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torticollis ... Tourneur, Cyril

torticollis: abnormality in which the head is pulled to one side and twisted so that the chin points to the other side. In infants the most common causes include congenital shortening ...
tortilla: round, thin, flat bread of Mexico made from unleavened cornmeal or, less commonly, wheat flour. Traditionally the corn (maize) for tortillas was boiled with unslaked lime to soften the kernels ...
tortoise: any of the land-dwelling turtles of the family Testudinidae; in Great Britain the name refers to any nonmarine turtle. The land-dwelling tortoises are exclusively terrestrial, vegetarian reptiles. In folklore these ...
tortoise beetle: any member of more than 3,000 beetle species that resemble a turtle because of the forward and sideways extensions of the body. Tortoise beetles range between 5 and 12 mm ...
tortoiseshell: ornamental material obtained from the curved horny shields forming the shell of the hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata). The marbled, varicoloured pattern and deep translucence of the plates have long been ...
tortoiseshell ware: earthenware with variegated, surface colour made in Staffordshire, England, in the 18th century. It was a subdivision of the "clouded" (agate) ware made about 1755-60 at Staffordshire, especially by Thomas ...
Tortola: largest of the British Virgin Islands, part of the Lesser Antilles chain, which separates the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Its name is from the Spanish tortola ...
Tortona: town and episcopal see, Alessandria provincia, Piemonte (Piedmont) regione, northwestern Italy, on the Scrivia River, east of the city of Alessandria. Founded by the Ligurians, it became a Roman colony ...
Tortosa: city, Tarragona provincia, in the comunidad autonoma ("autonomous community") of Catalonia, northeastern Spain, on the Ebro River, southwest of the city of Tarragona. Tortosa originated as the Dertosa of the ...
Tortuga Island: Caribbean island off the northern coast of Haiti opposite Port-de-Paix. European adventurers settled Tortuga (Spanish: "Turtle") in 1629, in conjunction with trying to establish a foothold on the neighbouring island ...
torture: the infliction of excruciating physical or psychological pain for such reasons as punishment, intimidation, coercion, the extraction of a confession, or the obtainment of information. Throughout history, governments have used ...
Torun: city, one of two capitals (with Bydgoszcz) of Kujawsko-Pomorskie wojewodztwo (province), north-central Poland, on the Vistula River. A river port, rail and road junction, and cultural centre, ...
Torvill, Jayne; and Dean, Christopher: English figure skaters who revolutionized the sport of ice dancing. At the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (now in Bosnia and Herzegovina), Torvill and Dean's now famous ice dancing ...
Tory, Geoffroy: publisher, printer, author, orthographic reformer, and prolific engraver who was mainly responsible for the French Renaissance style of book decoration and who played a leading part in popularizing in France ...
Torzhok: city, Tver oblast (province), western Russia, on the Tvertsa River, 37 miles (60 km) west of Tver. The first recorded mention of Torzhok dates from 1139. In the 14th century ...
Tosa Mitsunobu: painter generally regarded as the founder of the Tosa school of Japanese painting.
Tosa Mitsuoki: Japanese painter of the early Edo period (1603-1867) who revived the Tosa school of painting (founded in the 15th century and devoted to the Yamato-e, or paintings specializing in subject ...
Tosa school: hereditary school of Japanese artists, consisting of members of the Tosa clan and other artists adopted into the clan, forming an official school contemporary with that of the Kano family. ...
tosafot: (Hebrew: "additions"), critical remarks and notes on selective passages of the Talmud that were written mostly by unknown Jewish scholars in Germany, in Italy, and especially in France during the ...
Toscanini, Arturo: Italian conductor, considered one of the great virtuoso conductors of the first half of the 20th century.
Tosefta: (Aramaic: Supplement, or Addition), a collection of oral traditions related to Jewish oral law. In form and content the Tosefta is quite similar to the Mishna, the first authoritative codification ...
Tosh, Peter: Jamaican singer-songwriter and a founding member of the Wailers, a popular reggae band of the 1960s and early 1970s.
Toshiba Corporation: major Japanese manufacturer of electrical and electronics products for consumers and industry. Headquarters are in Tokyo.
Toshusai Sharaku: one of the most original Japanese artists of the Ukiyo-e movement (paintings and prints of the "floating world").
Tostig, Earl Of Northumbria: Anglo-Saxon earl who became a mortal enemy of his brother Earl Harold, who became King Harold II of England.
