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safety: those activities that seek either to minimize or to eliminate hazardous conditions that can cause bodily injury. Safety precautions fall under two principal headings, occupational safety and public safety. Occupational ...
safety engineering: study of the causes and the prevention of accidental deaths and injuries. The field of safety engineering has not developed as a unified, specific discipline, and its practitioners have operated ...
safety glass: type of glass that, when struck, bulges or breaks into tiny, relatively harmless fragments rather than shattering into large, jagged pieces. Safety glass may be made in either of two ...
safety lamp: lighting device used in places, such as mines, in which there is danger from the explosion of flammable gas or dust. In the late 18th century a demand arose in ...
Safeway Inc.: leading U.S. supermarket chain, with stores in the United States and abroad. Its headquarters are in Pleasanton, California.
Saffarid Dynasty: Iranian dynasty of lower class origins that ruled a large area in eastern Iran. The dynasty's founder, Ya'qub ebn Leys as-Saffar ("the coppersmith"), took control of his native province, Seistan, ...
safflower: flowering annual plant, Carthamus tinctorius, of the Asteraceae (or Compositae) family; native to parts of Asia and Africa, from central India through the Middle East to the upper reaches of ...
Safford, Mary Jane: American physician whose extensive nursing experience during the Civil War determined her on a medical career.
saffron: purple-flowered saffron crocus, Crocus sativus, a bulbous perennial of the iris family (Iridaceae) treasured for its golden-coloured, pungent stigmas, which are dried and used to flavour and colour foods and ...
Saffron Walden: town ("parish"), Uttlesford district, in the northwest corner of the administrative and historic county of Essex, England. The settlement grew around a Norman castle and abbey in a district that ...
Safi: Atlantic port city, provincial capital, and province, Tensift region, western Morocco. Originally settled by the Canaanites, Safi city was, in turn, inhabited by Carthaginians (who named it Asfi), Romans, Jews, ...
Safi od-Din: mystic and founder of the Safavid order of mystics.
Safid Mountain Range: mountain range forming a natural frontier between Pakistan and Afghanistan, extending westward for 100 miles (160 km) from the Vale of Peshawar (Pakistan) to the Lowrah Valley (Afghanistan). The boundary ...
Safid River: longest river of northern Iran, rising 920 feet (280 m) in elevation and breaking through the Elburz Mountains in an impressive gorge 23 miles (37 km) long to emerge on ...
Safiye Sultan: the favourite consort of the Ottoman sultan Murad III (reigned 1574-95) and the mother of his son Mehmed III (reigned 1595-1603); she exercised a strong influence on Ottoman affairs during ...
Sag Harbor: resort village, Suffolk county, southeastern New York, U.S. It is situated in Southampton and East Hampton towns (townships), at the east end of Long Island on Gardiners Bay. Located on ...
saga: in medieval Icelandic literature, any type of story or history in prose, irrespective of the kind or nature of the narrative or the purposes for which it was written. Used ...
Saga: city and ken (prefecture), northern Kyushu, Japan. Saga was the castle town of the lord (daimyo) Nabeshima Kanso. Traces of feudal days remain in the town's thatched roofs and the ...
Sagadahoc: county, southwestern Maine, U.S. It has the smallest land area of any county in the state, consisting of a coastal region bounded to the southwest by the Androscoggin and New ...
Sagaing: town, central upper Myanmar (Burma), on the Irrawaddy River. It lies opposite the historical site of Ava and 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Mandalay. Once the capital of Myanmar ...
Sagamihara: city, Kanagawa ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, on the Sagamihara Plateau. In the late 1930s a Japanese army camp in the surrounding sericultural region helped to unite neighbouring towns into Sagamihara, ...
Sagan, Carl: American astronomer and science writer.
Sagan, Francoise: French novelist and dramatist who wrote her first and best-known novel, the international best-seller Bonjour Tristesse (1954), when she was 19 years old.
Sagar: city, central Madhya Pradesh state, central India. Sagar was founded by Udan Singh in 1660 and was constituted a municipality in 1867. It is situated around a lake (Hindi: sagar). ...
Sagar Island: westernmost island of the Ganges delta, West Bengal state, northeastern India. It lies at the mouth of the Hooghly (Hugli) River (q.v.), an arm of which separates it from the ...
Sagasta, Praxedes Mateo: seven-time prime minister of Spain (1871-72, 1874, 1881-83, 1885-90, 1892-95, 1897-99, 1901-02).
sage: (Salvia officinalis), aromatic perennial herb of the family Lamiaceae (Labiatae) native to the Mediterranean region, cultivated for its leaves, which are used fresh or dried as a flavouring in many ...
