# First Line

First Line:
A is the first letter of the English alphabet.


First Line:
A 1 is a term used to describe anything unusually good.


First Line:
Aachen (pop. 238,587) is an industrial city in Germany.


First Line:
Aalto, Alvar (1898-1976), was a Finnish architect, town planner, and furniture designer.


First Line:
Aardvark is an African mammal that lives in the ground and eats ants and termites.


First Line:
Aardwolf is an unusual type of hyena that lives on the plains of southern and eastern Africa.


First Line:
Aaron, in the Bible and in the Quran, was the brother of Moses and Miriam.


First Line:
Aaron, Henry (1934-...), an American baseball player, hit 755 regular-season home runs, more than any other player in major league history.


First Line:
Abaca is a plant grown in Borneo, the Philippines, and Sumatra for its fibre.


First Line:
Abacus is an ancient device used in China and other countries to perform arithmetic calculations.


First Line:
Abadan (pop. 294,068) is a refining centre for Iran's oil industry.


First Line:
Abalone is a marine snail found in most mild and tropical seas.


First Line:
Abalone fishing is an important commercial industry in all southern Australian states.


First Line:
Abandonment is a legal term that has two chief meanings.


First Line:
Abbas, Ferhat (1899-1985), served as president of Algeria's first elected legislature.


First Line:
Abbey Theatre, in Dublin, is the national theatre of the Republic of Ireland.


First Line:
Abbot is the religious superior of a monastery of an early religious order, such as the Benedictines and Cistercians.


First Line:
Abbotsbury is a village in Dorset famous for its swannery (a place where swans are bred).


First Line:
Abbott, Lyman (1835-1922), an American Congregationalist preacher and editor, popularized the reconciliation of evolution with the Biblical account of creation.


First Line:
Abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or a phrase.


First Line:
Abdomen is a large body cavity between the thorax (chest) and the pelvic cavity.


First Line:
Abduh, Muhammad (1849-1905), an Egyptian lawyer, tried to bring Muslim thinking in line with the findings of science and conditions of the modern world.


First Line:
Abdul Aziz, Ungku (1922-...), a distinguished Malaysian economist, was vice chancellor of the University of Malaya from 1968 to 1988.


First Line:
Abdul Ghafar Baba, Tun (1925-...), a Malay politician, became deputy prime minister and minister of national development of Malaysia in 1986.


First Line:
Abdul-Hamid II, (1842-1918), was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire.


First Line:
Abdul Rahim Kajai (1894?-1944) was the leading professional Malay journalist in the 1930's.


First Line:
Abdul Rahman, Tuanku (1895-1960), the first king of independent Malaya, was yang di-pertuan agong (paramount ruler) from 1957 to 1960.


First Line:
Abdul Rahman, Tunku (1903-1990), was the first prime minister of the independent country of Malaya from 1957 to 1963.


First Line:
Abdul Rahman Yakub, Datuk Patinggi (1928-...), a Malay lawyer and politician, was chief minister of the Malaysian state of Sarawak from 1970 to 1980.


First Line:
Abdul Razak bin Hussein, Tun (1922-1976), the second prime minister of Malaysia, held the post from 1970 to 1976.


First Line:
Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munshi (1795?-1854), is regarded as the first modern Malay writer.


First Line:
Abdurahman, Abdullah (1872?-1940), was the main political leader of the coloured (mixed race) people in South Africa from 1905 until his death.


First Line:
Abel, in the Bible, the second son of Adam and Eve, was a shepherd (Genesis 4).


First Line:
Abel, I. W. (1908-1987), served as president of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) from 1965 to 1977.


First Line:
Abelard, Peter (1079-1142), was one of the leading philosophers and theologians of the Middle Ages.


First Line:
Aberconwy and Colwyn (pop. 54,100) was a unitary authority (local government district) in Wales created in 1996.


First Line:
Abercrombie, Lascelles (1881-1938), was a British poet and scholar.


First Line:
Abercromby, Ralph (1842-1897), was a British meteorologist.


First Line:
Aberdeen (pop. 201,099) is an ancient university centre and the principal city in the north of Scotland.


First Line:
Aberdeen, Earl of (1784-1860), was the United Kingdom's prime minister when the Crimean War started in 1854.


First Line:
Aberdeen and Temair, Marquess of (1847-1934), a British politician, served as governor general of Canada from 1893 to 1898.


First Line:
Aberration, in optics, is the failure of light rays to focus properly after they pass through a lens or reflect from a mirror.


First Line:
Aberystwyth, a popular seaside resort in South Wales, is an important Welsh cultural and educational centre.


First Line:
Abidjan (pop. 1,850,000) is the capital and largest city of Ivory Coast and one of the busiest seaports in western Africa.


First Line:
Abnormal psychology is the scientific study of psychological disorders.


First Line:
Abolition movement was activity that took place in the 1700's and 1800's to end slavery.


First Line:
Abominable Snowman, also called Yeti, is a creature said to live on Mount Everest and other mountains of the Himalaya range of Asia.


First Line:
Abortion is the ending of a pregnancy before birth.


First Line:
Abraham was the founder of Judaism and the ancestor of both the Arabs and the Jews.


First Line:
Abraham, William (1842-1922), was a Welsh politician and trade union leader.


First Line:
Abrahams, Harold Maurice (1899-1978), held the English native long-jump record for 32 years with his jump of 7.378 metres, made in 1924.


First Line:
Abrasive is a substance used to grind, smoothen, sharpen, and polish various materials.


First Line:
Abruzzi, Duke of the (1873-1933), Luigi Amadeo, Prince of Savoy-Aosta, was an Italian naval officer, mountain climber, and Arctic explorer.


First Line:
Abscess is a collection of pus within an infected part of the body.


First Line:
Absolute zero is the theoretical temperature at which the atoms and molecules of a substance have the least possible energy.


First Line:
Absolutism is a form of government in which one or more persons rule with power unlimited by law.


First Line:
Absorption and adsorption are processes by which substances take in matter or energy, or both.


First Line:
Abstract art is a style of art of the 1900's that discards identifiable subject matter.


First Line:
Abu Bakar (1833-1895), ruled the state of Johor in Malaya from 1862 to 1895.


First Line:
Abu Dhabi (pop. 242,975), also called Abu Zaby, is the capital of the United Arab Emirates, a confederation of seven Arab states.


First Line:
Abu Simbel, Temples of, are two ancient Egyptian temples that were carved in a rocky mountainside beside the Nile River in southern Egypt.


First Line:
Abul Fazl (1515-1602) was an Indian scholar.


First Line:
Acacia is the name of a large group of plants related to peas and beans.


First Line:
Academy is the general name for a group of people or an organization that promotes art, literature, science, or some other field of knowledge.


First Line:
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is an honorary nonprofit organization.


First Line:
Acadia was a region in eastern Canada that became the site of the first European colony in Canada.


First Line:
Acanthus is a group of shrubs or herbs that grow in Asia, Africa, and southern Europe.


First Line:
Acapulco (pop. 515,374), officially known as Acapulco de Juarez, is a Mexican port and resort city.


First Line:
Accent, in language, is a stress placed on a syllable in a word.


First Line:
Accentor is a bird that looks like a bunting with a thin bill.


First Line:
Acclimatization is the way in which an organism adjusts to changes in its environment (surroundings).


First Line:
Accomplice, in law, is a person who participates with someone else in a crime, whether by planning it, carrying out the criminal act itself, or as an aider or abettor.


First Line:
Accordion is a reed-type musical instrument worn on straps around the shoulders.


First Line:
Accountancy is the preparation and analysis of financial records for a commercial company, government, or other organization.


First Line:
Accra (pop. 964,879; met. area pop. 1,420,065) is the capital and largest city of Ghana.


First Line:
Acculturation is the process by which cultural traits of one group change through the people's contact with the culture of another group.


First Line:
Acerola is the fruit of a bushy tree that grows 3 to 4.5 metres tall.


First Line:
Acetic acid is an important organic acid and industrial chemical.


First Line:
Acetone is an important industrial chemical.


First Line:
Acetylene is a colourless, flammable gas used for welding and for preparing other chemical compounds.


First Line:
Achaeans were people of ancient Greece who lived in the Peloponnesus (Greece's southern peninsula), in east-central Greece, and on the islands of Crete, Rhodes, Cephalonia, and Ithaca.


First Line:
Achebe, Chinua (1930-...), a Nigerian author, became one of the most outstanding African writers.


First Line:
Achilles was one of the greatest heroes of Greek mythology.


First Line:
Achilles' tendon is the tendon at the back of the ankle.


First Line:
Acid is any of a group of chemical compounds with certain similar properties.


First Line:
Acid rain is a popular term for rain, snow, sleet, or other precipitation that has been polluted by such acids as sulphuric acid and nitric acid.


First Line:
Acidosis is a condition in which the body fluids have a higher acid content than normal.


First Line:
Ackermann, Rudolph (1764-1834), a German art publisher who settled in London, is believed to have introduced lithography into Britain (see LITHOGRAPHY).


First Line:
Acne is a skin disorder that occurs most commonly among teenagers.


First Line:
Aconcagua is an extinct volcano and the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere.


First Line:
Aconite is the name of a group of attractive plants that belong to the buttercup family.


First Line:
Acorn is the nut produced by any of the various kinds of oak trees.


First Line:
Acoustics is the science and technology of sound and of its effect on people.


First Line:
Acre is a measure of land in the imperial system.


First Line:
Acropolis was the religious and military centre of a city-state in ancient Greece.


First Line:
Acrylic is any one of a group of synthetic products made primarily from petroleum.


First Line:
ACTH is an abbreviation of the chemical substance adrenocorticotrophic hormone.


First Line:
Actinium, a chemical element, is an extremely rare, silvery-white, radioactive metal that glows in the dark.


First Line:
Actinomycosis is a rare, infectious disease that affects human beings.


First Line:
Actium, Battle of, was a naval battle that settled the struggle for control of ancient Rome between co-rulers Gaius Octavian and Mark Antony.


First Line:
Acton, Lord (1834-1902), is considered one of the greatest British historians of the 1800's.


First Line:
Acts of the Apostles is the fifth book of the New Testament.


First Line:
Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese method of relieving pain and treating a variety of diseases by inserting needles into various parts of the body.


First Line:
A.D. is the abbreviation for anno Domini, which is Latin for in the year of our Lord.


First Line:
Adam is the family name of four Scottish brothers, Robert, James, John, and William, who were all trained as architects.


First Line:
Adam and Eve, according to the Bible and the Quran, were the first man and woman created by God.


First Line:
Adams, Abigail Smith (1744-1818), was the wife of John Adams, who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801.


First Line:
Adams, Ansel (1902-1984), was an American photographer known for his dramatic photographs of the West.


First Line:
Adams, Sir Grantley Herbert (1898-1971), was a West Indian statesman who became the first premier of Barbados and later, prime minister of the Federation of the West Indies.


First Line:
Adams, James Truslow (1878-1949), an American historian, wrote The Epic of America, a best seller in 1931.


First Line:
Adams, John (1735-1826), a United States political leader, served under George Washington as the first U.S. vice president and followed him as the second president (1797-1801).


First Line:
Adams, John Couch (1819-1892), was a British astronomer who predicted the existence of the planet Neptune.


First Line:
Adams, John Quincy (1767-1848), was the sixth president of the United States (1825-1829).


First Line:
Adams, Roger (1889-1971), was an American chemist who became known for his work in the field of organic chemistry.


First Line:
Adams, Samuel (1722-1803), was an American patriot and politician who stirred opposition to British rule in the North American Colonies.


First Line:
Adams-Onis Treaty, or Transcontinental Treaty, was an agreement between the United States and Spain.


First Line:
Adamson, Joy (1910-1980), an author and painter, became famous with her book Born Free: A Lioness of Two Worlds (1960).


First Line:
Adaptation is a characteristic of an organism that makes it better able to survive and reproduce in its environment.


First Line:
Addams, Jane (1860-1935), was an American social worker and humanitarian.


First Line:
Addax is an antelope that lives in the deserts of North Africa.


First Line:
Adder is the name given to several species of snakes in various parts of the world.


First Line:
Adding machine is a device that adds numbers.


First Line:
Addington, Henry (1757-1844), was prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1804.


First Line:
Addis Ababa (pop. 1,412,577) is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia.


First Line:
Addison, Joseph (1672-1719), was an English author and politician.


First Line:
Addison, Thomas (1793-1860), was a British doctor famous for his description of Addison's disease (see ADDISON'S DISEASE).


First Line:
Addison's disease is a serious ailment of the adrenal glands.


First Line:
Addition is a way of putting together two or more things to find out how many there are altogether.


First Line:
Address, Forms of, are the courteous way to speak or write to someone.


First Line:
Ade, George (1866-1944), was an American humorist, playwright, and journalist.


First Line:
Adelaide (pop. 1,023,617) is the capital and chief port of South Australia.


First Line:
Adelaide Festival is held every two years.


First Line:
Adelaide Hills form a backdrop to the city of Adelaide and are part of the South Mount Lofty Ranges.


First Line:
Aden (pop. 318,000) is the second largest city of Yemen.


First Line:
Adenauer, Konrad (1876-1967), served as chancellor of the West German Republic from its formation in 1949 until he retired in 1963.


First Line:
Adenoids, also known as pharyngeal tonsils, are a mass of glandlike tissue normally present in the upper part of the throat, directly behind the nasal passages.


First Line:
Adhesion is the property of two unlike substances that causes them to stick together.


First Line:
Adhesion, in the body, is a name for new tissue that sometimes binds together internal and normally separate organs of the body.


First Line:
Adhesive is a substance that bonds surfaces together.


First Line:
Adi Granth, meaning Original Scripture, is the holy book of the Sikhs.


First Line:
Adirondack Mountains are a group of mountains that cover about 30,000 square kilometres in northeastern New York state.


First Line:
Adityavarman (?-1375?), was the first king of Melayu in central Sumatra in what is now Indonesia.


First Line:
Adjective is a part of speech that describes, qualifies, or places limits on a noun or pronoun.


First Line:
Adjutant is the name of two species of large birds in the stork family.


First Line:
Adler, Alfred (1870-1937), an Austrian psychiatrist, developed important theories concerning the motivation of human behaviour.


First Line:
Adler, Dankmar (1844-1900), was a prominent member of the Chicago School of architecture.


First Line:
Adler, Felix (1851-1933), was an American educator, reformer, and publicist.


First Line:
Adler, Mortimer Jerome (1902-...), is an American critic and educator.


First Line:
Admiralty is a traditional name for a department of a nation's government that directs naval affairs.


First Line:
Admiralty Islands, a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, are part of the nation of Papua New Guinea.


First Line:
Adobe is the Spanish name for sun-dried bricks, or for a house built with such bricks.


First Line:
Adolescent is a person who is no longer a child but not yet an adult.


First Line:
Adonis was a handsome youth in Greek mythology.


First Line:
Adonis is the name of a group of plants that grow wild in Europe and Asia.


First Line:
Adoption is the process by which people become legal parents of a child who was not born to them and raise the child as a member of their family.


First Line:
Adrenal gland is a small body organ that secretes many important hormones.


First Line:
Adrenaline is a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands.


First Line:
Adrian IV (about 1110-1159) was the only English pope.


First Line:
Adriatic Sea is a gulf, or arm, of the Mediterranean Sea.


First Line:
Adur (pop. 57,400), a coastal area in West Sussex, England, is a local government district.


First Line:
Advent is the season that marks the beginning of the Christian church year.


First Line:
Adventists are members of religious groups that stress the doctrine of the Second Coming.


First Line:
Adverb is a part of speech that adds meaning to a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.


First Line:
Advertising is a message designed to promote a product, a service, or an idea.


First Line:
A.E.F., also written AEF, stands for the Allied Expeditionary Forces sent to Continental Europe during World War II (1939-1945).


First Line:
Aegean civilization consisted of four cultures that flourished on the islands and shores of the Aegean Sea between 3000 and 1200 B.C. These cultures are called the Cycladic, Minoan, Mycenaean, and Trojan cultures.


First Line:
Aegean Sea is a gulf or arm of the Mediterranean Sea.


First Line:
Aegis was the name of the shield made for Jupiter by Vulcan.


First Line:
Aeneas was a Trojan hero in Greek and Roman mythology.


First Line:
Aeneid, the national epic of ancient Rome, is one of the world's greatest poems of heroic adventure.


First Line:
Aeolian harp is an unusual ancient musical instrument.


First Line:
Aeolians were a group of ancient Greeks.


First Line:
Aeolus was the keeper of the winds in Greek mythology.


First Line:
Aerial, also called antenna, is a device that transmits and receives radio, television and radar signals.


First Line:
Aerobics is a system of exercises designed to promote the supply and use of oxygen in the body.


First Line:
Aerodynamics is the study of the forces acting on an object as it moves through air or some other gas.


First Line:
Aeroplane is an engine-driven machine that can fly through the air supported by the flow of air around its wings.


First Line:
Aeroplane, Model, is a miniature aeroplane.


First Line:
Aerosol is a mixture of extremely small particles and gas.


First Line:
Aerospace medicine is the field of medical science concerned with the effects of flight on human health.


First Line:
Aeschylus (525-456 B.C.) was the earliest writer of Greek tragedy whose plays exist in complete form.


First Line:
Aesop's Fables are a collection of stories attributed to a Greek slave named Aesop, who lived in about 600 B.C. Like all fables, each of these brief tales teaches a moral and offers useful advice.


First Line:
Aesthetics is the study of theories that apply to the arts in a broad and fundamental way.


First Line:
Aestivation is a dormant state that occurs in the life of some animals during hot, dry periods.


First Line:
Afan is the former name of a local government district centred on the Welsh steelmaking town of Port Talbot.


First Line:
Affenpinscher is a shaggy black toy dog.


First Line:
Affidavit, in law, is a written or printed statement of facts sworn to, or affirmed, before a notary public, or any other person qualified to administer an oath.


First Line:
Afghan hound is a dog known for its speed and agility.


First Line:
Afghanistan is a nation in southwestern Asia.


First Line:
Aflaq, Michel (1910-1989), was an Arab political thinker who founded the socialist Baath Party.


First Line:
Africa is the second largest continent in area and in population.


First Line:
African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa.


First Line:
African violet, also called Saintpaulia, is a tropical plant with beautiful flowers and heart-shaped, fuzzy leaves.


First Line:
Afrikaans language is one of the 11 official languages of South Africa.


First Line:
Afrikaner Broederbond is a secret fraternity (brotherhood), that worked to further the interests of Afrikaans-speaking white people in South Africa.


First Line:
Agamemnon, in Greek mythology, led the Greek army that conquered Troy in the Trojan War.


First Line:
Agana (pop. 1,139), is the capital of the United States island territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.


First Line:
Agar-agar is a gelatine-like substance obtained from seaweeds such as Ceylon moss.


First Line:
Agassiz, Louis (1807-1873), was a Swiss-born naturalist who studied many kinds of animals in Europe and America.


First Line:
Agate is a banded form of chalcedony, a fine-grained, porous type of quartz.


First Line:
Age is a term used for any stage in the life of a person, such as childhood, youth, adulthood, and old age.


First Line:
Age of Reason was a period in history when philosophers emphasized the use of reason as the best method of learning truth.


First Line:
Agee, James (1909-1955), was an American writer.


First Line:
Agent is a person who represents someone else in legal, business, or other matters.


First Line:
Agent Orange is the military code name for a weedkiller used by the United States during the Vietnam War.


First Line:
Ageratum is a popular, low-growing, annual plant of flower gardens.


First Line:
Aggression, in psychology, is hostile behaviour that may hurt or upset other people.


First Line:
Agincourt, Battle of, took place between English and French armies near the village of Agincourt, in northern France, in 1415.


First Line:
Agnon, Shmuel Yosef (1888-1970), was an Israeli novelist and short-story writer.


First Line:
Agnosticism is the belief that ultimate questions, especially those about the existence of God, cannot be answered.


First Line:
Agouti is a rodent that lives in dense forests from southern Mexico to northern Argentina, and in the West Indies.


First Line:
Agra (pop. 955,694) is a large city in northern India.


First Line:
Agribusiness is the group of industries involved in producing, transporting, processing, distributing, and selling farm products.


First Line:
Agricola, Georgius, (1494?-1555), was a German physician and scientist.


First Line:
Agricola, Gnaeus Julius (A.D. 37-93), was an able Roman general.


First Line:
Agriculture is the world's most important industry.


First Line:
Agrimony is the common name for a group of about 18 species of woodland plants that grow in Asia, Europe, North America, and the Andes Mountains of South America.


First Line:
Agrippa, Marcus (63-12 B.C.), a Roman general, was the military leader and chief adviser of Augustus, the first emperor of Rome (see AUGUSTUS).


First Line:
Agrippina the Younger (A.D. 15-59) was one of the most powerful women in ancient Rome.


First Line:
Agronomy is a branch of agricultural science that deals with the study of crops and the soils in which they grow.


First Line:
Aguinaldo, Emilio (1869-1964), was an important leader in the Filipino struggle against Spanish colonial rule from 1897 to 1901.


First Line:
Agung, Sultan (?-1646), was the greatest ruler of Mataram, a kingdom in Central Java in what is now Indonesia.


First Line:
Ahern, Bertie (1951-...), became taoiseach (prime minister) of Ireland following general elections in 1997.


First Line:
Ahmadabad (pop. 2,954,526; met. area pop. 3,297,655) is the largest city in the state of Gujarat, western India.


First Line:
Aidit, D. N. (1923-1965), led the Indonesian Communist Party from 1951 to 1965.


First Line:
AIDS is the final, life-threatening stage of infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).


First Line:
Aiken, George David (1892-1984), an American Republican politician, served in the United States Senate from 1941 to 1975.


First Line:
Ailanthus is a hardy tree that thrives in cities and places where other trees fail to grow.


First Line:
Ailsa Craig is a rocky islet 16 kilometres off the coast of the Southern Uplands region of Scotland, south of the Isle of Arran.


First Line:
Ainsworth, W. Harrison (1805-1882), was a popular British novelist.


First Line:
Ainu are a group of people who may have been the first inhabitants of Japan.


First Line:
Air is the mixture of gases that surrounds the earth.


First Line:
Air bag is an inflatable car safety device that helps protect a driver or front-seat passenger in a head-on or front-angle collision.


First Line:
Air cleaner is a device that removes contaminants (impurities) from a stream of gas or air.


First Line:
Air compressor is any device used to compress air.


First Line:
Air conditioning controls the temperature, moisture, cleanliness, and movement of indoor air.


First Line:
Air force is the branch of a nation's armed forces responsible for military operations in the air.


First Line:
Air lock is a device that permits people or materials to pass in or out of a structure called a pneumatic caisson.


First Line:
Air pollution occurs when wastes dirty the air.


First Line:
Air rights are the rights to use the space above a piece of land.


First Line:
Airborne troops are soldiers trained for assault by air.


First Line:
Airbrush is a tool used by photographers and commercial artists to apply colour or shading to drawings, prints, and photographs.


First Line:
Aircraft carrier is a ship used as a mobile base for aeroplanes.


First Line:
Airedale terrier is the name of a breed of large terriers.


First Line:
Airlangga (990?-1049), also spelled Erlangga, was the best-known ruler of the kingdom of Kediri, in East Java, in what is now Indonesia.


First Line:
Airline is an organization that operates aircraft to carry passengers and cargo through the air.


First Line:
Airmail is the fastest way to send letters and packages.


First Line:
Airport is a place where aeroplanes and other aircraft land and take off.


First Line:
Aisne River is a stream in northeastern France.


First Line:
Aitken, John (1839-1919), a Scottish meteorologist, discovered that water vapour in the atmosphere will not condense to form clouds unless dust is present.


First Line:
Aix-la-Chapelle, Congress of, met in Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), Germany, in 1818.


First Line:
Ajax the Greater, the son of King Telamon in Greek mythology, was one of the bravest Greek heroes who fought in the Trojan War.


First Line:
Ajax the Lesser, the son of King Oileus in Greek mythology, was a Greek warrior who fought in the Trojan War.


First Line:
Akaroa is a tourist resort and fishing centre on Banks Peninsula on the eastern coast of the South Island of New Zealand.


First Line:
Akbar (1542-1605), was the third and greatest of the Mughal emperors of India.


First Line:
Akhenaton, also called Ikhnaton, ruled ancient Egypt as pharaoh from about 1367 to 1350 B.C. He was married to Queen Nefertiti.


First Line:
Akihito, (1933-...), became emperor of Japan in 1989 upon the death of his father, Hirohito (see HIROHITO).


First Line:
Akita is a breed of dog that originated in northern Japan.


First Line:
Akiva ben Joseph (A.D. 50?-135), was a rabbi who profoundly influenced the development of Jewish law.


First Line:
Akron (pop. 223,019) is a major centre of the rubber industry in the United States.


First Line:
Aksum, also spelled Axum, was a powerful ancient kingdom in East Africa.


First Line:
Alabama is a state in the Southeastern United States.


First Line:
Alabaster is the name of two minerals of different chemical composition.


First Line:
Aladdin, a poor Chinese boy, is the hero of a tale in the Arabian Nights.


First Line:
Alamo is a historic structure that stands in the centre of San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A. A famous battle was fought there in March 1836, during the war for Texan independence.


First Line:
Alanbrooke, Lord (1883-1963), was one of Great Britain's military leaders during World War II (1939-1945).


First Line:
Alarcon, Pedro Antonio de (1833-1891), was a Spanish author.


First Line:
Alaric (A.D. 370?-410) was a king of the Visigoths.


First Line:
Alaska is the northernmost state in the United States.


First Line:
Alaska Highway is a 2,248-kilometre road that runs between Dawson Creek, British Columbia, in Canada, and Delta Junction, Alaska, in the United States.


First Line:
Alaskan malamute is a strong, rugged, heavily coated sledge dog that came originally from Alaska.


First Line:
Ala-ud-din Khalji, also known as Juna Khan, was ruler of northern India from 1296 to 1316.


First Line:
Al-Azhar University is one of the oldest universities in the world.


First Line:
Alban, Saint (?-209), is commemorated as the first martyr in Britain.


First Line:
Albania is a small, mountainous nation in the Balkan Peninsula of southeastern Europe.


First Line:
Albany (pop. 13,559) is a town and port in the southwest of Western Australia.


First Line:
Albany (pop. 101,082) is the capital of New York state in the United States.


First Line:
Al Basrah, also called Basra (pop. 678,000), is one of Iraq's largest cities and a chief port.


First Line:
Albatross is the name for any one of several kinds of large sea birds.


First Line:
Albee, Edward (1928-...), is an American playwright who uses a wide variety of styles ranging from realism to fantasy.


First Line:
Albeniz, Isaac (1860-1909), a Spanish composer and pianist, was one of the creators of a national style for Spanish music.


First Line:
Albers, Josef (1888-1976), was a German-born painter and teacher.


First Line:
Albert I (1875-1934), king of the Belgians from 1909 to 1934, was a heroic military leader in World War I (1914-1918).


First Line:
Albert II (1934-...) became king of Belgium in 1993, on the death of his brother Baudouin.


First Line:
Albert, Prince (1819-1861), married his first cousin, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in 1840.


First Line:
Alberta (pop. 2,545,553) is a province in western Canada and one of the greatest oil-producing regions in North America.


First Line:
Alberti, Leon Battista (1404-1472), was an Italian Renaissance architect, painter, and author.


First Line:
Albertus Magnus, Saint (1206?-1280), was a German-born Christian theologian, philosopher, and scientist.


First Line:
Albigenses were a group of people named after Albi, a city in southern France.


First Line:
Albino is an animal or plant that is unable to produce pigment (colouring substance) in some or all of its organs.


First Line:
Albion is an ancient name for Britain or England.


First Line:
Albright, Ivan (1897-1983), was an American painter with a style and method unlike those of other artists of his time.


First Line:
Albumin, also spelled albumen, is a sticky, gelatinous (jelly-like) substance.


First Line:
Albuquerque (pop. 384,736; met. area pop. 480,577) is the largest city in New Mexico, a state in the U.S.A. It serves as an industrial, trade, and transportation centre of the Southwest.


First Line:
Albury-Wodonga (pop. 66,541) is an urban regional growth centre on the Murray River, Australia.


First Line:
Alcatraz was a famous prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California, U.S.A. The name Alcatraz comes from a Spanish word meaning pelican.


First Line:
Alcazar is the name usually given to palaces built by the Moorish rulers in Spanish cities.


First Line:
Alchemy is a blend of pseudoscience, magic, and mystical philosophy.


First Line:
Alcibiades (450?-404 B.C.), was an Athenian general.


First Line:
Alcock and Brown were pioneer British aviators who made the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.


First Line:
Alcohol refers to a class of chemical compounds, all of which consist of chemically bonded atoms of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.


First Line:
Alcoholic beverage is a drink that contains ethyl alcohol.


First Line:
Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) is a worldwide organization of men and women who help each other solve their common problem of alcoholism.


First Line:
Alcoholism is a disease in which a person has an overwhelming desire to drink alcoholic beverages.


First Line:
Alcott, Louisa May (1832-1888), was an American author who became famous for her novels for children.


First Line:
Alcuin (735-804), was an English scholar, teacher, and writer.


First Line:
Aldehyde is an important class of organic chemical compounds.


First Line:
Alden, John and Priscilla, were among the Pilgrim Fathers, a group of Puritans, who arrived in America from England on the Mayflower in 1620 (see PILGRIM FATHERS).


First Line:
Alder is the name given to about 30 types of shrubs and small trees found in northern temperate regions of the world.


First Line:
Aldington, Richard (1892-1962), a British novelist and poet, was a prominent member of the imagist movement, which flourished between 1910 and 1918.


First Line:
Aldiss, Brian W. (1925-...), is a British science fiction writer and critic.


First Line:
Aldridge, Ira (1807?-1867), was the first black American actor to gain prominence in the Western world.


First Line:
Aldrin, Edwin Eugene, Jr. (1930-...), a United States astronaut, was the second person to set foot on the moon.


First Line:
Aleatory music is a type of music in which the composer provides only a general outline of the composition.


First Line:
Aleixandre, Vicente (1898-1984), a Spanish poet, won the 1977 Nobel Prize for literature.


First Line:
Aleman Valdes, Miguel (1902-1983), served as president of Mexico from 1946 to 1952.


First Line:
Aleppo (pop. 961,000) is the second largest city in Syria.


First Line:
Aleutian Islands are a chain of volcanic islands that extend over 1,400 kilometres westward from the tip of the Alaska Peninsula.


First Line:
Aleuts are people who have traditionally lived on the harsh, windswept Aleutian Islands, which lie off the mainland of Alaska.


First Line:
Alewife is a member of the herring family.


First Line:
Alexander I (1777-1825), was czar of Russia from 1801 to 1825.


