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Oaks: one of the English Classic horse races (along with the Derby, Saint Leger, Two Thousand Guineas, and One Thousand Guineas), an event for three-year-old fillies, established in 1779, and run ...
Oakville: town, regional municipality of Halton, southeastern Ontario, Canada, 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Toronto. Oakville is situated on Lake Ontario at the mouth of Oakville Creek. It was founded ...
Oamaru: town and port, Otago local government region, southeastern South Island, New Zealand. Its name comes from a Maori term meaning "place of sheltered fire." It was established as a grazing ...
Oannes: in Mesopotamian mythology, an amphibious being who taught mankind wisdom. Oannes, as described by the Babylonian priest Berosus, had the form of a fish but with the head of a ...
oarfish: (species Regalecus glesne), large, long, sinuous fish of the family Regalecidae (order Lampridiformes), found throughout the tropics and subtropics in rather deep water. A ribbon-shaped fish, very thin from side ...
oasis: fertile tract of land that occurs in a desert wherever a perennial supply of fresh water is available. Oases vary in size, ranging from about 1 hectare (2.5 acres) around ...
Oastler, Richard: industrial reformer known in the north of England as the "Factory King," who from 1831 conducted a campaign for shorter working hours that was in part responsible for the Ten ...
oat grass: any of the perennial plants of two genera of grasses, Arrhenatherum and Danthonia (family Poaceae). Approximately six species of tall grasses, native to temperate Europe and Asia, constitute the genus ...
Oates, Joyce Carol: American novelist, short-story writer, and essayist noted for her vast literary output in a variety of styles and genres. Particularly effective are her depictions of violence and evil in modern ...
Oates, Titus: renegade Anglican priest who fabricated the Popish Plot of 1678. Oates's allegations that Roman Catholics were plotting to seize power caused a reign of terror in London and strengthened the ...
oath: sacred or solemn voluntary promise usually involving the penalty of divine retribution for intentional falsity and often used in legal procedures. It is not certain that the oath was always ...
oats: edible starchy grain of the oat plant (species Avena sativa), a cereal widely cultivated in the temperate regions of the world. The flowering and fruiting structure, or inflorescence, of the ...
Oaxaca: estado ("state"), southern Mexico, bounded south by the Pacific Ocean, west by Guerrero, north by Puebla, northeast by Veracruz, and east by Chiapas. The state's territory, with an area of ...
Oaxaca: city, capital of Oaxaca estado (state), southern Mexico, lying in the fertile Oaxaca Valley, 5,085 feet (1,550 metres) above sea level. The city site, which has been ...
Ob River: river of central Russia. One of the greatest rivers of Asia, the Ob flows north and west across western Siberia in a twisting diagonal from its sources in the Altai ...
Ob, Gulf of: large inlet of the Kara Sea indenting northwestern Siberia, between the peninsulas of Yamal and Gyda, in north-central Russia. The gulf forms the outlet for the Ob River, the delta ...
Ob-Ugric languages: division of the Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic language family, comprising the Mansi (Vogul) and Khanty (Ostyak) languages; they are most closely related to Hungarian, with which they make up ...
Obadiah, Book of: the fourth of 12 Old Testament books that bear the names of the Minor Prophets, in the Jewish canon treated as one book, The Twelve. Obadiah, with only one chapter ...
Obaku: one of the three Zen sects in Japan, founded in 1654 by the Chinese priest Yin-yuan (Japanese Ingen); it continues to preserve elements of the Chinese tradition in its architecture, ...
Obama, Barack, Jr.: American politician who became the third African American, and the first African American male Democrat, to be elected to the U.S. Senate after the end of Reconstruction (1877). Obama's father, ...
Obando, Jose Maria: Colombian president (1853-54), whose violent character and career were representative of the political and military leaders of 19th-century Colombia.
Obasanjo, Olusegun: Nigerian general, politician, and diplomat, who was the first military leader in Africa to hand over power to civilian rule. He served as ruler of Nigeria from 1976 to 1979 ...
obbligato: (Italian: "obligatory"), in music, essential but subordinate instrumental part. For example, in an 18th-century aria with trumpet obbligato, the trumpet part, although serving as accompaniment to the voice, may be ...
Obelia: genus of invertebrate marine animals of the class Hydrozoa (phylum Cnidaria). The genus, widely distributed in all the oceans, is represented by many species. The animal begins life as a ...
obelisk: tapered monolithic pillar, originally erected in pairs at the entrances of ancient Egyptian temples. The Egyptian obelisk was carved from a single piece of stone, usually red granite from the ...