Sage, Margaret Olivia Slocum: American philanthropist whose exceptional generosity in her lifetime, especially to numerous educational and social causes, is continued by the Russell Sage Foundation, which she established.
Sage, Russell: American financier who played a part in organizing his country's railroad and telegraph systems.
sagebrush: any of various shrubby species of the genus Artemisia of the composite family (Asteraceae). They are native to semiarid plains and mountain slopes of western North America. The common sagebrush ...
Sager, Ruth: American geneticist chiefly noted for recognizing the importance of nonchromosomal genes.
Saginaw: city, seat (1835) of Saginaw county, east-central Michigan, U.S. It lies at the head of navigation on the Saginaw River (leading to Saginaw Bay in Lake Huron), 96 miles (154 ...
Saginaw Bay: southwestern arm of Lake Huron in eastern Michigan, U.S. It extends southwest for 51 miles (82 km) from its entrance between Au Sable Point (northwest) and Pointe Aux Barques (southeast) ...
Sagittarius: (Latin: "Archer"), in astronomy, zodiacal constellation lying between Capricornus and Scorpius, at about 19 hours right ascension (the coordinate on the celestial sphere analogous to longitude on the Earth) and ...
Sagittarius A: strongest source of cosmic radio waves from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius. The source has been identified as the nucleus of the Milky Way Galaxy. Most of the radio ...
sago: food starch prepared from carbohydrate material stored in the trunks of several palms, the main sources being Metroxylon rumphii and M. sagu, sago palms native to the Indonesian archipelago.
Sagua la Grande: city, north-central Villa Clara provincia, north-central Cuba. Lying on the Sagua la Grande River, 15 miles (24 km) from its mouth, the city is a major port and regional manufacturing ...
saguaro: (Cereus giganteus), large cactus, family Cactaceae, native to Mexico and Arizona and California in the United States. By authorities who split the genus Cereus into smaller genera, the name is ...
Saguaro National Park: mountain and desert region in southern Arizona, U.S. The park-consisting of two districts, Saguaro West and Saguaro East, separated by the city of Tucson-embraces forests of saguaro: a giant candelabra-shaped ...
Saguenay River: river in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region, south central Quebec province, Canada, draining Lac-Saint-Jean into the St. Lawrence River at Tadoussac, about 120 mi (190 km) northeast of Quebec city. Flowing east-southeast, the ...
Saguia el Hamra: northern region of the Western Sahara, West Africa. Stretching between Cabo (cape) Bojador and the de jure Moroccan border, its area is 31,660 sq mi (82,310 sq km). After Spain ...
Sagunto: town, Valencia province, in the autonomous community (region) of Valencia, eastern Spain, at the foot of the Penas de Pajarito, on the western bank of the Rio Palancia, just north-northeast ...
Saha, Meghnad N.: Indian astrophysicist noted for his development in 1920 of the thermal ionization equation, which, in the form perfected by the British astrophysicist Edward A. Milne, has remained fundamental in all ...
Sahaptin: group of North American Indian tribes inhabiting what is now southeastern Washington, northeastern Oregon, and west-central Idaho, in the basin of the Columbia River and its tributaries, and speaking related ...
Sahara: largest desert in the world. Filling nearly all of northern Africa, it measures approximately 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometres) from east to west and between 800 and 1,200 miles from north ...
Saharan Atlas: part of the chain of Atlas Mountains, extending across northern Africa from Algeria into Tunisia. The principal ranges from west to east are the Ksour, Amour, Ouled-Nail, Zab, Aures, and ...
Saharan languages: group of languages that constitutes one of the major divisions of Nilo-Saharan languages. Saharan languages are spoken mainly around Lake Chad-which is located at the conjunction of Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria, ...
Saharanpur: town, northwestern Uttar Pradesh state, northern India, situated at the junction of several roads and rail lines. Saharanpur was founded about 1340 and is named for Shah Haran Chishti, a ...
Saharsa: town, northeastern Bihar state, northeastern India. The town is a major rail and road hub and has an electric power station. It was constituted a municipality in 1961.
Sahel: semiarid region of western and north-central Africa extending from Senegal eastward to The Sudan. It forms a transitional zone between the arid Sahara (desert) to the north and the belt ...
