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rein orchid: any of about 100 species of terrestrial orchids of the genus Habenaria, family Orchidaceae, found in grasslands, bogs, forests, and sand dunes in subtropical and warm temperate areas of both ...
reincarnation: in religion and philosophy, rebirth of the soul in one or more successive existences, which may be human, animal, or, in some instances, vegetable. While belief in reincarnation is most ...
reindeer: species of deer (family Cervidae) found in the Arctic tundra and adjacent boreal forests of Greenland, Scandinavia, Russia, Alaska, and Canada. Reindeer have been domesticated in Europe. There are two ...
Reindeer Lake: lake in northern Canada, straddling the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border, near the northern limit of the coniferous forest. At an elevation of 1,106 feet (337 m), it is 2,568 square miles (6,650 ...
reindeer moss: (Cladonia rangiferina), a fruticose (bushy, branched) lichen found in great abundance in Arctic lands. It is an erect, many-branched plant that grows up to 8 cm high, covers immense areas, ...
reindeer sacrifice: magico-religious practice observed by various Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic northern European and Asian peoples. The rite, which inaugurated their annual hunting season, consisted primarily of submerging a young doe in ...
Reinecke, Carl: German pianist, composer, conductor, and teacher who sought, in his works and teaching, to preserve the Classical tradition in the late 19th century.
Reiner, Fritz: Hungarian-born American conductor known for his technical precision and control, both in symphonic music and in opera. He was especially known for his work with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, of ...
Reines, Frederick: American physicist who was awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize for Physics for his discovery 40 years earlier, together with his colleague Clyde L. Cowan, Jr., of the subatomic particle called ...
Reinhard, Hans: statesman and burgomaster of Zurich who headed the federal government six times and led the Swiss delegation at the Congress of Vienna (1814-15).
Reinhardt, Ad: American painter who painted in several abstract styles and influenced the Minimalist artists of the 1960s.
Reinhardt, Django: guitarist who is generally considered one of the few European jazz musicians of true originality.
Reinhardt, Max: one of the first theatrical directors to achieve widespread recognition as a major creative artist, working in Berlin, Salzburg, New York City, and Hollywood. He helped found the annual Salzburg ...
Reinheim: small village near Saarbrucken in Saarland Land (state), southwestern Germany. It is famous for an unusually rich Celtic grave found there in 1954. The grave, which may have belonged to ...
Reinkens, Joseph Hubert: German bishop, historical scholar, and a leader of the Old Catholics (Altkatholiken), a dissident group that separated from the Roman Catholic church because of opposition to the doctrine of papal ...
Reinmar Von Hagenau: German poet whose delicate and subtle verses constitute the ultimate refinement of the classical, or "pure," minnesang (Middle High German love lyric).
Reinsurance Treaty: (June 18, 1887), a secret agreement between Germany and Russia arranged by the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck after the German-Austrian-Russian Dreikaiserbund, or Three Emperors' League, collapsed in 1887 because ...
Reis, Johann Philipp: German physicist who constructed a precursor of the electric telephone.
Reischauer, Edwin O.: American historian, diplomat, and educator and a leading expert on Asian, particularly Japanese, affairs.
Reiske, Johann Jakob: preeminent 18th-century European scholar of Arabic literature whose commentary to his Abulfedae Annales Moslemici, 5 vol. (1754; "Abulfeda Muslim Annals"), laid the foundation for Arabic historical scholarship.
Reisner, George Andrew: U.S. archaeologist who directed many excavations in Egypt and Nubia (Nilotic Sudan) and discovered the tomb of Queen Hetepheres, mother of King Khufu (Cheops), builder of the Great Pyramid at ...
Reiss, Winold: German-born American artist known for his portraits of Native Americans and African Americans.
Reiter syndrome: disorder characterized by arthritis and sometimes inflammation of the eye, urogenital tract, or mucous membranes that is typically triggered by a sexually transmitted disease or a gastrointestinal infection. Presumably, Reiter ...
Reith, John Charles Walsham Reith, 1st Baron: a principal architect of the modern pattern of publicly owned but independent corporations in Great Britain.
Reitsch, Hanna: aviator who was the leading female German pilot in the 20th century.
