Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Shop

0-9

Warrington ... Wasit

Warrington: urban area and unitary authority, geographic county of Cheshire, England. It lies along the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal between Liverpool and Manchester. The historic core of Warrington ...
Warriston, Archibald Johnston, Lord: Scottish Presbyterian who was a leading anti-Royalist during the English Civil Wars between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians. Later he became an official in Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth regime. He was ...
Warrnambool: city, southwestern Victoria, Australia, on Lady Bay, near the mouth of Hopkins River. The bay, too shallow for modern ships, was first visited in 1802 by Nicolas Baudin, a French ...
Warrumbungle Range: mountain chain in northern New South Wales, Australia. Extending northwest for 80 mi (130 km) and volcanic in origin, the massif rises abruptly from a plain to an average elevation ...
Wars of Yahweh, Book of the: lost document referred to and quoted in the Old Testament (Num. 21:14ff.). The book is probably a collection of early Israelite war songs including hymns of victory, curses, mocking songs, ...
Warsaw: city, capital of Poland. The city, which is an autonomous administrative unit, is located in the east-central part of the country.
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: resistance by Polish Jews under Nazi occupation in 1943 to the deportations from Warsaw to the Treblinka extermination camp. The revolt began on April 19, 1943, and was crushed four ...
Warsaw Pact: treaty establishing a mutual-defense organization (Warsaw Treaty Organization) composed originally of the Soviet Union and Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. (Albania withdrew in 1968, and East ...
Warsaw Uprising: (August-October 1944), insurrection in Warsaw during World War II by which Poles unsuccessfully tried to oust the German army and seize control of the city before it was occupied by ...
Warsaw, Compact of: (Jan. 28, 1573), charter that guaranteed absolute religious liberty to all non-Roman Catholics in Poland. After the death of Sigismund II Augustus (July 1572) had brought an end to the ...
Warsaw, Duchy of: independent Polish state created by Napoleon. It became a focal point of efforts to restore the Polish nation, which had been destroyed by the partitions of Poland made by Russia, ...
wart: a well-defined growth of varying shape and size on the skin surface, caused by a virus. Essentially an infectious, benign skin tumour, a wart is composed of an abnormal proliferation ...
wart cress: (genus Coronopus), any of 10 species of plants of the mustard family (Brassicaceae), native to dry parts of Eurasia and North America. Lesser swine cress (C. didymus), a coarse, tough ...
wart snake: (genus Acrochordus), either of two species of fish-eating aquatic snakes of the Far East, constituting the family Acrochordidae, which is sometimes considered a subfamily of the Colubridae. Wart snakes have ...
Warta River: river in west-central Poland, flowing 502 miles (808 km) north and west from its source near Zawiercie in the Silesian-Krakow uplands to its confluence with the Oder River at Kostrzyn ...
Wartburg: castle, renowned in German history and legend, standing on a steep hill overlooking the town of Eisenach, Thuringia, Germany. The hill was fortified as early as 1080. The landgrave Hermann ...
warthog: (Phacochoerus aethiopicus), member of the pig family, Suidae (order Artiodactyla), found in open and lightly forested areas of Africa. The warthog is a sparsely haired, large-headed, blackish or brown animal ...
Warton, Joseph: English critic and classical scholar who anticipated some of the critical tenets of Romanticism. His brother Thomas was poet laureate from 1785 to 1790.
Warton, Thomas, The Younger: poet laureate from 1785 and author of the first history of English poetry, brother of the poet and critic Joseph Warton, and son of Thomas Warton the Elder (1688?-1745), professor ...
Warwick: district in the central part of the administrative and historic county of Warwickshire, England. It lies on the southern fringe of the Midlands industrial region, just south of the industrial ...
Warwick: city, southeastern Queensland, Australia, on the Condamine River, in the southern Darling Downs. It became associated with sheep breeding in 1840 when Patrick Leslie, the area's first settler, who later ...
Warwick: city, Kent county, east-central Rhode Island, U.S., on the western shore of Narragansett Bay; it is basically a southern residential suburb of Providence comprising a group of about 20 scattered ...
Warwick: town ("parish"), Warwick district, administrative and historic county of Warwickshire, England, best known for its historic castle. Warwick originated at a crossing place on the River Avon and was fortified ...
Warwick, Richard Beauchamp, 5th Earl of: soldier and diplomatist, a knightly hero who served the English kings Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI.
