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Sei Shonagon ... Selkirk, Alexander

Sei Shonagon: diarist and poet, a witty, learned lady of the court, whose Pillow Book (Makura no soshi), apart from its brilliant and original Japanese prose ...
sei whale: species of baleen whale capable of short bursts of speed that make it the swiftest of the rorquals. Usually attaining a length of about 13-15 metres (43-49 feet), this cetacean ...
Seibert, Florence: American scientist, best known for her contributions to the tuberculin test and to safety measures for intravenous drug therapy.
seiche: rhythmic oscillation of water in a lake or a partially enclosed coastal inlet, such as a bay, gulf, or harbour. A seiche may last from a few minutes to several ...
seif: a long, narrow sand dune or chain of dunes, generally oriented in a direction parallel to the prevailing wind or in a direction resulting from two or more winds blowing ...
Seifert, Jaroslav: poet and journalist who in 1984 became the first Czech to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
seigneur, droit du: (French: "right of the lord"), a feudal right said to have existed in medieval Europe giving the lord to whom it belonged the right to sleep the first night with ...
seigniorage: the charge over and above the expenses of coinage (making into coins) that is deducted from the bullion brought to a mint to be coined. From early times, coinage was ...
Seikan Tunnel: undersea tunnel linking Japan's main island of Honshu with the northern neighbouring island of Hokkaido. The Seikan Tunnel is the longest tunnel in the world; it is 33.4 miles (53.8 ...
Seine River: river of France, after the Loire its longest. It rises 18 miles (30 kilometres) northwest of Dijon and flows in a northwesterly direction through Paris before emptying into the English ...
Seine Series: division of Precambrian rocks that occur in Ontario and northern Minnesota (the Precambrian began about 3.96 billion years ago and ended 540 million years ago). The Seine Series, named for ...
Seipel, Ignaz: Roman Catholic priest, twice chancellor of Austria (1922-24 and 1926-29), whose use of the Fascist paramilitary Heimwehr in his struggle against Austria's Social Democrats led to a strengthening of Fascism ...
seisin: in European feudal society, a type of possession that gained credibility with the passage of time. Seisin was not ownership nor was it mere possession that could be established by ...
seismic survey: method of investigating subterranean structure, particularly as related to exploration for petroleum, natural gas, and mineral deposits. The technique is based on determinations of the time interval that elapses between ...
seismic wave: vibration generated by an earthquake, explosion, or similar energetic source and propagated within the Earth or along its surface. Earthquakes generate four principal types of elastic waves; two, known as ...
seismograph: instrument that makes a record of seismic waves caused by an earthquake, explosion, or other Earth-shaking phenomenon. Seismographs are equipped with electromagnetic sensors that translate ground motions into electrical changes, ...
seismology: scientific discipline that is concerned with the study of earthquakes and of the propagation of seismic waves within the Earth. A branch of geophysics, it has provided much information about ...
Seitz, Karl: politician, acting head of Austria (1919-20) after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and longtime Socialist mayor of Vienna (1923-34).
Seixal: town in Setubal distrito ("district"), southeast of central Lisbon, Portugal. The town lies across the mar de palha ("straw sea") of the Tagus (Tejo) River and is connected to Lisbon ...
seizing: means of fastening together two spars, two ropes, or two parts of the same rope by means of a third rope. Two parts of the same rope may be thus ...
Sejanus, Lucius Aelius: chief administrator of the Roman Empire for the emperor Tiberius, alleged murderer of Tiberius' only son, Drusus Caesar, and suspect in a plot to overthrow Tiberius and become emperor himself.
Sejarah Melayu: one of the finest literary and historical works in the Malay language. Concerning the Malaccan sultanate, it was composed sometime in the 15th or 16th century. The original text, written ...
Sejong: monarch of the Yi dynasty during whose reign (1419-50) cultural achievements in Korea reached their highest point. Sejong is best known for his development of Hangul (han'gul), a phonetic system ...
Sekani: a nearly extinct Athabascan-speaking Indian tribe that lived mostly in river valleys on both the western and the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains in what is now British Columbia ...
Sekhmet: in Egyptian religion, a goddess of war and the destroyer of the enemies of the sun god Re. Sekhmet was associated both with disease and with healing and medicine. Like ...