First Line:
Alexander I (1888-1934) became king of Yugoslavia in 1921.


First Line:
Alexander II (1818-1881) was czar of Russia from 1855 to 1881.


First Line:
Alexander III (1105-1181), was elected pope in 1159.


First Line:
Alexander III (1845-1894), was czar of Russia from 1881 to 1894.


First Line:
Alexander VI (1431-1503), was the most worldly of the Renaissance popes.


First Line:
Alexander, C. H. O'D. (1909-1974), was an Irish international chess master.


First Line:
Alexander of Tunis, Earl (1891-1969), was a British military leader and statesman and the last British-born governor general of Canada.


First Line:
Alexander technique is a system of instruction that aims to improve posture and physical movement in everyday life.


First Line:
Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.), was king of Macedonia and one of the greatest generals in history.


First Line:
Alexander Turnbull Library is a research library in Wellington, on the North Island of New Zealand.


First Line:
Alexandria (pop. 2,917,327) is the chief port and second largest city of Egypt.


First Line:
Alexandrian Library was the largest and most famous of the ancient collections of scrolls.


First Line:
Alexandrite is a rare gem that has a high lustre.


First Line:
Alfalfa is a valuable crop grown mainly for livestock feed.


First Line:
Alfieri, Vittorio (1749-1803), was an Italian playwright and poet.


First Line:
Alfonso XIII (1886-1941), served as king of Spain from 1902 until 1931, when Spain became a republic.


First Line:
Alfred the Great (849-899), was king of the West Saxons in England.


First Line:
Alfven, Hannes Olof Gosta (1908-1995), a Swedish physicist, won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1970 for his research in magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and plasma physics.


First Line:
Algae are simple organisms that live in oceans, lakes, rivers, ponds, and moist soil.


First Line:
Algebra is one of the chief branches of mathematics.


First Line:
Alger, Horatio (1832-1899), was an American author of novels for boys.


First Line:
Algeria is a large country that lies in northern Africa.


First Line:
Algiers (pop. 1,721,607) is the capital and largest city of Algeria.


First Line:
Algol, also called Beta Persei, is the second brightest star in the constellation Perseus.


First Line:
Algorithm is a step-by-step procedure for solving a mathematical problem in a limited number of steps.


First Line:
Algren, Nelson (1909-1981), an American author, became known for fiction describing the brutal life of the Chicago slums of the 1930's and 1940's.


First Line:
Alhambra is a palace and fortress in Granada, Spain, built by the Moors between 1248 and 1354.


First Line:
Ali, Muhammad (1942-...), became the first heavyweight boxing champion to win the world title four times.


First Line:
Ali ibn Abi Talib (598-661), a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad, became a central figure of Shiite Islam (see ISLAM).


First Line:
Alice Springs (pop. 25,586) is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia.


First Line:
Alien, in law, means a person who is not a citizen of the country in which he or she lives.


First Line:
Alienation is the feeling of being isolated from certain aspects of one's environment.


First Line:
Alimentary canal is a long tube through which food is taken into the body and digested.


First Line:
Aljunied Syed Omar bin Ali (1792-1852), a highly respected Arab businessman and landowner, became a leader of the Muslim community in Singapore.


First Line:
Alkali, in chemistry, refers to six chemical elements that are known as the alkali metals: lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, caesium, and francium.


First Line:
Alkaloid is any of a group of organic bases found in plants.


First Line:
Alkalosis is a condition in which the body accumulates an excess of alkali, or loses more than the usual amount of acid.


First Line:
All Blacks are New Zealand's national Rugby Union team.


First Line:
All Saints' Day is a Christian holy day observed by Western Christians on November 1 and by Eastern Christians on the first Sunday of Pentecost (see PENTECOST).


First Line:
Allah is the Arabic name for the Supreme Being of the religion of Islam.


First Line:
Allahabad (pop. 806,486) is a major city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in northern India.


First Line:
Allegheny Mountains form part of the Appalachian Mountain system of the United States.


First Line:
Allegory is a story with more than one meaning.


First Line:
Allen, Barbara, is the central character in an old British ballad.


First Line:
Allen, Fred (1894-1956), was a noted American radio, stage, television, and motion-picture comedian.


First Line:
Allen, Hervey (1889-1949), was an American author best known for his historical romance Anthony Adverse (1933).


First Line:
Allen, William Cardinal (1532-1594), a prominent English clergyman, defended Roman Catholic beliefs after the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I came to the throne in 1558.


First Line:
Allen, Woody (1935-...), is an American actor, film director, author, and comedian.


First Line:
Allenby, Lord (1861-1936), was a British military leader.


First Line:
Allende Gossens, Salvador (1908-1973), served as president of Chile from 1970 to 1973, when military leaders overthrew his government.


First Line:
Allerdale (pop. 96,300) is a local government district in western Cumbria, England.


First Line:
Allergy is a body reaction that occurs in persons who are sensitive to certain substances.


First Line:
Alley, Rewi (1897-1987), a New Zealand poet, became famous for his work in industrial cooperatives in China.


First Line:
Alleyn, Edward (1566-1626), was an actor in the Elizabethan period.


First Line:
Alliance joins two or more countries in a defence against a common threat or enemy.


First Line:
Alligator is the name of two kinds of reptiles related to crocodiles.


First Line:
Alliteration occurs when the same sound starts succeeding accented syllables.


First Line:
Allopathy is a method in medical practice that tries to cure a disease by producing effects on the body that differ from the effects of the disease.


First Line:
Allosaurus was a large, meat-eating dinosaur that lived about 150 million years ago.


First Line:
Allotment, in England and Wales, is a plot of cultivated land not larger than 2.02 hectares.


First Line:
Allotropy, in chemistry, is the ability of an element to exist in more than one form.


First Line:
Alloy is a material made up of a metal and at least one other element.


First Line:
Allport, Gordon W. (1897-1967), was an American psychologist known for his research in human personality.


First Line:
Allspice is a spice with a flavour similar to that of a combination of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.


First Line:
Alluvial fan is a deposit of stratified silts, sands, gravels, and other materials.


First Line:
Alluvium is soil, sand, gravel, clay, silt, or other material deposited by running water.


First Line:
Almanac is a book or pamphlet, usually published once a year, that contains many kinds of information.


First Line:
Almaty (pop. 1,147,000), also spelled Alma-Ata, was the capital of Kazakstan until 1997, when the capital was moved to Aqmola.


First Line:
Almshouses are homes provided by private benefactors for the aged poor.


First Line:
Alnwick (pop. 30,000) is a local government district in Northumberland, England, centred on the historic town of Alnwick.


First Line:
Aloe, is the name of a group of over 200 fleshy-leaved plants native to the Middle East, Madagascar, and southern Africa.


First Line:
Alpaca is a grazing animal of South America that is related to the camel.


First Line:
Alpenhorn, also called alphorn, is a long tube-shaped instrument used chiefly by herders in mountain regions.


First Line:
Alpha and Omega is an expression used to give the idea of completeness, or "the beginning and the end."  The two words are the names of the first and last letters in the Greek alphabet.


First Line:
Alpha Centauri is a multiple star system in the constellation Centaurus.


First Line:
Alpha particle is a positively charged, high-energy particle given off by the nucleus of a radioactive atom when it undergoes a nuclear transformation.


First Line:
Alphabet is the series of letters used in writing a language.


First Line:
Alphonsus Liguori, Saint (1696-1787), an Italian religious teacher, founded in 1732 the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorist Order) for religious work among poor people in rural areas.


First Line:
Alps are the largest mountain system in Europe.


First Line:
Alsace-Lorraine is a region in northeastern France, on the French-German border.


First Line:
Alston, Richard (1948-...), is a British choreographer.


First Line:
Altai Mountains form a lofty range that runs northwest across the borders of western Mongolia and Kazakhstan.


First Line:
Altar is a raised place or object that serves as the central point of religious worship.


First Line:
Alternation of generations is a term that describes the life cycle of most plants and some algae.


First Line:
Altimeter is a sensitive instrument that indicates altitude.


First Line:
Altitude is the height of an object above the earth's surface, sea level, or some other given level.


First Line:
Altitude sickness is an illness experienced at high altitudes by people who are accustomed to living at much lower altitudes.


First Line:
Alum is the name of a particular group of double salts.


First Line:
Alumina, also called aluminium oxide, is a compound composed of aluminium and oxygen.


First Line:
Aluminium, also spelled aluminum, is a lightweight, silver-coloured metal that can be formed into almost any shape.


First Line:
Alva, Duke of (1508?-1582?), also called the Duke of Alba, was a Spanish general and diplomat who served kings Charles I and Philip II of Spain.


First Line:
Alvarado, Pedro de (1485?-1541), helped Hernando Cortes subdue the Aztec in Mexico and conquered Guatemala himself.


First Line:
Alvarez, Luis Walter (1911-1988), an American physicist, won the Nobel Prize in 1968 for his contributions to the study of subatomic particles (particles that make up atoms).


First Line:
Alyn and Deeside was a local government district in the old Welsh county of Clwyd.


First Line:
Alzheimer's disease is a brain disease that causes increasing loss of memory and other mental abilities.


First Line:
Amadis of Gaul is a famous Spanish romance of chivalry.


First Line:
Amado, Jorge (1912-...), is a Brazilian novelist.


First Line:
Amalfi (pop. 6,052), a picturesque Italian town on a headland, overlooks the Gulf of Salerno.


First Line:
Amalgam is an alloy of mercury with some other metal.


First Line:
Amanites are members of a religious group called the Amana Church Society.


First Line:
Amaranth is the common name of a genus (group) of plants that includes weeds, garden flowers, and crops.


First Line:
Amaryllis is a family of more than 1,200 species of flowers.


First Line:
Amati family was a family of violin makers who worked in Cremona, Italy, from the 1500's to the 1700's.


First Line:
Amazon rainforest is the world's largest tropical rainforest.


First Line:
Amazon River is the world's second longest river and the chief river of South America.


First Line:
Amazons were a race of warlike women in Greek mythology.


First Line:
Ambassador is the personal representative of a country's head of state at the capital of another country.


First Line:
Ambedkar, Bhimrao Ramji (1891-1956), was an Indian social reformer and the most important leader of the caste (hereditary class) called the Untouchables (see CASTE).


First Line:
Amber is a hard, yellowish-brown fossilized resin.


First Line:
Amber Valley (pop. 109,700) is a local government district in central Derbyshire, England.


First Line:
Ambergris is a waxy substance found in the intestines of some sperm whales.


First Line:
Amberjack is a large, fast-swimming game fish found in warm and tropical oceans.


First Line:
Ambivalence is a psychiatric term for contradictory feelings or thoughts about one's self, another person, or a situation.


First Line:
Ambler, Eric (1909-...), an English author, won fame for his well-constructed novels of intrigue and international adventure.


First Line:
Ambrose, Saint (340?-397), was a bishop of Milan and one of the most influential persons of his time.


First Line:
Ambrosia was a magical substance eaten by the gods of Greek and Roman mythology.


First Line:
Ambulance is a vehicle designed to transport sick or injured people.


First Line:
America is the great land mass of the Western Hemisphere.


First Line:
American Civil War (1861-1865), was a conflict between two parts of the United States of America.


First Line:
American literature cannot be captured in a simple definition.


First Line:
American Revolution (1775-1783), led to the birth of a new nation--the United States.


First Line:
American Samoa is a United States territory, about 3,700 kilometres southwest of Hawaii.


First Line:
American Staffordshire terrier is a breed of dog that originated in the United States.


First Line:
American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII), is a code that computers use to process letters, numbers, and other character data.


First Line:
American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) is one of the world's largest information-processing companies.


First Line:
American water spaniel is a gun dog that was developed in the United States.


First Line:
America's Cup is the world's most famous yachting competition and the oldest trophy in international sports.


First Line:
Americium is an artificially created radioactive element.


First Line:
Amery is the family name of two Conservative politicians, a father and son.


First Line:
Amethyst is a gemstone of a purple or bluish-violet colour.


First Line:
Amiens (pop. 136,234; met. area pop. 156,120), is a city in northern France.


First Line:
Amin Dada, Idi (1925?-...), was the ruler of Uganda from 1971 to 1979.


First Line:
Amine is the name of a group of weak organic bases that are similar to ammonia in structure.


First Line:
Amino acid is the name for the organic compounds that make up all the proteins in living things.


First Line:
Aminuddin Baki (1926-1965), was the first Malayan citizen to become chief education adviser.


First Line:
Amis, Kingsley (1922-1995), was an English novelist best known for his witty satirical stories about British society.


First Line:
Amis, Martin (1949-...), is a British novelist and essayist, and son of the author Kingsley Amis.


First Line:
Amish belong to a Protestant group that originated in Switzerland, but is now centred in the United States and Canada.


First Line:
Amman (pop. 900,000) is the capital and largest city of Jordan.


First Line:
Ammeter is an instrument that measures the electric current in a circuit in units called amperes.


First Line:
Ammonia is a colourless alkaline gas made up of one part nitrogen and three parts hydrogen.


First Line:
Ammunition is any object fired or launched from a gun or some other weapon.


First Line:
Amnesia is a partial or, in rare cases, a complete loss of memory.


First Line:
Amnesty is forgiveness by a government for crimes against it.


First Line:
Amnesty International is an independent, worldwide human-rights organization.


First Line:
Amniocentesis is a medical procedure sometimes performed during pregnancy to help determine the health and maturity of an unborn baby.


First Line:
Amoeba is a tiny, one-celled organism that usually can only be seen under a microscope.


First Line:
Amon became the most important god in ancient Egyptian mythology.


First Line:
Amorsolo, Fernando (1892-1972), was one of the greatest Filipino artists.


First Line:
Amos, Book of, is a book of the Old Testament, or Hebrew Bible, named for an Israelite prophet.


First Line:
Ampere is the unit used to measure the rate of flow of an electric current.


First Line:
Ampere, Andre Marie (1775-1836), a French mathematician and physicist, discovered the laws of electromagnetism in the 1820's.


First Line:
Amphetamine is any one of a group of synthetic drugs that stimulate the brain, increasing the user's alertness and readiness for action.


First Line:
Amphibian is an animal with scaleless skin that--with a few exceptions--lives part of its life in water and part on land.


First Line:
Amphibious ship is a warship that lands troops, weapons, and vehicles on beaches during amphibious assaults.


First Line:
Amphibious warfare, is the conduct of military operations by naval, air, and land forces for the purpose of seizing a beach or coastal area.


First Line:
Amphibole is any of a group of common rock-forming minerals.


First Line:
Amphioxus, also called lancelet, is a small sea animal that lives in shallow water.


First Line:
Amputation refers to the surgical removal of a limb, part of a limb, or another part of the body.


First Line:
Amr ibn al-As (?-663), was the Arab conqueror of Egypt during the first rapid phase of the expansion of Islam.


First Line:
Amritsar (pop. 709,456) is a city in Punjab, a state in northern India.


First Line:
Amsterdam (pop. 724,096; met. area pop. 1,100,120) is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands.


First Line:
Amulet is a charm that supposedly has magic power.


First Line:
Amundsen, Roald (1872-1928), a Norwegian explorer, led the first expedition to reach the South Pole.


First Line:
Amur River is a stream in eastern Siberia, formed by the joining of the Argun and Shilka rivers.


First Line:
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called ALS, is a rare, incurable disease of the nervous system.


First Line:
Anabaptists were one form of what has been called the radical wing of the Reformation of the 1500's.


First Line:
Anableps, also called four-eyed fish, is a small fish of tropical America that swims at the top of the water.


First Line:
Anaconda is the name of two kinds of large snakes found in tropical South America.


First Line:
Anacreon (572?-487 B.C.), a Greek lyric poet, made wine and love his main themes.


First Line:
Anaemia is a condition in which the number of healthy red blood cells falls below normal.


First Line:
Anaesthesia is the loss of sensation--particularly that of pain--in all or part of the body.


First Line:
Anaesthetics is a branch of medicine that deals with the administration of drugs for the relief of pain and anxiety during surgery and childbirth.


First Line:
Anaheim (pop. 219,494) is a city in Orange County, California, in the United States.


First Line:
Analgesic is any drug that relieves pain without causing unconsciousness.


First Line:
Analog computer is a device that solves problems by working directly with a physical quantity, such as weight, voltage, or speed, rather than with digits that represent the quantity.


First Line:
Analytical chemistry is a branch of chemistry that deals with the development and use of techniques for chemical measurement.


First Line:
Anand, Mulk Raj (1905-...), is an Indian novelist, critic, and art historian.


First Line:
Ananias was a member of the early church at Jerusalem.


First Line:
Anaphylactic shock, also called anaphylaxis, is a rare, life-threatening allergic reaction that affects the whole body.


First Line:
Anarchism is a belief that every form of regulation or government is immoral, and that restraint of one person by another is an evil which must be destroyed.


First Line:
Anatolian shepherd is a dog which descended from the ancient mastiff dogs of Asia Minor.


First Line:
Anatomy is the study of the structure of plants, animals, and human beings.


First Line:
Anaxagoras (500?-428 B.C.), was an early Greek philosopher.


First Line:
Anaximander (611?-547?  B.C.), was a Greek philosopher.


First Line:
Anaximenes was a Greek philosopher who lived in the 500's B.C. Like other early philosophers, he believed that there is a single substance underlying all things.


First Line:
Ancestor worship is a family's reverence for the wisdom and leadership of its dead members.


First Line:
Anchor is a heavy weight that is used to hold a ship or boat in place.


First Line:
Anchorage (pop. 226,338) is the largest city and main centre of transportation in the state of Alaska in the United States.


First Line:
Anchovy is a popular food fish related to the herring.


First Line:
Ancient civilization refers to civilizations that flourished long ago.


First Line:
Ancient lights in the United Kingdom, is the right of access of light to a building.


First Line:
Andalusia, also spelled Andalucia, is a mountain and plains region of southern Spain.


First Line:
Andaman and Nicobar Islands (pop. 277,987) are two island groups in the eastern Bay of Bengal.


First Line:
Andamooka is an opal-mining settlement in central South Australia, about 130 kilometres from Woomera.


First Line:
Andersen, Hans Christian (1805-1875), was Denmark's most famous author.


First Line:
Anderson, Carl David (1905-1991), was an American physicist who discovered two subatomic particles--the positron and the muon.


First Line:
Anderson, Clinton Presba (1895-1975), a Democratic politician, served in the U.S. Senate from 1949 to 1973.


First Line:
Anderson, Elizabeth Garrett (1836-1917), was a British pioneer woman doctor.


First Line:
Anderson, John (1893-1962), was Challis professor of philosophy at Sydney University, in Australia, from 1927 to 1958.


First Line:
Anderson, Dame Judith (1898-1992), was considered one of the finest actresses on the English-speaking stage.


First Line:
Anderson, Marian (1897-1993), was a black American contralto.


First Line:
Anderson, Maxwell (1888-1959), an American playwright, brought seriousness and idealism to the theatre.


First Line:
Anderson, Sherwood (1876-1941), was an American short-story writer and novelist.


First Line:
Andes Mountains are the world's longest chain of mountains above sea level.


First Line:
Andhra Pradesh is a large state in southeastern India.


First Line:
Andorra is one of the smallest countries in the world.


First Line:
Andrada e Silva, Jose Bonifacio de (1763-1838), was a Brazilian scientist and statesman known as the "architect of Brazilian independence."  In 1822, he guided Brazil out of the Portuguese empire, and served the new emperor, Dom Pedro I. He fell from


First Line:
Andre, John (1751-1780), a British officer, was hanged as a spy by the American Revolutionary Army.


First Line:
Andree, Salomon August (1854-1897), was a Swedish explorer and engineer.


First Line:
Andreotti, Giulio (1919-...) was prime minister of Italy seven times between 1972 and 1992.


First Line:
Andretti, Mario (1940-...), became one of America's finest motor racing drivers.


First Line:
Andrew, Prince (1960-...) is the second son of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.


First Line:
Andrew, Saint, was the first of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ.


First Line:
Andrews, Charles McLean (1863-1943), an American historian, received a Pulitzer Prize in 1935 for the first volume of his four-volume set, The Colonial Period of American History (1934-1938).


First Line:
Andrews, David (1935-...), an Irish Fianna Fail politician, was a minister in the Republic of Ireland in the 1970's and the early 1990's.


First Line:
Andrews, Frank Maxwell (1884-1943), an American Army officer, was one of the first advocates of airpower.


First Line:
Andrews, John Miller (1871-1956), was prime minister of Northern Ireland from 1940 to 1943.


First Line:
Andrews, Roy Chapman (1884-1960), was well known as an author and explorer, and as a leader of expeditions for the American Museum of Natural History.


First Line:
Andreyev, Leonid (1871-1919), was a Russian prose writer and dramatist.


First Line:
Andric, Ivo (1892-1975), a Yugoslav writer, won the 1961 Nobel Prize for literature.


First Line:
Androcles, also called Androclus, was a Roman slave who ran away from his master and hid in a cave.


First Line:
Andromeda is a constellation (group of stars) of the Northern Celestial Hemisphere.


First Line:
Andromeda, in Greek mythology, was the daughter of Cassiopeia and Cepheus, rulers of Ethiopia.


First Line:
Andropov, Yuri Vladimirovich (1914-1984), served as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from November 1982 until his death in February 1984.


First Line:
Andros, Sir Edmund (1637-1714), was an English soldier and administrator.


First Line:
Anemometer is an instrument that measures wind speed.


First Line:
Anemone is any of more than 150 species of spring flowers that grow in woodlands and open country.


First Line:
Aneurysm is a balloonlike bulge that forms in a weakened area of the wall of an artery or vein.


First Line:
Angas, George Fife (1789-1879), was a philanthropist and one of the founders of South Australia.


First Line:
Angel, according to many religions, is a spiritual being created by God.


First Line:
Angel Falls is the highest waterfall in the world.


First Line:
Angeles (pop. 236,685) is a city in the Philippines.


First Line:
Angelfish is the name of a type of fish that has a thin, oval body and long, pointed fins.


First Line:
Angell, Sir Norman (1874-1967), a British publicist and economist, worked for cooperation among nations.


First Line:
Angelou, Maya (1928-...), is an American author, poet, playwright, editor, actress, director, and teacher.


First Line:
Angina pectoris is a chest pain that occurs if the heart does not receive enough oxygen.


First Line:
Angiography is a technique that makes blood vessels visible using X rays.


First Line:
Angioplasty is a technique of opening arteries that have become blocked by deposits of cholesterol, calcium, and other substances.


First Line:
Angiosperm is the name given to flowering plants.


First Line:
Angkor was an early civilization that flourished in northwestern Cambodia from the early 800's to the 1400's.


First Line:
Angle, in plane geometry, is a figure formed by two rays with the same end point.


First Line:
Angles made up one of the three Germanic tribes that invaded Britain during the A.D. 400's and 500's.


First Line:
Anglesey (pop. 67,800) is the largest island in England and Wales.


First Line:
Anglicans are Christians who belong to churches that are part of the Anglican Communion.


First Line:
Anglo-Boer Wars were two wars fought in South Africa between the United Kingdom (UK) and the Boers, people mainly of Dutch descent (see BOERS).


First Line:
Anglo-Catholic is a term used of a section of the Church of England.


First Line:
Anglo-Irish Agreement was signed in November 1985 by the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.


First Line:
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is the first great work of English prose and the most important source of English history from about 800 to 1066.


First Line:
Anglo-Saxons were members of the Germanic tribes that settled in what is now England in the A.D. 400's and 500's.


First Line:
Anglo-Zulu War took place in South Africa in 1879.


First Line:
Angola is a country on the southwest coast of Africa.


First Line:
Angophoras are Australian trees that are closely related to eucalypts.


First Line:
Angora is a hair fibre made from the fur of the Angora rabbit.


First Line:
Angstrom is a unit of length used to measure very small distances.


First Line:
Angstrom, Anders Jonas (1817-1874), a Swedish physicist and astronomer, was one of the founders of the science of spectroscopy.


First Line:
Anguilla is an island dependency of the United Kingdom located in the West Indies.


First Line:
Angus (pop. 111,020) is a United Kingdom local government area in Scotland.


First Line:
Anhinga is a large bird that lives in tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Asia, New Guinea, and Australia and in warm regions of the Western Hemisphere.


First Line:
Anhydride is a chemical substance that forms acids or bases when combined with water.


First Line:
Anhydrous ammonia is the liquid form of pure ammonia gas.


First Line:
Ani is the name of three species of birds in the cuckoo family.


First Line:
Aniline is a chemical best known for its use in making dyes.


First Line:
Animal.  Animals come in many shapes and sizes.


First Line:
Animal experimentation is the use of animals in scientific research, including medical research.


First Line:
Animal husbandry is the science of producing livestock.


First Line:
Animal rights movement is a term that refers to organized efforts opposing the use of animals for research, food, and clothing.


First Line:
Animal worship is the practice of worshipping or honouring animals.


First Line:
Animation is a film technique in which filmmakers create the illusion of motion, rather than recording it with a camera as live action.


First Line:
Animism is a term for any religion in which souls of dead people or spirits of nature play an important role.


First Line:
Anise is an annual herb related to caraway and dill.


First Line:
Ankara (pop. 2,559,500) is the capital of Turkey.


First Line:
Ankle is the joint where the leg and the foot meet.


First Line:
Ankylosaurus was a large, armoured dinosaur that lived between 68 million years and 65 million years ago in what is now western North America.


First Line:
Annandale and Eskdale was a Scottish local government district in Dumfries and Galloway.


First Line:
Annapolis (pop. 33,187) is the capital of Maryland, a state in the United States.


First Line:
Annapurna I, the eleventh highest peak in the world, rises 8,078 metres in the Himalaya.


First Line:
Anne (1665-1714) was the first queen of Britain, which was formed when the Kingdom of Scotland united with the Kingdom of England and Wales in 1707.


First Line:
Anne, Saint, is traditionally regarded as the wife of Joachim and mother of the Virgin Mary.


First Line:
Annealing is a process of heating metals, glass, or other materials and then cooling them.


First Line:
Annual is a plant that grows, blossoms, produces seed, and dies within one growing season.


First Line:
Annuity is a sum of money paid out at regular times, usually yearly.


First Line:
Annulment is the declaration that a marriage never really existed, or was void from the beginning.


First Line:
Annunciation is the announcement, according to Luke (1:26-38), which the angel Gabriel made to Mary.


First Line:
Anodizing is a type of electrolysis used to place a protective oxide coating on metal.


First Line:
Anointing of the sick is a sacrament of the Roman Catholic Church and of Eastern Orthodox churches.


First Line:
Anorexia nervosa is an emotional illness in which a person refuses to eat.


First Line:
Anouilh, Jean (1910-1987), was a popular and productive French playwright known for his polished dramas.


First Line:
Anoxia is the lack of a normal supply of oxygen to body tissues, or the inability of the tissues to use the oxygen.


First Line:
Anselm, Saint (1033-1109), was an influential medieval theologian and church leader.


First Line:
Ansermet, Ernest (1883-1969), a Swiss conductor, became known internationally as the founder and conductor of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande of Geneva.


First Line:
Ansett, Sir Reginald (1909-1981), pioneered commercial air transport in Australia.


First Line:
Anstey, Thomas (1778-1851), was one of the magistrates appointed by Governor Arthur to bring law and order to Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania, Australia).


First Line:
Ant is an insect that lives in organized communities.


First Line:
Ant lion is an insect larva (immature form) that digs a pit in the soil to trap ants and other small insects for its food.


First Line:
Antabuse is the widely used trade name of a drug used in the treatment of chronic alcoholism.


First Line:
Antananarivo (pop. 662,585) is the capital and largest city of Madagascar, which includes the island of Madagascar and small nearby islands.


First Line:
Antarctic Circle is an imaginary line that forms the northern boundary of Antarctica.


First Line:
Antarctic Ocean is the name which is sometimes given to the waters surrounding the Antarctic continent.


First Line:
Antarctica is the ice-buried continent that covers and surrounds the South Pole.


First Line:
Antares, also called Alpha Scorpii, is the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius.


First Line:
Antbird is the name of a perching bird which resembles shrikes and thrushes.


First Line:
Anteater is the name of a group of mammals that feed mostly on ants and termites.


First Line:
Antecedent is a word or group of words to which a pronoun refers in a sentence.


First Line:
Antelope is the name of a large group of animals that have hoofs and hollow horns.


First Line:
Antennae are long, delicate sensory organs on the heads of almost all insects and most other arthropods (see ARTHROPOD).


First Line:
Anthony, Susan Brownell (1820-1906), was an American reformer and one of the first leaders of the campaign for women's rights.


First Line:
Anthony of Padua, Saint (1195-1231), was a Christian religious leader and a popular preacher of his time.


First Line:
Anthony of Thebes, Saint (250?-356), was the founder of Christian monasticism.


First Line:
Anthrax is a severe infectious disease of farm animals which can also afflict human beings.


First Line:
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity and of human culture.


First Line:
Antiaircraft defence protects cities, military installations, ships, troops, and other targets from attack by enemy aircraft or missiles.


First Line:
Antibiotic is a drug produced by certain microorganisms.


First Line:
Antichrist is a power or person opposed to Jesus Christ.


First Line:
Anticoagulant is a chemical substance used to prevent the normal coagulation (clotting) of blood.


First Line:
Antidote is a substance that fights the harmful action of a poison in the body.


First Line:
Antifreeze is a substance that is added to a liquid to lower its freezing point.


First Line:
Antigone, in Greek mythology, was the daughter of King Oedipus and Queen Jocasta, the rulers of Thebes.


First Line:
Antigonid dynasty was the name of a line of kings that ruled Macedonia, a kingdom north of Greece.


First Line:
Antigravity is a hypothetical force of repulsion.


First Line:
Antigua (pop. 15,801), formerly Antigua Guatemala, was the capital of Guatemala in colonial days.


First Line:
Antigua and Barbuda is an independent island country in the Caribbean Sea.


First Line:
Antihistamine is a drug used to relieve the symptoms of hay fever and other allergies.


First Line:
Antill, John (1904-1986), was an Australian composer and music administrator, who won wide recognition with his orchestral work Corroboree, inspired by the unusual instrumental music and rhythms of Australian Aboriginal culture.


First Line:
Antimatter is matter composed of elementary particles that are the opposite of ordinary particles.


First Line:
Antimony, a chemical element, is a bluish-white, brittle metal.


First Line:
Antineutron is the oppositely charged counterpart of the neutron.


First Line:
Antioch (pop. 107,821), is a commercial city in Turkey.


First Line:
Antioxidant is any of a group of chemical compounds that may prevent certain types of cell damage.


First Line:
Antipodes are two places that are exactly opposite each other on the globe.


First Line:
Antiproton is the oppositely charged counterpart of the proton.


