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Nicobarese languages ... Niigata

Nicobarese languages: Austroasiatic languages spoken on the Nicobar Islands and once considered to form a distinct family within the Austroasiatic stock. More recent data on these hitherto poorly known languages suggest that ...
Nicodemus The Hagiorite, Saint: Greek Orthodox monk and author of ascetic prayer literature. He was influential in reviving the practice of Hesychasm, a Byzantine method of contemplative prayer.
Nicol, Davidson: Sierra Leonean diplomat, physician, medical researcher, and writer whose short stories and poems are among the best to have come out of West Africa.
Nicolai, Friedrich: writer and bookseller who, with Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and Moses Mendelssohn, was a leader of the German Enlightenment (Aufklarung) and who, as editor of the reformist journal Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek ...
Nicolai, Otto: German composer known for his comic opera Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (The Merry Wives of Windsor), based on William Shakespeare's comedy.
Nicole, Pierre: French theologian, author, moralist, and controversialist whose writings, chiefly polemical, supported the Roman Catholic reform movement known as Jansenism.
Nicolet, Jean: French North American explorer who was the first known European to discover Lake Michigan and what is now the state of Wisconsin.
Nicolle, Charles-Jules-Henri: French bacteriologist who received the 1928 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his discovery (1909) that typhus is transmitted by the body louse.
Nicollet, Joseph Nicolas: mathematician and explorer.
Nicolls, Richard: the first English governor of the province of New York in the American colonies.
Nicolson, Sir Harold: British diplomat and author of more than 125 books, including political essays, travel accounts, and mystery novels. His three-volume Diaries and Letters (1966-68) is a valuable document of British social ...
Nicomachus: Greek painter.
Nicomachus of Gerasa: Neo-Pythagorean philosopher and mathematician who wrote Arithmetike eisagoge (Introduction to Arithmetic), an influential treatise on number theory. Considered a standard authority for 1,000 years, the book sets out the elementary ...
Nicopolis Actia: city about 4 miles (6 km) north of Preveza, northwestern Greece. It was founded in 31 BC by Octavian (who in 27 BC was to become the Roman emperor Augustus) ...
Nicopolis, Battle of: (Sept. 25, 1396), military engagement that resulted in a Turkish victory over an army of European crusaders. It brought an end to massive international efforts to halt Turkish expansion into ...
Nicosia: city and capital of the Republic of Cyprus. It lies along the Pedieos River, in the centre of the Mesaoria Plain between the Kyrenia Mountains (north) and the Troodos range ...
nicotine: an organic compound that is the principal alkaloid of tobacco. (An alkaloid is one of a group of nitrogenous organic compounds that have marked physiological effects on humans.) Nicotine occurs ...
Nicoya Peninsula: peninsula in western Costa Rica that is bounded on the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, on the northeast by the Cordillera de Guanacaste, and on the southeast by ...
Nicoya, Gulf of: inlet that indents the west-central part of the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. The inlet extends northward and northwestward from Cape Blanco and Judas Point for about 50 miles (80 ...
Niderviller ware: French faience (tin-glazed earthenware) and porcelain produced in the 18th and 19th centuries by a factory at Niderviller, in Lorraine. Production of the faience falls into three periods. In 1755-70, ...
Nidularium: genus of about 25 South American plants of the pineapple family (Bromeliaceae) that grow upon the branches of trees. Several species are cultivated indoors as decorative plants for their handsome ...
Nidwalden: demi-canton ("half canton"), central Switzerland, formerly part of the canton of Unterwalden. Drained by the Engelberger Aa (river), it occupies the eastern part of former Unterwalden canton. Nidwalden means "below ...
Niebuhr, Barthold Georg: German historian who started a new era in historical studies by his method of source criticism; all subsequent historians are in some sense indebted to him.
Niebuhr, Carsten: German traveler who was the sole survivor of the first scientific expedition to Arabia and the compiler of its results.
Niebuhr, Helmut Richard: American Protestant theologian and educator who was considered a leading authority on ethics and U.S. church history. He was a foremost advocate of theological existentialism.
Niebuhr, Reinhold: American theologian who had extensive influence on political thought and whose criticism of the prevailing theological liberalism of the 1920s significantly affected the intellectual climate within American Protestantism. His exposure, ...
