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Seremban: town, West (Peninsular) Malaysia, on the Linggi River. It lies approximately 25 miles (40 km) inland from Port Dickson on the Strait of Malacca. The town originated as a tin-mining ...
serenade: originally, a nocturnal song of courtship, and later, beginning in the late 18th century, a short suite of instrumental pieces, similar to the divertimento, cassation, and notturno. An example of ...
serenata: form of 18th-century vocal music combining many features of cantata, oratorio, and opera. Although semidramatic in nature, the serenata was shorter and not as elaborately staged as opera; rather, it ...
Serendib: name for the island of Sri Lanka (Ceylon). The name, Arabic in origin, was recorded in use at least as early as AD 361 and for a time gained considerable ...
Serengeti National Park: national park and wildlife refuge on the Serengeti Plain in north-central Tanzania. It is partly adjacent to the Kenya border and is northwest of the adjoining Ngorongoro Conservation Area. It ...
Sereni, Vittorio: Italian poet, author, editor, and translator who was known for his lyric verse and for his translations into Italian of works by Pierre Corneille, Guillaume Apollinaire, Paul Valery, Rene Char, ...
Serer: group of more than one million people of western Senegal and The Gambia who speak a language also called Serer, an Atlantic branch of the Niger-Congo language family.
serfdom: condition in medieval Europe in which a tenant farmer was bound to a hereditary plot of land and to the will of his landlord. The vast majority of serfs in ...
serge: (from Latin serica, "silk"), fabric much-used for military uniforms, made in an even-sided twill weave and usually clear-finished-that is, the fibre ends on the surface of the cloth are sheared ...
sergeant at arms: an officer of a legislative body, court of law, or other organization who preserves order and executes commands. In feudal England a sergeant at arms was an armed officer of ...
sergeanty: in European feudal society, a form of land tenure granted in return for the performance of a specific service to the lord, whether the king or another. Sergeants included artisans, ...
Sergeyev, Konstantin Mikhailovich: Russian ballet dancer and director long associated with the Kirov (now Mariinsky) Ballet as a premier danseur (1930-61) and as both artistic director and chief choreographer (1951-55; 1960-70).
Sergeyev, Nicholas: Russian dancer and company manager of the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg, who re-created for several western European companies the many classical ballets that had been preserved in the Russian ...
Sergipe: smallest estado ("state") of Brazil, located on the southern coast of that country's northeastern bulge into the Atlantic Ocean. It is bounded on the east by the Atlantic, on the ...
Sergius: theologian and patriarch of Moscow and the Russian Orthodox church who, by his leadership in rallying the church membership in a united effort with the Soviet government to repel the ...
Sergius and Bacchus, Saints: among the earliest authenticated and most celebrated Christian martyrs, originally commemorated in the Eastern and Western churches.
Sergius I: Greek Orthodox theologian and patriarch of Constantinople (610-638), one of the most forceful and independent churchmen to hold that office, who not only supported the emperor Heraclius (610-641) in the ...
Sergius I, Saint: pope from 687 to 701, one of the most important 7th-century pontiffs.
Sergius II: pope from 844 to 847.
Sergius II: patriarch of Constantinople (1001-19) who claimed the title of "ecumenical patriarch" against the objections of the papacy. He also supported for a time the continuing schismatical movement begun in 867 ...
Sergius III: pope from 904 to 911, during a scandalous period of pontifical history.
Sergius IV: pope from 1009 to 1012. He became bishop of Albano, Papal States, about 1004. Elected to succeed Pope John XVIII, he was consecrated on July 31, 1009. He was powerless ...
Sergius of Radonezh, Saint: Russian Orthodox monk whose spiritual doctrine and social programs made him one of Russia's most respected spiritual leaders. His monastery of the Trinity became the Russian centre and symbol of ...
Sergiyev Posad: city, Moscow oblast (province), western Russia, northeast of Moscow city. The city developed around the fortified walls of the Trinity-St. Sergius monastery, which was founded there in 1337-40 by St. ...
Seri: a tribe of Mexican Indians who live on Tiburon Island in the Gulf of California and on the adjacent mainland in Sonora. Their language seems to be related to the ...