Reiyu-kai: (Japanese: Association of the Friends of the Spirit), Japanese lay religion based on the teachings of the Nichiren school of Buddhism. The Reiyu-kai was founded in 1925 by Kubo Kakutaro, ...
Reizei Tamechika: Japanese painter of the late Tokugawa period (1603-1867) whose talent and efforts contributed a great deal to the revival of the traditional Yamato-e (paintings stressing Japanese themes and techniques as ...
Rejang: tribe inhabiting Bengkulu province, southern Sumatra, Indonesia, on the upper course of the Musi River. Of Proto-Malay stock and numbering about 238,000 in the late 20th century, they speak a ...
Rejlander, O.G.: Swedish painter and photographer who is known as the "father of art photography."
rejoneo: a form of bullfighting in which the principal fighter, the rejoneador, is mounted on a highly trained horse and uses a rejon, a short, ...
relapsing fever: infectious disease characterized by recurring episodes of fever separated by periods of relative well-being and caused by spirochetes, or spiral-shaped bacteria, of the genus Borrelia. The spirochetes ...
relative aperture: the measure of the light-gathering power of an optical system. It is expressed in different ways according to the instrument involved. The relative aperture for a microscope is called the ...
relative humidity: ratio of the actual vapour pressure of water in the air to that in air saturated with water vapour; it is often expressed as a percentage. See humidity.
relativistic mass: in the special theory of relativity, the mass that is assigned to a body in motion. In physical theories prior to special relativity, the momentum p and energy E assigned ...
relativistic mechanics: science concerned with the motion of bodies whose relative velocities approach the speed of light c, or whose kinetic energies are comparable with the product of their masses m and ...
relativity: wide-ranging physical theories formed by the German-born physicist Albert Einstein. With his theories of special relativity (1905) and general relativity (1916), Einstein overthrew many assumptions underlying earlier physical theories, redefining ...
relaxation phenomenon: in physics and chemistry, an effect related to the delay between the application of an external stress to a system and its response. It may occur in nuclear, atomic, and ...
relaxin: a hormone produced by the ovaries during pregnancy that causes pelvic and cervical expansion and relaxation. It inhibits muscular contractions of the uterus that would cause natural abortion of the ...
relay: in electricity, electromagnetic device for remote or automatic control of current in one (relay) circuit, using the variation in current in another (energizing) circuit. For example, in a solenoid (q.v.) ...
relay race: a track-and-field sport consisting of a set number of stages (legs), usually four, each leg run by a different member of a team. The runner finishing one leg is usually ...
Reles, Abe: American killer and gangster who became a celebrated police informer in 1940-41.
relic: in religion, strictly, the mortal remains of a saint; in the broad sense, the term also includes any object that has been in contact with the saint. Among the major ...
relief: in finance, public or private aid to persons in economic need because of natural disasters, wars, economic upheaval, chronic unemployment, or other conditions that prevent self-sufficiency.
relief: in European feudalism, in a form of succession duty paid to an overlord by the heir of a deceased vassal. It became customary on the Continent by the Carolingian period ...
relief: (from Italian relievare, "to raise"), in sculpture, any work in which the figures project from a supporting background, usually a plane surface. Reliefs are classified according to the height of ...
relief printing: in art printmaking, a process consisting of cutting or etching a printing surface in such a way that all that remains of the original surface is the design to be ...
religion: human beings' relation to that which they regard as holy, sacred, spiritual, or divine. Religion is commonly regarded as consisting of a person's relation to God or to gods or ...
religion, philosophy of: the study, from a philosophical perspective, of the nature of religion and religious belief, including such specific questions as the existence and nature of God and the presence of evil ...
religion, study of: attempt to understand the various aspects of religion, especially through the use of other intellectual disciplines.
religions, classification of: the attempt to systematize and bring order to a vast range of knowledge about religious beliefs, practices, and institutions. It has been the goal of students of religion for many ...
religious dress: any attire, accoutrements, and markings used in religious rituals that may be corporate, domestic, or personal in nature. Such dress may comprise types of coverings all the way from the ...
religious experience: specific experiences such as wonder at the infinity of the cosmos, the sense of awe and mystery in the presence of the holy, feelings of dependence on a divine power ...
