company grade officer, the lowest rank of commissioned officer in most armies of the world. The lieutenant normally commands a small tactical unit such as a platoon.
one of the three primary philosophers who developed the basic suppositions of Daoist thought, and the presumed author of the Daoist work Liezi (also known as Chongxu zhide zhenjing ["True ...
Russian-born French dancer, choreographer, and ballet master (1929-45, 1947-58) of the Paris Opera Ballet who enriched its repertoire, reestablished its reputation as a leading ballet company, and enhanced the position ...
weekly picture magazine (1936-72) published in New York City. Life was a pioneer in photojournalism and one of the major forces in that field's development. It was ...
the state of a material complex or individual characterized by the capacity to perform certain functional activities, including metabolism, growth, reproduction, and some form of responsiveness and adaptation. Life is ...
in biology, the series of changes that the members of a species undergo as they pass from the beginning of a given developmental stage to the inception of that same ...
method by which large groups of individuals equalize the burden of financial loss from death by distributing funds to the beneficiaries of those who die. Life insurance is most developed ...
any mechanical device that enables a person to live and usually work in an environment such as outer space or underwater in which he could not otherwise function or survive ...
in Phenomenology, the world as immediately or directly experienced in the subjectivity of everyday life, as sharply distinguished from the objective "worlds" of the sciences, which employ the methods of ...
watercraft especially built for rescue missions. There are two types, the relatively simple versions carried on board ships and the larger, more complex craft based on shore. Modern shore-based lifeboats ...
any activity related to the saving of life in cases of drowning, shipwreck, and other accidents on or in the water and to the prevention of drowning in general.
river in Counties Wicklow, Kildare, and Dublin, Ireland, rising in the Wicklow Mountains, about 20 mi (32 km) southwest of Dublin. Following a tortuous course laid out in preglacial times, ...
largest (462 sq mi [1,196 sq km]) and most populous of the Loyalty Islands in the French overseas territory of New Caledonia, southwestern Pacific Ocean. It is the central island ...
tough fibrous band of connective tissue that serves to support the internal organs and hold bones together in proper articulation at the joints. A ligament is composed of dense fibrous ...
in chemistry, any atom or molecule attached to a central atom, usually a metallic element, in a coordination or complex compound. The atoms and molecules used as ligands are almost ...
in chemistry, one of several theories that describe the electronic structure of coordination or complex compounds, notably transition metal complexes, which consist of a central metal atom surrounded by a ...
any one of a class of about 50 enzymes that catalyze reactions involving the conservation of chemical energy and provide a couple between energy-demanding synthetic processes and energy-yielding breakdown reactions. ...
offspring of a lion and a tigress. The liger is a zoo-bred hybrid, as is the tigon, the result of mating a tiger with a lioness. It is probable that ...
electromagnetic radiation that can be detected by the human eye. In terms of wavelength, electromagnetic radiation occurs over an extremely wide range, from gamma rays with a wavelength of 3 ...
electromagnetic radiation that can be detected by the human eye. In terms of wavelength, electromagnetic radiation occurs over an extremely wide range, from gamma rays with a wavelength of 3 ...
electric incandescent lamp based on a glowing metallic filament enclosed within a glass shell filled with an inert gas such as nitrogen. See incandescent lamp; lamp.
in astronomy, graph of the changes in brightness with time of a star, particularly of the variable type. The light curves of different kinds of variable stars differ in the ...
system of railways usually powered by overhead electrical wires and used for medium-capacity local transportation in metropolitan areas. Light rail vehicles (LRVs) are a technological outgrowth of streetcars (trams). Light ...
poetry on trivial or playful themes that is written primarily to amuse and entertain and that often involves the use of nonsense and wordplay. Frequently distinguished by considerable technical competence, ...
in electronics, a semiconductor device that emits infrared or visible light when charged with an electric current. Visible LEDs are used in many electronic devices as indicator lamps, in automobiles ...
in astronomy, the distance traveled by light moving in a vacuum in the course of one year, at its accepted velocity of 299,792,458 metres per second (186,282 miles per second). ...
American athlete, a preeminent middle-distance runner of the early 20th century. At the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis he won four medals, including three gold medals, and he added ...
shallow-draft boat or barge, usually flat-bottomed, used in unloading (lightening) or loading ships offshore. Use of lighters requires extra handling and thus extra time and expense and is largely confined ...
structure, usually with a tower, built onshore or on the seabed to serve as an aid to maritime coastal navigation, warning the mariner of hazards, establishing his position, and guiding ...
the visible discharge of electricity that occurs when a region of a cloud acquires an excess electrical charge, either positive or negative, that is sufficient to break down the resistance ...
metallic rod (usually copper) that protects a structure from lightning damage by intercepting flashes and guiding their currents into the ground. Because lightning tends to strike the highest object in ...
marine navigation and warning beacon stationed where lighthouse construction is impractical. The first lightship was the Nore (1732), stationed in the estuary of the River Thames in England. Modern lightships ...
