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Worthing ... Wu school
Worthing
borough (district), administrative county of West Sussex, historic county of Sussex, England, on the English Channel. Road and railway links to London, 58 miles (93 km) northwest, have spurred Worthing's ...
Worthington
city, Franklin county, central Ohio, U.S. It lies along the Olentangy River and is a northern suburb of Columbus. Planned in 1803 by the Scioto Land Company, it was first ...
Wotruba, Fritz
Austrian sculptor of spare, architectonic images of the human form.
Wottle, Dave
American runner who won a gold medal at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.
Wotton, Sir Henry
English poet, diplomat, and art connoisseur who was a friend of Donne and Milton.
Wouk, Herman
U.S. novelist best known for his epic war novels.
wound
a break in the continuity of any bodily tissue due to violence, where violence is understood to encompass any action of external agency, including, for example, surgery. Within this general ...
Wounded Knee
hamlet and creek on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota, U.S. It was the site of two conflicts between North American Indians and representatives of the U.S. ...
Wouri River
stream in southwestern Cameroon whose estuary on the Atlantic Ocean is the site of Douala, the country's major industrial centre and port. Two headstreams-the Nkam and the Makombe-join to form ...
Wouwerman, Philips
Dutch Baroque painter of animals, landscapes, and genre scenes, best known for his studies of horses.
Wovoka
American Indian religious leader who spawned the second messianic Ghost Dance cult, which swept the reservations in about 1890.
WPA Federal Art Project
first major attempt at government patronage of the visual arts in the United States and the most extensive and influential of the visual arts projects conceived during the Depression of ...
WPA Federal Theatre Project
national theatre project sponsored and funded by the U.S. government as part of the Works Projects Administration (WPA). The purpose was to create jobs for unemployed theatrical people in the ...
WPA Federal Writers' Project
a program established in the United States in 1935 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) as part of the New Deal struggle against the Great Depression. It provided jobs for ...
Wrangel Island
Chukchi autonomous okrug (district), far northeastern Russia, in the Arctic Ocean, separating the East Siberian Sea from the Chukchi Sea. The long, narrow island is about 78 miles (125 km) ...
Wrangel, Ferdinand Petrovich
Russian explorer who completed the mapping of the northeastern coast of Siberia (1820-24). Wrangel Island off the Siberian coast was named in his honour.
Wrangel, Karl Gustav, Greve
(Count) Swedish soldier who succeeded Lennart Torstenson as Swedish military and naval commander during the Thirty Years' War (1618-48) and subsequent Baltic conflicts.
Wrangel, Pyotr Nikolayevich, Baron
general who led the "White" (anti-Bolshevik) forces in the final phase of the Russian Civil War (1918-20).
Wrangell Mountains
segment of the Pacific Coast Ranges (see Pacific mountain system), southeastern Alaska, U.S. The mountains are named for Ferdinand P. Wrangel, a 19th-century Russian explorer. Roughly 60 miles (100 km) ...
Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve
national park and preserve in southeastern Alaska, U.S., on the Canadian border adjoining Kluane National Park and Reserve in Yukon Territory. Proclaimed a national monument in 1978, the area was ...
wrasse
any of 300 or more species of marine fishes of the family Labridae (order Perciformes). Wrasses range from about 5 centimetres (2 inches) to 2 metres (6.5 feet) or more ...
wreath
circular garland, usually woven of flowers, leaves, and foliage, that traditionally indicates honour or celebration. The wreath in ancient Egypt was most popular in the form of a chaplet made ...
wreckfish
large, grayish fish of the family Percichthyidae (order Perciformes), found in the Mediterranean and in both sides of the Atlantic, generally in offshore waters. The wreckfish is deep-bodied, with a ...
Wrede, Karl Philipp, Furst von
(prince of) Bavarian field marshal, allied with Napoleon until 1813, when he joined the coalition against France.
wren
family name Troglodytidae, any of 59 species of small, chunky, brownish birds (order Passeriformes). The family originated in the Western Hemisphere and only one species, Troglodytes troglodytes, which breeds ...