Niedere Tauern: range of the Eastern Alps in central Austria; lying between the Enns and Mur rivers, it extends 75 miles (120 km) westward to the headstreams of the two rivers. The ...
Niederosterreich: Bundesland (federal state), northeastern Austria. It is bordered by the Czech Republic on the north, Slovakia on the east, and by Bundeslander Burgenland on the southeast, Steiermark (Styria) on the ...
Niel, Adolphe: French army officer and marshal who, as minister of war, made an unsuccessful attempt to reorganize the French army in 1868.
niello: black metallic alloy of sulfur with silver, copper, or lead that is used to fill designs that have been engraved on the surface of a metal (usually silver) object. Niello ...
Nielsen, A.C.: American market-research engineer and business executive, best known for the "Nielsen ratings," which offer a national rating of television viewing.
Nielsen, Alice: American singer whose successful career in light opera was followed by a second one in grand opera.
Nielsen, Carl: violinist, conductor, and Denmark's foremost composer, particularly admired as a symphonist.
Nielsen, Morten: Danish poet who became the symbol of his generation's desire for freedom and who was killed as a result of his participation in the organized Danish resistance to the German ...
Niemann-Pick disease: inherited metabolic disorder in which a deficiency of the enzyme sphingomyelinase impairs the breakdown of the phospholipids lecithin and sphingomyelin, causing them to accumulate in various body tissues. Symptoms consist ...
Niemcewicz, Julian Ursyn: Polish playwright, poet, novelist, and translator whose writings, inspired by patriotism and concern for social and governmental reform, reflect the turbulent political events of his day. He was the first ...
Niemeyer, Oscar: Brazilian architect and early exponent of modern architecture in Latin America, particularly noted for his work on Brasilia, the new capital of Brazil.
Niemoller, Martin: prominent German anti-Nazi theologian and pastor, founder of the Confessing Church (Bekennende Kirche) and a president of the World Council of Churches.
Nien Rebellion: (c. 1852-68), major revolt in the North China provinces of Shantung, Honan, Kiangsu, and Anhwei; it occurred when the Ch'ing dynasty was preoccupied with the great Taiping Rebellion (1850-64) in ...
Nien-ch'ing-t'ang-ku-la Mountains: mountain range forming the eastern section of a mountain system in the southern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. In the west the system comprises a northern range, the ...
nien-hao: system of dating that was adopted by the Chinese in 114/113 BC (retroactive to 140 BC). The nien-hao system was introduced by Emperor Wu-ti (reigned 140-87 BC) of the Western ...
Nienhuys, Jacobus: Dutch businessman and planter, who was responsible for establishing the tobacco industry in Sumatra (now part of Indonesia).
Niepce, Nicephore: French inventor who was the first to make a permanent photographic image.
Nietzsche, Friedrich: German classical scholar, philosopher, and critic of culture, who became one of the most influential of all modern thinkers. His attempts to unmask the motives that underlie traditional Western religion, ...
Nieuw Nickerie: port, northwestern Suriname. It lies on the Nickerie River, near the mouth of the Courantyne (Dutch Corantijn) River, 3 miles (5 km) from the Atlantic coast. Rice is the principal ...
Nieuwland, Julius Arthur: Belgian-born American chemist whose studies of acetylene culminated in the discovery of lewisite, a chemical-warfare agent, and neoprene, the first commercially successful synthetic rubber.
Nieuwpoort: municipality, West Flanders province, western Belgium, on the Yser (IJzer) River. Established in the 12th century as a new port for Ypres (replacing Lombardsijde), it was besieged 10 times after ...
Niflheim: in Norse mythology, the cold, dark, misty world of the dead, ruled by the goddess Hel. In some accounts it was the last of nine worlds, a place into which ...
Nifo, Agostino: Renaissance philosopher noted for his development from an anti-Christian interpreter of Aristotelian philosophy into an influential Christian apologist for the immortality of the individual soul.
Nigde: city, south-central Turkey; it lies at an elevation of 4,100 feet (1,250 m) below a hill crowned by a ruined 11th-century Seljuq fortress on the road between Kayseri and the ...
Niger: state, west-central Nigeria, bounded to the south by the Niger River. It is also bounded by the states of Kebbi and Sokoto to the north, Kaduna to the north and ...