First Line:
Antique is an object many years old that has artistic value.


First Line:
Anti-Semitism is prejudice against Jews.


First Line:
Antiseptic is a substance that destroys--or stops the growth of--germs on living tissue.


First Line:
Antitoxin is a substance made by living cells that counteracts illness caused by a toxin.


First Line:
Antitrust laws were introduced in the United States to protect competition.


First Line:
Antoninus Pius (A.D. 86-161) was Roman emperor from A.D. 138 until his death.


First Line:
Antonioni, Michelangelo (1912-...), is an Italian film director.


First Line:
Antonius, George (1892-1942), was a Palestinian writer and political activist.


First Line:
Antony, Mark (83?-30 B.C.), a Roman general and statesman, served as co-ruler of Rome from 43 B.C. until his death.


First Line:
Antonym is a word that has the opposite meaning of another word.


First Line:
Antpipit is the name of two species of pipitlike birds from South America.


First Line:
Antrim (pop. 44,264) is a local government area and new town in Northern Ireland, bordering Lough Neagh.


First Line:
Antrim, County, is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland.


First Line:
Antwerp (pop. 462,800) is Belgium's main port and one of Europe's largest.


First Line:
Anubis was an important god of the underworld among the ancient Egyptians.


First Line:
Anza, Juan Bautista de, (1735-1788?), a Spanish frontiersman from Mexico, discovered an overland route between Sonora and Upper California, U.S.A. He shared in the founding of San Francisco.


First Line:
Anzac, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, was a combined force of Australian and New Zealand volunteer soldiers.


First Line:
Anzac Memorial in Sydney was originally built in memory of those men and women from New South Wales, Australia who served in World War I (1914-1918).


First Line:
Anzio (pop. 27,094) is a small seaport and resort on the west coast of Italy.


First Line:
ANZUS is a collective defence treaty formed by Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.


First Line:
Aorta is the body's longest and largest artery.


First Line:
Apartheid was, from 1948 until 1991, the South African government's policy of rigid racial segregation.


First Line:
Ape is a member of a group of animals that closely resemble human beings.


First Line:
Apelles, a Greek artist, was one of the most famous painters of ancient times.


First Line:
Apennine Tunnel is the train tunnel on the Florence-Bologna line in northern Italy.


First Line:
Apennines is the name of a mountain range that runs from the Gulf of Genoa to the toe of boot-shaped Italy.


First Line:
Apex is an organization for men between the ages of 18 and 40.


First Line:
Aphasia is the loss or partial loss of the ability to use and understand spoken and written language.


First Line:
Aphid, also called plant louse, is a tiny, soft-bodied insect that feeds on plant juices.


First Line:
Aphrodite was the goddess of love and beauty in Greek mythology.


First Line:
Apollinaire, Guillaume (1880-1918), a French poet, was one of the leaders in the arts in Paris during the decade before World War I (1914-1918).


First Line:
Apollo was a major god in Greek and Roman mythology.


First Line:
Aponte Martinez, Luis Cardinal (1922-...), archbishop of San Juan, became the first Puerto Rican cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.


First Line:
Apostle bird is a quick-moving, grey or black bird about 30 centimetres long.


First Line:
Apostles, in the New Testament, are the 12 men chosen by Jesus Christ to be His close companions.


First Line:
Apostles' Creed is a statement of the main Western Christian beliefs.


First Line:
Apothecaries' weight is a system of weights once widely used by pharmacists for prescriptions.


First Line:
Appalachian Mountains are the second largest mountain system of North America.


First Line:
Appeal is the transfer of a legal action to a higher, or superior, court for review.


First Line:
Appendicitis is an inflammation of the vermiform appendix (see APPENDIX).


First Line:
Appendix, in anatomy, is a structure attached to a larger or more important part.


First Line:
Appian Way was the first and most famous military highway built by the ancient Romans.


First Line:
Apple is one of the most commercially important fruits.


First Line:
Apple of Sodom is a spiny plant found near Jericho, Jordan.


First Line:
Appleseed, Johnny (1774-1845), was the name given to John Chapman, an American pioneer who planted large numbers of apple trees along the early frontier.


First Line:
Appleton, Sir Edward Victor (1892-1965), a British physicist, won the 1947 Nobel Prize for physics for his discovery of the Appleton layer in the ionosphere.


First Line:
Applique is a decorative process used in sewing and dressmaking.


First Line:
Apposition extends the meaning of a word or phrase next to it.


First Line:
Appraisal is an opinion of value, usually the market value of a piece of property.


First Line:
Apprentice is a person who learns a trade by working under the guidance of a skilled master.


First Line:
Apricot is a golden, peachlike fruit with a stone.


First Line:
April is the fourth month of the year, according to the Gregorian calendar, which is used almost all over the world today.


First Line:
April Fools' Day is the first day of April.


First Line:
Apuleius, Lucius (A.D. 125?-170?), wrote the only completely preserved novel in ancient Latin, Metamorphoses or Transformations.


First Line:
Aqua regia is a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids.


First Line:
Aquaculture is the controlled raising of marine animals and seaweeds.


First Line:
Aquamarine is a light-blue or bluish-green variety of a gemstone called beryl.


First Line:
Aquarium is a place where people keep fish and other water animals.


First Line:
Aquarius is the eleventh constellation (group of stars) of the zodiac.


First Line:
Aquatint is a method of etching upon copper plates.


First Line:
Aqueduct is an artificial channel through which water is conducted to the place where it is used.


First Line:
Aquinas, Saint Thomas (1225?-1274), was one of the greatest medieval philosophers and theologians.


First Line:
Aquino, Benigno (1932-1983), was a Filipino political leader and an opponent of the former Philippine president, Ferdinand Marcos.


First Line:
Aquino, Corazon (1933-...), was the first woman president of the Philippines.


First Line:
Arab League is an organization of 21 Middle Eastern and African nations and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).


First Line:
Arabanoo (?-1789), an Aborigine of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), Australia, was forced by Arthur Phillip, governor of New South Wales, into joining the first British settlement at Sydney Cove.


First Line:
Arabesque is a term used to describe the lacy surface decoration common in Islamic art.


First Line:
Arabian Desert is a term used to refer to all the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula.


First Line:
Arabian Nights, a collection of about 200 stories, is probably the most famous piece of Arabic literature in the English-speaking countries of the world.


First Line:
Arabian Peninsula is a vast desert land in southwestern Asia.


First Line:
Arabian Sea, part of the Indian Ocean, lies between the Arabian Peninsula and India.


First Line:
Arabic language is one of the world's most widely used languages.


First Line:
Arabic literature is the literature of people who speak the Arabic language, the official language of 19 Arab nations.


First Line:
Arabic numerals, also called Hindu-Arabic numerals, are the most common symbols used to represent numbers.


First Line:
Arabs are a large group of people whose native language is Arabic and who share a common history and culture.


First Line:
Arachne was a skilled weaver in Greek mythology.


First Line:
Arachnid is any member of a class of small, insectlike, land animals.


First Line:
Arafat, Yasir (1929-...), became president of the Palestine National Authority in 1996.


First Line:
Arafura Sea is an expanse of water that separates the northern coast of Australia from the island of New Guinea and from Nusa Tenggara (the Lesser Sunda Islands).


First Line:
Aramburu, Pedro Eugenio (1903-1970), was president of Argentina from 1955 to 1958.


First Line:
Aramaic language is a language of the Middle East.


First Line:
Aran Island lies in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Donegal in the Republic of Ireland.


First Line:
Aran Islands are in Galway Bay, about 48 kilometres from Galway in the Republic of Ireland.


First Line:
Aranda are a tribe of Australian Aborigines who live in northern central Australia.


First Line:
Ararat was the country where, according to the Bible, Noah's ark landed after the Deluge.


First Line:
Arawak Indians were the first American people that Christopher Columbus met in the Americas in 1492.


First Line:
Arbitration is the judging of a dispute by one or more impartial people whose decision will be final and binding.


First Line:
Arbor Day is a day specially set aside for treeplanting.


First Line:
Arboretum is an outdoor laboratory where trees, shrubs, and other woody plants are grown under natural conditions.


First Line:
Arborvitae is the name of certain evergreen trees native to eastern Asia and parts of North America.


First Line:
Arbuthnot, May Hill (1884-1969), was an American educator, writer, and lecturer who influenced the field of children's literature.


First Line:
Arbutus is the name given to a number of evergreen plants of the heath family.


First Line:
Arc de Triomphe stands at the head of the wide, tree-lined avenue called Champs Elysees in Paris.


First Line:
Arc light is any lighting device in which a current of electricity produces light by leaping across a gap in an electric circuit.


First Line:
Arcadia, one of the departments of present-day Greece, was an important region in ancient times.


First Line:
Arch is a curved structure that supports or strengthens a building.


First Line:
Archaeology is the scientific study of the remains of past human cultures.


First Line:
Archaeopteryx is the name of a genus (group) of feathered animals that lived about 140 million years ago, during the late Jurassic Period.


First Line:
Archbishop is the chief bishop of a religious province in the Roman Catholic Church and other churches.


First Line:
Archer was a family of explorers and pastoralists (farmers) who dominated the pioneering history of southern and central Queensland, Australia.


First Line:
Archer, Fred (1857-1886), was one of the United Kingdom's most successful jockeys.


First Line:
Archer, John Lee (1791-1852), a civil engineer and architect, planned many of Tasmania's oldest buildings.


First Line:
Archer, William (1856-1924), was a Scottish-born drama critic and playwright.


First Line:
Archerfish is any of six species of small fish found from India to the Philippines, Indonesia, and Australia.


First Line:
Archery is the sport of shooting with a bow and arrow.


First Line:
Archibald, Jules Francois (1856-1919), contributed greatly to the development of literature and art in Australia.


First Line:
Archibald Memorial Fountain, at the northern end of Hyde Park in Sydney, was erected in remembrance of how France and Australia fought together during World War I (1914-1918).


First Line:
Archibald Prize is an art prize worth 10,000 Australian dollars that is awarded each year for portrait painting.


First Line:
Archimedean screw is a device for raising water.


First Line:
Archimedean solid is any of 13 solid figures with special properties.


First Line:
Archimedes (287?-212 B.C.), a Greek mathematician and inventor, made some basic scientific discoveries.


First Line:
Archipelago is a Greek word that means chief sea.


First Line:
Archipenko, Alexander (1887-1964), was a pioneer cubist sculptor.


First Line:
Architecture is a term with several meanings, all related to buildings.


First Line:
Archives are collections of historical information.


First Line:
Archon was the most important of the nine chief administrative officials of ancient Athens.


First Line:
Arctic is the region of continuous cold around the North Pole.


First Line:
Arctic Circle is an imaginary line that runs through the northern parts of Canada, Alaska, Russia, and Scandinavia.


First Line:
Arctic fox is a small fox that lives in the barren, treeless regions surrounding the Arctic Ocean and on many islands in that sea.


First Line:
Arctic tern is a sea bird often called the migration champion of the world.


First Line:
Arcturus, also called Alpha Bootes, is the fourth brightest star in the night sky.


First Line:
Arden, Forest of, is a region in Warwickshire and West Midlands, England.


First Line:
Arden, John (1930-...), a British playwright, used as his central theme the opposition between the steady citizen who lacks imagination and the imaginative person who lives in chaos.


First Line:
Ardennes Mountains and Forest extend from northern France into Belgium and Luxembourg.


First Line:
Ardizzone, Edward (1900-1979), was a British author and illustrator of award-winning books for children.


First Line:
Ards (pop. 64,006) is a local government district centred on the Ards Peninsula, in Northern Ireland.


First Line:
Area, in plane geometry, is the amount of surface contained within the boundaries of a plane figure.


First Line:
Arena was the area used for combat with beasts or between gladiators in an ancient Roman amphitheatre.


First Line:
Areopagus was the oldest and most respected council of ancient Athens.


First Line:
Arequipa (pop. 591,700), is one of the largest cities of Peru.


First Line:
Ares was the god of war in Greek mythology.


First Line:
Arethusa was a beautiful nymph in Greek mythology.


First Line:
Arfon was a local government district bordering the Menai Strait in Gwynedd, North Wales.


First Line:
Argelander, Friedrich Wilhelm August (1799-1875), was a Finnish-German astronomer, and professor of astronomy at Bonn, Germany.


First Line:
Argentina is the second largest country in South America in area and in population.


First Line:
Argentine ants are dark-brown ants about 2 millimetres long.


First Line:
Argon, a chemical element, is a gas that forms 0.94 per cent of the earth's atmosphere.


First Line:
Argonaut is a sea animal of the same class as the octopus and squid.


First Line:
Argonauts, in Greek mythology, were the companions of Jason, a famous hero.


First Line:
Argus was a gigantic monster in Greek mythology.


First Line:
Argyll and Bute (pop. 65,100) is a local government area in western Scotland.


First Line:
Arhus, also spelled Aarhus (pop. 253,761), is the second largest city in Denmark.


First Line:
Ariadne, in Greek mythology, was a daughter of Minos, king of Crete.


First Line:
Arianism was an early Christian theological view taught by Arius, a priest of Alexandria, Egypt.


First Line:
Aries is traditionally known as the first constellation of the zodiac.


First Line:
Ariosto, Ludovico (1474-1533), was a poet of the Italian Renaissance.


First Line:
Arista, Mariano (1802-1855), a Mexican general, was president of Mexico from 1851 to 1853.


First Line:
Aristarchus of Samos was a Greek astronomer who lived in the 200's B.C. He was the first to state that the earth revolves around the sun.


First Line:
Aristide, Jean-Bertrand (1953-...), is the president of Haiti.


First Line:
Aristides (530?-468?  B.C.), called the "Just," was an Athenian statesman and military leader.


First Line:
Aristocracy is a high social class that often used to include the government leaders of a state or nation.


First Line:
Aristophanes (445?-385?  B.C.) was the greatest ancient Greek writer of comedy.


First Line:
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), a Greek philosopher, educator, and scientist, was one of the greatest and most influential thinkers in Western culture.


First Line:
Arithmetic gives us the answers to questions such as "How many?"  "How much?"  "How long?"  and "How far?"  It helps us find short, easy ways of solving problems with numbers.


First Line:
Arius (A.D. 256?-336), was a priest of Alexandria, Egypt, who founded an early Christian theological view called Arianism.


First Line:
Arizona is a state in the Southwestern United States.


First Line:
Arjuna is a hero of the Indian epic poem, the Mahabharata, which tells of the wars between the Pandava brothers and the Kaurava cousins.


First Line:
Ark usually refers to the vessel that sheltered Noah and his family during the Deluge (great flood) described in the Bible (Gen. 6).


First Line:
Ark of the Covenant was a sacred wooden chest described in the Bible as representing God's presence.


First Line:
Arkansas is a state in the Southern United States.


First Line:
Arkhangelsk (pop. 419,000) is one of the largest far-northern cities in the world.


First Line:
Arkwright, Sir Richard (1732-1792), was a British inventor and manufacturer.


First Line:
Arlberg Tunnels are two tunnels--one a railway tunnel and the other a motor-traffic tunnel--in western Austria between the provinces of Vorarlberg and Tyrol.


First Line:
Arlen, Michael (1895-1956), was a British novelist and short-story writer.


First Line:
Armadillo is any of several small American mammals with bony plates in their upper body skin.


First Line:
Armageddon is a Greek word taken from the Hebrew Har-Megiddo, which probably means Mount Megiddo.


First Line:
Armagh (pop. 51,287) is a local government district of Northern Ireland.


First Line:
Armagh, County, is the smallest of the six counties of Northern Ireland.


First Line:
Armature is the coil of wire in which electric current is produced in an electric generator.


First Line:
Armenia is a country in southwestern Asia.


First Line:
Armer, Laura Adams (1874-1963), was an American author of children's books, and a painter of Navajo Indian life.


First Line:
Armidale (pop. 21,606) is a city in northern New South Wales, Australia.


First Line:
Arminius, Jacobus (1560-1609), was a Dutch theologian.


First Line:
Armitage, Kenneth (1916-...), is an English sculptor who specializes in semiabstract figures made from bronze.


First Line:
Armour is a covering used primarily for protection in battle.


First Line:
Arms, or coats of arms, are designs which are used to honour and distinguish certain persons or institutions.


First Line:
Armstrong, Anne Legendre (1927-...), was the first woman to serve as United States ambassador to the United Kingdom.


First Line:
Armstrong, Duncan (1968-...), an Australian swimmer, won a gold medal at the 1988 Olympic Games for the men's 200-metre free-style.


First Line:
Armstrong, Henry Jackson, Jr. (1912-1988), is the only boxer to have held three world championship titles at the same time.


First Line:
Armstrong, John Ward (1915-1987), was Church of Ireland archbishop of Armagh and primate of All Ireland from 1980 until his retirement in 1986.


First Line:
Armstrong, Louis (1900-1971), an American trumpet player, was the first internationally famous soloist in jazz.


First Line:
Armstrong, Neil Alden (1930-...), a United States astronaut, was the first person to set foot on the moon.


First Line:
Army is the branch of a nation's armed forces that is trained to fight on land.


First Line:
Arne, Thomas (1710-1778), was an English composer.


First Line:
Arnhem Land lies in the northeastern corner of Australia's Northern Territory.


First Line:
Arnica is the name of about 45 kinds of plants of the Northern Hemisphere that yield a juice used to drive away the blood that collects in bruises.


First Line:
Arno, Peter (1904-1968), an American cartoonist, drew cartoons for The New Yorker magazine which most exactly paralleled the tone and smartness associated with the magazine.


First Line:
Arno River rises in the Etruscan section of the Apennine Mountains in northwestern Italy.


First Line:
Arnold, Benedict (1741-1801), was a general of the American Revolution period.


First Line:
Arnold, Eddy (1918-...), an American singer, was one of the most popular performers in country music from the mid-1940's through the 1960's.


First Line:
Arnold, Henry Harley (1886-1950), developed the small U.S. Army Air Corps into a large, powerful Air Force.


First Line:
Arnold, Malcolm (1921-...), a British composer, became known for his skill in orchestral writing.


First Line:
Arnold, Matthew (1822-1888), was one of the intellectual leaders of Victorian England.


First Line:
Arnold, Thomas (1795-1842), was an influential British educational reformer and a writer.


First Line:
Arp, Jean (1887-1966), was a French sculptor.


First Line:
Arran is an island in North Ayrshire, Scotland.


First Line:
Arrau, Claudio (1903-1991), a Chilean pianist and teacher, became known for his many concerts and recordings.


First Line:
Arrhenius, Svante August (1859-1927), was a Swedish chemist and physicist.


First Line:
Arrest is the act of taking a person into the custody of the law and depriving the person of liberty.


First Line:
Arrowroot is the common name for several plants that are cultivated in nearly all tropical countries.


First Line:
Arsenic is a semimetallic chemical element.


First Line:
Arson is the crime of intentionally burning a building or other property.


First Line:
Art and the arts.  In a broad sense, art is skill in making or doing.


First Line:
Art deco, also called style moderne, was a style of design that became popular during the 1920's and 1930's.


First Line:
Art Gallery of New South Wales, in Sydney, Australia, was established by the government in 1875.


First Line:
Art Institute of Chicago is a public museum of art and a cultural and educational centre in the United States.


First Line:
Art nouveau was a decorative style of design that flourished from the 1890's until about 1910.


First Line:
Artemis was the goddess of childbirth and hunting, and was sometimes identified with the moon goddess Selene in Greek mythology.


First Line:
Arteriosclerosis is a disease of the arteries.


First Line:
Artery is the name of the tubes or blood vessels through which blood is pumped away from the heart to the various parts of the body.


First Line:
Artesian well is a well that taps ground water which is under pressure.


First Line:
Arthritis is any of more than 100 diseases of the joints.


First Line:
Arthropod is any animal that belongs to the major division, or phylum, of the animal kingdom called the Arthropoda.


First Line:
Arthroscopy is the technique of using an arthroscope to examine a joint of the body.


First Line:
Arthur, Chester Alan (1829-1886), was the 21st president of the United States (1881-1885).


First Line:
Arthur, Sir George (1784-1854), was lieutenant governor of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) from 1824 to 1836.


First Line:
Arthur, King, was a legendary king of medieval Britain.


First Line:
Arthur's Pass is a route across the Southern Alps in the South Island of New Zealand.


First Line:
Artichoke is a large, thistlelike plant that produces edible flower buds.


First Line:
Article is the name given to any one of three words--a, an, and the.


First Line:
Articles of Confederation was the agreement under which the 13 original colonies of America established a government of states in 1781.


First Line:
Artificial eye is worn by a person who has had an eye removed because of disease or injury.


First Line:
Artificial heart is a device designed to replace a natural heart.


First Line:
Artificial intelligence is a branch of computer science.


First Line:
Artificial limb is a synthetic replacement for an arm or leg lost as the result of injury, disease, or a birth defect.


First Line:
Artificial respiration is a life-saving measure used to force air into and out of the lungs of people who have stopped breathing.


First Line:
Artificial sweetener is a synthetic substance used in food and beverages in place of sugar.


First Line:
Artificial turf is a manufactured product that looks like grass.


First Line:
Artigas, Jose Gervasio (1764-1850), was a national hero of Uruguay.


First Line:
Artillery includes mounted guns or rocket launchers that are too large or too heavy to be classed as small arms.


First Line:
Artzybasheff, Boris (1899-1965), was an American artist and writer of both adult and children's books.


First Line:
Aruba is a Dutch island dependency in the West Indies.


First Line:
Arum is the name of a large family of plants.


First Line:
Arun (pop. 127,700) is a local government district in West Sussex, England.


First Line:
Arunachal Pradesh is a state in the northeast of India.


First Line:
Aryabhatta (A.D. 476-...?) was an Indian astronomer, mathematician, and poet.


First Line:
Aryans is a term used both for a group of Asian languages and for certain Asian peoples.


First Line:
Asaph, Saint (?-596?), is honoured as the first bishop of Llanelwy, now St. Asaph, in Clwyd, Wales.


First Line:
Asbestos is any of a group of soft, threadlike mineral fibres.


First Line:
Asbjornsen, Peter Christen (1812-1885), was a collector of Norwegian folk tales and a naturalist.


First Line:
Asbury, Francis (1745-1816), was the most important Methodist leader in America during the late 1700's and early 1800's.


First Line:
Ascension is an island in the South Atlantic about 1,100 kilometres northwest of Saint Helena and 800 kilometres south of the equator.


First Line:
Ascension Day is a Christian holiday that falls on a Thursday, 40 days after Easter.


First Line:
Asceticism is the practice of self-denial or self-punishment, often for religious purposes.


First Line:
Asch, Sholem (1880-1957), a Polish-born author, was the first person to achieve international recognition writing in Yiddish.


First Line:
Ascham, Roger (1515-1568), was tutor to Princess Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth I of England, and was the author of The Schoolmaster (1570).


First Line:
Asche, Oscar (1871-1936), was an Australian actor, playwright, theatrical manager, and producer.


First Line:
Ash is a group of hardwood trees found in Asia, Europe, and North America.


First Line:
Ash is the substance that remains after an organic substance has been burned.


First Line:
Ashanti are the largest and most powerful ethnic group in the West African country of Ghana.


First Line:
Ashburton (pop. 14,030), is a town in the South Island of New Zealand.


First Line:
Ashcan School was a group of American artists of the early 1900's known mainly for their realistic paintings of city life.


First Line:
Ashcroft, Dame Peggy (1907-1991), acted in plays, films, and on television.


First Line:
Ashdown, Battle of (A.D. 871), was a battle fought during the Danish campaign to conquer England in the late 800's.


First Line:
Ashdown, Paddy (1941-...), became the first leader of the United Kingdom's new Liberal Democrat Party after the Liberals and Social Democrats merged in 1988.


First Line:
Ashe, Arthur (1943-1993), an American tennis player, became the first black to win the U.S. men's national singles championship.


First Line:
Ashfield (pop. 106,800) is a coal-mining area in Nottinghamshire, England.


First Line:
Ashford (pop. 90,900) is a local government district in Kent, England, on the southern side of the North Downs.


First Line:
Ashgabat (pop. 407,000) is the capital of Turkmenistan.


First Line:
Ashley, William Henry (1778?-1838), an American fur trader and explorer, began fur trading in 1822.


First Line:
Ashmore and Cartier Islands are a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean about 300 kilometres off the northwestern coast of Australia.


First Line:
Ashton, Sir Frederick (1904-1988), was an English choreographer (composer of dances).


First Line:
Ashurbanipal, also spelled Assurbanipal, was the last great king of the Assyrians.


First Line:
Asia is the largest continent in both size and population.


First Line:
Asia Minor is a peninsula of western Asia.


First Line:
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a forum for the discussion of economic cooperation in the Pacific region.


First Line:
Asian Development Bank (ADB) lends money and provides technical help to developing countries of Asia to promote economic growth.


First Line:
Asian Games are one of the most important amateur sporting events in the world.


First Line:
Asimov, Isaac (1920-1992), was an American author.


First Line:
Askia Muhammad (1441?-1538), also called Askia I or Askia the Great, ruled the West African empire of Songhai during the height of its power.


First Line:
Asmara (pop. 275,385) is the capital and industrial centre of Eritrea.


First Line:
Asoka (?-232 B.C.), also spelled Ashoka, was the greatest emperor of ancient India.


First Line:
Asp is the name of a cobra found in Egypt.


First Line:
Asparagus is a nutritious green vegetable.


First Line:
Aspen is the name of three species of medium-sized poplar trees found in the Northern Hemisphere.


First Line:
Aspen (pop. 5,049), a town in the U.S. state of Colorado, once a rich silver-mining centre, is now a year-round resort.


First Line:
Asphalt is a black cementlike mineral substance that is found in most crude petroleum.


First Line:
Asphodel is a hardy plant native to the Mediterranean regions.


First Line:
Asphyxiation is a state of unconsciousness that occurs when the lungs do not provide the blood with sufficient oxygen.


First Line:
Aspidistra is a plant native to the Orient, but widely cultivated as a house plant.


First Line:
Aspirin, also known as acetylsalicylic acid, is one of the most commonly used drugs in the world.


First Line:
Asquith, Herbert Henry (1852-1928), a British statesman, served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916.


First Line:
Assad, Hafez al- (1930-...), was elected president of Syria in 1971.


First Line:
Assam is a state in northeastern India, in the low-lying Brahmaputra Valley.


First Line:
Assassination is the murder of a person who holds a position of public importance.


First Line:
Assault and battery is a legal term that involves a threat and physical act.


First Line:
Assaying is a process used to determine the amount of metals or minerals contained in substances.


First Line:
Assemblies of God is the largest Pentecostal religious denomination in the world.


First Line:
Assembly line is a group of work areas, called stations, arranged in a certain order to make a product.


First Line:
Assignment is the legal term for the transfer of rights to property or money from one person to another.


First Line:
Assimilation is the process by which cells convert food into living tissues.


First Line:
Assimilation is the process through which one social and cultural group becomes part of another social and cultural group.


First Line:
Assiniboia was the name of two historic areas of the United States and Canada.


First Line:
Associated Press (AP) is one of the world's largest news-gathering services and one of two general news services in the United States.


First Line:
Association, in psychology, refers to one theory of how people learn things.


First Line:
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is an organization of Southeast Asian countries--Brunei, Burma, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.


First Line:
Assumption is the religious belief that a certain person was taken bodily into heaven.


First Line:
Assyria was an ancient country on the upper Tigris River in Mesopotamia.


First Line:
Astaire, Fred (1899-1987), an American dancer and actor, was a popular star of musicals.


First Line:
Astarte is the Greek name for one of the most important goddesses of the ancient Middle East.


First Line:
Astatine is the heaviest member of the halogen family of chemical elements.


First Line:
Aster is the name of a large group of plants valued for their colourful flowers.


First Line:
Asteroid is any of numerous small planetary bodies that revolve around the sun.


First Line:
Asthma is a disease involving a type of breathlessness.


First Line:
Astigmatism is a visual defect in which both nearby and distant objects appear blurred.


First Line:
Aston, Francis William (1877-1945), was a British physicist.


First Line:
Astor is the name of an important American family.


First Line:
Astrakhan (pop. 510,000) is a city in southwestern Russia, on the Volga River delta.


First Line:
Astrolabe is an instrument used by early astronomers and navigators to measure the angles of celestial bodies above the horizon.


First Line:
Astrology is the study of how the sun, moon, planets, and stars are supposedly related to life and events on the earth.


First Line:
Astronaut is a person who pilots a spacecraft or works in space.


First Line:
Astronautics is the scientific study of space flight.


First Line:
Astronomer Royal is an honorary title for one of Britain's outstanding astronomers.


First Line:
Astronomy is the study of the stars, planets, and other objects that make up the universe.


First Line:
Astrophysics is a science that applies the principles of physics to many fields of astronomy.


First Line:
Asturias, Miguel Angel (1899-1974), a Guatemalan author and diplomat, won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1967.


First Line:
Asuncion (pop. 455,517) is the capital, largest city, and chief port of Paraguay.


First Line:
Aswan (pop. 191,461) is an important commercial and mining resort in southeastern Egypt.


First Line:
Aswan High Dam controls the floodwaters of the Nile River in Egypt.


First Line:
Asylum, in international law, is shelter and protection given by a nation to a person fleeing another nation.


First Line:
Atacama Desert is a barren, mineral-rich region in northern Chile and the southern tip of Peru.


First Line:
Atahualpa (1500?-1533), also called Atabalipa, was the last ruler of the Inca Empire in Peru.


First Line:
Ataturk, Kemal (1881-1938), was the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey.


First Line:
Atavism, also called reversion, is the sudden reappearance in an animal or plant of a trait that has existed before only in ancient ancestors.


First Line:
Ataxia is a lack of coordination in the muscles.


First Line:
Athanasius, Saint (295?-373), was the leading Christian churchman of his time.


First Line:
Atheism is the belief that God does not exist.


First Line:
Athena, in Greek mythology, was the goddess of warfare, wisdom, and arts and crafts.


First Line:
Athens, (pop. 748,110; met. area pop. 3,096,775) is one of the world's most famous and historic cities.


First Line:
Atherton, Michael Andrew (1968-...), is an English cricketer.


First Line:
Atherton Tableland is an area of high, flat land in northeastern Queensland, Australia.


First Line:
Athlete's foot is an infectious skin disease that involves itching and scaling between the toes and on the soles of the feet.


First Line:
Athletics is a sport in which athletes compete in running, walking, jumping, and throwing events.


First Line:
Athlone (pop. 8,768) is the largest town of Westmeath in the Republic of Ireland.


First Line:
Athlone, Earl of (1874-1957), a member of the British royal family and a military officer, served as governor general of Canada from 1940 to 1946.


