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Oueme River ... Owain Glyndwr
Oueme River
river rising in the Atacora massif in northwestern Benin. It is approximately 310 miles (500 km) in length and flows southward, where it is joined by its main affluent, the ...
Ouenza
town, northeastern Algeria. It lies near the eastern border with Tunisia. The nearby Mount Ouenza (4,226 feet [1,288 m]) is the site of extensive iron-ore deposits, making the town one ...
Ouessant Island
a rocky island, Finistere departement, off the western tip of Bretagne, western France. The island, about 5 miles (8 km) long and 2 miles (3 km) wide, ...
Ouezzane
city, north-central Morocco. It lies at the southwestern edge of the Rif Mountains. Ouezzane is situated on the northern slope of Mount Bouhelal, at an elevation of 1,066 feet (325 ...
Oughtred, William
English mathematician and Anglican minister who invented the earliest form of the slide rule, two identical linear or circular logarithmic scales held together and adjusted by hand. Improvements involving the ...
Ouham River
river, one of the main headwaters of the Chari River, central Africa. It rises in two main branches in the elevated plateau country of the western Central African Republic; it ...
Ouida
English novelist, known for her extravagant melodramatic romances of fashionable life.
Ouidah
town, southern Benin, West Africa. It lies along the Gulf of Guinea. The town was the main port of the Kingdom of Abomey in the 18th and 19th centuries. Portuguese, ...
Ouija board
in occultism, a device ostensibly used for obtaining messages from the spirit world, usually employed by a medium during a seance. The name derives from the French and German words ...
Ouimet, Francis
American amateur golfer whose success did much to remove the British upper-class stigma from the game and to popularize it in the United States.
Oujda
city, extreme northeastern Morocco. It lies near the Moroccan-Algerian border. Founded in 944 by Zanatah Berbers, the city was fought over by Berbers, Arabs, and Turks and destroyed and rebuilt ...
Oulu
city, west-central Finland, at the mouth of the Oulu River on the Gulf of Bothnia. During the European Middle Ages a trading post was located on the site. In 1590 ...
Oum al-Bouaghi
town, northeastern Algeria. The town is situated in the high plains of the Tell Atlas about 40 miles (65 km) southeast of Constantine city. This extensive high-plains region receives about ...
Oum er-Rbia River
chief river of central Morocco, rising in the Middle (Moyen) Atlas mountains and flowing generally westward for 345 miles (555 km) to the Atlantic Ocean near Azemmour. Although not navigable, ...
Oun Kham
ruler of the Lao principality of Luang Prabang (1872-94), whose troubled reign ended with the establishment of a French protectorate over Laos.
ounce
unit of weight in the avoirdupois system, equal to 116 pound (437 12 grains), and in the troy and apothecaries' systems, equal to 480 grains, or 112 pound. The avoirdupois ...
Oundle
town, East Northamptonshire district, administrative and historic county of Northamptonshire, England, on the River Nene. The manor was granted to the feudal landowner John, earl of Bedford, after the dissolution ...
Ouologuem, Yambo
Sudanese writer who was highly acclaimed for his first novel, Le Devoir de violence (1968; Bound to Violence), which received the Prix Renaudot. With this work, Ouologuem became the first ...
Our Bodies, Ourselves
book, first published in 1970 and periodically revised and updated, a groundbreaking publication in its expressed goal of dispelling widespread ignorance about the female body and women's health issues. Noting ...
Our Father
the Latin Pater Noster, the first words of the Lord's Prayer (q.v.).
Ouray
town, seat (1877) of Ouray county, southwestern Colorado, U.S. Located in a steep valley of the San Juan Mountains at an elevation of 7,760 feet (2,365 metres), the town was ...
Ourinhos
city, south-central Sao Paulo estado (state), Brazil. It lies at 1,568 feet (478 metres) above sea level along the Paranapanema River, near the border of Parana state. ...
Ouro Prto
city, southeastern Minas Gerais estado (state), Brazil. It occupies a hilly site on the lower slopes of the Oro Preto Mountains, a spur of the Espinhaco Mountains, ...
Ouroboros
emblematic serpent of ancient Egypt and Greece represented with its tail in its mouth continually devouring itself and being reborn from itself. A Gnostic and alchemical symbol, Ouroboros expresses the ...
Ouse, River
river in north-central England, draining the central Pennines (via its tributaries) and the Vale of York. It is formed by the confluence of the Swale and Ure rivers east of ...