Oberhausen: city, North Rhine-Westphalia Land (state), western Germany. It is situated on the Rhine-Herne Canal, within the densely developed Ruhr industrial belt, and it adjoins Essen (east), Mulheim ...
Oberlin: city, Lorain county, northern Ohio, U.S., 35 mi (56 km) west-southwest of Cleveland. In 1833 the Rev. John L. Shipherd, a Presbyterian minister, and Philo P. Steward, a former missionary ...
Oberlin College: private coeducational institution of higher learning at Oberlin, Ohio, offering programs in liberal arts and music. It was founded in 1833 as the Oberlin Collegiate Institute to educate ministers and ...
Oberlin, Johann Friedrich: Lutheran pastor and philanthropist, who spent his life transforming desperately poor parishes in the Vosges region of France into materially as well as spiritually flourishing communities.
Oberon: king of the elves, or of the "faerie," in the French medieval poem Huon de Bordeaux. In this poem Oberon is a dwarf-king, living in the woodland, who by magic ...
Oberon: outermost of the five major satellites of Uranus. It was discovered in 1787 by the English astronomer Sir William Herschel, who had found Uranus in 1781. The mean distance of ...
Oberon, Merle: British and American film actress who appeared in more than 30 motion pictures. Her most notable portrayal was that of the beautiful Cathy, who tormented and rejected Heathcliff (Laurence Olivier) ...
Oberosterreich: Bundesland (federal state), northern Austria. It borders Germany and the Czech Republic on the west and north and is bounded by Bundeslander Niederosterreich (Lower Austria) on the east and Steiermark ...
Oberth, Hermann: German scientist who is considered to be one of the founders of modern astronautics.
Oberto I: marquis of eastern Liguria and count of Luni, powerful feudal lord of 10th-century Italy under King Berengar II and the Holy Roman emperor Otto I. His descendants, the Obertinghi, founded ...
obesity: excessive accumulation of body fat, usually caused by the consumption of more calories than the body can use. The excess calories are then stored as fat, or adipose tissue. Overweight, ...
Obey River: river in north-central Tennessee, U.S., formed by the East Fork Obey and West Fork Obey rivers in southern Pickett county. It flows north and west to join the Cumberland River ...
obi: wide sash or belt made of satin or a stiff silk material, worn since ancient times in Japan to secure the kimono. A woman's obi is about 12 feet (370 ...
Obi Islands: group of the northern Moluccas, Maluku Utara (North Moluccas) provinsi (province), Indonesia. They lie south of Halmahera Island, north of Ceram Island, and east of the Sula ...
obia: in west African folklore, a gigantic animal that steals into villages and kidnaps girls on the behalf of witches. In certain cultures of the Caribbean, the term denotes forms of ...
Obihiro: city, southern Hokkaido, Japan, on the Tokachi River. Founded in 1883, it became a regional administrative centre in 1897. The arrival of two railway lines in the early 1900s made ...
object language: in semantics and logic, the ordinary language used to talk about things or objects in the world-as contrasted with metalanguage, an artificial language used by linguists and others to analyze ...
objectivism: the theory or practice of objective art or literature. The term was used by the poet William Carlos Williams in the 1930s to describe a movement in which emphasis was ...
oblate: (from Latin oblatus, "one offered up"), in Roman Catholicism, a lay person connected with a religious order or institution and living according to its regulations; a minor dedicated by his ...
Obodrite: member of a people of the Polab group, the northwesternmost of the Slavs in medieval Europe. The Obodrites (sometimes called the Bodryci, from bodry, "brave") inhabited the lowland country between ...
oboe: treble woodwind instrument with a conical bore and double reed. Though used chiefly as an orchestral instrument, it also has a considerable solo repertoire.
Obolus: genus of extinct brachiopod, or lamp shell, of the Cambrian Period (from 540 to 505 million years ago). Obolus was a small animal with a spherical shape; one valve, or ...
Obote, Milton: politician who was prime minister (1962-70) and twice president (1966-71, 1980-85) of Uganda. He led his country to independence in 1962, but his two terms in office (both of which ...
Obraztsov, Sergey Vladimirovich: puppet master who established puppetry as an art form in the Soviet Union and who is considered to be one of the greatest puppeteers of the 20th century.