Warwick, Richard Neville, 1st Earl of, 2nd Earl Of Salisbury: English nobleman called, since the 16th century, "the Kingmaker," in reference to his role as arbiter of royal power during the first half of the Wars of the Roses (1455-85) ...
Warwick, Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of, Baron Rich: English colonial administrator and advocate of religious toleration in the North American Colonies. As admiral of the fleet in 1642, he secured the adherence of the navy to the Parliamentary ...
Warwick, Thomas II de Beauchamp, 4th Earl of: one of the leaders in the resistance to England's king Richard II.
Warwickshire: administrative and historic county of England, in the Midlands region. As an administrative and geographic unit the county dates from the 10th century, with the historic county town (seat) of ...
Wasatch National Forest: in the Stansbury, Sheeprock, Wasatch, and Uinta mountains of Utah and Wyoming, U.S. Established in 1906, it has an area of 1,072,443 acres (434,002 hectares) in four divisions. The forest ...
Wasatch Range: segment of the south-central Rocky Mountains, extending southward for about 250 miles (400 km), from the bend of the Bear River in southeastern Idaho, U.S., to beyond Mount Nebo, near ...
Wase: town, Plateau state, east-central Nigeria, near the Wase River and at the intersection of roads from Bashar, Langtang, and Shendam. It was founded about 1820 by Hassan, a Fulani official ...
Waseda University: coeducational institution of higher learning founded in 1882 in Tokyo. The school is private but receives some government financing and is subject to some degree of government control. Originally known ...
Waser, Johann Heinrich: burgomaster (mayor) of Zurich and one of the most prominent Swiss political figures of the mid-17th century.
wash drawing: artwork in which a fine layer of colour-usually diluted ink, bistre (q.v.), or watercolour-is spread with a brush over a broad surface evenly enough so that no brush marks are ...
Wash, The: shallow bay of the North Sea, 15 mi (24 km) long and 12 mi wide, between the counties of Lincolnshire and Norfolk, England. It once extended as far inland as ...
Washakie: Shoshone chief who performed extraordinary acts of friendship for white settlers while exhibiting tremendous prowess as a warrior against his people's tribal enemies.
Washburn, Margaret Floy: American psychologist whose work at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie made it a leading institution in undergraduate psychological research and education.
Washburne, Carleton W.: American educator noted for his innovations in school programs known as the Winnetka Plan.
washer: machine component that is used in conjunction with a screw fastener such as a bolt and nut and that usually serves either to keep the screw from loosening or to ...
washing soda: sodium carbonate decahydrate, efflorescent crystals used for washing, especially textiles. It is a compound of sodium (q.v.).
Washington: county, central Vermont, U.S. It comprises a piedmont region in the east that rises up into the Green Mountains in the west. The Winooski River rises near the village of ...
Washington: constituent state of the United States of America. Lying at the northwest corner of the 48 coterminous states, it is bounded by the Canadian province of British Columbia on the ...
Washington: county, eastern Maine, U.S., bordered to the east by New Brunswick, Can. (the Chiputneticook Lakes, the St. Croix River, and Passamaquoddy Bay constituting the boundary), and to the south by ...
Washington: city, seat (1805) of Wilkes county, northeastern Georgia, U.S., roughly halfway between Athens and Augusta. First settled by the Stephen Heard family from Virginia in 1773, it was laid out ...
Washington: county, eastern New York state, U.S. It is bordered by Lake George to the northwest, Vermont to the northeast and east (Lake Champlain and the Poultney River constituting the northeastern ...
Washington: city, seat of Beaufort county, eastern North Carolina, U.S., along the Pamlico-Tar estuary just east of Greenville. Founded by Colonel James Bonner in 1771 and originally known as Forks of ...
Washington: town in Sunderland metropolitan borough, metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, historic county of Durham, England. It lies along the north side of the River Wear below Chester-le-Street. The site ...
Washington: county, northern Maryland, U.S., bounded by Pennsylvania to the north and the Potomac River (which constitutes the border with Virginia and West Virginia) to the south and southwest. The county ...
Washington: county, southwestern Rhode Island, U.S. It is bordered by Connecticut to the west, Narragansett Bay to the east, and Block Island Sound to the south and includes Block Island south ...