Ouse, River
river in England, draining the East Midlands at the Fens. It rises 5 miles (8 km) west of Brackley, Northamptonshire, and flows past Buckingham, Bedford, Huntington, and St. Ives to ...
Out Islands
the islands that make up The Bahamas apart from New Providence Island. Extending eastward off the Florida coast to just north of Hispaniola are about 3,000 islands and rocks, with ...
Outardes River
river in Cote-Nord ("North Shore") region, east-central Quebec province, Canada, rising in the Otish Mountains and flowing southward for 300 miles (480 km) through Lake Pletipi to the St. Lawrence ...
Outback
in Australia, any inland area remote from large centres of population. Generally, the term is applied to semiarid inland areas of eastern Australia and to the arid centre of the ...
outcaste
in the Hindu caste system, an individual or group that has been thrown out of caste, usually for some ritual offense. The outcasting may be temporary or permanent. In the ...
Outcault, Richard Felton
American cartoonist and creator of the "Yellow Kid," a comic cartoon series that was influential in the development of the comic strip.
Outer Banks
chain of barrier islands extending southward more than 175 miles (280 km) along the coast of North Carolina, U.S., from Back Bay, Virginia, to Cape Lookout, North Carolina. From north ...
Outer Hebrides
islands in Scotland, off the northwestern coast of the Scottish mainland. They constitute the Western Isles council area. Lewis, the northern part of the island of Lewis and Harris, lies ...
Outer Space Treaty
(1967), international treaty binding the parties to use outer space only for peaceful purposes. In June 1966 the United States and the Soviet Union submitted draft treaties on the uses ...
Outjo
town, northwestern Namibia. The town is situated on a cluster of low hills at an elevation of 4,135 feet (1,260 m). It lies within an arid region that has accessible ...
outlaw music
movement of American country music in the 1970s spearheaded by Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings (b. June 15, 1937, Littlefield, Texas, U.S., -d. February 13, 2002, Chandler, Arizona, ). Sometimes ...
outlawry
act of putting a person beyond the protection of the law for his refusal to become amenable to the court having legal jurisdiction. In the past, this deprivation of legal ...
Outram, Sir James, 1st Baronet
English general and Indian political officer known, because of his reputation for chivalry, as "the Bayard of India" (after the 16th-century French soldier Pierre Terrail, Seigneur de Bayard).
Outremeuse, Jean d'
French author of two romanticized but fascinating historical works. The first, La Geste de Liege, is a leisurely account, partly in prose, partly in verse, of the mythical history of ...
Outremont
city, Montreal region, southern Quebec province, Canada. It lies in the centre of Montreal Island, adjoining Montreal city. Originally called Cote-Sainte-Catherine, it was renamed in 1875 for its location in ...
outsourcing
work arrangement made by an employer who hires an outside contractor to perform work that could be done by company personnel. Outsourcing has been a frequent point of dispute for ...
outwash
deposit of sand and gravel carried by running water from the melting ice of a glacier and laid down in stratified deposits. An outwash may attain a thickness of 100 ...
Ouvea Island
northernmost of the Loyalty Islands, an island group within the French overseas territory of New Caledonia, southwestern Pacific Ocean. Ouvea is a crescent-shaped atoll, 30 miles (50 km) long and ...
Ouyang Xiu
Chinese poet, historian, and statesman of the Song dynasty who reintroduced the simple "ancient style" in Chinese literature and sought to reform Chinese political life through principles of classical Confucianism.
ouzel
(species Turdus torquatus), a thrush of the family Turdidae (order Passeriformes), characterized by a white crescent on the breast. A blackish bird, 24 cm (9.5 inches) long, it breeds locally ...
Ovando, Nicolas de
Spanish military leader and first royal governor of the West Indies. He was the first to apply the encomienda system of Indian forced labour, which became widespread ...
ovarian cancer
a disease characterized by the abnormal growth of cells in the ovaries, the internal reproductive organs that produce the ova, or egg cells, in women. Most ovarian cancers begin in ...
ovary
in botany, enlarged basal portion of the pistil, the female organ of a flower. The ovary contains ovules, which develop into seeds upon fertilization. It will mature into a fruit, ...
ovary
in zoology, female reproductive organ in which sex cells (eggs or ova) are produced. The usually paired ovaries of female vertebrates produce both the sex cells and the hormones necessary ...
ovenbird
any of several species of small birds, named for building a domed nest with a side entrance, especially Seiurus aurocapillus, a wood warbler (family Parulidae, order Passeriformes) of North America ...
over-the-counter market
trading in stocks and bonds that does not take place on stock exchanges; such trading is most significant in the United States, where requirements for listing stocks on the exchanges ...