First Line:
Atlanta (pop. 394,017; metropolitan area pop. 2,833,511) is the capital and largest city of the Southern state of Georgia in the United States.


First Line:
Atlantic Charter expressed the post-World War II aims of the United States and Great Britain.


First Line:
Atlantic City (pop. 40,199; metropolitan area pop. 319,416), is a large seaside resort in the eastern state of New Jersey in the United States.


First Line:
Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway is a sheltered water route used by boats along the Atlantic Coast of the United States.


First Line:
Atlantic Ocean is the second largest body of water in the world.


First Line:
Atlantic Provinces are the four Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.


First Line:
Atlantis was a legendary continent that many people believe sank into the Atlantic Ocean thousands of years ago.


First Line:
Atlas, in Greek mythology, was one of a group of gods called Titans.


First Line:
Atlas Mountains extend for 2,410 kilometres across northwestern Africa.


First Line:
Atmosphere is the air which surrounds the earth.


First Line:
Atmosphere is a measure of atmospheric pressure.


First Line:
Atoll is a circular ring of coral in the open sea, built up on a sunken bank, or formed on the crater of a volcano that has sunk below the surface of the sea.


First Line:
Atom is one of the basic units of matter.


First Line:
Atomic clock is a device for measuring time intervals by measuring the frequency of electromagnetic waves given off, or absorbed, by atoms or molecules.


First Line:
Atomism is a philosophical view that developed in Greece during the 400's B.C. The atomists believed that the basic elements of reality are atoms--indivisible, indestructible particles of matter moving in space.


First Line:
Atomizer is a device that produces a fine spray by forcing a liquid through a tiny opening.


First Line:
Atonement is the act of doing something good to make up for an offence one has committed or a harm one has done.


First Line:
Atrium was the central room of early Roman houses.


First Line:
Attache is an officer attached to a diplomatic office.


First Line:
Attachment is the legal term for a court order to seize a person's property.


First Line:
Attar, also called otto, is the essential oil obtained by passing steam through flower petals.


First Line:
Attila (?-A.D. 453) was a king who united the Huns, a Mongoloid people that began to invade the Roman Empire during the late A.D. 300's.


First Line:
Attlee, Clement Richard (1883-1967), was the prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951.


First Line:
Attucks, Crispus (1723?-1770), was a leader of the American crowd that British troops fired upon in the so-called "Boston Massacre" during the American Revolution.


First Line:
Atwood, Margaret (1939-...), is a Canadian poet, novelist, and critic.


First Line:
Aubergine is a plant grown for its large, shiny-skinned fruit.


First Line:
Aubrey, John (1626-1697), an author and antiquary, is best remembered for his Brief Lives, a collection of anecdotes about such famous men as Francis Bacon, Ben Jonson, and Sir Walter Raleigh.


First Line:
Aubrietia is a plant of the mustard family.


First Line:
Auchincloss, Louis (1917-...), is an American author.


First Line:
Auchinleck, Sir Claude John Eyre (1884-1981), a British field marshal, served in Egypt and Mesopotamia during World War I (1914-1918).


First Line:
Auckland (pop. 855,571), with its suburbs and satellite cities, is New Zealand's largest population centre.


First Line:
Auckland Islands are a group of uninhabited islands about 300 kilometres south of New Zealand.


First Line:
Auction is a sale at which people bid for articles being sold.


First Line:
Auden, W. H. (1907-1973), an English-born poet, is best known for the remarkable variety of his works.


First Line:
Audio-visual materials, also known as instructional media, are educational devices that work through sight, sound, or both.


First Line:
Audiology is a profession devoted to the detection and treatment of hearing problems.


First Line:
Audit is the examination and checking of financial accounts by a professional auditor (accountant) who has had no part in their preparation.


First Line:
Audubon, John James (1785-1851), an American, was one of the first to study and paint the birds of the United States.


First Line:
Audubon Society, National, in the United States, is one of the oldest and largest national conservation organizations in the world.


First Line:
Auer, Leopold (1845-1930), a Hungarian violinist, became one of the most famous violin teachers of his time.


First Line:
Augean stables, in Greek and Roman mythology, were the stables belonging to Augeas, king of Elis.


First Line:
Augrabies Falls, on the Orange River in South Africa, are among the world's great waterfalls.


First Line:
Augsburg (pop. 245,193) is a commercial and industrial city in southern Germany.


First Line:
Augur was the title given to people in ancient Rome who interpreted signs for government officials.


First Line:
August is the eighth month of the year according to the Gregorian calendar, which is used in almost all the world today.


First Line:
Augustine, Saint (354-430), was one of the greatest leaders of the early Christian church.


First Line:
Augustine of Canterbury, Saint (?-604), was the apostle to the English nation and the first archbishop of Canterbury.


First Line:
Augustus (63 B.C.-A.D. 14), meaning the exalted, was the name given Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (Octavian) when he became the first Roman emperor in 27 B.C. The period of the Roman Republic ended, and the era of the Roman Empire began under August


First Line:
Auk is the name of a family of sea birds that includes dovekies, guillemots, murres, and puffins.


First Line:
Aulard, Francois Victor Alphonse (1849-1928), a noted French historian, is reknowned for his work on source material of the French Revolution.


First Line:
Auld lang syne in Scottish dialect means old long since, or days gone by.


First Line:
Aung San Suu Kyi, Daw (1945-...) leads the opposition to the military dictatorship that rules Burma.


First Line:
Aurangzeb (1618-1707), was an emperor who ruled what is now India and Pakistan from 1658 until his death.


First Line:
Aurelian (A.D. 215?-275), was a Roman emperor.


First Line:
Auriga, also called the Wagoner or the Charioteer, is the name of a constellation.


First Line:
Aurochs, also called urus, is the name of a kind of extinct wild ox.


First Line:
Aurora is a natural display of light in the sky that can be seen with the unaided eye only at night.


First Line:
Aurora was the goddess of the dawn in Roman mythology.


First Line:
Aurora australis, also called southern lights, occurs as arcs or bands of brilliant light in the sky over the Antarctic.


First Line:
Aurukun is an Australian Aboriginal settlement on the Gulf of Carpentaria in northern Australia.


First Line:
Auschwitz was a forced-labour and extermination centre run by the German Nazis during World War II (1939-1945).


First Line:
Austcare stands for Australians Care for Refugees.


First Line:
Austen, Jane (1775-1817), one of the best-loved English novelists, wrote with a keen sense of irony about the social institutions of her time.


First Line:
Austerlitz, Battle of, was a major battle of the Napoleonic Wars.


First Line:
Austin (pop. 465,622) is the capital of Texas, a state in the United States.


First Line:
Austin, Herbert (1866-1941), Baron Austin of Longbridge, designed and built some of the first motorcars in the United Kingdom.


First Line:
Austin, Stephen Fuller (1793-1836), was an American colonizer.


First Line:
Austral, Florence (1892-1968), an Australian dramatic soprano, became internationally famous, both as a grand opera singer and as a concert artist.


First Line:
Austral Islands lie south of Tahiti in the Pacific Ocean.


First Line:
Australia is a name that comes from the Latin word australis, meaning southern.


First Line:
Australia is the only country that is also a continent.


First Line:
Australia II became the first non-American yacht to win the America's Cup in the 25 challenges from 1870.


First Line:
Australia, Armed services of, are small, but advanced in technology.


First Line:
Australia, Art and architecture of.  Australia's unique combination of landscape, peoples, and cultural influences has produced art and architecture that is both rich and varied.


First Line:
Australia, Government of.  Australia is a federation of six states, two mainland territories, and eight external territories.


First Line:
Australia, History of.  The first people in Australia were Aborigines who arrived at least 50,000 years ago.


First Line:
Australia, Legal system of.  The legal system of Australia is based to a large extent on the legal system of England.


First Line:
Australia, Literature of.  Literature in Australia is a major body of writing in the English language produced by authors born or residing in Australia.


First Line:
Australia Day is celebrated as a national holiday in Australia on January 26 of each year.


First Line:
Australia felix was the name given by the explorer Sir Thomas Mitchell to a large tract of excellent farming and pasture land in Victoria, Australia.


First Line:
Australian Aborigines are Australians whose ancestors were the first people to live in Australia.


First Line:
Australian Academy of the Humanities is a council of up to 50 elected members, as well as honorary and special members.


First Line:
Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS) is a scientific organization that plays an important part in promoting the exchange of scientific information throughout the Commonwealth of Nations.


First Line:
Australian Alps, the playground of Australia, contain the highest mountains in Australia.


First Line:
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is responsible for national television and radio services in Australia.


First Line:
Australian Capital Territory (ACT) is the site of Canberra, Australia's national capital.


First Line:
Australian cattle dog is a breed of dog that originated in Australia during the 1800's.


First Line:
Australian coat of arms contains the badges of the six states of the Commonwealth of Australia enclosed in an ermine border.


First Line:
Australian Constitution was proclaimed on Jan. 1, 1901, when the six separate colonies combined to form the Commonwealth of Australia.


First Line:
Australian flag features the British Union Flag--often called the Union Jack--at the upper left on a blue background.


First Line:
Australian Flying Corps (AFC) was the first air force in Australia.


First Line:
Australian Inland Mission was an organization that provided help for people in the Australian outback.


First Line:
Australian Labor Party (ALP) is Australia's oldest political party.


First Line:
Australian Loan Council decides the total amount of money to be raised each year by the federal and state governments, except for defence and temporary purposes.


First Line:
Australian Rules football is a highly popular winter game in the southern states of Australia.


First Line:
Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) gathers and evaluates information that its director general considers is relevant to the security of the country.


First Line:
Australian terrier is a small dog once used to guard mines and tend sheep in Australia.


First Line:
Australind is a tract of land on the Leschenault Inlet, about 145 kilometres south of Perth, Australia.


First Line:
Australites are small, glasslike stones found in the southern part of Australia.


First Line:
Australoids are members of the racial group consisting of the Australian Aborigines.


First Line:
Australopithecus is regarded by most anthropologists as the earliest type of creature that was similar to human beings.


First Line:
Austria is a small country in central Europe famous for its beautiful mountain scenery.


First Line:
Austria-Hungary, also called the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the Dual Monarchy, was a country in central Europe from 1867 until 1918.


First Line:
Authoritarianism is any form of government in which relatively few people run the country, and the rest of the population takes little part in decision making.


First Line:
Autism is a rare, severe developmental disorder that begins before four years of age.


First Line:
Autobiography is a type of biography in which the author tells the story of his or her own life.


First Line:
Autocracy is a form of government in which one person holds supreme power.


First Line:
Autogiro is a type of heavier-than-air craft that is supported in the air by a rotor instead of by fixed wings, as an aeroplane is.


First Line:
Automatic frequency control (AFC) is a circuit used in electronic devices to maintain a particular frequency automatically.


First Line:
Automatic pilot, also called gyropilot, is a device that automatically steers ships or aircraft.


First Line:
Automation is the use of machines to perform tasks that require decision making.


First Line:
Automobile Association (AA), in Britain, is the largest motoring organization in the world.


First Line:
Autopsy is an external and internal examination of the dead.


First Line:
Autry, Gene (1907-...), is an American singer, actor, songwriter, and business executive.


First Line:
Autumn is the season between summer and winter.


First Line:
Auvergne is a region and former province in the south-eastern part of central France.


First Line:
Auxin is the name of a group of hormones that control plant growth.


First Line:
Avalanche is a mass of snow that slides down a mountain slope.


First Line:
Avant-garde is a term used to describe people in any field who break with tradition and conventional standards in their work.


First Line:
Avebury, a village in central Wiltshire, is famous as the site of some of the oldest prehistoric structures in England.


First Line:
Average is a number that is typical of a group of numbers or quantities.


First Line:
Averroes (1126-1198), was an Arabian philosopher.


First Line:
Aviation is a term that includes all the activities involved in building and flying aircraft, including aeroplanes, airships, balloons, helicopters, and gliders.


First Line:
Avicenna (980-1037), also known as Ibn-Sina, was an Arab doctor, philosopher-scientist, astronomer, and poet.


First Line:
Avignon (pop. 89,132; met. area pop. 175,000) is an agricultural centre and a historic city in southeastern France.


First Line:
Avila Camacho, Manuel (1897-1955), a Mexican soldier, diplomat, and political leader, served as president of Mexico from 1940 to 1946.


First Line:
Avoca is the name of a village and a small river in Wicklow, in the Republic of Ireland.


First Line:
Avocado is a fruit that grows on an evergreen tree of the same name.


First Line:
Avocet is a long-legged wading bird, from 40 to 45 centimetres long.


First Line:
Avogadro, Amedeo (1776-1856), was an Italian physicist.


First Line:
Avoirdupois is a system of weights for common, sizable articles of commerce, such as coal, grain, or foodstuffs.


First Line:
Avon was a county in southwestern England.


First Line:
Avon is the name of nine rivers in Britain.


First Line:
Aw Boon Haw (1893-1954), a Chinese businessman, became known in Singapore as the Tiger Balm King, because of the medicinal products marketed by his family under the "Tiger" brand.


First Line:
Axe is a common cutting tool made up of an edged head attached to a handle.


First Line:
Axiom is a mathematical statement that is assumed to be true.


First Line:
Axis refers to alliances formed among Germany, Italy, and Japan beginning in 1936 and continuing in their cooperation during World War II (1939-1945).


First Line:
Ayckbourn, Alan (1939-...), a British playwright and theatre director, won fame for his comedies.


First Line:
Aye-aye is a small, squirrel-like animal of Madagascar.


First Line:
Ayer, Sir Alfred Jules (1910-1989), a British philosopher, acquired an early reputation with his book Language, Truth and Logic (1936).


First Line:
Ayers Rock is a giant outcrop of rock in the Northern Territory of Australia.


First Line:
Aylesbury Vale (pop. 143,600) is a local government district that covers a large area in central Buckinghamshire, England.


First Line:
Aylward, Gladys (1902-1970), was an Englishwoman born in London.


First Line:
Ayr (pop. 9,012) is the chief town of the Shire of Burdekin in Queensland, Australia.


First Line:
Ayrshire was a county in southwestern Scotland.


First Line:
Aytoun, William Edmondstoune (1813-1865), a Scottish poet and humorist, is best known for the Bon Gaultier Ballads (1845), a series of brilliant parodies, which he wrote with Sir Theodore Martin.


First Line:
Ayub Khan, Mohammad (1907-1974), was a Pakistani political leader.


First Line:
Azalea is the name of a group of flowering shrubs.


First Line:
Azerbaijan is a country in the Caucasus Mountain region on the western shore of the Caspian Sea.


First Line:
Azimuth is a measure along the horizon of the angle between an object and a reference point.


First Line:
Azlan Shah (1928-...), became the king of Malaysia in 1989.


First Line:
Azores are a group of nine islands that belong to Portugal.


First Line:
Azov, Sea of, is a large, shallow inland sea bordering Ukraine and Russia.


First Line:
Aztec were an American Indian people who ruled a mighty empire in Mexico during the 1400's and early 1500's.


First Line:
Azurite is a mineral that contains copper.


First Line:
B is the second letter of the English alphabet.


First Line:
Ba Jin (1904-...), an outstanding Chinese writer, became known for his novels Family (1931), Spring (1938), and Autumn (1940), which first gained popularity in the 1940's.


First Line:
Baal was one of the chief gods of the Canaanites in Biblical times.


First Line:
Baal Shem Tov (1700?-1760), a Jewish teacher, was the leading founder of the religious movement called Hasidism.


First Line:
Babur, also spelled Babar (1483-1530), was a Turkish prince who founded the Mughal Empire in India.


First Line:
Babbage, Charles (1791-1871), was an English mathematician known for his designs of two mechanical computing machines.


First Line:
Babbitt metals are alloys often used to line the bearings of cranks, axles, and similar moving parts.


First Line:
Babbler is the name of a large, varied group of birds found mainly in the forests of Africa, southern Asia, and Australia.


First Line:
Babcock, Stephen Moulton (1843-1931), an American agricultural chemist, devised in 1890 a test to show the amount of butterfat in milk.


First Line:
Babel, Isaak Emmanuilovich (1894-1941), was a Soviet Jewish writer.


First Line:
Babergh (pop. 78,500) is a rural local government district in Suffolk, England.


First Line:
Babi Yar was a ravine near Kiev in Ukraine and the site of one of the largest massacres in history.


First Line:
Babington, Anthony (1561-1586), was the leader of a Roman Catholic plot to assassinate Elizabeth I of England, and to make Mary, Queen of Scots, the Queen of England.


First Line:
Babirusa is a wild pig found in Indonesia.


First Line:
Babson, Roger Ward (1875-1967), an American statistician, founded Babson's Statistical Organization in 1904 to gather information useful to business.


First Line:
Baby, also called infant, is a child up to about 18 months of age.


First Line:
Babylon was a great city of the ancient world.


First Line:
Babylonia was an ancient region around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now southeastern Iraq.


First Line:
Bacall, Lauren (1924-...), is an American film actress.


First Line:
Bacchus was the god of wine in Roman mythology.


First Line:
Bacchus Marsh (pop. 11,853), is a town in central southern Victoria, Australia.


First Line:
Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel (1714-1788), was a German composer.


First Line:
Bach, Johann Christian (1735-1782), a German composer, was the youngest son of the famous composer Johann Sebastian Bach.


First Line:
Bach, Johann Sebastian (1685-1750), a German composer, is considered the greatest genius of baroque music.


First Line:
Back is the part of the body, viewed from the rear, that extends from the neck to the buttocks (rump).


First Line:
Backache is a pain that originates in the area of the spine.


First Line:
Backgammon is a game for two people played with a rectangular board and dice.


First Line:
Bacolod (pop. 364,180) is the capital of the province of Negros Occidental, on Negros Island in the Philippines.


First Line:
Bacon is a kind of meat that is a favourite breakfast food in several countries.


First Line:
Bacon, Francis (1561-1626), was an English philosopher, essayist, jurist, and statesman.


First Line:
Bacon, Francis (1909-1992), was one of the most important British artists of the second half of the 1900's.


First Line:
Bacon, Nathaniel (1647-1676), was the leader of Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia, then an English colony in America.


First Line:
Bacon, Roger (1214?-1292?), was an English philosopher and scientist.


First Line:
Bacteria are simple organisms that consist of one cell.


First Line:
Bacteriology is the study of single-celled organisms called bacteria.


First Line:
Badawi, Abdullah bin Ahmad (1939-...), became minister of foreign affairs for Malaysia in 1991, and vice president of Malaysia in 1984.


First Line:
Baden-Baden (pop. 48,684) is a world-famous health resort town in the northwest corner of the Black Forest in Germany.


First Line:
Baden-Powell, Lord (1857-1941), founded the Boy Scout movement.


First Line:
Badenoch and Strathspey (pop. 12,941) is a local government district in Highland Region, Scotland.


First Line:
Bader, Sir Douglas (1910-1982), was one of the leading British airmen in the World War II Battle of Britain (1940) (see BATTLE OF BRITAIN).


First Line:
Badger is a digging member of the weasel family, which also includes martens, minks, otters, skunks, and wolverines.


First Line:
Badlands are regions of small, steep hills and deep gullies formed primarily by water erosion.


First Line:
Badminton is a game in which opposing players use rackets to hit a shuttle, also called a shuttlecock, back and forth over a net.


First Line:
Badoglio, Pietro (1871-1956), was an Italian soldier and statesman.


First Line:
Baekeland, Leo Hendrik (1863-1944), an American chemist, improved methods of developing photographic film.


First Line:
Baer, Karl Ernest von (1792-1876), a German biologist, is considered the founder of embryology.


First Line:
Baeyer, Adolph von (1835-1917), a German chemist, won the 1905 Nobel Prize for chemistry.


First Line:
Baez, Joan (1941-...), is an American singer of folk and popular songs.


First Line:
Baffin, William (1584-1622), was an English navigator and explorer.


First Line:
Baffin Island lies north of the Canadian mainland.


First Line:
Bagehot, Walter (1826-1877), was an English banker and writer.


First Line:
Baghdad (pop. 5,908,000) is the capital of Iraq and one of the largest cities of the Middle East.


First Line:
Bagley, William Chandler (1874-1946), was an influential American professor, editor, and writer.


First Line:
Bagpipe is a wind instrument that consists of a leather bag fitted with one or more pipes.


First Line:
Baguio (pop. 183,102) is a mountain resort city in the Philippines.


First Line:
Baha'is are members of the Baha'i Faith.


First Line:
Bahamas are a chain of islands forming an independent nation in the northern Caribbean Sea.


First Line:
Baha'u'llah (1817-1892), was the founder of the Baha'i Faith.


First Line:
Bahrain is an island country in the Persian Gulf (a stretch of water in southwest Asia, lying between the Arabian mainland and Iran).


First Line:
Bail is security arranged with a court of law to obtain the release of an arrested person.


First Line:
Bailey, Carolyn Sherwin (1875-1961), an American author, won the Newbery Medal in 1947.


First Line:
Bailey, David (1938-...), a British photographer and film director, rose to fame as a fashion photographer in the 1960's.


First Line:
Bailie was an elected magistrate in Scotland.


First Line:
Bailiwick is a region under the jurisdiction of a bailiff or a sheriff.


First Line:
Baillieu, Lord (1889-1967), Clive Latham Baillieu, was one of the world's leading businessmen.


First Line:
Baily's beads are the brilliant points of light seen just as the sun disappears behind or reappears from behind the moon during a total solar eclipse (see ECLIPSE).


First Line:
Bain, Andrew (1797?-1864), a Scottish engineer, became known as "the father of South African geology" because of his research into local fossils, plants, and rocks.


First Line:
Bainbridge, William (1774-1833), was a United States naval officer in the war with Tripoli and the War of 1812.


First Line:
Baines, Thomas (1822-1875), a British-born artist and explorer, lived and worked for most of his life in South Africa.


First Line:
Baird, John Logie (1888-1946), a Scottish engineer, gave the first public demonstration of television in 1926 in England.


First Line:
Bairnsdale (pop. 10,772), is the educational, retail, and market centre of East Gippsland, and the centre of government administration in eastern Victoria, Australia (see GIPPSLAND).


First Line:
Baja California Norte (pop. 1,660,855) is a state of Mexico.


First Line:
Bakelite is the trade name of a plastic made from phenol and formaldehyde.


First Line:
Baker, Sir Benjamin (1840-1907), was an English civil engineer.


First Line:
Baker, Sir Herbert (1862-1946), was South Africa's leading architect in the early 1900's.


First Line:
Baker, Dame Janet (1933-...), is a British singer whose voice possesses rare beauty and control.


First Line:
Baker, Sir Samuel (1821-1893), was a British explorer who helped to locate the sources of the Nile River.


First Line:
Baker, Snowy (1884-1953), was one of Australia's greatest all-round sportsmen.


First Line:
Bakewell, Robert (1725-1795), was one of the first British farmers to show how livestock could be improved by the careful selection of breeding animals.


First Line:
Baking powder is a fine white powder used to make cakes and biscuits leaven (rise).


First Line:
Baku (pop. 1,084,000; met. area pop. 1,661,000) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan.


First Line:
Balaklava, Battle of, was fought near the town of Balaklava in the Crimea, Russia, on Oct. 25, 1854, during the Crimean War.


First Line:
Balalaika is a stringed musical instrument with a triangular body and a long neck with frets (ridges).


First Line:
Balance is a device that weighs substances.


First Line:
Ballance, John (1839-1893), was premier of New Zealand from 1891 to 1893.


First Line:
Balance of nature.  Many plants, animals, and other organisms live in any given area of the world.


First Line:
Balance of payments is a record of the value of all economic transactions that one country has with other countries and international institutions during a certain period.


First Line:
Balance of power is a system of maintaining peace through an even distribution of military and economic power among nations or groups of nations.


First Line:
Balanchine, George (1904-1983), was a Russian-born choreographer (dance composer).


First Line:
Balboa, Vasco Nunez de (1475?-1519), a Spanish conqueror and explorer, was the first European to see the eastern shore of the Pacific Ocean.


First Line:
Balchen, Bernt (1899-1973), was a Norwegian-American aviation pioneer.


First Line:
Balchin, Nigel (1908-1970), was a British writer best known for his novel The Small Back Room (1943).


First Line:
Balcon, Sir Michael (1896-1977), a British film director and producer, became noted as the chief of productions at Ealing Films in London.


First Line:
Bald cypress is a cone-bearing tree with pale green, feathery leaves.


First Line:
Balder was the god of beauty, goodness, and light in Norse mythology.


First Line:
Baldness or alopecia is the partial or total absence of hair on the scalp.


First Line:
Baldwin, James (1924-1987), was a black American novelist, essayist, and playwright.


First Line:
Baldwin, Matthias William (1795-1866), was an American inventor and philanthropist.


First Line:
Baldwin, Stanley (1867-1947), served as prime minister of Great Britain three times.


First Line:
Balearic Islands are a group of five major islands and many smaller ones that lie east of Spain in the Mediterranean Sea.


First Line:
Balfour, Arthur James (1848-1930), Earl of Balfour, served as British prime minister from 1902 to 1905, and was leader of the Conservative Party for over 20 years.


First Line:
Balfour Declaration was a British government document that dealt with the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.


First Line:
Bali is one of the most famous and attractive of all Indonesia's islands.


First Line:
Balkans are a group of nine countries that cover a peninsula in the southeast corner of Europe.


First Line:
Ball, John (?-1381), an English priest, was a leader of the agitation for better conditions that led to the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 (see UNITED KINGDOM, HISTORY OF THE [The decline of feudalism]).


First Line:
Ballad is a song that tells a dramatic story in verse.


First Line:
Ballade is an elaborate and carefully patterned verse form.


First Line:
Balladur, Edouard (1929-...), became prime minister of France in 1993.


First Line:
Ballantyne, R. M. (1825-1894), was a Scottish writer who wrote adventure stories for boys.


First Line:
Ballarat (pop. 78,347) is the largest inland city in Victoria, Australia.


First Line:
Ballesteros, Severiano (1957-...), is a Spanish golfer.


First Line:
Ballet is a form of theatrical dance that uses formal, set movements and poses characterized by elegance and grace.


First Line:
Ballistics is a branch of engineering that deals with the motion and behaviour of projectiles, such as bullets, rockets, bombs, and guided missiles.


First Line:
Balloon is a bag filled with heated air or a light gas so that it rises and floats in the air.


First Line:
Ballot is the means by which voters indicate their choices in an election.


First Line:
Ballymena (pop. 55,916) is a local government district in Northern Ireland, centred on the town of Ballymena.


First Line:
Ballymoney (pop. 24,080) is a local government district in Northern Ireland, centred on the town of Ballymoney, in the former administrative county of Antrim.


First Line:
Balm is a tall, fragrant herb of the mint family.


First Line:
Balm of Gilead, also called balsam Mecca, is a resin that has been valued since ancient times for its fragrance and for its supposed value as a medicinal salve.


First Line:
Balmoral is a castle belonging to the British monarch.


First Line:
Balsa is the lightest wood in commercial use.


First Line:
Balsam is the name of several spicy-smelling resins obtained from certain evergreen trees and a number of other plants.


First Line:
Balsam, Garden, is an annual garden flower native to India.


First Line:
Balsam fir is the name given to a number of evergreen trees in the pine family.


First Line:
Baltic Exchange, in the City of London, is the largest market in the world for chartering space in ships of all nationalities.


First Line:
Baltic Sea is a large inland sea or gulf of northern Europe.


First Line:
Baltic States consist of the independent nations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.


First Line:
Baltimore (pop. 736,014; metropolitan area pop. 2,382,172) is one of the principal port cities of the United States and the largest city in the state of Maryland.


First Line:
Baltimore, Lord, was the title of six members of the Calvert family of England.


First Line:
Baltimore oriole is a songbird that lives in North and South America.


First Line:
Balzac, Honore de (1799-1850), a French writer, was one of the most important novelists of the 1800's.


First Line:
Bamako (pop. 404,022) is the capital of Mali, a country in western Africa.


First Line:
Bamboo is a giant grass noted for the usefulness of its hollow woody stem.


First Line:
Banana is a nourishing fruit that grows in the tropics and is popular throughout the world.


First Line:
Bananaquit is a small honeyeater type bird of the Caribbean, and Central and South America.


First Line:
Banbridge (pop. 33,144) is a local government district in Northern Ireland.


First Line:
Banbury is a market town in Oxfordshire, England.


First Line:
Bancroft, George (1800-1891), was an American historian and diplomat.


First Line:
Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1832-1918), an American publisher and historian, is remembered for his History of the Pacific States (1875-1890) in 39 volumes, although this work was largely written by paid assistants, to whom Bancroft gave little credit.


First Line:
Band is a group of musicians who play mainly wind and percussion instruments.


First Line:
Banda, Hastings Kamuzu (1898-1997), was the leader of Malawi from 1963 to 1993.


First Line:
Bandage is any material used to hold a dressing or compress in place, to prevent infection of a wound, to apply pressure to control bleeding, or to support broken bones.


First Line:
Bandaranaike, Sirimavo, (1916-...), became prime minister of the Republic of Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) in 1994.


First Line:
Bandicoot is a small mammal of Australia and New Guinea.


First Line:
Bandit is a robber who is usually one of a group of outlaws.


First Line:
Bandung (pop. 1,401,108) is a city in Indonesia.


First Line:
Banff, Alberta (pop. 4,208), one of the most famous resort towns in Canada, is noted for its natural beauty.


First Line:
Banff and Buchan was a local government district in the Grampian Region, Scotland.


First Line:
Banff National Park, established in 1885, is the oldest national park in Canada.


First Line:
Bangalore (pop. 3,302,296, met. area pop. 4,086,548) is the capital and largest city of Karnataka, a state in southern India.


First Line:
Bangkok (pop. 5,876,000) is the capital and largest city of Thailand, and the only large city in that country.


First Line:
Bangladesh is a South Asian nation that once formed part of Pakistan.


First Line:
Bangui (pop. 473,817) is the capital and largest city of the Central African Republic.


First Line:
Banjarmasin, also spelled Bandjarmasin (pop. 381,286), is the capital of South Kalimantan province in Indonesia.


First Line:
Banjo is a stringed musical instrument that has a round metal or wooden body and a long fretted (ridged) neck.


First Line:
Banjul (pop. 44,188) is the capital and the largest city of Gambia.


First Line:
Bank is a business establishment that safeguards people's money and uses it to make loans and investments.


First Line:
Bank holidays are public holidays in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland on which banks, government offices, and most factories, offices, and shops are closed.


First Line:
Bank of England is one of the most important financial institutions in the world.


First Line:
Bankhead, Tallulah (1903-1968), was an American stage and film actress.


First Line:
Bankruptcy is a legal process applied to someone unable to pay debts.