Obrecht, Jakob: composer who, with Jean d'Ockeghem and Josquin des Prez, was one of the leading composers in the preeminently vocal and contrapuntal Franco-Flemish, or Franco-Netherlandish, style that dominated Renaissance music.
Obregon, Alvaro: soldier, statesman, and reformer who, as president, restored order to Mexico after a decade of political upheavals and civil war that followed the revolution of 1910.
Obrenovic dynasty: family that provided Serbia with five rulers between 1815 and 1903. Their succession was broken by a rival dynasty, the Karadjordjevic. Milos, who founded the dynasty, was prince of Serbia ...
Obscene Publications Act: in British law, either of two codifications of prohibitions against obscene literature adopted in 1857 and in much revised form in 1959. The earlier act, also called Lord Campbell's Act ...
obscenity: in general, that which offends the public sense of decency. Its social importance lies in the history of censorship and legislation for the suppression of obscene acts, especially the publication ...
Observer, The: Sunday newspaper established in 1791, the first Sunday paper published in Britain. It is one of England's quality newspapers, long noted for its emphasis on foreign coverage. The paper devotes ...
obsessive-compulsive disorder: a type of mental disorder in which an individual experiences obsessions or compulsions or both. Either the obsessive thought or the compulsive act may occur singly, or both may appear ...
obsidian: natural glass of volcanic origin that is formed by the rapid cooling of viscous lava. Obsidian is extremely rich in silica (about 35 to 80 percent), is low in water, ...
obstetrics and gynecology: medical/surgical specialty concerned with the care of women from pregnancy until after delivery and with the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the female reproductive tract.
Obstfelder, Sigbjorn: Norwegian Symbolist poet whose unrhymed verse and atmospheric, unfocused imagery marked Norwegian poets' decisive break with naturalistic verse.
Obuasi: town, southern Ghana. Its growth was stimulated by the discovery of a large gold deposit in 1897 and the building of the railway from Sekondi in 1902. The Asante gold ...
Obuchi Keizo: Japanese politician who was prime minister from July 1998 to April 2000 and is credited with reversing Japan's economic downturn.
obversion: in syllogistic, or traditional, logic, transformation of a categorical proposition (q.v.), or statement, into a new proposition in which (1) the subject term is unchanged, (2) the predicate is replaced ...
Obwalden: half canton, central Switzerland, formerly part of the canton of Unterwalden. The half canton is drained by the Sarner River and occupies the western part of former Unterwalden canton. Obwalden ...
Ocala: city, seat (1846) of Marion county, north-central Florida, U.S., about 35 miles (55 km) southeast of Gainesville. It developed around Fort King (established in 1827), an important post during the ...
Ocana: city, Norte de Santander departamento, northern Colombia, in the Hacari valley. Founded (c. 1570) as Nueva Madrid by Francisco Fernandez, the city was renamed for Ocana in New Castile, Spain. ...
ocarina: globular flute, a late 19th-century musical development of traditional Italian carnival whistles of earthenware, often bird-shaped and sounding only one or two notes. It is an egg-shaped vessel of clay ...
occasionalism: a version of Cartesian metaphysics that flourished in the last half of the 17th century, in which all interaction between mind and body is mediated by God. It is posited ...
Occidental Petroleum Corporation: major American oil- and gas-producing company. Headquarters are in Los Angeles.
occipital: bone forming the back and back part of the base of the cranium, the part of the skull that encloses the brain. It has a large oval opening, the foramen ...
Occitan language: a Romance language spoken by about 1,500,000 people in southern France. All Occitan speakers use French as their official and cultural language, but Occitan dialects are used for everyday purposes ...
occultation: obscuring of the light of an astronomical body, most commonly a star, by another astronomical body, such as a planet or a satellite. Hence, a solar eclipse is the occultation ...
occultism: various theories and practices involving a belief in and knowledge or use of supernatural forces or beings. Such beliefs and practices-principally magical or divinatory-have occurred in all human societies throughout ...
occupational disease: any illness associated with a particular occupation or industry. Such diseases result from a variety of biological, chemical, physical, and psychological factors that are present in the work environment or ...
occupational therapy: use of self-care and work and play activities to promote and maintain health, prevent disability, increase independent function, and enhance development. This form of therapy evolved from the recognition that ...
ocean: continuous body of salt water that is contained in enormous basins on the Earth's surface.
Ocean: county, east-central New Jersey, U.S., bounded by the Metedeconk River to the north, the Manasquan River to the northeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. It comprises a coastal ...