Overbeck, Johann Friedrich
Romantic painter of Christian religious subjects, who was leader of a group of German artists known as the Nazarenes, or Lucas Brotherhood (Lukasbund).
Overbury, Sir Thomas
English poet and essayist, victim of an infamous intrigue at the court of James I. His poem A Wife, which pictured the virtues that a young man should demand of ...
Overijssel
provincie (province), northeastern Netherlands, extending northward "beyond the IJssel," a distributary of the Rhine, from the provinces of Gelderland to Drenthe and Friesland and lying between Germany (east) and Flevoland ...
Overland Park
city, Johnson county, northeastern Kansas, U.S. Located on a low ridge that affords a broad view of the Missouri River valley, it is a southern suburb of Kansas City, near ...
Overland, Arnulf
Norwegian poet, painter, and socialist whose poems helped inspire the Norwegian resistance movement during the German occupation in World War II.
Overseas Surveys, Directorate of
surveying, mapping, and aerial photography agency of the Overseas Development Administration (ODA) of the United Kingdom, founded in 1946 to provide advice to the ODA and foreign governments and organizations ...
Overton, Richard
English pamphleteer and a Leveler leader during the English Civil Wars and Commonwealth.
overtone
in acoustics, tone sounding above the fundamental tone when a string or air column vibrates as a whole, producing the fundamental, or first harmonic. If it vibrates in sections, it ...
overture
musical composition, usually the orchestral introduction to a musical work (often dramatic), but also an independent instrumental work. Early operas opened with a sung prologue or a short instrumental flourish, ...
Overweg, Adolf
German geologist, astronomer, and traveler who was the first European to circumnavigate and map Lake Chad. Overweg was also a member of a pioneering mission to open the Central African ...
Ovett, Steve
British athlete, who, along with his great rival, Sebastian Coe, dominated middle-distance running in the early 1980s. The winner of gold and bronze medals at the 1980 Olympic Games in ...
Ovid
Roman poet noted especially for his Ars amatoria and Metamorphoses. His verse had immense influence both by its imaginative interpretations of classical myth and as an example of supreme technical ...
Oviedo
city, Asturias provincia and comunidad autonoma ("autonomous community"), northern Spain. Oviedo lies on a hill surrounded by mountains and a fertile plain and is ...
Ovimbundu
people inhabiting the tree-studded grasslands of the Bie Plateau in Angola. They speak Umbundu, a Bantu language of the Niger-Congo language family. They numbered about four million at the turn ...
Ovington, Mary White
American civil rights activist, one of the white reformers who joined blacks in founding the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
oviparity
expulsion of undeveloped eggs rather than live young. The eggs may have been fertilized before release, as in birds and some reptiles, or are to be fertilized externally, as in ...
Oviraptor
small, lightly built predatory or omnivorous dinosaur that brooded its eggs in a manner similar to birds. Found as fossils in deposits from the Late Cretaceous Period (99 million to ...
Ovonramwen
West African ruler who was the last independent oba (king) of the 500-year-old kingdom of Benin (in present-day Nigeria). Ovonramwen tried to maintain his independence in the face of increasing ...
Ovre Anar River National Park
national park in the southeastern Finnmark Plateau region, northern Norway, bordering the Lemmen River National Park of Finland. One of the largest of Norway's national parks, it covers an area ...
Ovre Divi Valley National Park
national park in the eastern part of the Divi valley, Troms county, northern Norway. With an area of 286 square miles (741 square km), it was established in 1971. The ...
ovulation
release of a mature egg from the female ovary; the release enables the egg to be fertilized by the male sperm cells. Normally, in humans, only one egg is released ...
ovule
plant structure that develops into a seed when fertilized. In gymnosperms (conifers and allies) the ovules lie uncovered on the scales of the cone. In angiosperms (flowering plants), one or ...
ovum
in human physiology, single cell released from either of the female reproductive organs, the ovaries, which is capable of developing into a new organism when fertilized (united) with a sperm ...
Owain Cyfeiliog
Welsh warrior-prince of Powys and poet of distinct originality among the gogynfeirdd (court poets).
Owain Glyndwr
: see Glendower, Owen.