Seria: town, Brunei, on Borneo's South China Sea coast, southwest of Bandar Seri Begawan, the national capital. It is the centre of an important oil-producing area, including offshore wells. A pipeline ...
serial: a novel or other work appearing (as in a magazine) in parts at intervals. Novels written in the 19th century were commonly published as serials. Many works by Charles Dickens, ...
serialism: in music, technique that has been used in some musical compositions roughly since World War I. Strictly speaking, a serial pattern in music is merely one that repeats over and ...
sericite: fine-grained variety of either of the silicate minerals muscovite and paragonite (qq.v.).
seriema: South American bird of grasslands, constituting the family Cariamidae (order Gruiformes). There are two species, both restricted to southern-central South America. The red-legged, or crested, seriema (Cariama cristata), with long ...
serine: an amino acid obtainable by hydrolysis of most common proteins, sometimes constituting 5 to 10 percent by weight of the total product. First isolated in 1865 from sericin, a silk ...
Seringapatam: town, south-central Karnataka (formerly Mysore) state, southern India. It is situated at the western end of Seringapatam Island in the Cauvery River, just north-northeast of Mysore town. Named for its ...
Serkin, Peter: American pianist noted for his performances of classical and contemporary works.
Serkin, Rudolf: Austrian-born American pianist and teacher who concentrated on the music of J.S. Bach, W.A. Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, and Johannes Brahms.
Serling, Rod: American writer and producer of television dramas and screenplays.
Serlio, Sebastiano: Italian Mannerist architect, painter, and theorist, who introduced the principles of ancient Roman architecture into France.
Sermon on the Mount: a biblical collection of religious teachings and ethical sayings of Jesus of Nazareth, as found in Matthew, chapters 5-7. The sermon was addressed to disciples and a large crowd of ...
serological test: any of several laboratory procedures carried out on a sample of blood serum, the clear liquid that separates from the blood when it is allowed to clot. The purpose of ...
serotine: any of 23 species of vesper bats (family Vespertilionidae). Frequently, the name serotine is used for Old World members of the genus, and brown bat is used for New World ...
serotonin: a chemical substance that is derived from the amino acid tryptophan. It occurs in the brain, intestinal tissue, blood platelets, and mast cells and is a constituent of many venoms, ...
Serov: city, Sverdlovsk oblast (province), western Russia. It lies along the Kakva River, a tributary of the Sosva River. The city developed in the 1890s into the largest pre-Revolutionary ironworking centre ...
Serowe: village, east-central Botswana. It lies southwest of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and 30 miles (50 km) northwest of the Cape-to-Zimbabwe railway. Most of the country's inhabitants live in large centralized villages of ...
Serpa Pinto, Alexandre Alberto da Rocha de: Portuguese explorer and colonial administrator who crossed southern and central Africa on a difficult expedition and mapped the interior of the continent.
serpent: in music, a bass wind instrument sounded by the vibration of the lips against a cup mouthpiece. It was probably invented in 1590 by Edme Guillaume, a French canon of ...
serpentine: any of a group of hydrous magnesium-rich silicate minerals. The composition of these common rock-forming minerals approximates Mg₃Si₂O₅(OH)₄. Serpentine generally occurs in three polymorphs: chrysotile (q.v.), a fibrous variety used ...
serpentine verse: in poetry, a line of verse beginning and ending with the same word, as in the first line of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "Frater Ave Atque Vale":Row us out to Desenzano, ...
Serpotta, Giacomo: the outstanding member of a family of Italian sculptors and stuccoworkers. His methods for creating the illusion of perspective and his asymmetrical arrangements of two or more independent decorations became ...
Serpukhov: city, Moscow oblast (province), western Russia, on the Nara River at its confluence with the Oka. Founded in 1374 as a stronghold protecting Moscow from attack by the Tatars, who ...
Serra, Junipero, Blessed: Spanish Franciscan priest whose missionary work in North America earned him the title of Apostle of California.
Serrai: chief town and capital, nomos (department) of Serrai, Macedonia, northern Greece. Serrai is situated on the east bank of the fertile agricultural valley of the Struma River. The town was ...
