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Royal Danish Ballet ... ruddy turnstone

Royal Danish Ballet: ballet troupe founded as the resident company of the Royal Theatre of Copenhagen in 1748. It was developed principally by the ballet masters Pierre Laurent, who established the company's school ...
Royal Dutch/Shell Group: one of the world's largest corporate entities in sales, consisting of companies in more than 100 countries, whose shares are owned by NV Koninklijke Nederlandsche Petroleum Maatschappij (Royal Dutch Petroleum ...
Royal Exchange: former financial institution in the City of London. It was a forum for the transactions of London merchants and traders, who had previously conducted their business dealings in the street ...
Royal Geographical Society: British group founded as the Geographical Society of London in 1830. Its headquarters are in the borough of Westminster, next to Royal Albert Hall. It originated in the Raleigh Travellers' ...
Royal Greenwich Observatory: astronomical observatory and, until its closure in 1998, the oldest scientific research institution in Great Britain. It was founded for navigational purposes in 1675 by King Charles II of England ...
Royal Leamington Spa: town, Warwick district, administrative and historic county of Warwickshire, England. It lies along the River Leam, which is a tributary of the River Avon. The 900-year-old Midland Oak, 2 miles ...
Royal National Theatre: a partly subsidized complex of British theatre companies that was formed in 1962. It was given a permanent home at the South Bank arts complex in the Greater London borough ...
Royal Navy, The: naval military organization of the United Kingdom, charged with the national defense at sea, protection of shipping, and fulfillment of international military agreements.
Royal Niger Company: 19th-century British mercantile company that operated in the lower valley of the Niger River in West Africa. It extended British influence in what later became Nigeria.
Royal Oak: city, Oakland county, southeastern Michigan, U.S., a residential northern suburb of Detroit. First settled in 1819, it may have been named for an oak in Scotland under which, according to ...
Royal Ontario Museum: art collection located in Toronto. Established in 1912 and opened to the public in 1914, the museum is especially known for its collections of Chinese and ancient Egyptian art, American ...
royal poinciana: (species Delonix regia), strikingly beautiful flowering tree of the pea family (Fabaceae). Though native to Madagascar, it has been widely planted elsewhere in frost-free regions for its scarlet to orange ...
Royal Rotterdam Zoological Garden Foundation: zoological garden in Rotterdam, Neth., that was opened in 1887 by a private zoological society. It was essentially the outgrowth of the private collection of two railway workers who kept ...
Royal Shakespeare Company: English theatrical company with a long history of Shakespearean performance. The company is based in Stratford-upon-Avon, where it maintains three venues-the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, the Swan Theatre (fashioned after the ...
Royal Society: the oldest national scientific society in the world and the leading national organization for the promotion of scientific research in Britain. The Royal Society originated on November 28, 1660, when ...
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences: independent nongovernmental organization headquartered in Stockholm and primarily composed of Swedish members. The main goal of the academy is to promote scientific research and defend the freedom of science.
Royal Tunbridge Wells: town within the borough of Tunbridge Wells (q.v.).
Royal Ulster Constabulary: state police force in Northern Ireland, established in 1922. The RUC had a paramilitary character until 1970, when the force was remodeled along the lines of police forces in Great ...
Royal Victorian Order: British order of knighthood instituted by Queen Victoria in 1896 to reward personal services rendered the monarch. As it is a family order, conferment of this honour is solely at ...
Royal Winnipeg Ballet: preeminent Canadian ballet company that was the first to be designated "royal" (1953). Originating in Winnipeg's Ballet Club, established in 1938 by Gweneth Lloyd and Betty Farrally, the group staged ...
Royall, Anne Newport: traveler and writer and one of the very first American newspaperwomen.
royalty: in law, the payment made to the owners of certain types of rights by those who are permitted by the owners to exercise the rights. The rights concerned are literary, ...
Royce, Josiah: versatile Idealist philosopher and teacher whose emphasis on individuality and will, rather than intellect, strongly influenced 20th-century philosophy in the United States.
Royce, Sir Henry, Baronet: English industrialist who was one of the founders of Rolls-Royce Ltd., manufacturer of luxury automobiles and airplane engines.
Royer-Collard, Pierre-Paul: French statesman and philosopher, a moderate partisan of the Revolution who became a liberal Legitimist and the exponent of a realist "philosophy of perception."