Wren, Sir Christopher
designer, astronomer, geometrician, and the greatest English architect of his time. Wren designed 53 London churches, including St. Paul's Cathedral, as well as many secular buildings of note. He was ...
wren-babbler
any of about 20 species of small Asian birds belonging to the babbler family Timaliidae (order Passeriformes). They are 10 to 15 centimetres (4 to 6 inches) long, rather short-tailed, ...
wren-warbler
any of a number of Old World warblers, family Sylviidae (order Passeriformes), that are wrenlike in carrying their tails cocked up. The name also denotes certain birds of the family ...
wrench
tool, usually operated by hand, for tightening bolts and nuts. Basically, a wrench consists of a stout lever with a notch at one or both ends for gripping the bolt ...
wrenthrush
(Zeledonia coronata), bird of the rain forests of Costa Rica and Panama. It resembles the wren in size (11 cm, or 4.5 inches), in being brownish and short-tailed, and in ...
wrentit
(species Chamaea fasciata), bird of the Pacific coast of North America, believed by some authorities to be the only New World member of the babbler family Timaliidae (order Passeriformes), but ...
wrestling
sport practiced in various styles by two competitors, involving forcing an opponent to touch the ground with some part of the body other than his feet; forcing him into a ...
Wrexham
county borough, northeastern Wales, along the English border. It covers a lowland area in the east, where most of the population lives, and includes the peaks of Esclusham, Ruabon, and ...
Wrexham
town, Wrexham county borough, historic county of Denbighshire (Sir Ddinbych), Wales. It is an industrial centre, a market centre, and the principal town of northeastern Wales.
Wright flyer of 1903
first powered airplane to demonstrate sustained flight under the full control of the pilot. Designed and built by Wilbur and Orville Wright in Dayton, Ohio, it was assembled in the ...
Wright flyer of 1905
third powered airplane designed, built, and flown by Wilbur and Orville Wright. It represented the final step in their quest for a practical airplane capable of staying aloft for extended ...
Wright glider of 1902
biplane glider designed and built by Wilbur and Orville Wright in Dayton, Ohio, during the late summer of 1902. Tested during the autumn of 1902 and again in 1903 at ...
Wright military flyer of 1909
airplane built by Wilbur and Orville Wright and sold to the U.S. Army Signal Corps in July 1909. It was the world's first military airplane. For the Wright brothers, it ...
Wright, Benjamin
American engineer who directed the construction of the Erie Canal. Because he trained so many engineers on that project, Wright has been called the "father of American engineering."
Wright, Frances
Scottish-born American social reformer whose revolutionary views on religion, education, marriage, birth control, and other matters made her both a popular author and lecturer and a target of vilification.
Wright, Frank Lloyd
architect and writer, the most abundantly creative genius of American architecture. His "Prairie style" became the basis of 20th-century residential design in the United States.
Wright, James
American poet of the postmodern era who wrote about sorrow, salvation, and self-revelation, often drawing on his native Ohio River valley for images of nature and industry. In 1972 he ...
Wright, James C, Jr.
American politician and legislator who became speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives in 1986 but had to resign from office in 1989 owing to charges of financial improprieties.
Wright, Joseph
English painter who was a pioneer in the artistic treatment of industrial subjects. He was also the best European painter of artificial light of his day.
Wright, Judith
Australian poet whose verse, thoroughly modern in idiom, is noted for skillful technique.
Wright, Laura Maria Sheldon
American missionary who devoted her energies unstintingly to the education and welfare of the Seneca people, honouring their culture while assisting in their adjustment to reservation life.
Wright, Mickey
American golfer whose record-setting play made her one of the dominant players of her time.
Wright, Patience
American sculptor of wax figures who achieved fame in the American colonies and England.
Wright, Quincy
American political scientist and authority on international law known for classic studies of war and international relations.
Wright, Richard
novelist and short-story writer, who was among the first black American writers to protest white treatment of blacks, notably in his novel Native Son (1940) and his autobiography, Black Boy ...