Belgian military officer and man of letters whose memoirs and correspondence with such leading European figures as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Voltaire had an important influence on Belgian literature.
complex oxygen-containing organic substance that, with cellulose, forms the chief constituent of wood. It is second only to cellulose as the most abundant organic material on Earth, though it has ...
brown to black coal that has been formed from peat under moderate pressure; it is one of the first products of coalification and is intermediate between peat and subbituminous coal. ...
Italian architect, painter, landscaper, and antiquarian who designed the Villa d'Este at Tivoli (1550-69), which still stands in its original state. Built for Ligorio's patron, Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, the villa ...
Italian doctor of the church, one of the chief 18th-century moral theologians, and founder of the Redemptorists, a congregation dedicated primarily to parish and foreign missions. In 1950 he was ...
the third smallest of the regioni of Italy, bordering the Ligurian Sea, in the northwestern part of the country. It comprises the provincie of Genoa, Imperia, La Spezia, and Savona.
any member of a collection of ancient peoples who inhabited the northwestern Mediterranean coast from the mouth of the Ebro River in Spain to the mouth of the Arno River ...
language spoken by the Ligurians in northwestern Italy (and perhaps also in southern France and northeastern Spain) in pre-Roman and early Roman times. It is apparently an Indo-European language. Some ...
republic created by Napoleon Bonaparte on June 15, 1797, organizing the conquered city of Genoa and its environs. The government was modeled on that of the Directory in France, and ...
arm of the Mediterranean Sea indenting the northwestern coast of Italy. It extends between Liguria and Tuscany (north and east) and the French island of Corsica (south). It receives many ...
city, seat of Kauai county, southeastern Kauai island, Hawaii, U.S. Sugarcane became the locality's economic mainstay with the foundation of the Lihue Sugar Plantation (1849) by German colonists. In 1883 ...
one of the Five Classics (Wujing) of Chinese Confucian literature, the original text of which is said to have been compiled by the ancient sage Confucius (551-479 BC). During the ...
city, southeastern Congo (Kinshasa). It lies along the Likasi River, 86 miles (138 km) northwest of Lubumbashi, to which it is connected by road and rail. In 1892 Belgians discovered ...
special tax paid by merchants and traders in mid-19th-century China. Likin ("a tax of one-thousandth") was levied on goods in transit or as a sales tax in shops where goods ...
island in Lake Nyasa, Malawi, just northwest of Cobue, Mozambique. Located near the lake's eastern shore, the rocky and barren island has an area of 7 square miles (18 square ...
right-wing Israeli political party. It was founded in September 1973 to challenge the Israel Labour Party, which had governed the country since its independence in 1948, and first came to ...
any of about 30 species of fragrant and beautiful northern spring-flowering garden shrubs and small trees constituting the genus Syringa of the family Oleaceae. Lilacs are native to eastern Europe ...
Belgian essayist, novelist, and playwright, the mother of the novelist Francoise Mallet-Joris. Applying a strong intellect to her work through precise language, she was a thoroughly modern writer who nonetheless ...
German song popular during World War II among both German and Allied soldiers. Hans Leip (1893-1983) began writing the lyrics in 1914 or 1915, reputedly while standing guard duty one ...
the lily family of the flowering plant order Liliales, with about 280 genera and some 4,000 species of herbs and shrubs, native primarily to temperate and subtropical regions. Members of ...
lily order of the monocotyledonous flowering plants, a division of the subclass Liliidae. The order is a vast assemblage of plants whose flowers usually have three petals and three sepals-the ...
American businessman and government official, who was codirector (1933) and first chairman (1941) of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and first chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC).
one of two classes of the division Magnoliophyta, or angiosperms, the other class being the Magnoliopsida (dicotyledons, or dicots). The Liliopsida are also known under the more descriptive taxon name ...
female demon of Jewish folklore; her name and personality are derived from the class of Mesopotamian demons called lilu (feminine: lilitu). In rabbinic literature Lilith is variously depicted as the ...
city, capital of Nord departement and of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, northern France, on the Deule River, 136 miles (219 km) north-northeast of Paris, and 9 miles (14 km) from the ...
coeducational, autonomous, state-financed institutions of higher learning at Lille, in northern France; they were founded in 1970 under the 1968 law reforming French higher education, to replace the former University ...
bobbin-made lace made since the 16th century in the town of Lille, formerly in Flanders but now in northwestern France. It was notable for its very fine net background, with ...
town, northwestern France, Seine-Maritime departement, Haute-Normandie region, north of the Seine River and east of Le Havre. The Romans called it Juliobona. Under Roman rule in the 2nd century it ...
town, seat of Oppland fylke (county), southeastern Norway, lying where the Lagen (river) flows into Lake Mjosa (the largest lake in Norway) in the southern end of Gudbrands Valley (q.v.). ...
