...
Kitzbuhel: town, Bundesland (federal province) Tirol, western Austria, in the Kitzbuhel Alps, at the southern foot of the Kitzbuheler Horn (6,548 ft [1,998 m]). First mentioned in 1165 and chartered in ...
Kitzbuhel Alps: range of the Eastern Alps in western Austria extending for 40 mi (65 km) between the Ziller (west) and Saalach (east) rivers. The highest points in the range are the ...
kiva: subterranean ceremonial and social chamber found in the Pueblo American Indian villages of the southwestern United States, particularly notable for the colourful mural paintings decorating the walls.
kivela: (Zulu: "to climb"), popular urban dance music of South Africa. Coined by Elkin Sithole in the 1940s to refer to choral response in Zulu vocal music, the term kivela had ...
Kivi, Aleksis: father of the Finnish novel and drama and the creator of Finland's modern literary language.
Kivu, Lake: one of the great lakes of East Africa, situated between Congo (Kinshasa) to the west and Rwanda to the east. Lying at 4,790 feet (1,460 m) above sea level, it ...
Kiwanis International: worldwide community-service organization for men and women that was founded in Detroit, Mich., in 1915. In the late 20th century it had more than 300,000 members in about 8,000 clubs ...
kiwi: edible fruit of the vine Actinidia chinensis (family Actinidiaceae). The plant is native to China and Taiwan and is now grown commercially in New Zealand and California. The egg-shaped kiwi ...
kiwi: any of three species of flightless birds belonging to the genus Apteryx and found in New Zealand. The name is a Maori word referring to the shrill call of the ...