First Line:
Banks, Sir Joseph (1743-1820), a wealthy naturalist and patron of science, won fame for his involvement in the discovery and development of Australia and his establishment of Kew Gardens, Richmond, near London.


First Line:
Banksia is the name of about 70 kinds of plants that grow in Australia and New Guinea.


First Line:
Bann is the name of two rivers in Northern Ireland.


First Line:
Banneker, Benjamin (1731-1806), was an American astronomer, farmer, mathematician, and surveyor.


First Line:
Bannister, Sir Roger (1929-...), a British athlete, became the first man to run a mile (1.609 kilometres) in less than four minutes.


First Line:
Bannockburn, Battle of, was one of the most important battles in the history of Scotland.


First Line:
Bannon, John (1943-...), a member of the Australian Labor Party, became premier of South Australia in 1982.


First Line:
Banshee is an old woman in Irish folklore.


First Line:
Bantam is any one of a number of miniature fowl--especially chickens.


First Line:
Banting, Sir Frederick Grant (1891-1941), a Canadian doctor, was the principal discoverer of insulin.


First Line:
Bantu are a large group of African black peoples.


First Line:
Banyan tree is a kind of fig tree that grows in India and neighbouring countries.


First Line:
Baobab is the name of a group of trees that grow in tropical and subtropical regions of the Eastern Hemisphere, especially in Madagascar.


First Line:
Baptism is a symbolic washing with water as a religious practice.


First Line:
Baptists are members of a large Protestant Christian religious group who reserve baptism for people who affirm their faith in Jesus Christ as their saviour.


First Line:
Bar coding is a method of labelling shop goods and other items.


First Line:
Bar mitzvah is the entry of a Jewish boy into the adult Jewish community.


First Line:
Barabbas was a man mentioned in all four Gospels of the Bible.


First Line:
Baraga, Frederic (1797-1868), an Austrian-born Roman Catholic missionary, became the first bishop of Upper Michigan in 1853.


First Line:
Baraka, Amiri (1934-...), is a black American author who gained fame for his powerful plays about race relations in the United States.


First Line:
Barassi, Ron (1936-...), an Australian Rules footballer, took part as a player, captain, or coach in 10 Victorian Football League premierships.


First Line:
Barbados is an island country in the Caribbean Sea.


First Line:
Barbarian is a word used to describe an uncivilized or uncultivated person.


First Line:
Barbarossa (1466?-1546) was a Barbary corsair (pirate).


First Line:
Barbary ape is the only wild monkey now living in Europe.


First Line:
Barbary States once lay along the coast of North Africa.


First Line:
Barbecue originally referred to the roasting of a whole pig, ox or other large animal over a wood or charcoal fire in an open field.


First Line:
Barbed wire is made of two or more steel wires twisted together with thornlike barbs at frequent intervals.


First Line:
Barber is one who cuts or dresses the hair, and shaves or trims the beard, of other people.


First Line:
Barber, Samuel (1910-1981), was an American composer.


First Line:
Barberry is the name of several low, spiny shrubs, which are also known by their latin name Berberis.


First Line:
Barbershop quartet singing is a style of harmony using four voices.


First Line:
Barbet is a small to medium-sized brightly coloured bird.


First Line:
Barbirolli, Sir John (1899-1970), was a British symphony orchestra conductor.


First Line:
Barbiturate is any of a group of drugs used to calm people or make them sleep.


First Line:
Barbizon School is the name of a group of French painters who settled in the village of Barbizon during the 1830's and 1840's.


First Line:
Barbour, John (1316?-1395), was the first known Scottish poet and historian.


First Line:
Barcarole, also spelled barcarolle, is a musical term for the songs originally sung by gondoliers in Venice.


First Line:
Barcelona (pop. 1,625,542) is the most important manufacturing and trading city in Spain.


First Line:
Barcoo is a river of the Lake Eyre river system in Australia.


First Line:
Bardeen, John (1908-1991), an American physicist, became the first person to win a Nobel Prize twice for work in the same field.


First Line:
Bardsey is an island in Cardigan Bay on the west coast of Wales.


First Line:
Barenboim, Daniel (1942-...), is an Israeli pianist and conductor.


First Line:
Barents, Willem (?-1597), was a Dutch navigator.


First Line:
Barents Sea lies north of eastern Norway and the European part of Russia.


First Line:
Barge is a sturdy, flat-bottomed boat used to carry bulk cargo, such as cement, coal, logs, oil, sand, and sugar.


First Line:
Barham, R. H. (1788-1845) was an English author and humorist who wrote the Ingoldsby Legends, under the pen name of Thomas Ingoldsby.


First Line:
Bari (pop. 370,781) is a busy seaport on the southern Adriatic coast of Italy.


First Line:
Baring-Gould, Sabine (1834-1924), an Anglican clergyman, wrote the well-known hymn "Onward, Christian Soldiers."  A prolific writer, he also wrote novels and books on a variety of subjects.


First Line:
Baritone, also spelled barytone, is a male voice ranging between the tenor (higher) voice and the bass (lower) voice.


First Line:
Barium is a chemical element with the symbol Ba.


First Line:
Bark is the outer covering of most kinds of trees and shrubs.


First Line:
Bark painting is an art for which the Australian Aborigines are world famous.


First Line:
Barker, Collet (1786-1831), a British army captain, became an explorer in Australia.


First Line:
Barking and Dagenham (pop 139,900) is a borough within Greater London.


First Line:
Barkly Tableland is a vast plateau in the Northern Territory and Queensland, in Australia.


First Line:
Barlach, Ernst Heinrich (1870-1938), was a German sculptor.


First Line:
Barn is a farm building used to house livestock and to store hay, grain, and other supplies needed for the animals.


First Line:
Barnabas was a Christian missionary during New Testament times.


First Line:
Barnacle is a saltwater shellfish which fastens itself onto objects under water.


First Line:
Barnard, Christiaan Neethling (1922-...), a South African surgeon, performed the first human heart transplant in history.


First Line:
Barnard, Edward Emerson (1857-1923), an American astronomer, was one of the greatest observers of the heavens.


First Line:
Barnard, Henry (1811-1900), served as the first United States commissioner of education from 1867 to 1870.


First Line:
Barnardo, Thomas John (1845-1905), founded Doctor Barnardo's homes for needy children.


First Line:
Barnato, Barney (1852-1897), an English financier and speculator, made a fortune in the diamond fields of Kimberley in  South Africa.


First Line:
Barnes, Sid (1918-1973), an Australian cricketer, was a batsman, spin bowler, and wicketkeeper.


First Line:
Barnes, Thomas (1785-1841), was a leading British journalist of his time.


First Line:
Barnet (pop. 283,000) is a market town and borough in Greater London.


First Line:
Barnhart, Clarence Lewis (1900-1993), was a noted American lexicographer--a compiler of dictionaries.


First Line:
Barnsley (pop. 217,300) is an industrial town in South Yorkshire, England.


First Line:
Barnum, P. T. (1810-1891), was the most famous American showman of his time.


First Line:
Barometer is an instrument that measures the pressure of the atmosphere.


First Line:
Baron is the title held by noblemen in the lowest rank in the British peerage.


First Line:
Baroque is a term applied to many forms of art created in western Europe and Latin America.


First Line:
Barossa Valley is one of Australia's main wine-producing areas.


First Line:
Barquisimeto (pop. 681,961) is one of Venezuela's largest cities.


First Line:
Barracouta are long, slender fish commonly found off the southern coasts of Australia.


First Line:
Barracuda is a marine fish that resembles the freshwater pike.


First Line:
Barramundi is the name of two unrelated species of fish.


First Line:
Barratt-Boyes, Sir Brian (1924-...), a New Zealand surgeon, won international recognition as a pioneer in heart repair, especially in children born with heart defects.


First Line:
Barrault, Jean-Louis (1910-1994), was a French actor and director.


First Line:
Barrel is a large, round container made of wood or metal.


First Line:
Barrie, Sir James Matthew (1860-1937), was a Scottish playwright and novelist.


First Line:
Barrington, George (1755-1804), was an emancipist (pardoned convict) in Australia, who gained the favour of Governor Hunter of New South Wales and became superintendent of convicts at Parramatta and, later, chief constable.


First Line:
Barrios, Justo Rufino (1835-1885), transformed Guatemala into a progressive nation.


First Line:
Barron Gorge is a steep depression formed by the Barron River as it flows through northern Queensland, Australia, from the Atherton Tableland to the sea.


First Line:
Barrow is a river that rises in Slieve Bloom in the province of Leinster in the Republic of Ireland.


First Line:
Barrow-in-Furness (pop. 71,900) is an industrial town in southern Cumbria, England.


First Line:
Barrow Island is the site of an oilfield located 97 kilometres off the coast of Western Australia.


First Line:
Barrows are mounds of earth or stone covering ancient burial places.


First Line:
Barry, Sir Charles (1795-1860), a British architect, designed some of the most important buildings of his day.


First Line:
Barry, Philip (1896-1949), was an American dramatist.


First Line:
Barry, Sir Redmond (1813-1880), was the judge at the trial of Australian bushranger Ned Kelly.


First Line:
Barrymore is the family name of several noted American actors and actresses.


First Line:
Barter, or counter trade, is the direct exchange of goods or services without the use of money.


First Line:
Barth, John (1930-...), is one of the most original novelists in modern American literature.


First Line:
Barth, Karl (1886-1968), was one of the best-known Protestant theologians of the 1900's.


First Line:
Bartholdi, Frederic Auguste (1834-1904), was a French sculptor.


First Line:
Bartholomew, Saint, was one of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ.


First Line:
Bartlett, John (1820-1905), an American publisher, became known chiefly for the book Familiar Quotations which is still published under his name.


First Line:
Bartok, Bela (1881-1945), a Hungarian composer, was one of the most significant composers of the 1900's.


First Line:
Bartolozzi, Francesco (1725?-1815?), an Italian engraver, perfected a method of engraving known as stipple.


First Line:
Barton, Clara (1821-1912) was the founder of the American Red Cross.


First Line:
Barton, Sir Edmund (1849-1920), was the first prime minister of Australia, from 1901 to 1903.


First Line:
Bartram, John (1699-1777), a botanist, planted the first botanical garden in America in 1728 near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.


First Line:
Barye, Antoine Louis (1796-1875), was a French sculptor and painter famous for his bronze statues of animals.


First Line:
Baryshnikov, Mikhail (1948-...), is one of the world's leading ballet dancers.


First Line:
Barzun, Jacques, (1907-...), is an American educator and historian who has written widely on culture, education, and the history of ideas.


First Line:
Base, in chemistry, commonly refers to any substance that can react with an acid to decrease or neutralize its acidic properties.


First Line:
Baseball is essentially an American sport.


First Line:
Basel (pop. 174,606; met. area pop. 361,809) is the northern gateway of Switzerland.


First Line:
Basenji is a breed of dog first found in central Africa.


First Line:
Basic English is a selected vocabulary of 850 English words, and a set of rules for their use.


First Line:
Basie, Count (1904-1984), was an American pianist and bandleader who rose to fame in the late 1930's as a key figure in the "swing" era of jazz.


First Line:
Basil is an annual herb used for seasoning food.


First Line:
Basil, Saint (330?-379), was a leader in the early Christian church in the East.


First Line:
Basildon (pop. 157,500) is a town in southern Essex, England.


First Line:
Basilica was the chief type of church design during the early Middle Ages.


First Line:
Basin is a region drained by a river and its tributaries (branches).


First Line:
Basingstoke and Deane (pop. 140,400), a local government district in Hampshire, England, includes the fast-growing town of Basingstoke.


First Line:
Baskerville, John (1706-1775), was an English type founder and printer who designed and made his own type.


First Line:
Basket making, or basketry, is a popular handicraft.


First Line:
Basketball is a fast, exciting, and entertaining sport played between two teams, each consisting of five players.


First Line:
Basov, Nikolai Gennadievich (1922-...), is a noted Russian physicist.


First Line:
Basques are a group of people who live in the Pyrenees Mountains, on both sides of the border between France and Spain.


First Line:
Basquiat, Jean-Michel (1960-1988), was an American artist.


First Line:
Bass is a name given to several kinds of fish found in fresh water and in the sea.


First Line:
Bass, a stringed musical instrument, is the largest and lowest-pitched member of the violin family.


First Line:
Bass, George (1771-1803?), a British naval surgeon, won fame for his daring exploration of the eastern coast of Australia.


First Line:
Bass, Sam (1851-1878), was the Robin Hood of Texas.


First Line:
Bass and Flinders were two English naval officers with a flair for exploration.


First Line:
Bass Rock is a steep-sided islet 2 kilometres from the coast of Lothian Region, Scotland, rising from the Firth of Forth.


First Line:
Bass Strait separates Tasmania from the Australian mainland.


First Line:
Basse-Terre (pop. 13,656) is the capital of the French overseas department of Guadeloupe in the Antilles.


First Line:
Basset hound is a heavily built, low, long-bodied dog bred to hunt small game.


First Line:
Bassetlaw (pop. 103,000) is a local government district in Nottinghamshire, England.


First Line:
Bassoon is an instrument that serves as the bass voice of the woodwind section of many orchestras and bands.


First Line:
Basswood, also called lime or linden, is a large tree that grows up to about 40 metres tall and over 100 centimetres in diameter.


First Line:
Bastille was a great fortress in Paris that stood as a symbol of royal tyranny.


First Line:
Bastille Day is the great national holiday of France.


First Line:
Bat mitzvah is a religious observance in Judaism that celebrates a girl's entry into the adult Jewish community.


First Line:
Bataan Peninsula juts into Manila Bay from the southwestern coast of Luzon, largest of the Philippine Islands.


First Line:
Batavia was one of a fleet of Dutch ships that sailed from Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, for Java, Indonesia, in October 1628.


First Line:
Bates, Daisy (1861-1951), devoted 33 years of her life to helping Australian Aborigines.


First Line:
Bates, H. E. (1905-1974), was a British novelist and short-story writer.


First Line:
Bath (pop. 79,900), is a graceful city in southwest England with many beautiful buildings that date from the 1700's.


First Line:
Bathsheba was the beautiful wife of David, King of Israel.


First Line:
Bathurst (pop. 27,207) is a city in central New South Wales, Australia, about 210 kilometres from Sydney.


First Line:
Bathurst, Earl (1762-1834), was secretary for war and colonies in the British government from 1812 to 1827.


First Line:
Bathurst Island lies in the Timor Sea about 70 kilometres northwest of Darwin.


First Line:
Bathyscaph is a diving craft used for deep-sea observation.


First Line:
Bathysphere was a diving vehicle used by scientists to study ocean depths.


First Line:
Batik is a method of applying coloured designs to fabric.


First Line:
Batista y Zaldivar, Fulgencio (1901-1973), served as president and dictator of Cuba from 1940 to 1944.


First Line:
Batman, John (1801-1839), the father of Melbourne, landed at the site on which Melbourne, Australia, now stands in May 1835.


First Line:
Baton Rouge (pop. 219,531; met. area pop. 528,264) is the capital of the state of Louisiana, U.S.A., and a chief port of the United States.


First Line:
Batten, Jean Gardner (1909-1982), a New Zealand pilot, made a series of record-breaking solo flights in the 1930's.


First Line:
Battenberg is the name of a royal family from Hesse, in west-central Germany, which has played a part in English and Bulgarian history.


First Line:
Battering ram was a war machine used in ancient and medieval times to open gaps in the walls or gates of castles and fortified towns.


First Line:
Battery is a device that produces electricity by means of chemical action.


First Line:
Battery Point is a historic part of the city of Hobart in Tasmania, Australia.


First Line:
Battiss, Walter (1906-1982), was the first South African painter to derive his subject matter from local forms.


First Line:
Battle of Britain was a decisive air conflict during World War II (1939-1945).


First Line:
Battle of Broken Hill was an incident that occurred in Australia during World War I (1914-1918).


First Line:
Battles, Fifteen Decisive.  Battles of such force and meaning that they have changed the history of the world are often called decisive battles.


First Line:
Battleship is a huge warship that has larger and more powerful guns and heavier armour than any other combat ship.


First Line:
Battye, James Sykes (1871-1954), an Australian librarian and historian, helped to establish the University of Western Australia.


First Line:
Baudelaire, Charles (1821-1867), is probably the best-known and most widely translated French poet.


First Line:
Baudin, Nicolas (1750?-1803), was a French navigator who explored the southern coast of the Australian mainland during 1801 and 1802.


First Line:
Baudouin (1930-1993) became the king of Belgium in 1951.


First Line:
Baughan, Blanche (1870-1958), a New Zealand writer, made clever use of New Zealand slang in her short stories and poems.


First Line:
Bauhaus was an influential school of design.


First Line:
Baum, L. Frank (1856-1919), an American author, wrote children's books about the magical land of Oz.


First Line:
Bauxite is the ore from which most aluminium is made.


First Line:
Bavaria is a state in southeastern Germany.


First Line:
Bax, Sir Arnold (1883-1953), a British composer, composed music in most forms except opera.


First Line:
Baxter, James K. (1926-1972), was a gifted New Zealand poet.


First Line:
Baxter, Richard (1615-1691), an English Nonconformist clergyman, won fame as an effective writer and preacher.


First Line:
Bay is a part of a sea, a lake, or a similar body of water that forms an indentation in the shoreline and is bordered by headlands or capes.


First Line:
Bay of Bengal is the northern part of the Indian Ocean, bordering on India, Bangladesh, and Burma.


First Line:
Bay of Biscay is an extension of the Atlantic Ocean on the western coast of Europe.


First Line:
Bay of Fundy is an extension of the North Atlantic Ocean that divides New Brunswick from western Nova Scotia, Canada.


First Line:
Bay of Islands is on the east coast of the northern tip of New Zealand's North Island.


First Line:
Bay of Plenty is a large bay on the central northern coast of the North Island of New Zealand.


First Line:
Bay Psalm Book is the first book known to have been both written and printed in the English colonies of America.


First Line:
Bay tree, also known as bay, bay laurel or sweet bay, is an evergreen shrub or tree from the Mediterranean region.


First Line:
Bayberry is a North American aromatic shrub closely related to the wax myrtle.


First Line:
Bayle, Pierre (1647-1706), a French philosopher, wrote a well-known dictionary.


First Line:
Bayley, Arthur (1865-1896), an Australian prospector, discovered the Coolgardie goldfield in Western Australia.


First Line:
Baylis, Lilian Mary (1874-1937), became manager of the Royal Victoria Hall in London in 1912.


First Line:
Bayonet is a dagger or knife that fits onto the barrel of a gun.


First Line:
Bayou is a shallow, curving channel filled with slow-moving, sometimes stagnant water.


First Line:
Bayreuth (pop. 71,848) is a trading centre in the German state of Bavaria.


First Line:
Bazaar is an Oriental market place for articles of all kinds, in which traders maintain small stalls or shops.


First Line:
BCG is a vaccine used to prevent tuberculosis.


First Line:
Beach is an accumulation of sand, pebbles, or small rocks along a shoreline.


First Line:
Beach plum is a wild shrub which bears an edible fruit like a small plum.


First Line:
Beachport is a town in southeastern South Australia, situated on the northern end of Rivoli Bay.


First Line:
Beacon is a light, or an easily seen structure, often located in a lofty position.


First Line:
Bead is a small object of almost any shape, colour, or hard material.


First Line:
Beadle, George Wells (1903-1989), an American geneticist, shared the 1958 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine for his discovery that genes act by regulating specific chemical processes.


First Line:
Beadwork is the craft of making or decorating objects with beads.


First Line:
Beagle is the smallest of the English hounds.


First Line:
Beagle was a British ship that carried out marine surveys in South America and along the coast of Australia between 1826 and 1843.


First Line:
Beaglehole, J. C. (1901-1971), a New Zealand historian, was professor of British Commonwealth history at the Victoria University of Wellington, on the North Island of New Zealand, from 1963 to 1966.


First Line:
Beagling is a field sport in the United Kingdom in which people on foot hunt hares with hounds called beagles.


First Line:
Beale, Dorothea (1831-1906), was principal of Cheltenham Ladies' College, England, from 1858 until her death.


First Line:
Beale, Octavius Charles (1850-1930), an Irish-born manufacturer and philanthropist, contributed to the study of drought distress, infant mortality, and patent medicines.


First Line:
Bean is the name of several related plants of the pea family.


First Line:
Bean, C. E. W. (1879-1968), an Australian historian and journalist, gained a major reputation with his work on the Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18 (1942).


First Line:
Bean, Judge Roy (1825?-1904), was an American saloonkeeper and justice of the peace on the west Texas frontier, where the Pecos and Rio Grande rivers join.


First Line:
Bear is a large, powerful animal with thick, shaggy fur.


First Line:
Bearbaiting was a cruel sport popular in London, England, as early as 1174.


First Line:
Beard is the hair that grows on a man's chin and the sides of his face.


First Line:
Beard, Charles and Mary, were American historians and authors.


First Line:
Bearded collie is a breed of dog that has a beardlike growth of hair around its mouth.


First Line:
Beardsley, Aubrey Vincent (1872-1898), was an English book and magazine illustrator.


First Line:
Bearing is a part of a machine that supports or guides a moving part.


First Line:
Bears and bulls are the popular names for two particular kinds of behaviour among those who invest in stocks or commodities.


First Line:
Bearsden and Milngavie (pop. 39,522) is a local government area in Strathclyde Region, Scotland.


First Line:
Beat movement refers to a set of literary, political, and social attitudes principally associated with certain American writers and artists during the 1950's.


First Line:
Beating the bounds is the ancient British custom of beating the boundaries of a parish, manor, or other territorial area.


First Line:
Beatitudes are sayings of Jesus Christ found in the New Testament of the Bible.


First Line:
Beatles became the most popular group in rock music history.


First Line:
Beaton, Sir Cecil (1904-1980), a British artist, designer, and photographer, published many books of photographic studies.


First Line:
Beatrix (1938-...) became queen of the Netherlands in 1980.


First Line:
Beattie, Sir David (1924-...), a New Zealand lawyer, was governor general of New Zealand from 1980 to 1985.


First Line:
Beaufort, Sir Francis (1774-1857), was an admiral and hydrographer (a scientist who charts and sounds the seas and lakes and studies their tides and currents).


First Line:
Beaumarchais, Pierre Augustin Caron de (1732-1799), a French dramatist, won fame for his comedies The Barber of Seville (1775) and The Marriage of Figaro.


First Line:
Beaumont, Francis (1584?-1616), was an English playwright.


First Line:
Beaurepaire, Sir Frank (1891-1956), was an Australian swimmer, industrialist, and philanthropist.


First Line:
Beauvoir, Simone de (1908-1986), was a French author.


First Line:
Beaver is a furry animal with a wide, flat tail that looks like a paddle.


First Line:
Beaverbrook, Lord (1879-1964), was a Canadian-born newspaper proprietor and politician.


First Line:
Bebel, August (1841-1913), was a leading German socialist of the 1800's and early 1900's.


First Line:
Beckenbauer, Franz (1945-...), is a German footballer and manager.


First Line:
Becker, Boris (1967-...), is a German tennis champion.


First Line:
Becket, Saint Thomas a (1118?-1170), was an archbishop of Canterbury.


First Line:
Beckett, James Camlin (1912-...), became a leading Irish historian.


First Line:
Beckett, Samuel Barclay (1906-1989), was an Irish novelist, playwright, and poet.


First Line:
Becquerel is the family name of two famed French physicists, grandfather and grandson.


First Line:
Bed is an article of furniture used for sleeping or resting.


First Line:
Bed bug is a small, wingless insect that feeds on blood.


First Line:
Bede (673?-735), also known as The Venerable Bede, was an English historian and theologian (one who studies God and religion).


First Line:
Bedford (pop. 71,635) is a town in the southeast midlands of England.


First Line:
Bedford Borough (pop. 132,000) is a local government district in Bedfordshire, England, administered from Bedford.


First Line:
Bedfordshire, in the southeast midlands of England, is one of the smallest English counties.


First Line:
Bedlam is a place of wild confusion and noise.


First Line:
Bedlington terrier is a dog that looks somewhat like a lamb.


First Line:
Bedouins are an Arab people who traditionally were nomadic herders in the deserts of the Middle East.


First Line:
Bedser, Alec (1918-...), played cricket for Surrey and England.


First Line:
Bedsore is an ulcer (open sore) in the skin caused by prolonged and excessive pressure.


First Line:
Bedstraw is one of a group of plants that were once used for mattresses.


First Line:
Bee is an insect that lives in almost every part of the world except near the North and South poles.


First Line:
Bee-eater is any member of a family of about 25 species of birds related to kingfishers.


First Line:
Bee fly is an insect that looks like a bee.


First Line:
Beebe, Lucius Morris (1902-1966), an American author and newspaperman, became known for his books about Nevada and the West.


First Line:
Beebe, William (1877-1962), was a well-known American naturalist and writer.


First Line:
Beech is a forest tree common to both the northern and southern hemispheres.


First Line:
Beecham, Sir Thomas (1879-1961), a British conductor, became one of the world's most influential musicians, even though he received little formal musical education.


First Line:
Beechworth (pop. 4,966), is a town in the centre of a farming and fruit-growing region in northeastern Victoria, Australia.


First Line:
Beef is the meat obtained from mature cattle.


First Line:
Beefeaters is the nickname for both the Yeomen Warders of the Tower of London, and the Yeomen of the Guard (see YEOMAN; YEOMEN OF THE GUARD).


First Line:
Beelzebub was the prince of the demons in the New Testament of the Bible.


First Line:
Beer is an alcoholic drink usually made from malted barley, hops, yeast, and water.


First Line:
Beersheba (pop. 141,400), in Israel, is the place where Abraham, the founder of Judaism, settled.


First Line:
Beethoven, Ludwig van (1770-1827), was one of the greatest composers in history.


First Line:
Beetle is one of the most common of all insects.


First Line:
Beeton, Mrs. (1836-1865), compiled Mrs. Beeton's Household Management (1861).


First Line:
Bega (pop. 4,294) is a town in southeastern New South Wales, Australia, about 435 kilometres south of Sydney.


First Line:
Beggar-ticks, also called beggar's-ticks, are two types of plants that have small, flat, seedlike fruit.


First Line:
Beggarweed is a branching, rapidly growing plant that grows about 2 metres high.


First Line:
Begin, Menachem (1913-1992), served as prime minister of Israel from 1977 to 1983.


First Line:
Begonia is the name of a large group of tropical plants, many of which are common household or garden plants.


First Line:
Behan, Brendan (1923-1964), was a flamboyant Irish author.


First Line:
Behaviour is the way human beings and other organisms act.


First Line:
Behn, Aphra (1640-1689), was a dramatist, novelist, and poet.


First Line:
Behrens, Peter (1868-1940), was a German architect famous for his pioneering work in industrial architecture and design.


First Line:
Behring, Emil von (1854-1917), a German bacteriologist, won the 1901 Nobel prize in medicine for his discovery in 1890 of diphtheria antitoxin.


First Line:
Behrman, S. N. (1893-1973), was an American playwright.


First Line:
Beiderbecke, Bix (1903-1931), was an American cornet player who became famous for his jazz solos.


First Line:
Beijing (pop. 7,362,426) is the capital and second largest city of China.


First Line:
Beirut (pop. 702,000) is the capital and largest city of Lebanon.


First Line:
Belafonte, Harry (1927-...), is an American singer and film actor.


First Line:
Belarus, also spelled Byelarus, is a country in eastern Europe.


First Line:
Belasco, David (1853?-1931), was a leading American theatrical producer for nearly 40 years.


First Line:
Belem (pop. 1,203,151; met. area pop. 1,418,061) is the capital of the state of Para in Brazil.


First Line:
Belfast (pop. 280,972) is the capital city of the province of Northern Ireland, in the United Kingdom (UK).


First Line:
Belgian sheepdog is the general name for four varieties of dogs.


First Line:
Belgium is a small country in northwestern Europe.


First Line:
Belgrade (pop. 1,455,046) is the capital and largest city of Yugoslavia.


First Line:
Belgrano, Manuel (1770-1820), was an Argentine general and revolutionary hero.


First Line:
Belize is a small country in Central America.


First Line:
Belize City (pop. 48,400) is the largest city of Belize.


First Line:
Bell is a hollow, metal vessel in the shape of a cup with a clapper (metal tongue) suspended inside.


First Line:
Bell, Alexander Graham (1847-1922), a Scottish-born American inventor and educator, is best known for his invention of the telephone.


First Line:
Bell, Andrew (1753-1832), was a Scottish clergyman, who developed a monitorial system of education.


First Line:
Bell, Sir Charles (1774-1842), a Scottish surgeon, is famous for his pioneering work on the human brain and nervous system.


First Line:
Bell, Gertrude (1868-1926), was a British archaeologist and traveller.


First Line:
Bell, Henry (1767-1830), pioneered steam navigation in Europe.


First Line:
Bell Bay, a town in northern Tasmania, Australia, owes its existence to its nearness to a deepwater port and to a plentiful supply of electric power.


First Line:
Bell-ringing is a highly developed art in the United Kingdom (UK).


First Line:
Bellamy, Edward (1850-1898), an American author, wrote Looking Backward (1888), one of the most popular and influential novels of the 1800's.


First Line:
Bellarmine, Saint Robert Francis Romulus (1542-1621), an Italian Jesuit theologian, defended the rights of the Roman Catholic Church in an age of absolutism.


First Line:
Bellbird is a name given to several kinds of birds whose voices sound like the ringing of bells.


First Line:
Bellingshausen, Fabian von (1778-1852), a Russian naval officer, sailed around the South Polar region between 1819 and 1821.


First Line:
Bellini, Gentile (1429?-1507), was an important painter in Venice during the Italian Renaissance.


First Line:
Bellini, Giovanni (1432?-1516), was the greatest member of the Bellini family of painters in Venice during the Italian Renaissance.


First Line:
Bellini, Jacopo (1400?-1470?), was one of the founders of the Renaissance style of painting in Venice and northern Italy.


First Line:
Bellini, Vincenzo (1801-1835), was an Italian opera composer.


First Line:
Belloc, Hilaire (1870-1953), was a British poet, novelist, historian, and essayist.


First Line:
Bellow, Saul (1915-...), is an American author who has won several major awards for his novels.


First Line:
Bellows, George Wesley (1882-1925), was a leading American artist of the early 1900's.


First Line:
Bell's palsy is a disease that paralyses one side of the face.


First Line:
Belmopan (pop. 3,500) is the capital of Belize.


First Line:
Belo Horizonte (pop. 1,442,483; met. area pop. 2,541,788) is one of the largest cities in Brazil.


First Line:
Belsen, or Bergen-Belsen, was a German concentration camp during World War II (1939-1945).


First Line:
Belshazzar was a Babylonian leader who lived during the 500's B.C. The Bible (Dan. 5) identifies him as the last Babylonian king and the son of Nebuchadnezzar II. Scholars have found no relationship between Belshazzar and Nebuchadnezzar.