Tosu: city, Saga ken (prefecture), Kyushu, Japan, in the Tsukushi Plain, on the Chikugo River. It was a post town for centuries, connecting northern Kyushu and the Nagasaki area until the ...
TOTAL Compagnie Francaise des Petroles: one of the world's major petrochemical companies. It was formed in Paris on March 28, 1924, on the initiative of the French government but administered wholly by private interests. TOTAL ...
total internal reflection: in physics, complete reflection of a ray of light within a medium such as water or glass from the surrounding surfaces back into the medium. The phenomenon occurs if the ...
total war: military conflict in which the contenders are willing to make any sacrifice in lives and other resources to obtain a complete victory, as distinguished from limited war. Throughout history, limitations ...
totalitarianism: form of government that theoretically permits no individual freedom and that seeks to subordinate all aspects of the individual's life to the authority of the government. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini ...
totem pole: carved and painted log, mounted vertically, constructed by the Indians of the Northwest Coast of the United States and Canada. There are seven principal kinds of totem pole: memorial, or ...
totemism: system of belief in which humans are believed to have kinship with a totem or a mystical relationship is said to exist between a group or an individual and a ...
Totila: Ostrogoth king who recovered most of central and southern Italy, which had been conquered by the Eastern Roman Empire in 540.
Totnes: town ("parish"), South Hams district, administrative and historic county of Devon, England, on the River Dart. Totnes dates from Saxon times and is listed in Domesday Book (1086). Its earliest ...
Totnes, George Carew, earl of: also called (1586-1605) Sir George Carew, or (1605-26) Baron Carew Of Clopton English soldier, administrator, and antiquary noted for his service in Ireland during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I ...
Toto: Italian comic, most popular for his film characterization of an unsmiling but sympathetic bourgeois figure, likened by international film critics to the American film comic Buster Keaton.
Totonac: Middle American Indian population of east-central Mexico. Totonac culture is in many ways similar to other Middle American cultures, but it possesses certain features not seen elsewhere in Middle America ...
Totonicapan: city, west-central Guatemala, at 8,200 feet (2,500 m) above sea level. One of Guatemala's largest cities, Totonicapan has a population composed largely of Maya Indians. Before the European conquest, it ...
Totowa: borough (town), Passaic county, northeastern New Jersey, U.S., west of Paterson, on the west bank of the Passaic River. During the American Revolution, American troops were encamped here, and the ...
Tottori: ken (prefecture), western Honshu, Japan, occupying 1,348 square miles (3,492 square km) along the Sea of Japan. The coastal plain is bounded (south) by the Chugoku Range. The mountains, including ...
Tou-liu: town and seat of Yun-lin hsien (county), west-central Taiwan. It is located 85 miles (137 km) northeast of Kao-hsiung city in the middle of the western coastal ...
Touat: oasis group, west-central Algeria. Situated along the Wadi Messaoud (called Wadi Saoura farther north), the Touat oases are strung beadlike in a northwest-southeast orientation west of the Plateau of Tademait. ...
Touba: town, west-central Senegal, West Africa. The town takes its name from the Grand Mosquee of the Murid sect, the largest Muslim sect in Senegal. Most of the sect's members are ...
Toubkal, Mount: mountain peak that is the highest point (13,665 feet [4,165 m]) in Morocco and in the Atlas Mountains. The peak is situated 40 miles (60 km) south of Marrakech (Marrakesh) ...
toucan: the common name given to numerous species of tropical American forest birds known for their large and strikingly coloured bills. The term toucan is used in the common name of ...
toucanet: any of about 12 species of small and relatively short-billed toucans of the genera Aulacorhynchus and Selenidera, 25-35 cm (10-14 inches) long, belonging to the toucan family, Ramphastidae. Mainly green ...
touch reception: perception by an animal when in contact with a solid object. Two types of receptors are common: tactile hairs and subcutaneous receptors.
touchstone: black siliceous stone used to ascertain the purity of gold and silver. Assaying by "touch" was one of the earliest methods employed to assess the quality of precious metals. The ...
Touggourt: chief town of the Wadi R'Hir region, northeastern Algeria. It lies in the Wadi Igharghar Valley with sand dunes and chotts (salt lakes) to the north and south and small ...
Tougue: town, north-central Guinea, western Africa, on the Fouta Djallon plateau. It is a trading centre (rice, millet, oranges, cattle, and goats) among the Fulani (Peul) people in a savanna region. ...