Niger: landlocked western African country. The republic has an area of 458,075 square miles (1,186,408 square kilometres). It is bounded on the northwest by Algeria, on the northeast by Libya, on ...
Niger River: principal river of West Africa. With a length of 2,600 miles (4,200 kilometres), it is the third longest river in Africa, after the Nile and the Congo. The Niger is ...
Niger, Pescennius: rival Roman emperor from 193 to 194.
Niger-Congo languages: a family of languages of Africa, which in terms of the number of languages spoken, their geographic extent, and the number of speakers is by far the largest language family ...
Nigeria: country located on the coast of western Africa. It has an area of 356,669 square miles (923,768 square km). It is bordered to the north by Niger, the east by ...
Nigerian theatre: variety of folk opera of the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria that emerged in the early 1940s. It combined a brilliant sense of mime, colourful costumes, and traditional drumming, music, ...
Nigg: village, Highland council area, historic county of Ross-shire, historic region of Ross and Cromarty, northeast coast of Scotland. It is closely associated with and heavily dependent on the offshore petroleum ...
Niggli, Paul: Swiss mineralogist who originated the idea of a systematic deduction of the space group (one of 230 possible three-dimensional patterns) of crystals by means of X-ray data and supplied a ...
Night and Fog Decree: secret order issued by Adolf Hitler on December 7, 1941, under which "persons endangering German security" in the German-occupied territories of western Europe were to be arrested and either shot ...
night blindness: failure of the eye to adapt promptly from light to darkness and reduced ability to see in dim light or at night. It occurs as a symptom of numerous diseases ...
night fighter: in military aviation, a fighter aircraft (q.v.) with special sighting, sensing, and navigating equipment enabling it to function at night.
night-blooming cereus: (genus Selenicereus), any member of a group of about 20 species of cacti in the family Cactaceae. The plants are native to tropical and subtropical America, including the West Indies. ...
nightglow: weak, steady light emanating from the whole night sky. See airglow.
nighthawk: any of several species of birds comprising the subfamily Chordeilinae of the family Caprimulgidae (see caprimulgiform). Unrelated to true hawks, they are classified with the nightjars, frogmouths, and allies in ...
nightingale: any of several small Old World thrushes, belonging to the family Turdidae (order Passeriformes), renowned for their song. The name refers in particular to the Eurasian nightingale (Erithacus, or Luscinia, ...
nightingale thrush: any of 11 species of thrushes of the New World genus Catharus (family Turdidae). They are of slender build and have rather drab plumage and rich songs-qualities reminiscent of the ...
Nightingale, Florence: English nurse and the founder of trained nursing as a profession for women. In 1854-56, during the Crimean War, she was in charge of nursing in the military hospitals at ...
nightjar: any of about 60 to 70 species of birds that make up the subfamily Caprimulginae of the family Caprimulgidae and sometimes extended to include the nighthawks, subfamily Chordeilinae (see nighthawk). ...
nightshade: any plant of the genus Solanum (family Solanaceae; q.v.), which has about 2,300 species, and certain other plants of the same family and other families. The species usually called nightshade ...
nigun: wordless song sung by Hasidic Jews as a means of elevating the soul to God. Because they lacked words, the nigunim were felt to move the singer beyond the sensual ...
nihilism: (from Latin nihil, "nothing"), a philosophy of skepticism that originated in 19th-century Russia during the early years of the reign of Alexander II. The term is an old one, applied ...
Nihon keizai shimbun: Japan's most widely respected daily business-oriented newspaper. It deals principally with news of commerce, industry, finance, government regulation of business, world trade, and economic news in general.
Nihon shoki: (Japanese: "Chronicles of Japan"), text that, together with the Kojiki (q.v.), comprises the oldest official history of Japan, covering the period from its mythical origins to AD 697.
Niigata: ken (prefecture), north-central Honshu, Japan. It lies along the Sea of Japan and includes the offshore islands of Sado and Awa. Silt deposited by the Shinano and Ara rivers in ...
Niigata: capital of Niigata ken (prefecture), north-central Honshu, Japan. Niigata lies on the coastal edge of the Echigo Plain at the mouth of the Shinano River. It was an important rice ...