Royster, Vermont: American journalist and editor of The Wall Street Journal and president (1960-71) of its publishing company, Dow Jones & Company. He was famed for his editorials, which, in the words ...
Rozanov, Vasily Vasilyevich: Russian writer known for his unorthodox religious ideas and for the exceptional originality and individuality of his prose works.
Rozelle, Pete: American sports executive who, as commissioner of the National Football League (NFL) from 1960 to 1989, oversaw a period of enormous growth for professional gridiron football. He negotiated lucrative deals ...
Rozewicz, Tadeusz: Polish poet and playwright, one of the leading writers of the post-World War II period.
Roztocze: range of hills in east-central Poland. The Roztocze rises from the Lublin Uplands and extends southeastward across the border into Ukraine. Low and rolling, the range is approximately 100 miles ...
Rozwi: former Karanga empire in southern Africa. The empire was probably established by Changamire Dombo I (1684-95), who conquered some of the most fertile and mineral-rich areas and drove the Portuguese ...
Ru kiln: kiln known for creating highly prized Chinese stoneware. The Ru kiln produced ware for a short period during the years when Northern Song emperors Zhezong (1085-1110) and Huizong (1110-1125) ruled.
RU-486: first trade name for mifepristone, a synthetic steroid drug prescribed for inducing abortion during the early weeks of pregnancy. The name is derived from an abbreviation for the pharmaceutical company ...
Ruacana: site of an important hydroelectric-power station and a diversion dam directly above the Ruacana Falls, on the Kunene River at the border between Angola and Namibia. The Ruacana Dam and ...
Ruaha National Park: national park, west of Iringa town in south-central Tanzania. The park is located at an elevation of 2,500 to 5,200 feet (750 to 1,900 m) and covers an area of ...
Ruan Ji: eccentric Chinese poet and most renowned member of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, a group of 3rd-century poets and philosophers who sought refuge from worldly pressures in a ...
Ruanda-Urundi: twin territory in central East Africa that was administered by Belgium from 1922 to 1962 and which thereafter became the independent states of Rwanda and Burundi (qq.v.). After World War ...
Ruapehu, Mount: active volcano and highest peak (9,176 feet [2,797 m]) on North Island, New Zealand, in Tongariro National Park. Mount Ruapehu is situated on the Taupo Plateau, which rises 2,000 to ...
Rub' al-Khali: vast desert in the southern Arabian Peninsula, covering about 250,000 square miles (650,000 square km) in a structural basin lying mainly in southeastern Saudi Arabia, with lesser portions in Yemen, ...
rubato: (from Italian rubare, "to rob"), in music, subtle rhythmic manipulation and nuance in performance. For greater musical expression, the performer may stretch certain beats, measures, or phrases and compact others. ...
rubber: elastic substance obtained from the exudations of certain tropical plants (natural rubber) or derived from petroleum and natural gas (synthetic rubber).
Rubbia, Carlo: Italian physicist who in 1984 shared with Simon van der Meer the Nobel Prize for Physics for the discovery of the massive, short-lived subatomic W particle and Z particle. These ...
rubbing: one of the most universal and perhaps the oldest of the techniques used in printmaking. Rubbings are made by carefully pressing paper onto a carved or incised surface so that ...
rubble masonry: the use of undressed, rough stone, generally in the construction of walls. Dry-stone random rubble walls, for which rough stones are piled up without mortar, are the most basic form. ...
rubella: viral disease that runs a mild and benign course in most people. Although rubella is not usually a serious illness in children or adults, it can cause birth defects or ...
Rubenist: any of the artists and critics who championed the sovereignty of colour over design and drawing in the "quarrel" of colour versus drawing that broke out in the French Royal ...
Rubens, Peter Paul: Flemish painter who was the greatest exponent of Baroque painting's dynamism, vitality, and sensuous exuberance. Though his masterpieces include portraits and landscapes, Rubens is perhaps best known for his religious ...
Rubiaceae: the madder family of the Rubiales order of flowering plants, consisting of about 500 genera with more than 6,500 species of herbs, shrubs, and trees, distributed primarily in tropical areas ...