Touhy, Roger: Chicago-area bootlegger, brewer, and gambling boss during the Prohibition era.
Toul: town, Meurthe-et-Moselle departement, Lorraine region, northeastern France. It lies between the left bank of the Moselle River and the Marne au Rhin Canal, 12 miles (19 km) west of Nancy. ...
Toulmin, Stephen Edelston: English philosopher and educator noted for his study of the history of ideas. He was concerned with describing prescriptive language-that is, imperative sentences and value judgments used for ethical statements-while ...
Toulon: town and port, capital of Var departement, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region, southeastern France. It is France's principal naval base and has an arsenal, the most ...
Toulon, Siege of: (Aug. 28-Dec. 19, 1793), military engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars, in which the young artillery officer Napoleon Bonaparte won his first military reputation by forcing the withdrawal of the ...
Toulouse: medieval county of southern France from the 8th to the 13th century. The countship can be dated from AD 778, when Charlemagne attempted to create bulwarks against the Muslims of ...
Toulouse: city, capital, Haute-Garonne departement, Midi-Pyrenees region, France, at the junction of the Canal Lateral a la Garonne and the Canal du Midi, where the Garonne River curves northwest from the ...
Toulouse I, II, and III, Universities of: three autonomous coeducational state institutions of higher learning founded at Toulouse, Fr., in 1970 under the 1968 law reforming higher education, to replace the former University of Toulouse founded in ...
Toulouse, Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, comte de: (count of) French admiral general, a son of Louis XIV and his mistress Mme de Montespan.
Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri de: French artist who observed and documented with great psychological insight the personalities and facets of Parisian night life and the French world of entertainment in the 1890s (see ). His ...
Toungoo: town, south-central Myanmar (Burma). Located on the right bank of the Sittang River, it was founded as Ketumadi in 1510 by King Minkyinyo and was capital of the Toungoo dynasty ...
Toungoo Dynasty: ruling house in Myanmar (Burma) from the 15th or 16th to the 18th century, whose reign is known as the Second Burmese Empire. King Minkyinyo (1486-1531) of Toungoo is usually ...
toupee: originally, any raised roll of hair just above the forehead, either natural or artificial; today, a small hairpiece generally covering a bald spot. The toupee developed during the 18th century, ...
Tour de France: the world's most prestigious and most difficult bicycle race; of the three foremost races (the others being the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana), the Tour de France attracts ...
tour en l'air: (French: "turn in the air"), in ballet, a complete single, double, or triple turn in the air, usually beginning from and ending in the fifth position (the feet are turned ...
Touraine: historical and cultural region encompassing the central French departement of Indre-et-Loire and coextensive with the former province of Touraine. The historical province of Touraine was bounded northeast by Orleanais, southeast ...
Tourcoing: town, Nord departement, Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, northern France, just northeast of Lille and near the Belgian frontier. Sheep were grazed on this portion of the plain of Flanders long before the ...
Toure, Sekou: first president of the Republic of Guinea (1958-84) and a leading African politician.
Tourette syndrome: rare inherited neurological disease characterized by recurrent motor and phonic tics (involuntary muscle spasms and vocalizations). It is three times more prevalent in males than in females. Although the cause ...
Tourist Trophy races: best known and most demanding of the European motorcycle races. First run in 1907 on the Isle of Man off the northwestern coast of England, the race attracted many riders ...
tourmaline: borosilicate mineral of complex and variable composition. Three types of tourmaline, distinguished by the predominance of certain elements, are usually recognized: iron tourmaline (schorl), black in colour; magnesium tourmaline (dravite), ...
Tournai: municipality, Hainaut province, southwestern Belgium. It lies along the Schelde (Scheldt, or Escaut) River, northwest of Mons. Tournai has changed hands many times. As Turnacum, it was important in Roman ...
Tournai porcelain: porcelain made from about the mid-18th to the mid-19th century at a factory in Tournai, Belg. Several styles prevailed: figures in fanciful landscapes, cupids, and other decorative motifs were outlined ...
tournament: series of military exercises, probably of medieval French origin and confined to western Europe, in which knights fought one another to display their skill and courage. Tournaments had become more ...
Tournefort, Joseph Pitton de: French botanist and physician, a pioneer in systematic botany, whose system of plant classification represented a major advance in his day and remains, in some respects, valid to the present ...
Tourneur, Cyril: English dramatist whose reputation rests largely upon The Atheist's Tragedie, which is written in verse that is rich in macabre imagery.