Seki Takakazu: the most important figure of the wasan ("Japanese calculation") tradition (see mathematics, East Asian: Japan in the 17th century) that flourished from the early 17th century until ...
Sekigahara, Battle of: (Oct. 20, 1600), in Japanese history, conflict that established the hegemony of the Tokugawa family, a hegemony that lasted until 1868.
Sekondi-Takoradi: port city on the Gulf of Guinea (Atlantic Ocean), southern Ghana. Both the Dutch and British built forts at Sekondi in the 17th century that were destroyed by the Ahanta. ...
seladang: Malayan wild cattle, a species of gaur (q.v.).
Selaginella: genus of plants that are commonly known as spike moss (q.v.).
Selangor: region of western West Malaysia (Malaya), occupying part of a coastal alluvial plain on the Strait of Malacca. In 1974, a 94-square-mile (243-square-kilometre) portion of Selangor, centring on Kuala Lumpur, ...
Selangor Civil War: (1867-73), series of conflicts initially between Malay chiefs but later involving Chinese secret societies for control of tin-rich districts in Selangor.
Selayar: largest of an island group off the southwestern tip of Celebes (Sulawesi), constituting Selayar kabupaten (regency), administered from Makasar as part of Sulawesi Selatan provinsi ("province"), Indonesia. The other islands ...
Selberg, Atle: Norwegian-born mathematician who was awarded the Fields Medal in 1950 for his work in number theory. In 1986 he won the Wolf Prize.
Selborne, Roundell Palmer, 1st Earl of, Viscount Wolmer Of Blackmoor, Baron Selborne Of Selborne: British lord high chancellor (1872-74, 1880-85) who almost singlehandedly drafted a comprehensive judicial-reform measure, the Supreme Court of Judicature Act of 1873. Under this statute, the complex duality of English ...
Selborne, William Waldegrave Palmer, 2nd Earl of, Viscount Wolmer Of Blackmoor, Baron Selborne Of Selborne: first lord of the Admiralty (1900-05) in Great Britain and high commissioner for South Africa (1905-10), who helped initiate the rebuilding of the fleet into a force strong enough to ...
Selby: town and district, administrative county of North Yorkshire, historic county of Yorkshire, England, just south of York. It lies mainly in the floodplain of the Rivers Aire and Ouse.
Selden, John: legal antiquarian, Orientalist, and politician who was the leading figure in the Antiquarian Society, the centre of English historical research during the 17th century.
Selebi-Phikwe: mining town, eastern Botswana. Selebi-Phikwe is located 62 miles (100 km) southeast of Francistown. Situated in the centre of a large copper-nickel mine and a smelter complex, it was one ...
selection: in biology, the preferential survival and reproduction or preferential elimination of individuals with certain genotypes (genetic compositions), by means of natural or artificial controlling factors.
selection coefficient: in genetics, a measure of the relative reduction in the contribution that a particular genotype (genetic composition) makes to the gametes (sex cells) as compared with another genotype in the ...
selection rule: in quantum mechanics, any of a set of restrictions governing the likelihood that a physical system will change from one state to another or will be unable to make such ...
Selene: in Greek and Roman religion, the personification of the moon as a goddess. She was worshiped at the new and full moons. Her parents were the Titans Hyperion and Theia; ...
Selenga River: river in Mongolia and east-central Russia. It is formed by the confluence of the Ider and Delger rivers. It is Mongolia's principal river and is the most substantial source of ...
selenite: a crystalline variety of the mineral gypsum (q.v.).
selenium: a chemical element in the oxygen family (Group VIa) of the periodic table, closely allied in chemical and physical properties with the elements sulfur and tellurium.
selenium cell: photoelectric device used to generate or control an electric current. Selenium photocells are commonly used in photographic-exposure meters, burglar alarms, electronic-door opening and counting devices, electronic control systems in factory ...
Seleucia on the Tigris: Hellenistic city founded by Seleucus I Nicator (reigned 312-281 BC) as his eastern capital; it replaced Babylon as Mesopotamia's leading city and was closely associated with the spread of Hellenistic ...
Seleucia Pieria: in ancient Syria, port of Antioch and frontier fortress on the Cilician border (near modern Samandag, Turkey), 4 miles (6 km) north of the mouth of the Orontes River. With ...