First Line:
Bemelmans, Ludwig (1898-1962), was an American humorous writer and painter.


First Line:
Bemis, Samuel Flagg (1891-1973), was an American historian and authority on American diplomatic history.


First Line:
Ben Bella, Ahmed (1919-...), was the first president of the Republic of Algeria.


First Line:
Ben-Gurion, David (1886-1973), served as Israel's first prime minister after it became an independent nation in 1948.


First Line:
Ben Lomond is the name of three mountains, one in Scotland and two in Australia.


First Line:
Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the British Isles.


First Line:
Ben-Zvi, Izhak (1884-1963), became Israel's second president in 1952.


First Line:
Benalla (pop. 8,334), is a city in northeastern Victoria, Australia, 190 kilometres from Melbourne.


First Line:
Benaud, Richie (1930-...), captained the Australian cricket team in 28 tests between 1958 and 1963, before retiring unbeaten in any test series.


First Line:
Benavente, Jacinto, (1866-1954), was the outstanding Spanish playwright of the early 1900's.


First Line:
Benbow, John (1653-1702), was a British admiral known for his courage and fighting spirit.


First Line:
Bench mark is a permanent and recognizable point that lies at a known elevation.


First Line:
Benchley, Robert C. (1889-1945), an American humorist, made people see the funny side of everyday life.


First Line:
Bendigo (pop. 67,310) is a city in northern Victoria, Australia, 150 kilometres north of Melbourne.


First Line:
Bendix, Vincent (1882-1945), was an American inventor known especially for the Bendix drive, which made it practical to use self-starters in cars.


First Line:
Bends is a painful and dangerous condition caused by the formation of gas bubbles in the bloodstream and body tissues.


First Line:
Benedict XV (1854-1922) was elected pope of the Roman Catholic Church in 1914.


First Line:
Benedict of Nursia, Saint (480?-547?), was the father of Christian monasticism in the West.


First Line:
Benedictines are Christian men and women who live according to the rule (guidelines for monastic living) written by Saint Benedict of Nursia in the early 500's.


First Line:
Benefit of clergy was a privilege allowed under common law in England to members of the clergy who were charged with a crime.


First Line:
Benelux is an economic union formed in 1948 by Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.


First Line:
Benes, Eduard (1884-1948), was cofounder of Czechoslovakia with Tomas Masaryk in 1918.


First Line:
Benet is the family name of three American writers--two brothers and a sister.


First Line:
Benghazi, or, in Arabic, Banghazi (pop. 267,700; met. area pop. 485,386), is the second largest city of Libya.


First Line:
Benin is a country on the west coast of Africa.


First Line:
Benin was a West African kingdom that flourished from the mid-1400's to the mid-1600's in the forest region of what is now Nigeria.


First Line:
Benjamin was the youngest and, next to Joseph, favourite son of Jacob.


First Line:
Benjamin, Arthur (1893-1960), was an Australian-born composer.


First Line:
Benjedid, Chadli (1929-...), was elected president of Algeria in 1979.


First Line:
Benn, Tony (1925-...), a British Labour Party politician, became famous for his left-wing views.


First Line:
Bennelong (1763?-1813), an Aborigine, was a contemporary of Arthur Phillip, the first governor of New South Wales, in Australia.


First Line:
Bennett, Alan (1934-...), is a British playwright, actor and director.


First Line:
Bent was the name of two brothers, Jeffrey Hart Bent (1780-1852) and Ellis Bent (1783-1815).


First Line:
Bennett, Donald (1910-...), was an Australian pilot who became an air vice marshal in the United Kingdom's (UK'S) Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1943.


First Line:
Bennett, Arnold (1867-1931), was an English novelist and playwright.


First Line:
Bennett, Gordon (1887-1962), an Australian Army officer, commanded the Eighth Division when Japanese invaders trapped it in Malaya during World War II (1939-1945).


First Line:
Bennett, Richard Rodney (1936-...), is one of England's most versatile composers.


First Line:
Bennett, William Andrew Cecil (1900-1979), served as premier of British Columbia from 1952 to 1972.


First Line:
Benny, Jack (1894-1974), was an American radio and television comedian.


First Line:
Benoni (pop. 113,501) is a town within the urban complex of Witwatersrand in Gauteng province in South Africa.


First Line:
Benson is the name of a British family of churchmen and scholars, a father and three sons.


First Line:
Bent is the name of many related kinds of grasses that have rough stems, small flowers, and seeds that grow in delicate, airy clusters.


First Line:
Bentham, Jeremy (1748-1832), an English philosopher, founded the philosophy known as utilitarianism.


First Line:
Bentley, Dick (1907-1995), an Australian comedian, appeared in most of the principal theatres in Australia and the United Kingdom.


First Line:
Bentley, E. C. (1875-1956), was a British author best known for his detective stories and nonsense verse.


First Line:
Bentley, Phyllis (1894-1977), was a British novelist whose most successful works portray Yorkshire characters, their lives, and their backgrounds.


First Line:
Benton, Thomas Hart (1889-1975), was an American painter.


First Line:
Benton, William Burnett (1900-1973), was an American businessman and politician.


First Line:
Bentonite is a type of clay that swells to several times its original size when wet.


First Line:
Benz, Karl (1844-1929), a German engineer, pioneered the building of motor-driven vehicles.


First Line:
Benzene is a colourless liquid with a pleasant odour.


First Line:
Benzine is a clear, colourless liquid obtained in refining petroleum.


First Line:
Beowulf is an epic poem that is considered the first great work of English literature.


First Line:
Berbers are a people of northwest Africa and the Sahara.


First Line:
Berchtesgaden (pop. 8,345) is a German health spa and market town in the Bavarian Alps.


First Line:
Berdyaev, Nicolas (1874-1948), was a Russian religious and political thinker.


First Line:
Berg, Alban (1885-1935), was an Austrian composer.


First Line:
Berg, Patty (1918-...), an American golfer, became the top tournament winner in the history of women's golf.


First Line:
Bergamot is a name that is given to several plants.


First Line:
Bergen (pop. 208,915) is the second largest city in Norway.


First Line:
Bergen, Edgar (1903-1978), an American entertainer became one of the most popular ventriloquists of all time.


First Line:
Bergius, Friedrich (1884-1949), a German chemist, shared the 1931 Nobel prize for chemistry with Carl Bosch.


First Line:
Bergman, Ingmar (1918-...), is a Swedish film director.


First Line:
Bergman, Ingrid (1915-1982), was a film actress best known for her beauty and her convincing portrayals of innocent women of integrity.


First Line:
Bergson, Henri (1859-1941), was a French philosopher.


First Line:
Beria, Lavrenti Pavlovitch (1899-1953), was the chief of the Soviet secret police.


First Line:
Beriberi is a disease caused by a lack of vitamin B-1, or thiamine.


First Line:
Bering, Vitus (1680-1741), a Danish navigator, proved that Asia and America are separated by water.


First Line:
Bering Sea, part of the North Pacific Ocean, lies north of the Aleutian Islands between Alaska and Siberia.


First Line:
Bering Sea controversy was a dispute between the United States and Great Britain in the late 1800's.


First Line:
Berkeley, George (1685-1753), was an Irish-born Anglican bishop and philosopher.


First Line:
Berkeley, Sir Lennox (1903-1989), a British composer, was professor of composition at the Royal Academy of Music from 1946 to 1968.


First Line:
Berkeley, Sir William (1606-1677), was a colonial governor of Virginia in North America.


First Line:
Berkelium is an artificially created radioactive element.


First Line:
Berkshire is a historical county in central southern England.


First Line:
Berlin is Germany's capital and largest city.


First Line:
Berlin, Congress of, was a meeting of leaders from the important countries of Europe in 1878 to decide what to do with the Balkan regions controlled by the Turkish-based Ottoman Empire.


First Line:
Berlin, Irving (1888-1989), composed many of the most famous American popular songs.


First Line:
Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to divide the two parts of the city of Berlin--Communist East Berlin and non-Communist West Berlin.


First Line:
Berliner, Emile (1851-1929), invented a telephone transmitter in 1877.


First Line:
Berlioz, Hector (1803-1869), was a French composer.


First Line:
Berlusconi, Silvio (1936-...), served as prime minister of Italy for eight months in 1994.


First Line:
Bermuda, a dependency of the United Kingdom, is a group of coral islands in the Atlantic Ocean.


First Line:
Bermuda Triangle, also called Devil's Triangle, is an area of sea off the southeastern coast of Florida, U.S.A., where many ships and aeroplanes have disappeared.


First Line:
Bern (pop. 136,338; met. area pop. 332,494), also spelled Berne, is the capital of both Switzerland and the Swiss canton (state) of Bern.


First Line:
Bernadette, Saint (1844-1879), is a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.


First Line:
Bernadotte, Folke (1895-1948), Count of Wisborg, was a Swedish diplomat who became well known for his work in exchanging World War II (1939-1945) prisoners.


First Line:
Bernadotte, Jean Baptiste Jules (1763-1844), a French soldier who became one of Napoleon Bonaparte's marshals, founded the present Swedish royal line.


First Line:
Bernal, John Desmond (1901-1971), an Irish physicist, inspired the analysis of biological substances by X rays.


First Line:
Bernard, Claude (1813-1878), was the leading French physiologist of his day and founder of modern experimental physiology.


First Line:
Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint (1090-1153), was a Christian theologian and a leader of the Cistercian religious order.


First Line:
Bernborough was one of Australia's greatest racehorses.


First Line:
Bernese mountain dog is a long-haired dog.


First Line:
Bernhardt, Sarah (1844-1923), a French actress, was one of the great international stage stars of her time.


First Line:
Bernier, Joseph Elzear (1852-1934), was a Canadian explorer known for his voyages to the Arctic.


First Line:
Bernini, Gian Lorenzo (1598-1680), an Italian sculptor, was probably the most famous artist of the 1600's.


First Line:
Bernoulli was the family name of three Swiss mathematicians: two brothers, Jakob and Johann, and Johann's son Daniel.


First Line:
Bernoulli's principle, also called Bernoulli's law or Bernoulli's theorem, states that energy is conserved in a moving fluid (liquid or gas).


First Line:
Bernstein, Leonard (1918-1990), was an American conductor, composer, and pianist.


First Line:
Berri (pop. 6,678), is a town in South Australia.


First Line:
Berrima is a town in New South Wales, Australia.


First Line:
Berry as defined by botanists, is a fleshy, many-seeded fruit.


First Line:
Berry, Chuck (1926-...), is an American singer, composer, and guitarist.


First Line:
Berryman, John (1914-1972), was an American poet and critic.


First Line:
Berthelot, Marcelin (1827-1907), was a French chemist.


First Line:
Bertrand, John (1946-...), an Australian yachtsman, was skipper of Australia II, which won the America's Cup in 1983.


First Line:
Berwick, Treaty of (1639), ended an attempt by King Charles I of England to compel Scotland to accept the English Prayer Book and English forms of worship.


First Line:
Berwick-upon-Tweed (pop. 26,400) is an English local government district in Northumberland, on the River Tweed.


First Line:
Berwickshire is a rich farming area in the southeastern corner of Scotland.


First Line:
Beryl is a hard mineral used for centuries as a gemstone.


First Line:
Beryllium, a chemical element with symbol Be, is a rare, light-grey metal.


First Line:
Berzelius, Jons Jakob (1779-1848), a noted Swedish chemist, made valuable contributions to the development of the atomic theory.


First Line:
Besant, Annie Wood (1847-1933), was a British social reformer and a leader of a philosophical movement called theosophy.


First Line:
Bess of Hardwick (1518-1608), was the popular name of Elizabeth Hardwick, who became one of the wealthiest women in England by outliving four husbands and inheriting most of their estates.


First Line:
Bessarabia is a historical region in eastern Europe.


First Line:
Bessel, Friedrich Wilhelm (1784-1846), was a German astronomer and mathematician.


First Line:
Bessemer, Sir Henry (1813-1898), a British inventor and manufacturer, developed the Bessemer process of converting pig iron to steel.


First Line:
Bessey, Charles Edwin (1845-1915), an American botanist, was a great teacher whose ideas on plant evolution influenced botanical progress.


First Line:
Best, Charles Herbert (1899-1978), a Canadian physiologist, was a principal discoverer of the hormone insulin.


First Line:
Beta-blocker is a type of drug that plays a major role in the treatment of various heart disorders.


First Line:
Beta particle is an electron given off by the nucleus of a radioactive atom when it undergoes a nuclear transformation.


First Line:
Betatron is a machine for accelerating electrons to high speeds for nuclear physics experiments.


First Line:
Betel is a preparation made from a palm tree and a vine plant grown in Asia.


First Line:
Betelgeuse, also called Alpha Orionis, is one of the brightest stars in the constellation of Orion.


First Line:
Bethe, Hans Albrecht (1906-...), an American physicist, won the Nobel Prize in 1967 for his explanation of how energy is produced in the sun and stars.


First Line:
Bethlehem (pop. 16,313) is a town about 8 kilometres south of Jerusalem in a region of the Middle East called the West Bank.


First Line:
Bethune, Mary McLeod (1875-1955), an American black educator, devoted her life to the improvement of educational opportunities for blacks.


First Line:
Bethune, Norman (1890-1939), a Canadian surgeon, became a national hero of China because of his medical service there.


First Line:
Betjeman, Sir John (1906-1984), was probably the best-selling English poet of the 1900's.


First Line:
Bettelheim, Bruno (1903-1990), was an Austrian-born, American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who gained fame for his work with emotionally disturbed children.


First Line:
Betti, Ugo (1892-1953), was one of the leading Italian playwrights of the 1900's.


First Line:
Bevan, Aneurin (1897-1960), was a leading British Labour politician during the 1940's and 1950's.


First Line:
Beveridge, Lord (1879-1963), William Henry Beveridge, Baron Beveridge of Tuggal, was a British economist and Liberal politician.


First Line:
Beveridge, Albert Jeremiah (1862-1927), an American statesman and historian, won the 1920 Pulitzer Prize for his book The Life of John Marshall.


First Line:
Beverley (pop. 109,500) is a local government district in Humberside, in the United Kingdom.


First Line:
Beverly Hills (pop. 31,971) is a city in southern California, U.S.A. that is famous as the home of many film stars and other wealthy people.


First Line:
Bevin, Ernest (1881-1951), was a British trade union leader and prominent Labour Party member.


First Line:
Bewick, Thomas (1753-1828), was the most important wood engraver in English art.


First Line:
Bexley (pop. 211,200) is a borough within the Greater London area in the United Kingdom.


First Line:
Bhagavad-Gita is one of the major sacred works of Hinduism.


First Line:
Bhavabhuti, one of India's greatest dramatists, lived in the late A.D. 600's or early 700's.


First Line:
Bhubaneswar (pop. 411,542) is an Indian city, which is a centre for Hindu pilgrimage.


First Line:
Bhumibol Adulyadej (1927-...) became king of Thailand in 1946.


First Line:
Bhutan is a small, developing independent country in south-central Asia.


First Line:
Bhutto, Benazir (1953-...), served as prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 until 1990, and from 1993 to 1996.


First Line:
Bhutto, Zulfikar Ali (1928-1979), was president and prime minister of Pakistan from 1971 to 1977.


First Line:
Bialik, Chaim Nachman (1873-1934), is considered the greatest poet in modern Hebrew literature.


First Line:
Biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country ski racing and rifle marksmanship.


First Line:
Bibby, Lionel (1892-1967), an Australian marksman and exhibition shooter, performed amazing feats with pistols, rifles, and shotguns.


First Line:
Bible is the most sacred book of the Jewish and Christian religions.


First Line:
Bibliography is a list of books or articles about a subject.


First Line:
Bibliotheque Nationale is one of the largest libraries in Europe.


First Line:
Bicameral legislature refers to a system of government in which the lawmaking body is divided into two separate groups.


First Line:
Bicarbonate of soda, also known as baking soda and sodium bicarbonate, is a stomach alkalizer and soothes skin irritations.


First Line:
Bichat, Marie Francois Xavier (1771-1802), was a French surgeon, anatomist, and physiologist.


First Line:
Bichon frise is a breed of toy dog with a distinctive white coat of silky curls.


First Line:
Bicol is a peninsula located in southeastern Luzon, in the Philippines.


First Line:
Bicycle is a vehicle with two wheels mounted one behind the other on a frame.


First Line:
Biedermeier is the name of a style of design that developed in the German-speaking countries of Europe during the early 1800's.


First Line:
Biennial is a plant that requires two years or two growing seasons to complete its life cycle.


First Line:
Bierce, Ambrose Gwinett (1842-1914?), was an American writer and journalist.


First Line:
Bierstadt, Albert (1830-1902), was one of the greatest American romantic landscape painters.


First Line:
Big Ben is the great bell in the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament in London.


First Line:
Big Brother Movement is an organization that assists British boys to settle in Australia.


First Line:
Big Five refers to the five permanent members of the Security Council of the United Nations (UN).


First Line:
Bigamy is the crime a man or woman commits by being married to two (or more) people at the same time.


First Line:
Bigfoot is a humanlike creature said to live in the Pacific Northwest of North America.


First Line:
Bigge, John Thomas (1780-1843), was appointed commissioner to inquire into the affairs of New South Wales, Australia, in 1819.


First Line:
Bighorn is a species of wild sheep found only in North America.


First Line:
Bignonia is the name of an American family of climbing shrubs, vines, and trees.


First Line:
Bihar is one of India's poorest states and the most densely populated.


First Line:
Bihzad, Kamal ad-Din (1450-1537), was the most famous of the Persian miniature painters.


First Line:
Bikini Atoll is an isolated atoll (ring-shaped reef) in the northwestern Marshall Islands group in the Pacific Ocean.


First Line:
Biko, Steve (1946-1977) was a black leader in the fight against apartheid and white minority rule in South Africa.


First Line:
Bilbao (pop. 433,030), a city in north-central Spain, is the capital of Vizcaya province.


First Line:
Bill comes from the Latin word bulla, a seal that was used on documents during the Middle Ages.


First Line:
Bill of exchange is a written order signed by the party ordering it, which directs a second party to pay to a third party a fixed sum of money at a certain time.


First Line:
Bill of health is a certificate issued and signed by designated port authorities.


First Line:
Bill of lading is a written receipt for goods sent by means of public transport.


First Line:
Bill of rights is a document that describes the fundamental liberties of the people.


First Line:
Bill of sale is a formal written statement by which a seller may transfer to a purchaser the title to an item of personal property.


First Line:
Billabong is a pool or small lake in Australia.


First Line:
Billiards and snooker are two popular indoor games played on a rectangular table.


First Line:
Billings, John Shaw (1838-1913), an American physician and librarian, was one of the most versatile men of his generation.


First Line:
Billingsgate, London's principal fish market, lies in the city's dockland area, at a site on the Isle of Dogs.


First Line:
Billion is a thousand million, or 1,000,000,000.


First Line:
Billroth, Albert Christian Theodor (1829-1894), a German-born surgeon, became noted for his work in pathology, wound infections, and gastrointestinal tract surgery.


First Line:
Billy buttons is an Australian name applied to a number of kinds of daisies.


First Line:
Billy the Kid (1859-1881) was an American cattle thief and killer in New Mexico, U.S.A. He boasted of 21 killings.


First Line:
Biloela (pop. 6,174), is a town in the Fitzroy basin in Queensland, Australia.


First Line:
Binaburra is the name of a tree that grows in the rainforests of New South Wales and Queensland in Australia, and in New Zealand.


First Line:
Binary star, or double star, is a pair of stars that are close together and cannot escape from each other.


First Line:
Bindweed is a perennial weedy plant related to the morning-glory.


First Line:
Binet, Alfred (1857-1911), a French psychologist, did much to arouse interest in the psychological study of children.


First Line:
Bing, Sir Rudolf (1902-1988), served as manager of the Metropolitan Opera Association of New York City from 1950 to 1972.


First Line:
Bingara (pop. 1,363), is a small town about 145 kilometres northwest of Tamworth in New South Wales, Australia.


First Line:
Bingham, George Caleb (1811-1879), was a leading American painter of genre subjects (scenes from everyday life).


First Line:
Bingo is a popular game of chance, especially among the elderly.


First Line:
Binoculars are two small, identical telescopes joined side by side so a person can look through one with each eye.


First Line:
Binomial theorem is an important algebraic formula.


First Line:
Binturong is a tree-living animal that belongs to the civet family (see CIVET).


First Line:
Binyon, Laurence (1869-1943), was a British poet and art expert.


First Line:
Biochemistry is the study of the chemical processes that take place in all living things.


First Line:
Biodiversity is the variety that exists among organisms and their environments.


First Line:
Biofeedback is a method of learning to control body processes that are not ordinarily thought of as being under voluntary control.


First Line:
Biogenesis is a term in biology that is derived from two Greek words meaning life and birth.


First Line:
Biography is the story of a person's life written by someone else.


First Line:
Biological clock is a popular name given to a mysterious timing system that operates in plants and animals.


First Line:
Biology is the scientific study of living things.


First Line:
Bioluminescence is the ability of certain living things to give off light.


First Line:
Biomass is any organic material that can be converted into energy.


First Line:
Biome is a plant and animal community that covers a large geographical area.


First Line:
Biomedical engineering is a field that uses engineering knowledge to solve problems in biology and medicine.


First Line:
Bionics is a term that was originally applied to a variety of scientific projects involving biological systems, engineering systems, and artificial intelligence (see ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE).


First Line:
Biophysics is a field of biology that applies the tools and techniques of physics to the study of life processes.


First Line:
Biopsy is a medical technique by which living tissue is obtained for examination under the microscope.


First Line:
Biorhythm is a term that refers to any cycle of changes in the functions of organisms.


First Line:
Biosynthesis is the process by which living cells manufacture complicated chemical compounds from simpler substances.


First Line:
Biotechnology is the term for techniques of managing biological systems for human benefit.


First Line:
Birch is the name of a group of about 40 slender trees and shrubs that grow in parts of Europe, northern Asia and North America.


First Line:
Birch, William (1934-...), a New Zealand politician, became the National Party's minister of finance following the 1993 general election, and is credited with significant improvements in New Zealand's economic performance and government finances.


First Line:
Birchip is an administrative centre and service town located some 512 kilometres northwest of Melbourne in the southern Mallee district of Victoria, Australia.


First Line:
Bird, Nancy (1915-...), became the youngest woman in the British Empire to obtain a commercial pilot's licence.


First Line:
Bird Day was a special day set apart by each Australian state to foster interest in bird life.


First Line:
Bird of paradise is the name given to certain kinds of birds with plumage of many dazzling colours.


First Line:
Bird-of-paradise flower is a small plant of South Africa with orange-and-blue flowers and banana-shaped leaves.


First Line:
Birdcatching spider is a large spider of Indonesia and New Guinea.


First Line:
Bird's-nest soup is a famous Chinese dish.


First Line:
Birdseye, Clarence (1886-1956), pioneered the development of packaged frozen foods.


First Line:
Birdsfoot trefoil is a perennial plant that is native to temperate regions of Europe and Asia.


First Line:
Birdsville, a small town in western Queensland, Australia, lies on the Diamantina River, about 10 kilometres from the border of South Australia.


First Line:
Birdwood, William Riddell (1865-1951), Baron of Anzac and Totnes, commanded the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) in Egypt, Gallipoli, and France during World War I (1914-1918).


First Line:
Birkbeck, George (1776-1841), was a British doctor and educationist.


First Line:
Birkenhead, Lord (1872-1930), was a British lawyer and Conservative politician.


First Line:
Birkett, Lord (1883-1962), was an eminent British barrister and judge.


First Line:
Birling, or logrolling, originated in the 1840's in lumber camps in Canada and the northern United States.


First Line:
Birmingham (pop. 934,900; met. area pop. 2,500,400) is the second largest city in Britain.


First Line:
Birmingham (pop. 265,968; met. area pop. 907,810) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alabama and a leading steel-making, educational, and medical centre.


First Line:
Birmingham, George A. (1865-1950), was the pen name of James Owen Hannay, an Irish novelist and clergyman.


First Line:
Birth and death rates are important measurements of population changes.


First Line:
Birth control is a term that includes all methods used to regulate or prevent the birth of children.


First Line:
Birth defect, sometimes called congenital defect, is an abnormal condition that a baby has at birth.


First Line:
Birthmark is a skin blemish that is present at birth or develops shortly thereafter.


First Line:
Birthstone is a gem associated with a month of the year.


First Line:
Birtles, Francis (1882-1941), was an Australian adventurer.


First Line:
Biscoe, John (1794-1843), a British explorer, discovered and named Enderby Land, the part of Antarctica nearest to Africa.


First Line:
Bishkek (pop. 626,000) is the capital and largest city of Kyrgyzstan, a country in central Asia.


First Line:
Bishop, in some Christian churches, is a high-ranking official who administers an area containing a number of churches.


First Line:
Bishop, John (1903-1964), a noted Australian conductor and music teacher, was director of the Elder Conservatorium, in Adelaide, South Australia, from 1948 to 1964.


First Line:
Bismarck was a German battleship sunk by the British in one of the most important naval actions of World War II.


First Line:
Bismarck, Otto von (1815-1898), Prince Bismarck-Schonhausen, a Prussian statesman, united the German states into one empire.


First Line:
Bismarck Archipelago is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean.


First Line:
Bismuth, a chemical element, is a brittle, white metal with a pink tint.


First Line:
Bissau (pop. 109,214) is the capital, chief port, and largest city of Guinea-Bissau.


First Line:
Bithynia was an ancient country in Asia Minor.


First Line:
Bitter root is a small perennial plant with juicy leaves, a fleshy stalk, and a single rose coloured or white flower.


First Line:
Bittern is any of about 12 species of marsh-dwelling birds in the heron family.


First Line:
Bitternut, also called swamp hickory, is a handsome, medium or large hickory tree with a bitter-tasting nut.


First Line:
Bitters is the term for certain liquids extracted from bitter herbs, leaves, barks, roots, or flower heads.


First Line:
Bittersweet is the name of two unrelated vinelike plants.


First Line:
Bitumen is a term used for many substances composed chiefly of carbon and hydrogen.


First Line:
Bituminous sands, are deposits of sand that contain bitumen.


First Line:
Bizerte (pop. 94,509) is a Tunisian port on the Mediterranean Sea.


First Line:
Bizet, Georges (1838-1875), a French composer, wrote Carmen (1875), perhaps the most popular opera of all time.


First Line:
Bjelke-Petersen, Sir Johannes (1911-...), a member of the National Party of Australia, was premier of Queensland from 1968 to 1987.


First Line:
Bjoerling, Jussi (1911-1960), was a Swedish operatic tenor who was famous for the elegance of his light, lyrical voice.


First Line:
Bjornson, Bjornstjerne (1832-1910), was a Norwegian poet, novelist, and playwright.


First Line:
Blaby (pop. 81,900) is a small English local government district in Leicestershire, south and west of the city of Leicester.


First Line:
Black, Davidson (1884-1934), a Canadian anatomist and physical anthropologist, discovered and interpreted the fossilized bones that represent the extinct form of human being known as Sinanthropus pekinensis (see PEKING MAN).


First Line:
Black, Joseph (1728-1799), a Scottish doctor and chemist, first explained the nature of caustic and mild alkalis (hydroxides and carbonates) and identified carbon dioxide as a distinct gas.


First Line:
Black and tan coonhound is a breed of dog that originated in America.


First Line:
Black and Tans were members of an auxiliary police force recruited from ex-soldiers in Britain for service in Ireland in 1920 and 1921.


First Line:
Black codes were state laws regulating the activities of blacks in the southern United States after the Civil War.


First Line:
Black Country is a region in England that includes southern Staffordshire, northern Hereford and Worcester, and part of the West Midlands.


First Line:
Black Death was an epidemic of bubonic plague in Europe in the 1300's. (see BUBONIC PLAGUE).


First Line:
Black-eyed Susan, also called yellow daisy, is a small wild flower with orange-yellow rays and purple-black, cone-shaped centres.


First Line:
Black Forest is a mountain district in southwestern Germany, covered with forests of dark fir and spruce trees.


First Line:
Black Friday refers to two different Fridays in the history of the United States, each of which led to a financial emergency.


First Line:
Black haw, also called stagbush, is a shrub or small tree that grows in the eastern and southern United States.


First Line:
Black Hawk (1767-1838), a Sauk Indian, was noted for his struggle against the westward movement of the white settlers in Illinois, North America.


First Line:
Black hole is a collapsed object, such as a star, that has become invisible.


First Line:
Black lung is a disabling lung disease that afflicts coal miners.


First Line:
Black market is the sale or distribution of goods or currency in violation of ceiling prices, quotas, rationing, and priorities established by a government.


First Line:
Black Muslims is a name that has been used for members of several related religious groups in the United States.


First Line:
Black Rod is the abbreviated title of the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, an official of the House of Lords of the UK Parliament.


First Line:
Black Sea is a large body of water that is bounded by Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Romania.


First Line:
Black Shirt is a name formerly used for a Fascist Party member of the action group in Italy.


First Line:
Black snake usually refers to the red-bellied black snake in Australia.


First Line:
Black soil plains occur in various parts of Australia.


First Line:
Black stump is a term used in Australia to refer to an imaginary place on the fringe of civilization.


First Line:
Black swan is a water bird that is completely black, except for white patches on its wings and its red bill and eyes.


First Line:
Black Thursday, Feb. 6, 1851, was the date when one of the most devastating bushfires in the history of the state of Victoria, Australia, reached its peak.


First Line:
Black Tuesday, Feb. 7, 1967, is remembered in Tasmania, Australia, as the day bushfires invaded Hobart on a scale never before experienced in an Australian urban area.


First Line:
Black widow is the most dangerous spider in North America.


First Line:
Blackall, Samuel (1809-1871), was governor of Queensland, Australia, from 1868 to 1871.


First Line:
Blackbeard (?-1718), a British pirate, received his name from his habit of braiding his long, black beard and tying the braids with ribbon.


First Line:
Blackberry is a small round fruit that grows on a flowering shrub or a trailing vine.


First Line:
Blackbird is any of several kinds of small birds, belonging mainly to two families, whose plumage--at least in the males--is black.


First Line:
Blackbirders were men who kidnapped Pacific Islanders to work on sugar and cotton plantations in Queensland, Australia, and in Fiji.


First Line:
Blackboy is a name commonly used in Australia for any species of Xanthorrhoea.


First Line:
Blackbuck is a graceful antelope that lives in India and Pakistan.


First Line:
Blackburn (pop. 132,800) is an industrial town in southern Lancashire, England.


First Line:
Blackburn, James (1803-1854), an Australian engineer and architect, became famous for his Gothic design for churches.