Serrano: (Spanish: "Mountaineer"), groups of Indians speaking a Uto-Aztecan language and originally inhabiting a mountainous region of southern California (U.S.). One group, the Kitanemuk, lived in the drainage area of the ...
Serrano y Dominguez, Francisco, duque de la Torre: one of the chief military politicians of 19th-century Spain. He played an important part in the Revolution of 1868, which dethroned the Bourbon Spanish queen Isabella II.
Serravalle: town in the northeastern part of the Republic of San Marino. Serravalle is located on the Ausa Stream at an elevation of 485 feet (148 m) above sea level. It ...
Serre, Jean-Pierre: French mathematician who was awarded the Fields Medal in 1954 for his work in algebraic topology. See the table of Fields Medalists. In 2003 he ...
Sert, Jose Luis: Spanish-born American architect noted for his work in city planning and urban development.
sertao: (Portuguese: "backwoods," or "bush"), dry interior region of northeastern Brazil that is largely covered with caatingas (scrubby upland forests). Sertao is also used to refer to the sparsely populated wilderness ...
Sertorius, Quintus: Roman statesman and military commander who, defying the Roman Senate, became independent ruler of most of Spain for eight years.
serum albumin: protein that accounts for 55 percent of the total protein in blood plasma. Its major function is to help maintain the osmotic pressure between the blood vessels and tissues. Circulating ...
serum sickness: an allergic reaction to animal serum or antiserum injected into an individual's blood to provide immunity against such illnesses as tetanus, botulism, and snake-venom poisoning. Symptoms include skin eruption, itching, ...
Serusier, Paul: French artist who was a Postimpressionist painter and theorist.
serval: (Felis serval), long-limbed cat, family Felidae, found in Africa south of the Sahara, especially in grass- and bush-covered country near water. A swift, agile cat, the serval climbs and leaps ...
Servan-Schreiber, Jean-Jacques: French journalist and politician.
Servandoni, Giovanni Nicolo: theatrical designer and architect famous for his Baroque stage sets and for his proto-Neoclassical plan for the facade of the Church of St.-Sulpice in Paris (1732).
Servants of India Society: society founded by Gopal Krishna Gokhale in 1905 to unite and train Indians of different races and religions in welfare work. It was the first secular organization in that country ...
Servetus, Michael: Spanish physician and theologian whose unorthodox teachings led to his condemnation as a heretic by both Protestants and Roman Catholics and to his execution by Calvinists from Geneva.
service club: an organization, usually composed of business and professional men or women, that promotes fellowship among its members and is devoted to the principle of volunteer community service. The idea of ...
service industry: an industry in that part of the economy that creates services rather than tangible objects. Economists divide all economic activity into two broad categories, goods and services. Goods-producing industries are ...
Service, Elman Rogers: American anthropological theorist and formulator of the nomenclature now in standard use to categorize primitive societies as bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and states. Although widely accepted, the system was abandoned by ...
Service, Robert W.: popular verse writer called "the Canadian Kipling" for rollicking ballads of the "frozen North," notably "The Shooting of Dan McGrew."
ServiceMaster Company, The: American holding company specializing in home and commercial services such as lawn care and landscaping, cleaning, plumbing, home security, and home inspection. It is characterized by a philosophy that combines ...
Servilia: mistress of Julius Caesar, mother to his murderer Marcus Brutus, and one of the grandes dames of Rome's late republican period.
Servite: a Roman Catholic order of mendicant friars-religious men who lead a monastic life, including the choral recitation of the liturgical office, but do active work-founded in 1233 by a group ...
servitude: in Anglo-American property law, a device that ties rights and obligations to ownership or possession of land so that they run with the land to successive owners and occupiers.
Servius: Latin grammarian, commentator, and teacher, author of a valuable commentary on Virgil.
Servius Tullius: traditionally the sixth king of Rome, who is credited with the Servian Constitution, which divided citizens into five classes according to wealth. This attribution may be a reading back into ...
servomechanism: automatic device used to correct the performance of a mechanism by means of an error-sensing feedback. The term servomechanism properly applies only to systems in which the feedback and error-correction ...