Washington: city, seat (1781) of Washington county, southwestern Pennsylvania, U.S. It lies 28 miles (45 km) southwest of Pittsburgh.
Washington: county, southwestern Pennsylvania, U.S., bordered by West Virginia to the west, Enlow Fork and Tenmile Creek to the south, and the Monongahela River to the east. It consists of a ...
Washington: city and capital of the United States of America. The city is coextensive with the District of Columbia and is located at the head of navigation of the Potomac River, ...
Washington and Lee University: private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Lexington, Virginia, U.S. The university, one of the oldest in the United States, comprises the College, the School of Law, and the Williams ...
Washington Conference: (1921-22), international conference called by the United States to limit the naval arms race and to work out security agreements in the Pacific area. Held in Washington, D.C., the conference ...
Washington Crossing State Park: two parks on the Pennsylvania and New Jersey shores of the Delaware River 8 miles (13 km) northwest of Trenton. The parks mark the site where, in a blinding snowstorm ...
Washington Monument: obelisk in Washington, D.C., honouring George Washington, the first president of the United States. Constructed of granite faced with Maryland marble, the structure is 55 feet (16.8 metres) square at ...
Washington National Cathedral: in Washington, D.C., Episcopal cathedral chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1893 and established on Mount St. Alban (the highest point in the city) in 1907. Its cornerstone was laid ...
Washington Post, The: morning daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the dominant newspaper in the U.S. capital and usually counted as one of the greatest newspapers in that country, equaled or excelled only ...
Washington State University: public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Pullman, Washington, U.S. It is Washington's land-grant university under the provisions of the Morrill Act of 1862. Washington State comprises a graduate school, ...
Washington University: private, coeducational institution of higher learning in St. Louis, Mo., U.S. It is a comprehensive research and academic institution, and it includes one of the leading research-centred medical schools in ...
Washington, Booker T: educator and reformer, first president and principal developer of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (now Tuskegee University), and the most influential spokesman for black Americans between 1895 and 1915.
Washington, Bushrod: associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1798 to 1829.
Washington, D.C., International: United States flat horse race attracting leading horses from all over the world. Instituted in 1952, it was the first such event in North America. The race is a 1.5-mile ...
Washington, Denzel: American actor celebrated for his engaging and powerful performances. Throughout his career he has been regularly praised by critics, and his consistent success at the box office helped to dispel ...
Washington, Dinah: black American blues singer noted for her excellent voice control and unique gospel-influenced delivery.
Washington, George: American general and commander in chief of the colonial armies in the American Revolution (1775-83) and subsequently first president of the United States (1789-97). (For a discussion of the history ...
Washington, Harold: American politician who gained national prominence as the first African American mayor of Chicago (1983-87).
Washington, Kenny: one of the first African American college gridiron football stars on the West Coast and one of two black players to reintegrate the National Football League (NFL) in 1946.
Washington, Martha: American first lady (1789-97), the wife of George Washington, first president of the United States and commander in chief of the colonial armies during the American Revolutionary War. She set ...
Washington, Mount: mountain in the Presidential Range, the highest (6,288 feet [1,917 metres]) peak of the White Mountains, New Hampshire, U.S. The peak is 23 miles (37 km) north-northwest of Conway. It ...
Washington, University of: public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Seattle, Washington, U.S. It includes colleges of architecture and urban planning, arts and sciences, education, engineering, forest resources, and ocean and fishery sciences; ...
Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historical Site: historic locality occupying nearly 300 acres (120 hectares) along the Brazos River, some 45 miles (72 km) northwest of Houston, in Washington county, Texas, U.S. Originating in 1821 as a ...
Washita River: river rising in the Texas Panhandle, northwestern Texas, U.S. It flows east across the Oklahoma boundary, then southeast to south-central Oklahoma, and south into Lake Texoma, formed by Denison Dam ...
Washo: American Indian people of the Great Basin region of North America, who made their home around Lake Tahoe just east of the Sierra Nevada. Their peak numerical strength before contact ...
Wasil ibn 'Ata': in full Wasil Ibn 'ata' Al-ghazzal, also called Abu Hudhayfah Muslim theologian considered the founder of the Mu'tazilah sect.
Wasit: military and commercial city of medieval Iraq, especially important during the Umayyad caliphate (661-750). Wasit was established as a military encampment in 702 on the Tigris River, between Basra and ...