First Line:
Blacket, Edmund (1817-1883), was an Australian architect who designed many fine buildings in the early years of Sydney's development.


First Line:
Blackfish is the common name for several fishes, such as the Alaska blackfish and the tautog.


First Line:
Blackmail is a crime in which a person, using written or spoken threats to frighten someone, demands money or property to which he or she is not entitled.


First Line:
Blackman, Charles (1928-...), an Australian artist, made many drawings based on the theme of the schoolgirl.


First Line:
Blackmore, R. D. (1825-1900), a British author, wrote the popular romantic novel Lorna Doone in 1869.


First Line:
Blackpool (pop. 144,500) is a popular British seaside resort in western Lancashire on the Irish Sea coast.


First Line:
Blacksmith is a person who makes and repairs iron objects by hammering them by hand on an anvil.


First Line:
Blackstone, Sir William (1723-1780), an English judge, author, and professor, won recognition for his Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765-1769).


First Line:
Blackthorn is a spiny, branching shrub of the rose family.


First Line:
Blacktrackers were Australian Aborigines once widely employed by Australian police forces to track fleeing criminals or find people lost in the bush.


First Line:
Blackwater is the name of several rivers in Ireland and the United Kingdom.


First Line:
Blackwell, Antoinette Brown (1825-1921), was the first ordained woman minister in the United States.


First Line:
Blackwell, Elizabeth (1821-1910), was the first woman in the United States to receive a medical degree.


First Line:
Blackwood, Algernon (1869-1951), was a British novelist and short-story writer who specialized in ghost stories and other tales of the supernatural.


First Line:
Bladder is the common name for the urinary bladder, a hollow muscular organ that stores urine before expelling it from the body.


First Line:
Bladderwort is the name of a group of water or marsh plants that grow throughout the world.


First Line:
Blaenau Gwent (pop. 74,400) is a local government area in south Wales, administered from the town of Ebbw Vale.


First Line:
Blair, Harold (1924-1976), an Australian dramatic tenor, became the first Australian Aborigine to gain a diploma in music and a worldwide reputation as a singer.


First Line:
Blair, Tony (1953-...), became prime minister of the United Kingdom (UK) in 1997.


First Line:
Blair Athol is the site of a small, but economically important coal basin in Queensland, Australia.


First Line:
Blake, Robert (1598-1657), was an English soldier who became a great naval leader.


First Line:
Blake, William (1757-1827), was a brilliant but unconventional English poet, engraver, and painter.


First Line:
Blakelock, Ralph Albert (1847-1919), was an American landscape painter.


First Line:
Blamey, Sir Thomas (1884-1951), an Australian soldier, gained distinction when he was appointed commander of the Allied land forces in the southwestern Pacific during World War II.


First Line:
Blanch, Stuart (1918-...), was Archbishop of York from 1975 to 1983.


First Line:
Blanchard, Jean-Pierre (1753-1809), a French aviation pioneer, proposed heavier-than-air machines in 1781.


First Line:
Blanching, in gardening, is a method of eliminating the green colour of certain vegetables.


First Line:
Bland, Kenneth Colin (1938-...), a South African cricketer, was one of the game's greatest fielders.


First Line:
Bland, James A. (1854-1911), was a black American composer.


First Line:
Bland, Richard Parks (1835-1899), an American statesman known as Silver Dick, was a leader in the movement for free coinage of silver.


First Line:
Blank verse is poetry written in unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter.


First Line:
Blarney Stone is a block of limestone in Blarney Castle, near Cork, Ireland.


First Line:
Blasco Ibanez, Vicente (1867-1928), was a Spanish novelist.


First Line:
Blasket Islands are a group of seven small islands situated about 19 kilometres off the coast of Kerry, in the Republic of Ireland.


First Line:
Blatch, Harriot Eaton Stanton (1856-1940), was a leader of the American woman suffrage movement.


First Line:
Blaxland, Gregory (1778-1853), an Australian pioneer, became famous as one of the first men to cross the Blue Mountains, in New South Wales, Australia.


First Line:
Blazing star is the name of a group of wild flowers.


First Line:
Bleach is any substance that lightens, brightens, or removes the colour from a material.


First Line:
Bleeding is the escape of blood from the blood vessels.


First Line:
Bleeding heart is a plant that bears heart-shaped rosy-red, pink, or white flowers in the late spring.


First Line:
Blenheim (pop. 23,637), is the chief town of the region of Marlborough, in the northeastern corner of the South Island of New Zealand.


First Line:
Blenheim, Battle of, was fought on Aug. 13, 1704.


First Line:
Blennerhassett, Harman (1765-1831), a North American colonist, was one of the principal supporters of Aaron Burr's colonizing expedition to the West.


First Line:
Bleriot, Louis (1872-1936), a French aviation pioneer, made the first flight across the English Channel on July 25, 1909.


First Line:
Bligh, William (1754-1817), was a British naval officer and colonial governor.


First Line:
Blight is a condition of diseased plants in which whole parts of the plant die and wilt but do not rot or fall off.


First Line:
Blimp, Colonel, was a cartoon character created by Sir David Low (1891-1963).


First Line:
Blind spot is a small area of blindness that is present in the field of vision of the normal eye.


First Line:
Blindfish is the name of several kinds of small fish that live in waters in and near caves in the eastern United States.


First Line:
Blindness is the total or partial inability to see.


First Line:
Blindworm is the common name of a type of legless lizard that lives in Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa.


First Line:
Bliss, Sir Arthur (1891-1975), was a British composer.


First Line:
Blister is a puffy, raised area of skin filled with fluid.


First Line:
Blitz was the name given during World War II (1939-1945) to the German attempt to force the United Kingdom to surrender by bombing its chief cities.


First Line:
Blitzkrieg was a type of fast-moving warfare developed by the Germans during World War II (1939-1945).


First Line:
Blizzard is a blinding snowstorm with strong, cold winds.


First Line:
Block and tackle is a device used to lift weights and to exert large forces.


First Line:
Block printing is a method of reproducing a picture in which the artist uses a thin block of wood, linoleum, or similar material to make the image.


First Line:
Blockade is the patrolling of an enemy country's coasts by warships and planes to keep the country from receiving the goods it needs to wage war.


First Line:
Bloemfontein (pop. 126,867; met. area pop. 300,150) is the judicial capital of South Africa.


First Line:
Blood is the life-giving fluid that flows through the human body.


First Line:
Blood count is a test to determine the number of red and white cells in the blood.


First Line:
Blood poisoning is a disease involving infectious bacteria or bacterial toxins in the bloodstream.


First Line:
Blood pressure is the pressure that blood exerts against the walls of the arteries.


First Line:
Blood transfusion is the transfer of the blood of one person into the body of another.


First Line:
Bloodhound is a breed of dogs that have a keen sense of smell.


First Line:
Bloodletting is the process of drawing blood from the body in the treatment of disease.


First Line:
Bloodroot is a spring flower which grows in North America.


First Line:
Bloody Assize (1685) was the name given to the assize that tried those accused of taking part in Monmouth's Rebellion in England.


First Line:
Bloomer, Amelia Jenks (1818-1894), an American temperance reformer and advocate of women's rights, became famous in 1851 for her "Turkish pantaloons," called bloomers.


First Line:
Bloomfield, Leonard (1887-1949), was a leading American linguist who developed scientific methods for the study of language.


First Line:
Bloomsbury Group was an informal association of English intellectuals who met frequently from about 1905 to about 1930.


First Line:
Blow, John (1649?-1708), was an outstanding English composer of church music.


First Line:
Blow fly is the name of several kinds of flies.


First Line:
Blowlamp is a device that directs a flame of burning petrol or alcohol under pressure.


First Line:
Blowpipe is a wooden tube through which a poisoned dart or clay ball is blown.


First Line:
Blubber is a thick layer of fat that lies under the skin and over the muscles of whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals, sea cows, and other sea mammals.


First Line:
Blucher, Gebhard Leberecht von (1742-1819), was a Prussian marshal, whose arrival with reinforcements helped the British defeat Napoleon's army at the Battle of Waterloo (see WATERLOO, BATTLE OF).


First Line:
Blue, Billy (?-1834), a part-Jamaican black man, became the first ferryman in Sydney, Australia.


First Line:
Blue baby is a term used to describe a newborn infant whose skin appears blue.


First Line:
Blue book is the general name for many government publications in Britain, including reports of committees and commissions, trade statistics, and diplomatic reports.


First Line:
Blue-bottle is the familiar name in Australia and New Zealand for a stinging animal that drifts on the surface of warm seas.


First Line:
Blue crab is often used for food in the eastern United States.


First Line:
Blue jay is a common bird of the eastern half of the United States and Canada.


First Line:
Blue Lake is situated in the steep-sided depression of the old volcanic cone of Mt. Gambier, in South Australia.


First Line:
Blue Mountains rise about 65 kilometres west of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia.


First Line:
Blue Ridge Mountains are eastern ranges of the Appalachian Mountain System in the Eastern United States.


First Line:
Blue-ringed octopus are commonly found along the southern Australian coast.


First Line:
Blue-tongued lizards are stout-bodied Australian lizards named after their bright-blue tongue, which they display when they are angry or alarmed.


First Line:
Blue wrens, or fairy wrens, are small Australian birds, weighing about 10 grams.


First Line:
Bluebell is any of various plants that bear blue, bell-shaped flowers.


First Line:
Blueberry is a small, sweet fruit that grows on a shrub of the same name.


First Line:
Bluebird is a small, colourful North American songbird.


First Line:
Bluefish is a food fish that lives in most tropical and warm temperate seas except the east Pacific Ocean.


First Line:
Bluegrass is the name given to several kinds of wild and cultivated grasses.


First Line:
Bluenose was a Canadian fishing schooner that won five consecutive International Fisherman's races between Canada and the United States.


First Line:
Blueprint is a duplicate, or copy, of the original plans for a building or other construction work.


First Line:
Blues are a kind of music that developed in America from the various musical expressions of blacks who were taken to the country as slaves during the 1600's.


First Line:
Bluet is a small wild flower of eastern North America, found from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.


First Line:
Bluey is an Australian slang term with several meanings.


First Line:
Bluff (pop. 2,537), is a town in the extreme south of the South Island of New Zealand.


First Line:
Blume, Judy (1938-...), is an American author of books for children and adults.


First Line:
Blundell, Sir Denis (1907-1984), was a distinguished New Zealand lawyer, sportsman, soldier, and diplomat.


First Line:
Blunden, Edmund (1896-1974), an English poet, won a high reputation for his brilliant book about World War I, Undertones of War (1928).


First Line:
Blunderbuss is a European musket or harquebus with a bell-shaped muzzle.


First Line:
Blunkett, David (1947-...), a British Labour politician, became secretary of state for education and employment in 1997.


First Line:
Blunt, Wilfrid Scawen (1840-1922), an English poet and author, rebelled against authority and particularly against British imperialism.


First Line:
Blushing causes the face and neck to redden and become warm.


First Line:
Blyth Valley (pop. 78,000), a local government district in Northumberland, England, includes the industrial port of Blyth.


First Line:
Blythe, Ernest (1889-1975), was an Irish politician who devoted his life to the Irish national movement and to the preservation of the Irish language.


First Line:
Blyton, Enid (1896?-1968), was a British author of children's books.


First Line:
B'nai B'rith is the oldest and largest international Jewish service organization.


First Line:
Boa constrictor is a large snake that inhabits tropical parts of the Americas.


First Line:
Boabdil (?-1533?) was the last Moorish king of Granada, now a province of southern Spain.


First Line:
Boadicea (?-A.D. 62), was queen of the Iceni, a tribe of Britons.


First Line:
Boar, Wild, is a wild pig of Europe, southwestern and central Asia, and North Africa.


First Line:
Board, Peter (1858-1945), was director of education in New South Wales, Australia, from 1905 to 1923.


First Line:
Boas, Franz (1858-1942), a German-born American, was the most influential U.S. anthropologist of the early and mid-1900's.


First Line:
Boating brings pleasure to millions of people every year.


First Line:
Bobcat is a wildcat that lives in North America.


First Line:
Bobolink is a North American songbird related to the American blackbird and oriole.


First Line:
Bobsledding, also called bobsleighing, is a fast, dangerous winter sport in which teams of two or four men ride down a steep, icy course in steel and fibreglass sleds.


First Line:
Boccaccio, Giovanni (1313?-1375), is generally considered to be the first great writer of prose in a modern language.


First Line:
Boccherini, Luigi (1743-1805), was an Italian composer and cellist.


First Line:
Boccioni, Umberto (1882-1916), is generally considered the greatest Italian sculptor of the early 1900's.


First Line:
Bodenstein, Max (1871-1942), was a German physical chemist.


First Line:
Bodenwieser, Gertrud (1890-1959), greatly influenced modern dance in Australia through her work with the Bodenwieser Ballet group.


First Line:
Bode's law is a scheme for representing the approximate distances of the planets from the sun.


First Line:
Bodhisattva, in the Buddhist religion, is a person who strives to become a Buddha.


First Line:
Bodleian Library is the main library of Oxford University at Oxford, England.


First Line:
Bodoni, Giambattista (1740-1813), an Italian printer and type designer, introduced the "classical" type face into bookmaking.


First Line:
Body building is a sport that emphasizes the development of certain muscles through a regular routine of exercises.


First Line:
Boehmeria is a group of plants in the nettle family.


First Line:
Boeotia was a district of ancient Greece, between Attica, Phocis, and Locris.


First Line:
Boers were people of Dutch, German, or French ancestry who lived in South Africa.


First Line:
Boesak, Allan Aubrey (1946-...), a South African clergyman, won world renown in the 1980's for his opposition to apartheid (see APARTHEID).


First Line:
Boethius, Manlius Severinus (480?-524), an Italian government official, wrote Consolation of Philosophy.


First Line:
Bog is an area of wet, spongy land characterized by acidic soil and the heavy growth of mosses.


First Line:
Bog of Allen occupies about 970 square kilometres of central Ireland.


First Line:
Bogart, Humphrey (1899-1957), was an American actor.


First Line:
Bogong moth was a delicacy favoured by Aborigines when they inhabited those areas of the Australian Alps called the Bogong High Plains.


First Line:
Bogota (pop. 3,982,941) is the capital and largest city of Colombia.


First Line:
Bohemia is a region in the western part of the Czech Republic.


First Line:
Bohlen, Charles Eustis (1904-1974), a U.S. diplomat, was an expert on Soviet affairs.


First Line:
Bohol (pop. 948,315) is an island province in the Philippines, in the Visayan region.


First Line:
Bohr, Niels (1885-1962), was a noted Danish physicist who developed a theory about the structure of the atom.


First Line:
Boil is a painful infection of the skin and tissues under the skin.


First Line:
Boileau-Despreaux, Nicolas (1636-1711), was a French poet and critic of the Classical Age.


First Line:
Boiler is a metal container in which a liquid is heated and changed into a vapour.


First Line:
Boiling point is the temperature at which a liquid bubbles and changes into vapour.


First Line:
Boito, Arrigo (1842-1918), was an Italian composer and author.


First Line:
Boksburg (pop. 119,890) is a town in Gauteng province in South Africa.


First Line:
Boland, John (1944-...), an Irish Fine Gael Party politician, was the Republic of Ireland's minister for the environment from 1986 until 1987.


First Line:
Boldrewood, Rolf (1826-1915), pen name of Thomas Alexander Browne, was the author of the Australian classic Robbery Under Arms.


First Line:
Bolero is a Spanish folk dance that developed into a popular theatrical and ballroom dance.


First Line:
Boleyn, Anne (1507-1536), was the second, and most famous, of the six wives of King Henry VIII of England (see HENRY [VIII]).


First Line:
Bolger, Jim (1935-...), served as prime minister of New Zealand from 1990 to 1997.


First Line:
Bolingbroke, Viscount (1678-1751), Henry St. John, was an English statesman and writer.


First Line:
Bolivar, Simon (1783-1830), was one of South America's greatest generals.


First Line:
Bolivia is a country that is situated near the centre of South America.


First Line:
Boll, Heinrich (1917-1985), a German author, won the 1972 Nobel Prize for literature.


First Line:
Boll weevil is a small beetle that feeds inside the bolls (seed pods) of cotton plants and causes serious damage to cotton crops.


First Line:
Bologna (pop. 404,378), a city in northern Italy, lies in a region of pleasant climate and fruitful soil.


First Line:
Bologna, University of, in Bologna, Italy, is one of the oldest universities in the world.


First Line:
Bolometer is a device similar to a highly sensitive thermometer.


First Line:
Bolsheviks were members of a group that became the Communist Party in Russia.


First Line:
Bolshoi Theatre Ballet of Moscow is one of two major ballet companies in Russia.


First Line:
Bolsover (pop. 69,000) is a local government district in Derbyshire, England.


First Line:
Bolt is a type of fastener formed of a metal rod that has an enlarged head at one end and a screw thread at the other.


First Line:
Bolt, Robert (1924-1995), was a British playwright and film script writer.


First Line:
Bolte, Sir Henry (1908-...), was premier and treasurer of Victoria, Australia, from 1955 to 1972.


First Line:
Bolton (pop. 253,300) is a local government district in Greater Manchester, England.


First Line:
Boltzmann, Ludwig (1844-1906), was an Austrian theoretical physicist.


First Line:
Mumbai (pop. 9,925,891; met. area pop. 12,571,720) is the capital of the state of Maharashtra in India.


First Line:
Bomber is a military aeroplane that attacks targets on land or at sea.


First Line:
Bomboras are big and powerful waves that rise over a shallow reef a considerable distance out to sea.


First Line:
Bomoh is a person who provides cures for illness in Malaysian and Indonesian villages.


First Line:
Bonaventure, Saint (1221-1274), was an important medieval theologian and religious leader.


First Line:
Bond, in chemistry, is a force that attracts atoms to one another and holds them together.


First Line:
Bond, Alan (1938-...), an Australian businessman, headed the successful Australia II syndicate that won the America's Cup yacht race in 1983.


First Line:
Bond, Edward (1934-...), is a British playwright.


First Line:
Bonded warehouse is a facility used to store goods on which the owner must pay the government a tax or duty.


First Line:
Bonderizing is a chemical process that puts a protective coating on iron, steel, zinc, cadmium, or aluminium surfaces.


First Line:
Bondfield, Margaret Grace (1873-1953), was a British Labour politician who became the first woman member of the Cabinet, as minister of labour from 1929 to 1931.


First Line:
Bondi, Sir Hermann (1919-...), a British mathematician, astronomer, and physicist, is best known for his contributions to the study of the universe and its origin.


First Line:
Bonding is a method of protecting governments, individuals or companies against loss through the dishonesty of others or the failure of others to fulfil certain contracts or obligations.


First Line:
Bone is a hard substance that forms the framework of the bodies of animals with backbones, including human beings.


First Line:
Bone bank is a store of bone that can be used in surgical operations.


First Line:
Boneset is a flowering plant that grows wild in meadows and lowlands.


First Line:
Bongo drums are high-pitched percussion instruments.


First Line:
Bonheur, Rosa (1822-1899), was a leading French artist who became known for her paintings of animals and rural scenes.


First Line:
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich (1906-1945), was a German theologian whose strong opposition to Nazism cost him his life.


First Line:
Boniface VIII (1235-1303) was elected pope in 1294.


First Line:
Boniface, Saint (675-754), was an English-born Christian missionary noted for his work in Germany.


First Line:
Bonifacio, Andres (1863-1897), a Filipino patriot, founded Katipunan, a secret revolutionary society, in 1892.


First Line:
Bonin Islands comprise 97 volcanic islands that are located about 970 kilometres southeast of Japan.


First Line:
Bonington, Chris (1934-...), one of England's foremost mountaineers, also won fame as a writer and photographer.


First Line:
Bonington, Richard Parkes (1801-1828), an English landscape painter, might have won fame during his lifetime had he not died so young.


First Line:
Bonito is a large fish that lives in the open sea.


First Line:
Bonn (pop. 290,769) is a city in Germany.


First Line:
Bonnard, Pierre (1867-1947), was a French painter and graphic artist.


First Line:
Bonner, Neville (1922-...), the first Aboriginal member of the Australian Parliament, was a Liberal Party senator for Queensland from 1971 to 1983.


First Line:
Bonnet, Stede (?-1718), a retired British Army officer, became a pirate, it is said, to escape from his Barbados Island home.


First Line:
Bonneville, Benjamin de (1796-1878), was an American soldier, trader, and explorer.


First Line:
Bonneville Dam lies on the Columbia River about 64 kilometres east of Portland, Oregon, in the United States.


First Line:
Bonney, Charles (1813-1897), an Australian politician and explorer, pioneered an overland route from the site of Albury, on the Murray River, south to the Ovens River, in Victoria, in 1836.


First Line:
Bonsai is the art of growing miniature trees or other plants in a tray or other container.


First Line:
Bontemps, Arna Wendell (1902-1973), was a black American author who edited or wrote over 30 books on black culture.


First Line:
Bonus is a payment given in addition to what is normally due a person, particularly an employee.


First Line:
Bonython is a noted South Australian family that has been prominent in educational, cultural, and charity affairs in South Australia for many years.


First Line:
Booby is any of six large diving birds that live near warm seas.


First Line:
Book consists of written or printed sheets of paper or some other material fastened together along one edge so it can be opened at any point.


First Line:
Book of Kells is an illuminated (decorated) manuscript containing a Latin version of the four Gospels and some historical material.


First Line:
Book review is an article published in a newspaper or periodical that announces the publication of a new book, describes what it is about, and evaluates it.


First Line:
Bookbinding is the process of putting the pages of a book between covers.


First Line:
Bookkeeping is the systematic process of analysing, recording, and summarizing the economic transactions of a business or other organization over a given period.


First Line:
Bookplate is a printed or engraved label pasted in a book as a mark of ownership.


First Line:
Boole, George (1815-1864), a British mathematician, devised a method of expressing logical relationships in terms of algebra, now known as Boolean algebra (see BOOLEAN ALGEBRA).


First Line:
Boolean algebra is a mathematical system used to solve problems in logic, probability, and engineering.


First Line:
Boomerang is a curved, flat implement that is thrown as a weapon or for sport.


First Line:
Boomslang is an African snake that lies in wait for its prey in trees and bushes.


First Line:
Boone, Daniel (1734-1820), is one of the most famous pioneers in United States history.


First Line:
Boot, Sir Jesse (1850-1931), Baron Trent of Nottingham, England, founded the chain of chemist's shops that bear his name.


First Line:
Bootes is a constellation (group of stars) in the northern celestial hemisphere.


First Line:
Booth, John Wilkes (1838-1865), assassinated the U.S. President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865.


First Line:
Booth, William (1829-1912), an English preacher and social reformer, founded the Salvation Army.


First Line:
Boothferry (pop. 63,100) was an extensive, mainly agricultural local government district in Humberside, England.


First Line:
Bophuthatswana was one of ten homelands (nation states) set up by the South African government under the former policy of apartheid (enforced racial separation).


First Line:
Bora ground was a type of Aboriginal initiation ground in eastern Australia where boys were taken for their initiation ceremonies.


First Line:
Borax is an important compound of the element boron.


First Line:
Borazon is an artificially produced crystal that has the hardness of a diamond.


First Line:
Bord Failte Eireann, the Irish Tourist Board, organizes and encourages tourism in the Republic of Ireland.


First Line:
Bordeaux (pop. 213,274; met. area pop. 685,456), is a commercial city in southwestern France.


First Line:
Borden, Lizzie (1860-1927), was the defendant in one of the most celebrated murder trials in United States history.


First Line:
Border, Allan (1955-...), a correct but aggressive left-handed Australian batsman, was captain of the Australian cricket team from 1984 to 1994.


First Line:
Border collie is among the most widely used sheepdogs.


First Line:
Border Country is the area lying on each side of the border between England and Scotland.


First Line:
Border terrier is one of the smallest breeds of terriers in the United Kingdom.


First Line:
Borders (pop. 105,300) is a region in southeastern Scotland.


First Line:
Bore is a wall of swift-running water formed in a bay or river mouth by a rapidly rising tide.


First Line:
Bore, Etienne de (1741-1820), made sugar production a major United States industry.


First Line:
Borg, Bjorn (1956-...), became one of the greatest players in the history of tennis.


First Line:
Borg Olivier, Georgie (1911-1980), a Maltese politician, negotiated Malta's independence from the United Kingdom.


First Line:
Borges, Jorge Luis (1899-1986), was an Argentine man of letters.


First Line:
Borgia is the name of an Italian family, prominent in the 1400's and 1500's.


First Line:
Borglum, Gutzon (1867-1941), was an American sculptor best known for creating the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota, U.S.A. This work consists of huge portraits of four American presidents--George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore


First Line:
Boric acid, also called boracic acid, is a weak, inorganic acid best known for its use as an antiseptic.


First Line:
Boris III (1894-1943) became king of Bulgaria in 1918.


First Line:
Borlaug, Norman Ernest (1914-...), an American agricultural scientist, received the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for developing new varieties of wheat.


First Line:
Borman, Frank (1928-...), commanded the United States Apollo 8 space flight that circled the moon 10 times on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, 1968.


First Line:
Bormann, Martin (1900-1945?), was one of the most powerful leaders in Nazi Germany during World War II (1939-1945).


First Line:
Born, Max (1882-1970), was a German physicist who played a major role in developing quantum mechanics.


First Line:
Borneo is the third largest island in the world.


First Line:
Borobudur is a magnificent Buddhist temple in central Java, Indonesia.


First Line:
Borodin, Alexander (1833-1887), was a Russian composer.


First Line:
Boron is a chemical element with symbol B. It is an extremely hard, nonmetallic element.


First Line:
Boronia is the name given to about 90 species (kinds) of a citrus family that grows only in Australia.


First Line:
Borovansky, Edouard (1902-1959), a noted ballet dancer, teacher, and choreographer, founded the Borovansky Ballet--one of Australia's best-known ballet companies--in 1940.


First Line:
Borromeo, Saint Charles (1538-1584), cardinal-archbishop of Milan, founded the Oblate Fathers (a group of lay people associated with a religious order), and was a leader of the Counter Reformation.


First Line:
Borrow, George (1803-1881), a British author, travelled on foot through Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and Spain, and wrote about his adventures in these countries.


First Line:
Borstals were prison schools for young offenders in the United Kingdom from 1902 until 1983.


First Line:
Borumba Dam blocks Yabba Creek, a tributary of the Mary River, near Imbil in Queensland, Australia.


First Line:
Borzoi, also called Russian wolfhound, is a dog originally bred in Russia to chase down game animals.


First Line:
Bosch, Carl (1874-1940), was a German chemist and industrialist.


First Line:
Bosch, Hieronymus (1450?-1516), was a Dutch painter.


First Line:
Bose, Sir Jagdish Chandra (1858-1937), was an Indian scientist.


First Line:
Bose, Satyendra Nath (1894-1974), was an Indian physicist who, with Albert Einstein, developed a system of statistical quantum mechanics now known as Bose-Einstein statistics.


First Line:
Bose, Subhash Chandra (1897-1945), was a revolutionary Indian nationalist leader.


First Line:
Bosnia-Herzegovina is a country in southeastern Europe.


First Line:
Boson is one of the three major families of elementary particles (subatomic particles that are not made up of smaller particles).


First Line:
Bosporus is a strait in northwestern Turkey that connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara.


First Line:
Bossuet, Jacques Benigne (1627-1704), was a French preacher, theologian, and historian.


First Line:
Boston (pop. 52,600) is a local government district in Lincolnshire, England, centred on the town of Boston.


First Line:
Boston (pop. 574,283; met. area pop. 2,870,669) is the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the largest city in New England.


First Line:
Boston Massacre was not a massacre but the killing in a street clash of several American colonists by a squad of British soldiers.


First Line:
Boston Tea Party was a raid by American colonists on three British ships in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts, on Dec. 16, 1773.


First Line:
Boston terrier is a small dog with a smooth dark coat.


First Line:
Boswell, James (1740-1795), was a Scottish author who wrote the biography of Doctor Johnson, the important writer and critic.


First Line:
Bosworth Field, in Leicestershire, England, was the site of the battle that ended the struggle between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians for the throne of England in 1485 (see KINGS AND QUEENS OF BRITAIN AND IRELAND [Lancaster and York]).


First Line:
Bot fly is the name of various kinds of harmful flies.


First Line:
Botanical garden is a garden in which plants are grown chiefly for scientific, educational, and artistic purposes.


First Line:
Botany is the science or study of plants.


First Line:
Botany Bay, the site of the first European landing on the east coast of Australia, is an inlet about 10 kilometres south of Sydney.


First Line:
Botha, Louis (1862-1919), served as the first prime minister of the Union of South Africa, from 1910 to 1919.


First Line:
Botha, P. W. (1916-...), became the head of South Africa's government in 1978.


First Line:
Botham, Ian (1955-...), an England cricketer, became one of the greatest all-rounders in the history of the game.


First Line:
Bothe, Walther (1891-1957), a German physicist, shared with Max Born the 1954 Nobel Prize in physics for the coincidence method and his discoveries made with it.


First Line:
Bothwell, Earl of (1536?-1578), a Scottish Protestant nobleman, was the third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots (see MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS).


First Line:
Botswana is a country in the centre of southern Africa.


First Line:
Bottger, Johann Friedrich (1682-1719), a German chemist, was the first European to produce porcelain (see PORCELAIN).


First Line:
Botticelli, Sandro (1444?-1510), was an Italian Renaissance painter who lived and worked in Florence.


First Line:
Bottle is a container for holding liquids.


First Line:
Bottle tree is an Australian tree whose trunk looks like a round bottle.


First Line:
Bottlebrush is an evergreen tree of the myrtle family that grows in Australia.


First Line:
Boucher, Francois (1703-1770), was a French painter.


First Line:
Boucicault, Dion (1820?-1890), was an Irish-American playwright, actor, and theatre manager.


First Line:
Bougainville (pop. 110,000) is the largest of the Solomon Islands.


First Line:
Bougainville, Louis Antoine, Comte de (1729-1811), was a French scientist and navigator who sailed around the world with scientists on the Bondeuse and Etoile between 1766 and 1769.


First Line:
Bougainvillea is the name of a group of South American shrubs and climbing vines.


First Line:
Boulez, Pierre (1925-...), became one of the leading avant-garde (experimental) composers of the middle and late 1900's.


First Line:
Boult, Sir Adrian (1889-1983), a British conductor, founded the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Symphony Orchestra, and directed it from 1930 to 1950.


First Line:
Boulting is the name of twin brothers, John Edward Boulting (1913-1985), and Roy Boulting (1913-...), known for directing and producing films.


First Line:
Boulton, Matthew (1728-1809), a British engineer, together with James Watt, founded the engineering firm of Boulton and Watt.