Rubicon: small stream that separated Cisalpine Gaul from Italy in the era of the Roman Republic. The movement of Julius Caesar's forces over the Rubicon into Italy in 49 BC violated ...
rubidium: (Rb), chemical element of Group Ia in the periodic table, the alkali metal group. Rubidium is the second most reactive metal and is very soft with a silvery-white lustre. It ...
rubidium-strontium dating: method of estimating the age of rocks, minerals, and meteorites from measurements of the amount of the stable isotope strontium-87 formed by the decay of the unstable isotope rubidium-87 that ...
Rubik, Erno: inventor of Rubik's Cube, a popular toy of the 1980s. Rubik's Cube consists of 26 small cubes that rotate on a central axis; nine coloured cube faces, in three rows ...
Rubin's test: diagnostic method for determining whether the fallopian tubes in the human female are occluded. (The fallopian tubes are slender hollow structures on each side of the uterus through which the ...
Rubini, Giovanni Battista: Italian tenor remembered as the major early exponent of the Romantic style of Vincenzo Bellini and Gaetano Donizetti.
Rubinstein, Anton: Russian composer and one of the greatest pianists of the 19th century.
Rubinstein, Artur: Polish-American virtuoso pianist regarded by many as the 20th century's foremost interpreter of the repertoire.
Rubinstein, Helena: cosmetician, business executive, and philanthropist. She founded Helena Rubinstein, Inc., a leading manufacturer and distributor of women's cosmetics.
Rubinstein, Ida: exceptionally beautiful dancer, actress, and patron of the performing arts.
Rubizhne: city, Luhansk oblast (province), eastern Ukraine, on the Donets River. The settlement dates from the 18th century and was incorporated in 1934. Rubizhne has an engineering industry and, with Lysychansk ...
ruble: the monetary unit of Russia (and the former Soviet Union) and Belarus (spelled rubel).
Rublyov, Andrey: one of the greatest medieval Russian painters, whose masterpiece is a magnificent icon of "The Old Testament Trinity," now in the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
rubrication: in calligraphy and typography, the use of handwriting or type of a different colour on a page, derived from the practice of setting off liturgical directions, headings of statutes, and ...
Rubtsovsk: city, Altay kray (region), west central Russia, on the Aley River and the Turk-Sib Railway. It is the centre of an important region of mining nonferrous ores. The city manufactures ...
ruby: gemstone composed of transparent red corundum (q.v.), a mineral form of aluminum oxide, Al₂O₃. Its colour varies from deep cochineal to pale rose red, in some cases with a tinge ...
ruby glass: deep-red glass deriving its colour from gold chloride. Originally known in the ancient world, its rediscovery was long sought by European alchemists and glassmakers, who believed it had curative properties. ...
ruby silver: either of two silver-containing minerals, proustite and pyrargyrite (qq.v.).
ruby spinel: natural or synthetic gem-quality spinel (q.v.; magnesium aluminum oxide) that resembles ruby. The two natural gems are generally found together in gem gravels, to the extent that spinel has been ...
Rucellai, Palazzo: early Renaissance palace in Florence, designed c. 1445-70 by Leon Battista Alberti for the Rucellai, a wealthy Tuscan mercantile family. Alberti's overriding concern with balance and proportion is evident in ...
Ruckers, Hans, The Elder: most famous of all harpsichord makers and founder of a dynasty of Flemish instrument makers whose harpsichords provided an important model for later north European builders.
Ruckert, Friedrich: German prolific poet known for his facility with many different verse forms.
Ruda Slaska: city, Slaskie wojewodztwo (province), south-central Poland, in the heart of the Upper Silesia coal-mining region. An old industrial city, Ruda Slaska was founded in the Middle Ages ...
Rudaki: the first poet of note to compose poems in the "New Persian," written in Arabic alphabet, widely regarded as the father of Persian poetry.
rudd: (Scardinius erythrophthalmus), stout-bodied freshwater sport fish of the carp family, Cyprinidae, similar to the related roach, but more golden, with yellow-orange eyes, deep red fins, and a sharp-edged belly. The ...
Rudd, Steele: novelist, playwright, and short-story writer whose comic characters are a well-known part of Australia's literary heritage.
rudder: part of the steering apparatus of a boat or ship that is fastened outside the hull, usually at the stern. The most common form consists of a nearly flat, smooth ...
ruddy turnstone: shorebird species of the genus Arenaria. See turnstone.