Sahgal, Nayantara: Indian journalist and novelist whose fiction presents the personal crises of India's elite amid settings of political upheaval.
Sahibdin: an outstanding Indian artist of the Mewar school of Rajasthani painting (see Mewar painting). He is one of the few Rajasthani artists whose name is known, and his work dominated ...
Sahil, As-: coastal plain in the eastern Mediterranean littoral of Tunisia, comprising a sandy coast with large bays and lagoons of the Mediterranean and situated between the sea and the steppe country ...
Sahiwal: city, east-central Punjab province, east-central Pakistan. The city was founded in 1865 and named for Sir Robert Montgomery, then lieutenant governor of the Punjab. It is connected by rail and ...
Sahle Selassie: ruler (1813-47) of the kingdom of Shewa (Shoa), Ethiopia. He was the grandfather of Emperor Menilek II (reigned 1889-1913) and the great-grandfather of Emperor Haile Selassie I. His name means ...
Saho: language spoken by several peoples, most of whom inhabit the coastal plains of southern Eritrea. Saho is generally classified as an Eastern Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic (formerly Hamito-Semitic) language ...
Sahuayo: city, northwestern Michoacan estado ("state"), west-central Mexico. It lies on the central plateau, at 5,085 feet (1,550 m) above sea level. Although the climate is temperate, rainfall is only moderate. ...
Sahul Shelf: submarine stable structural shelf or platform of the ocean floor, extending from the north coast of Australia to the island of New Guinea. A continental shelf, it was once above ...
Sai Ong Hue: ruler (1700?-35) of the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang which, during his reign, was divided into two rival kingdoms at Vientiane and Luang Prabang.
Saicho: posthumous name Dengyo Daishi monk who established the Tendai sect of Buddhism in Japan.
Said, Edward: Palestinian American academic, political activist, and literary critic who examined literature in light of social and cultural politics and was an outspoken proponent of the political rights of the Palestinian ...
Saidpur: city, northwestern Bangladesh. A jute-processing and export centre, it is a major railway terminus containing large railway workshops. It has a college affiliated with the University of Rajshahi. Pop. (2001) ...
saiga: (Saiga tatarica), medium-sized hoofed mammal, family Bovidae (order Artiodactyla), that lives in herds in treeless steppe country. Once common from Poland to western Mongolia, it was greatly reduced by hunting ...
Saigo Takamori: a leader in the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate who later rebelled against the weaknesses he saw in the Imperial government that he had helped to restore. Although his participation ...
Saigon River: river in southern Vietnam that rises near Phum Daung, southeastern Cambodia, and flows south and south-southeast for about 140 miles (225 km). In its lower course it embraces Ho Chi ...
Saigon, Treaty of: (June 1862), agreement by which France achieved its initial foothold on the Indochinese Peninsula. The treaty was signed by the last precolonial emperor of Vietnam, Tu Duc, and was ratified ...
Saigyo: Japanese Buddhist priest-poet, one of the greatest masters of the tanka (a traditional Japanese poetic form), whose life and works became the subject matter of many narratives, plays, and puppet ...
Saijo: city, Ehime ken (prefecture), Shikoku, Japan, in the Kamo River delta. A castle town in the 17th century, it served later as a local administrative and commercial centre. The construction ...
Saiki: city, Oita ken (prefecture), Kyushu, Japan, facing Saiki Bay. It developed as a castle town on the small delta of the Banjo River during the Muromachi era (1338-1573) and came ...
sail: an extent of fabric (such as canvas) by means of which wind is used to propel a ship through water.
Sailer, Anton: Austrian Alpine skier who, in the 1956 Olympic Winter Games held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, was the first to sweep the gold medals in the Alpine competition, which at that ...
sailfish: (genus Istiophorus), valued food and game fish of the family Istiophoridae (order Perciformes) found in warm and temperate waters around the world. The sailfish has a long, rounded spear extending ...
sailing: the sport or pastime of cruising or racing in a sailboat or, more generally, in any large craft propelled by either sail or motor. See yacht.
Saimaa, Lake: lake in southeastern Finland. It lies just northwest of the Russian border and is northeast of Helsinki. It has an area of 443 sq mi (1,147 sq km) and is ...
saint: a holy person believed to have a special relationship to the sacred as well as moral perfection or exceptional teaching abilities. The phenomenon is widespread in the religions of the ...
Saint Abb's Head: promontory on the North Sea in the Scottish Borders council area, historic county of Berwickshire, southeastern Scotland. It is located about 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, England. ...