Religious Science: religious movement founded in the United States by Ernest Holmes (1887-1960). Holmes and his brother Fenwicke were drawn to New Thought teachings and to a belief in the power of ...
religious symbolism and iconography: respectively, the basic and often complex artistic forms and gestures used as a kind of key to convey religious concepts and the visual, auditory, and kinetic representations of religious ideas ...
religious syncretism: the fusion of diverse religious beliefs and practices. Instances of religious syncretism-as, for example, Gnosticism (a religious dualistic system that incorporated elements from the Oriental mystery religions), Judaism, Christianity, and ...
relish: vegetable side dish that is eaten in small quantities with a blander main dish to pique the appetite by its contrasting texture and spicy or piquant taste. Relishes are frequently ...
Relizane: town, northwestern Algeria, near Wadi Mina which is a tributary of the Chelif River. Built near the ruined Roman settlement of Mina, modern Relizane is a typical French-style town of ...
Relizian Stage: major division of Miocene rocks and time on the Pacific coast of North America (the Miocene epoch began 23.7 million years ago and ended 5.3 million years ago). The Relizian ...
rem: unit of radiation dosage (such as from X rays) applied to humans. Derived from the phrase Roentgen equivalent man, the rem is now defined as the dosage in rads that ...
Remagen: city, Rhineland-Palatinate Land (state), western Germany. It lies on the left bank of the Rhine River, southeast of Bonn. It originated as the Roman fortress Ricomagnus and has some Roman ...
remainder: in Anglo-American law, a future interest held by one person in the property of another, which, upon the happening of a certain event, will become his own. The holder of ...
Remak, Robert: German embryologist and neurologist who discovered and named (1842) the three germ layers of the early embryo: the ectoderm, the mesoderm, and the endoderm. He also discovered nonmedullated nerve fibres ...
remanent magnetism: the permanent magnetism in rocks, resulting from the orientation of the Earth's magnetic field at the time of rock formation in a past geological age. It is the source of ...
Remarque, Erich Maria: novelist who is chiefly remembered as the author of Im Westen nichts Neues (1929; All Quiet on the Western Front), which became perhaps the best-known and most representative novel dealing ...
Rembang: city and kabupaten (regency), Jawa Tengah propinsi (Central Java province), Java, Indonesia, located about 100 mi (160 km) northwest of Surabaya. A major port on the Java Sea, it is ...
Rembrandt van Rijn: Dutch painter and printmaker, one of the greatest storytellers in the history of art, possessing an exceptional ability to render people in their various moods and dramatic guises. Rembrandt is ...
remembrancer: English official who from medieval times compiled memorandum rolls and thus "reminded" the barons of the Exchequer (one of the king's courts) of business pending. There were at one time ...
Remick, Lee: American actress, known especially for portrayals of sensual, often erotic women in crisis.
Remigius of Reims, Saint: bishop of Reims who greatly advanced the cause of Christianity in France by his conversion of Clovis I, king of the Franks.
Remington, Eliphalet: U.S. firearms manufacturer and inventor.
Remington, Frederic: U.S. painter, illustrator, and sculptor noted for his realistic portrayals of life in the American West.
Remiremont: town, Vosges departement, Franche-Comte region, eastern France. It lies along the Moselle River near the latter's confluence with the Moselotte and is surrounded by wooded heights. Remiremont (Romaraci Mons) is ...
Remizidae: bird family (order Passeriformes) that contains the penduline tits and, usually, the verdin. Some authorities class the eight species of these birds as a subfamily of the titmouse family, Paridae. ...
Remizov, Aleksey Mikhaylovich: Symbolist writer whose works had a strong influence on Russian writers before and after the 1917 Revolution.
Remonstrant: any of the Dutch Protestants who, following the views of Jacobus Arminius, presented to the States-General in 1610 a "remonstrance" setting forth their points of divergence from stricter Calvinism. The ...
remora: any of 8-10 species of marine fishes of the family Echeneidae (order Perciformes) noted for attaching themselves to, and riding about on, sharks, other marine animals, and oceangoing ships. Remoras ...