Wright, Sewall
American geneticist, one of the founders of population genetics. He was the brother of the political scientist Quincy Wright.
Wright, Sir Almroth Edward
British bacteriologist and immunologist best known for advancing vaccination through the use of autogenous vaccines (prepared from the bacteria harboured by the patient) and through antityphoid immunization with typhoid bacilli ...
Wright, Warren
American financier, owner and breeder of Thoroughbred racehorses, and proprietor of Calumet Farm.
Wright, Wilbur and Orville
American brothers, inventors, and aviation pioneers who achieved the first powered, sustained, and controlled airplane flight (1903) and built and flew the first fully practical airplane (1905).
Wrigley, William, Jr.
American salesman and manufacturer whose company became the largest producer and distributor of chewing gum in the world.
wrist
complex joint between the five metacarpal bones of the hand and the radius and ulna bones of the forearm. The wrist is composed of eight or nine small, short bones ...
writ
in common law, order issued by a court in the name of a sovereign authority requiring the performance of a specific act. The most common modern writs are those, such ...
Writers' Union of the U.S.S.R.
organization formed in 1932 by a decree of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union that abolished existing literary organizations and absorbed all professional Soviet writers ...
writing
form of human communication by means of a set of visible marks that are related, by convention, to some particular structural level of language.
Wroclaw
city, capital of Dolnoslaskie wojewodztwo (province), southwestern Poland. It lies along the Oder River at its confluence with the Olawa, Sleza, Bystrzyca, and Widawa rivers. A large ...
wrought iron
one of the two forms in which iron is obtained by smelting; the other is cast iron (q.v.). Wrought iron is a soft, ductile, fibrous variety that is produced from ...
wrybill
(Anarhynchus frontalis), New Zealand bird of the plover family, Charadriidae (order Charadriiformes), with the bill curved about 20° to the right. This unique bill configuration is present even in the ...
wryneck
either of two species of birds that constitute the subfamily Jynginae of the woodpecker family (Picidae) but may be separated as the family Jyngidae. Wrynecks are gray-brown birds of open ...
Wu Changshuo
Chinese seal carver, painter, and calligrapher who was prominent in the early 20th century.
Wu Cheng'en
novelist and poet of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), generally acknowledged as the author of the Chinese folk novel Xiyouji (Journey to the West, also partially translated as ...
Wu Daoxuan
painter of the Chinese Tang dynasty (618-907) who was so praised by later critics that his contributions are almost buried in myth.
Wu Hou
woman who rose from concubinage to become empress of China during the Tang dynasty (618-907). She ruled effectively for many years, the last 15 (690-705) in her own name.
Wu hsing
(Chinese: Five Elements), in ancient Chinese cosmogony, the five basic components of the physical universe: earth, wood, metal, fire, and water. These elements were believed to destroy and succeed one ...
Wu Jingzi
author of the first Chinese satirical novel, Rulinwaishi (c. 1750; The Scholars).
Wu language
variety of Chinese spoken in southeastern Kiangsu Province and in Chekiang Province by more than 8 percent of the population of China. Major cities in which Wu is spoken include ...
Wu Li
Chinese painter who was a member of the orthodox school of "literati painting" (wenrenhua) in the early Qing period.
Wu Mountains
mountain complex on the borders of Hupeh, Szechwan, and Kweichow provinces, China. They are often referred to by Western writers as the Gorge Mountains, owing to the fact that the ...
Wu P'ei-fu
Chinese warlord who dominated Peking from 1917 to 1924.
Wu River
tributary of the Yangtze River in southern China. It rises in the hills of western Kweichow Province and flows east through narrow gorges between steep cliffs. It turns north at ...
Wu San-kuei
Chinese general who invited the Manchus of Manchuria into China and helped them establish the Ch'ing dynasty in 1644. Later, in southwest China, he led a revolt against the Ch'ing ...
Wu school
group of Chinese painters of the Ming dynasty active in the second half of the 15th and first half of the 16th centuries. They were scholar-artists who, in their "literati ...