Seleucia Tracheotis: city in Cilicia (in present-day southern Turkey), on the Calycadnus River (modern Goksu Nehri), a few miles from that stream's mouth; the site was doubtless selected as a protection against ...
Seleucid kingdom: (312-64 BC), an ancient empire that at its greatest extent stretched from Thrace in Europe to the border of India. It was carved out of the remains of Alexander the ...
Seleucus I Nicator: Macedonian army officer, founder of the Seleucid kingdom. In the struggles following the death of Alexander the Great, he rose from governor of Babylon to king of an empire centring ...
Seleucus II Callinicus: fourth king (reigned 246-225) of the Seleucid dynasty, son of Antiochus II Theos.
Seleucus III, Soter: fifth king (reigned 225-223 BC) of the Seleucid dynasty, elder son of Seleucus II Callinicus.
Seleucus IV Philopator: seventh king (reigned 187-175 BC) of the Seleucid dynasty, son of Antiochus III the Great.
self: the "I" as experienced by an individual. In modern psychology the notion of the self has replaced earlier conceptions of the soul.
self-defense: in criminal law, justification for inflicting serious harm on another person on the ground that the harm was inflicted as a means of protecting oneself.
self-determination: the process by which a group of people, usually possessing a certain degree of national consciousness, form their own state and choose their own government. As a political principle, the ...
self-fertilization: fusion of male and female gametes (sex cells) produced by the same individual. Self-fertilization occurs in bisexual organisms, including most flowering plants, numerous protozoans, and many invertebrates. Autogamy, the production ...
self-incrimination: in law, the giving of evidence that might tend to expose the witness to punishment for crime. The term is generally used in relation to the privilege of refusing to ...
Self-Realization Fellowship: spiritual society founded in the United States by Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952), a teacher of yoga, who was one of the first Indian spiritual teachers to reside permanently in the West. ...
Selfoss: village, southwestern Iceland, 30 miles (48 km) east-southeast of Reykjavik. It lies on the Olfusa River, about 5 miles (8 km) from the Atlantic Ocean. An agricultural market and dairying ...
Selfridge, Harry Gordon: founder of Selfridges department store in London.
Seligman, C.G.: a pioneer in British anthropology who conducted significant field research in Melanesia, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and, most importantly, the Nilotic Sudan.
Seligman, Edwin Robert Anderson: American economist and educator, an expert on taxation.
selihoth: ("pardons"), in Jewish liturgy, penitential prayers originally composed for Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) and for fast days but subsequently incorporated into other services. Selihoth have become an indispensable part ...
Selim I: Ottoman sultan (1512-20) who extended the empire to Syria, the Hejaz, and Egypt and raised the Ottomans to leadership of the Muslim world.
Selim II: Ottoman sultan from 1566, whose reign saw peace in Europe and Asia and the rise of the Ottomans to dominance in the Mediterranean but marked the beginning of the decline ...
Selim III: Ottoman sultan from 1789 to 1807, who undertook a program of Westernization and whose reign felt the intellectual and political ferment created by the French Revolution.
Selim, Mosque of: in Edirne, Tur., mosque, considered to be the masterwork of the great Ottoman architect Sinan, completed in 1575. The sanctuary is a large square space, covered by a dome supported ...
Selinus: ancient Greek city on the southern coast of Sicily, 8 miles (13 km) southeast of modern Castelvetrano. It is famous for its ruined Doric temples.
Seljuq: ruling military family of the Oguz (Ghuzz) Turkmen tribes that invaded southwestern Asia in the 11th century and eventually founded an empire that included Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, and most of ...
Selkirk: town, southeastern Manitoba, Canada. It lies just northeast of Winnipeg, on the Red River near its influx into Lake Winnipeg, at the head of deepwater navigation. It is the lake's ...
Selkirk: royal burgh (town), Scottish Borders council area, historic county of Selkirkshire, Scotland, lying on a hillside overlooking the river known as Ettrick Water. A Benedictine abbey founded in the early ...
Selkirk Mountains: major subdivision of the Columbia Mountains, extending for 200 miles (320 km) in a southeasterly arc, mostly in British Columbia, Canada, and just across the U.S. border into northern Idaho ...
Selkirk, Alexander: Scottish sailor who was the prototype of the marooned traveler in Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe (1719).