First Line:
Boumedienne, Houari (1933-1978), was head of state of Algeria from 1965 to 1978.


First Line:
Bourbon was the name of a French royal family, some of whose members ruled in France, Spain, and Naples.


First Line:
Bourguiba, Habib (1903-...), served as president of Tunisia from 1957 to 1987.


First Line:
Bourke (pop. 4,454) is a town in New South Wales, Australia.


First Line:
Bourke, Sir Richard (1777-1855), was governor of New South Wales, Australia, from 1831 to 1837.


First Line:
Bournemouth (pop. 154,400), is a popular holiday resort on the Dorset coast of England.


First Line:
Boutros-Ghali, Boutros (1922-...), is a diplomat from Egypt who served as the sixth secretary-general of the United Nations (UN) from 1992 to 1996.


First Line:
Bouvier des Flandres is a dog whose origin is uncertain.


First Line:
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is a disease that affects cattle.


First Line:
Bow Bells are the bells of St. Mary-le-Bow Church in the City of London.


First Line:
Bow Street runners were the first paid detectives in Britain.


First Line:
Bowater Industries plc is a large international group of companies with its headquarters in London.


First Line:
Bowdler, Thomas (1754-1825), a British scholar and doctor of medicine, edited The Family Shakespeare (1818).


First Line:
Bowdoin, James (1726-1790) was a merchant and political leader in Massachusetts, U.S.A., during the American Revolution (1775-1783).


First Line:
Bowen (pop. 14,158), is a coastal resort town, 190 kilometres south of Townsville, in Queensland, Australia.


First Line:
Bowen, Edward (1911-1991), a British radiophysicist, was part of the team that developed radar.


First Line:
Bowen, Elizabeth (1899-1973), was an Anglo-Irish author of novels and short stories about the problems of personal relationships in the modern world.


First Line:
Bowen, Sir George Ferguson (1821-1899), a British statesman, was the first governor of Queensland, Australia, from 1859 to 1868.


First Line:
Bowen, John (1780-1827), founded the first settlement on Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania), Australia, in 1803.


First Line:
Bowen Basin is a large geological structure in Australia that extends south from Collinsville in Queensland, toward the Queensland-New South Wales border.


First Line:
Bowerbird is the name of 18 species (kinds) of birds that live in Australia, New Guinea, and neighbouring islands.


First Line:
Bowers, Claude Gernade (1878-1958), was an American journalist, diplomat, and historian.


First Line:
Bowfin is a large freshwater fish that lives in eastern North America.


First Line:
Bowie, David (1947-...), is a British rock singer, songwriter, and film and stage actor.


First Line:
Bowie knife was a popular hunting tool and weapon of the American frontier.


First Line:
Bowles, Chester (1901-1986), a government official, served under four American presidents.


First Line:
Bowles, Samuel (1826-1878), gave the Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican, a small-city newspaper, a national reputation.


First Line:
Bowling is one of the oldest and most popular indoor sports.


First Line:
Bowlplaying is an Irish game played with an iron ball on a road.


First Line:
Bowls is a game in which the players roll wooden, rubber, or composition balls at a smaller, target ball.


First Line:
Box, or boxwood, is a slow-growing evergreen shrub or tree much used for hedges and as specimens on lawns.


First Line:
Boxelder is a species of North American maple whose leaves are different from the simple leaves of other maples.


First Line:
Boxer Rebellion was a bloody uprising in northern China in 1900 in which hundreds of Chinese and more than 200 persons from other countries were killed.


First Line:
Boxing is a sport in which two fighters battle each other with their fists.


First Line:
Boxing Day is a holiday associated with the Christmas season in Australia, Great Britain, and New Zealand, and in some Canadian provinces.


First Line:
Boyce, William (1710-1779), was an English composer and organist.


First Line:
Boycott is a refusal to deal with an individual, organization, or country.


First Line:
Boyd is a family famous in the arts in Australia.


First Line:
Boyd, Alan Stephenson (1922-...), was United States secretary of transportation from 1967 to 1969.


First Line:
Boyd, Belle (1844-1900), was a Confederate spy during the American Civil War.


First Line:
Boyd, Ben (1803?-1851), was a Scottish pioneer and adventurer who gained fame for his business schemes during the early part of the development of Australia.


First Line:
Boyd Orr, Lord (1880-1971), a British nutritional and agricultural scientist, won the 1949 Nobel Peace Prize.


First Line:
Boyden, Seth (1788-1870), an American inventor, developed a type of patent leather in 1819 and a process for making malleable iron in 1826.


First Line:
Boyle, Lord (1923-1981), a leading figure in British education, was vice chancellor of Leeds University from 1970 to 1981.


First Line:
Boyle, Robert (1627-1691), an Irish scientist, is considered the founder of modern chemistry.


First Line:
Boyne is one of the chief rivers in the province of Leinster in the Republic of Ireland.


First Line:
Boyne, Battle of the, was the decisive battle in the struggle between ex-King James II of England and his successor, William III, for the control of Ireland.


First Line:
Boys' Brigade is an international organization for boys from 6 to 18 years old.


First Line:
Boys Town is a private institution for homeless, abused, neglected, and handicapped children of every race and religion.


First Line:
Bozeman Trail was a route that travellers of the 1860's used to reach gold fields in Montana and Idaho in the United States.


First Line:
Brabazon of Tara, Lord (1884-1964), John Theodore Cuthbert Moore-Brabazon, was a British pioneer aviator and motorist.


First Line:
Brabham, Sir John (1926-...), an Australian motor-racing driver, won the Drivers' World Championship in 1959, 1960, and 1966.


First Line:
Brachiosaurus was a gigantic, plant-eating dinosaur that lived about 150 million years ago in what are now Africa and North America.


First Line:
Brack, John (1920-...), an Australian painter and printmaker, became known for his precise and beautifully ordered compositions.


First Line:
Bracknell Forest (pop. 93,800) in eastern Berkshire, England, became a unitary authority with all the local government powers within its boundaries in 1998.


First Line:
Bracton, Henry de (?-1268), is known as the father of English jurisprudence.


First Line:
Bradbury, Ray (1920-...), is an American author best known for his fantasy stories and science fiction.


First Line:
Bradfield, John Job Crew (1876-1943), was an Australian engineer.


First Line:
Bradford is the family name of three American printers and editors.


First Line:
Bradford (pop. 449,100) is an English local government district in West Yorkshire, centred on the industrial city of Bradford.


First Line:
Bradley, Francis Herbert (1846-1924), was a British idealistic philosopher.


First Line:
Bradley, James (1693?-1762), was an English astronomer.


First Line:
Bradley, Omar Nelson (1893-1981), commanded the largest fighting force ever amassed in battle under the American flag.


First Line:
Bradman, Sir Donald (1908-...) was an outstanding Australian cricketer.


First Line:
Brady, Mathew B. (1823?-1896), was a famous American photographer.


First Line:
Brady, Matthew (1799-1826), was a convict who turned Australian bushranger.


First Line:
Braga (pop. 65,008) is a city in northwestern Portugal.


First Line:
Bragg, Sir William Henry (1862-1942), was a British physicist.


First Line:
Brahe, Tycho (1546-1601), was a Danish astronomer.


First Line:
Brahman is the name of the most absolute, abstract form of God in the Hindu religion.


First Line:
Brahmaputra River is one of the most important waterways of southern Asia.


First Line:
Brahms, Johannes (1833-1897), was a great German composer.


First Line:
Braiding, or plaiting, is one of the simplest methods of interlacing yarn or other fibres.


First Line:
Braille is a code of small raised dots on paper that can be read by touch.


First Line:
Braille, Louis (1809-1852), was a blind Frenchman who invented the braille system of printing and writing for the blind.


First Line:
Brain is the master control centre of the body.


First Line:
Brain is the name of a family of talented musicians.


First Line:
Braine, John (1922-1986), was an English novelist best known for his first novel, Room at the Top (1957).


First Line:
Braintree (pop. 115,700) is a local government district in central Essex, England.


First Line:
Brainwashing is a method of influencing people to change their beliefs and accept as true what they previously had considered false.


First Line:
Braithwaite, Edward (1930-...), is a West Indian poet and historian.


First Line:
Braithwaite, Dame Lilian (1873-1948), was an English actress who first gained recognition when she toured with Sir Frank Benson's company, playing Shakespearean parts.


First Line:
Braithwaite, Warwick (1896-1971), a New Zealand-born conductor, led many of the world's orchestras.


First Line:
Brake is a device that slows or stops a moving object.


First Line:
Bramah, Ernest (1869?-1942), an English author, became popular as a novelist for his "Kai Lung" books, a series of amusing novels written in a Chinese manner and setting.


First Line:
Bramante, Donato (1444-1514), was an architect and painter of the Italian Renaissance.


First Line:
Bramble is the name of a group of low, woody shrubs or vines that belongs to the rose family.


First Line:
Brampton Island is one of the tourist resorts of the Great Barrier Reef.


First Line:
Bran is the firm outer coat of kernels of barley, maize, rice, wheat, and other cereal grains.


First Line:
Branagh, Kenneth (1960-...), is a British actor and director.


First Line:
Brancusi, Constantin (1876-1957), ranks as one of the greatest sculptors of the 1900's.


First Line:
Brand, Sir David (1912-1979), who headed the Liberal Party in Western Australia, was premier of Western Australia from 1959 to 1971.


First Line:
Brandenburg is a state in east-central Germany.


First Line:
Brando, Marlon (1924-...), ranks among the most famous American actors to appear since the end of World War II.


First Line:
Brandt, Willy (1913-1992), was elected chancellor of West Germany in 1969.


First Line:
Branson, Richard (1950-...), is a British businessman.


First Line:
Braque, Georges (1882-1963), was a French artist.


First Line:
Brasilia (pop. 411,305) is the capital of Brazil and one of the world's leading examples of large-scale city planning.


First Line:
Brass is an alloy (mixture) of copper and zinc.


First Line:
Brass rubbing is the technique of making full-size reproductions of the designs and inscriptions on monumental brasses.


First Line:
Bratby, John Randall (1928-1992), was a British painter best known for his vigorous pictures of domestic scenes.


First Line:
Bratislava, or Pressburg (pop. 409,100), is the capital and largest city of Slovakia.


First Line:
Braun, Eva (1912-1945), was the mistress of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945.


First Line:
Braunschweig, also called Brunswick, (pop. 248,001), is a city in Germany, about 55 kilometres southeast of Hanover.


First Line:
Brazil is the largest country in South America in terms of both area and population.


First Line:
Brazil nut, also called para nut, comes from a large, evergreen tree found mainly in forests near the Amazon River and its tributaries in northern Brazil, Guyana, and Venezuela.


First Line:
Brazilwood is the common name of several dyewood trees of Brazil.


First Line:
Brazzaville (pop. 596,200), is the capital and largest city of the Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo (Brazzaville).


First Line:
Breach of the peace is a legal term that means an offence against public order, causing a disturbance of the peace.


First Line:
Breadfruit is a tropical fruit native to the Pacific Islands.


First Line:
Breakwater is a wall that protects a harbour, coast, or offshore structure from strong waves.


First Line:
Bream is the name of various unrelated stout-bodied fish.


First Line:
Bream, Julian (1933-...), is a British guitarist and lutenist whose fine musicianship rapidly made him a popular performer in Europe and the United States.


First Line:
Breasley, Scobie (1914-...), an Australian jockey, became a leading rider in Australia and the United Kingdom.


First Line:
Breast is an organ specially designed to produce milk to feed a baby.


First Line:
Brebeuf, Saint Jean de (1593-1649), was a French Jesuit missionary and martyr.


First Line:
Brecht, Bertolt, also spelled Bertold (1898-1956), was an important German playwright.


First Line:
Breckland (pop. 100,600), is a local government district in Norfolk, England (see also NORFOLK).


First Line:
Brecknock (pop. 41,300) is a local government district in Powys, Wales.


First Line:
Breda (pop. 118,819; met. area pop. 152,449) is a Dutch city about 43 kilometres southeast of Rotterdam.


First Line:
Breeding is the careful selection and pairing of plants, animals, and other organisms to improve the usefulness of their offspring.


First Line:
Breedlove, Craig (1937-...), became one of the world's fastest car drivers in the 1960's.


First Line:
Brehon laws were a system of laws used in Ireland from the earliest times of the clans.


First Line:
Bremen (pop. 551,219) is a commercial and industrial city in northwestern Germany.


First Line:
Brendan, Saint, is the name of two Christian saints who lived in Ireland in the 500's.


First Line:
Brennan, Christopher (1870-1932), was an Australian symbolist poet.


First Line:
Brennan, Francis Cardinal (1894-1968), was appointed a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church in 1967 by Pope Paul VI. He was an authority on moral theology and canon law, and was dean of the Roman Rota at the Vatican at the time of his appointment.


First Line:
Brenner Pass straddles the border between Austria and Italy at the eastern end of the Alps.


First Line:
Brent (pop. 226,100) is a borough in Greater London.


First Line:
Brent goose, also called brant, is the name of a small, dark goose related to the Canada goose.


First Line:
Brentwood (pop. 68,600) is a town and local government district in Essex, England.


First Line:
Brest (pop. 153,099; met. area pop. 201,480) is a seaport city on the northwest coast of France.


First Line:
Brethren is the name for several Protestant groups that developed from the Pietist movement in Germany in the 1600's and 1700's.


First Line:
Brethren, Church of the, was organized in Germany in 1708 by Alexander Mack.


First Line:
Breton, Andre (1896-1966), was a French poet who led the surrealist movement in Paris.


First Line:
Breton, Jules Adolphe (1827-1906), was a French painter known for his sentimental scenes of peasant life.


First Line:
Bretton Woods is the popular name for the International Monetary Conference held at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, U.S.A., in July 1944.


First Line:
Breuer, Marcel Lajos (1902-1981), was a Hungarian-born architect, furniture designer, and teacher.


First Line:
Brewing is a process used to make some alcoholic drinks, mainly beer.


First Line:
Brewster, Sir David (1781-1868), a Scottish doctor, is principally known for the law named after him, Brewster's law.


First Line:
Breytenbach, Breyten (1939-...), is one of South Africa's major modern poets.


First Line:
Brezhnev, Leonid Ilyich (1906-1982), was head of the Communist Party of the former Soviet Union from 1964 until his death.


First Line:
Brian Boru (940?-1014) became King of Munster in Ireland after 976, and High King of the Irish after 1002.


First Line:
Brian, Havergal (1876-1972), was a prolific British composer.


First Line:
Briard is a dog that was first bred in France, probably in the 1100's.


First Line:
Bribery means giving or offering something of value to a person in a position of trust, who in return violates his or her duty or the law in order to benefit the giver.


First Line:
Bribie Island lies off the southeastern coast of Queensland, Australia.


First Line:
Brice, Fanny (1891-1951), was an American comedienne and singer in musical comedy and on radio.


First Line:
Brick is a rectangular building block made of clay, shale, or various other materials.


First Line:
Brickhill, Paul (1916-1991), an Australian author, wrote The Dam Busters (1951), which was later made into a film.


First Line:
Bridge is a structure used by people and vehicles to cross areas that are obstacles to travel.


First Line:
Bridge is a popular card game played by four persons who form two teams of two partners each.


First Line:
Bridge, Ernie (1936-...), an Aboriginal leader and Labor Party politician, became minister for Aboriginal affairs in Western Australia in 1986.


First Line:
Bridge, Frank (1879-1941), was a gifted British composer of chamber and orchestral music and songs.


First Line:
Bridge of Sighs is a beautiful bridge in Venice, Italy.


First Line:
Bridger, James (1804-1881), a hunter, trapper, fur trader, and guide, was one of the greatest American frontiersmen.


First Line:
Bridges, Harry (1901-1990), an American trade union leader, served as president of the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU) from 1938 to 1977.


First Line:
Bridges, Robert Seymour (1844-1930), was an English poet and scholar.


First Line:
Bridges, Sir William Throsby (1861-1915), a major general, was appointed the first commandant of the Royal Military College, Duntroon, Canberra, Australia, in 1911.


First Line:
Bridget, Saint, is the name of two saints of the Roman Catholic Church.


First Line:
Bridgetown (pop. 7,519) is the capital and largest city of Barbados.


First Line:
Bridgewater, Duke of (1736-1803), was a pioneer of canal navigation in Britain.


First Line:
Bridgnorth (pop. 49,700) is a town and local government district in Shropshire, England.


First Line:
Bridie, James (1888-1951), was the pen name of Osborne Henry Mavor, a distinguished Scottish playwright.


First Line:
Brief, in law, is the set of papers that a solicitor prepares for a barrister to take to court to plead a case.


First Line:
Brieux, Eugene (1858-1932), was a French playwright.


First Line:
Brig is a two-masted sailing vessel with square sails.


First Line:
Brigalow is the popular name in Australia for a kind of wattle that grows in central and southern Queensland and northern New South Wales.


First Line:
Briggs, Henry (1561-1630), an English mathematician, calculated and published the first tables of common logarithms.


First Line:
Bright, John (1811-1889), was an English orator, reformer, and statesman.


First Line:
Bright, Richard (1789-1858), an English doctor, won recognition in 1827 when he pointed out the connection between diseased kidneys, albumin in the urine, and dropsy.


First Line:
Brighton (pop. 133,400), is a seaside resort, within the unitary authority area of Brighton and Hove, on the south coast of England.


First Line:
Brighton Car Rally is an annual drive from London to Brighton by veteran cars, all manufactured before 1905.


First Line:
Brindley, James (1716-1772), a British engineer, built the first industrial canal in England.


First Line:
Brink, Andre (1935-...), is one of South Africa's best-known writers.


First Line:
Brinsmead, Hesba Fay (1922-...), a leading Australian writer of fiction for young adults, won both the Mary Gilmore prize and the Australian Children's Book of the Year Award for Pastures of the Blue Crane (1964).


First Line:
Brisbane (pop. 751,225, met. pop. 1,334,746) is the capital, commercial centre, and largest city of the state of Queensland, Australia.


First Line:
Brisbane, Sir Thomas (1773-1860), was governor of New South Wales, Australia, from 1821 to 1825.


First Line:
Brisbane Line was a military plan for defending Australia during World War II (1939-1945).


First Line:
Brisbane River rises in the hills and ranges about 100 kilometres northwest of Brisbane city, Australia.


First Line:
Brisbane Water is a shallow but extensive inlet of the sea on the central coast of New South Wales, Australia.


First Line:
Bristle is the term for the short, stiff hair used in various kinds of brushes.


First Line:
Bristlecone pine is an evergreen tree that grows at high altitudes in the Western United States.


First Line:
Bristol (pop. 370,300), is a port, industrial centre, and a university city on the River Avon, in southwestern England.


First Line:
Bristol Channel is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that lies between Wales and southwestern England.


First Line:
Britain is the name often used for the country officially known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.


First Line:
Britannia is the Latin name for Britain, the main part of what is now the United Kingdom.


First Line:
Britannia metal is an alloy consisting of a minimum of 90 per cent tin and up to 8 per cent antimony and 2 per cent copper.


First Line:
British Academy is an institution in the United Kingdom (UK) that encourages scholarship in the humanities and social sciences.


First Line:
British America refers to those parts of North and South America that have political ties to the United Kingdom (UK).


First Line:
British American Tobacco Industries Group, also called BAT Industries, is one of the world's largest industrial enterprises.


First Line:
British Association for the Advancement of Science is an organization in the United Kingdom (UK) that promotes scientific research and education.


First Line:
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) broadcasts radio and television programmes to audiences in the United Kingdom (UK).


First Line:
British Cameroons was a United Nations trust territory on the west coast of Africa.


First Line:
British Columbia (pop. 3,724,500) is Canada's third-largest province.


First Line:
British constitution is the framework of the government and laws of Great Britain.


First Line:
British Council is an organization that promotes cultural and scientific contacts between Britain and other countries, and promotes the teaching of English overseas.


First Line:
British Indian Ocean Territory is a British dependency in the Indian Ocean.


First Line:
British Isles is a geographical term for the islands bounded by the English Channel, the Strait of Dover, the North Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean.


First Line:
British Legion, The Royal, is an organization of former members of the British armed services.


First Line:
British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and one of the largest libraries in the world.


First Line:
British Medical Association (BMA) is a voluntary professional association of doctors.


First Line:
British Museum, in London, is among the oldest of the great national museums.


First Line:
British Petroleum (BP) is one of the United Kingdom's (UK's) largest companies.


First Line:
British thermal unit, or Btu, is a unit used to measure heat in the imperial system of measurement.


First Line:
British West Indies is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea.


First Line:
Brittan, Sir Leon (1939-...), a Conservative Party politician, became a commissioner of the European Community (now called the European Union) in 1988.


First Line:
Brittany is a region in northwestern France.


First Line:
Brittany is a pointer and retriever gundog.


First Line:
Britten, Benjamin (1913-1976), was a British composer famous for his vocal music, especially operas.


First Line:
Brittle star is a sea animal that resembles a starfish.


First Line:
Brno (pop. 383,443), formerly called Brunn, is the second largest city in the Czech Republic.


First Line:
Broad bean is a hardy annual plant that grows up to about 1.8 metres high.


First Line:
Broadcloth is a cotton or soft woollen fabric used for making coats, suits, shirts, and dresses.


First Line:
Broadland (pop. 104,500) is a local government district in Norfolk, England, situated to the north and east of Norwich.


First Line:
Broads are a region of shallow lakes and lagoons near the east coast of England in Norfolk and northern Suffolk.


First Line:
Broadwood, John (1732-1812), was a British piano maker.


First Line:
Brocade is a cloth that has designs woven into it with heavy yarns.


First Line:
Broccoli is a nutritious garden vegetable closely related to cauliflower.


First Line:
Brodsky, Joseph (1940-1996), was a poet and essayist who won the 1987 Nobel Prize for literature.


First Line:
Broken Bay is the estuary of the Hawkesbury River, north of Sydney, Australia.


First Line:
Broken Hill (pop. 23,739), a city in the far west of New South Wales, Australia, is one of the world's major mining centres.


First Line:
Broken Hill Proprietary Company Ltd. (BHP) is the largest company in Australia.


First Line:
Brolga is an Australian crane, also known as the "native companion," as the bird was seen by early settlers near Aboriginal camps.


First Line:
Brome grass is the name of any of about 100 kinds of grass found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere.


First Line:
Bromeliad is the name of any member of a large family of tropical plants that includes the pineapple and Spanish moss.


First Line:
Bromide is the name for a number of compounds made with bromine, a dark-red liquid (see BROMINE).


First Line:
Bromine is a reddish liquid chemical element.


First Line:
Bromley (pop. 281,700) is a borough within the Greater London area of England.


First Line:
Bromsgrove (pop. 89,800) is a local government district in the county of Hereford and Worcester, England.


First Line:
Bromwich, John (1918-...), was one Australia's finest tennis players.


First Line:
Bronchitis is an inflammation of the mucous lining of the air passages in the lungs.


First Line:
Bronchoscope is an instrument used to examine the windpipe and the bronchial tubes of the lungs.


First Line:
Bronco is an American cowhand's term for a bad-tempered or untamed horse.


First Line:
Bronhill, June (1930-...), an Australian soprano, won international acclaim in opera and operetta after winning the Sun aria contest in 1950.


First Line:
Bronowski, Jacob (1908-1974), was a British scientist, writer, and broadcaster.


First Line:
Bronte sisters were three sisters who became famous novelists--Charlotte (1816-1855), Emily (1818-1848), and Anne (1820-1849).


First Line:
Bronze is an alloy made primarily of copper and tin.


First Line:
Bronze Age was the period when people used bronze for tools and weapons.


First Line:
Brook, Peter Stephen Paul (1925-...), is a brilliant and versatile British producer and director.


First Line:
Brook Farm was an experimental socialist community established in 1841 near Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Members of a philosophical movement called transcendentalism founded the farm to develop a union between intellectual growth and manual labour.


First Line:
Brooke, Sir James (1803-1868), was an English adventurer and statesman who became ruler of the state of Sarawak in Borneo (now part of Malaysia).


First Line:
Brooke, Leonard Leslie (1862-1940), an English portrait painter and water-colourist, is known best for his picture books.


First Line:
Brooke, Rupert Chawner (1887-1915), was a British poet whose name is associated with World War I (1914-1918).


First Line:
Brookeborough, Lord (1888-1973), Basil Stanlake Brooke, was prime minister of Northern Ireland from 1943 to 1963.


First Line:
Brookes, Sir Norman (1877-1968), an Australian tennis player, won the Wimbledon singles championship in 1907 and 1914.


First Line:
Brookings Institution is a nonprofit organization engaged in nonpartisan study of economic, governmental, and international issues and the social sciences.


First Line:
Brooklyn Bridge is a suspension bridge over the East River.


First Line:
Brooks, Gwendolyn (1917-...), an American poet, was the first black American to win a Pulitzer Prize.


First Line:
Broom is the name of a group of attractive shrubs.


First Line:
Broom, Robert (1866-1951), was a Scottish anatomist and palaeontologist who made major fossil discoveries in South Africa.


First Line:
Broome (pop. 11,151) is a port on the northwestern coast of Western Australia.


First Line:
Broome, David (1940-...), is one of the United Kingdom's finest professional showjumpers.


First Line:
Broughton, William Grant (1788-1853), was the first Anglican bishop in Australia.


First Line:
Brouwer, Adriaen (1605 or 1606-1638), was a Flemish painter.


First Line:
Brown, Alexander Crum (1838-1922), was a Scottish chemist who was particularly interested in applying mathematics to chemistry.


First Line:
Brown, Capability (1715-1783), founded the English style of landscape gardening.


First Line:
Brown, Christy (1932-1981), was an Irish author and poet.


First Line:
Brown, George Mackay (1921-1996), was a Scottish writer who won fame for his poetry, short stories, novels, and essays.


First Line:
Brown, Gordon (1951-...), a British politician, became chancellor of the exchequer in the Labour government in 1997.


First Line:
Brown, Jacob Jennings (1775-1828), was an American hero of the War of 1812.


First Line:
Brown, John (1800-1859), was a radical American abolitionist whose attempt to free the slaves cost a number of lives and helped indirectly to bring on the American Civil War (1861-1865).


First Line:
Brown, Joseph Rogers (1810-1876), was an American inventor and manufacturer of mechanical devices.


First Line:
Brown, Marcia Joan (1918-...), is an American illustrator of children's books.


First Line:
Brown, Robert (1773-1858), was a Scottish doctor and botanist.


First Line:
Brown lung is a lung disease that affects many workers in cotton textile mills.


First Line:
Brown recluse is a brownish, poisonous spider found in the United States.


First Line:
Brown snakes, to most Australians, are the common brown snakes of eastern Australia.


First Line:
Brown-tail moth is an Old World species introduced to eastern North America.


First Line:
Brown thrasher is a large, handsome bird of the eastern United States and Canada.


First Line:
Browne, Sir Thomas (1605-1682), was an English author and physician.


First Line:
Brownell, Herbert, Jr. (1904-1996), served as attorney general under U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1957.


First Line:
Brownie, in British folklore, is a helpful, kind-hearted creature.


First Line:
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett (1806-1861), was a famous poet of Victorian England.


First Line:
Browning, John Moses (1855-1926), invented and designed more successful firearms than any other American.


First Line:
Browning, Robert (1812-1889), was one of the greatest poets of Victorian England.


First Line:
Broxbourne (pop. 79,500) is a local government district in Hertfordshire, England.


First Line:
Broxtowe (pop. 104,600) is a local government district in Nottinghamshire, England.


First Line:
Brubeck, Dave (1920-...), is an American pianist and composer who led one of the most popular jazz combos of the 1950's and 1960's.


First Line:
Bruce, Christopher (1945-...), is a British dancer and choreographer.


First Line:
Bruce, Sir David (1855-1931), a British surgeon, devoted his life to the study of tropical diseases.


First Line:
Bruce, Mary Grant (1878-1958), an Australian author, was famous for her Billabong books, children's novels about the Linton family of Billabong Station, in northeastern Victoria, Australia.


First Line:
Bruce, Robert (1274-1329), a gallant Scottish king, spent most of his life trying to free his country from English rule.


First Line:
Bruce, Stanley (1883-1967), Lord Bruce of Melbourne, served Australia as prime minister from 1923 to 1929.


First Line:
Brucellosis is an infectious disease that occurs worldwide in both human beings and animals.


First Line:
Bruch, Max (1838-1920), was a German composer.


First Line:
Bruckner, Anton (1824-1896), was an Austrian composer of the romantic period.


First Line:
Bruegel, Pieter, the Elder (1525?-1569), was a Flemish painter.


First Line:
Bruges (pop. 118,218) is a picturesque city in Belgium.


First Line:
Bruhn, Erik (1928-1986), a Danish ballet dancer, was considered by many experts to be the best male dancer of his time.


First Line:
Bruise is an injury on the surface of the body produced by a sharp blow or fall.


First Line:
Brumby is the name given in Australia to any horse that has escaped from domestication and run wild.


First Line:
Brummell, George Bryan (1778-1840), was an English dandy known as Beau Brummell.


First Line:
Brunei is a small country in Southeast Asia.


First Line:
Brunel is the name of two engineers, father and son, known for their work in Britain.


First Line:
Brunelleschi, Filippo (1377?-1446), was the first important architect of the Italian Renaissance.


First Line:
Brunhild is a mythical heroine who appears in German legends dating from the A.D. 400's.


First Line:
Brunner, Thomas (1821-1874), was a British explorer and surveyor who made the first extensive explorations in the West Coast region of the South Island of New Zealand.


First Line:
Bruno, Frank (1961-...), a British boxer, won the World Boxing Council (WBC) World heavyweight boxing title in September 1995.


First Line:
Bruno, Giordano (1548-1600), was one of the most prominent philosophers of the Renaissance.


First Line:
Brunswick was the name of a distinguished German family descended from the Welf family (see GUELPHS AND GHIBELLINES).


First Line:
Brush is a device with hair, bristle, wire, or fibre, usually set in a handle or in a round hub that attaches to a power tool.


First Line:
Brussels (pop. 137,738; met. area pop. 989,877) is the capital of Belgium.


First Line:
Brussels griffon is a Belgian toy dog with a distinct monkeylike face.


First Line:
Brussels sprout is a vegetable with a flavour like that of mild cabbage.


First Line:
Brut was the great-grandson of Aeneas, the mythical Trojan hero and ancestor of the Roman people.


First Line:
Bruton, John (1947-...), an Irish Fine Gael politician, was taoiseach (prime minister) of the Republic of Ireland from 1994 to 1997.


First Line:
Brutus, Marcus Junius (85?-42 B.C.), was a Roman statesman and general who helped assassinate the Roman emperor Julius Caesar.


First Line:
Bryan, William Jennings (1860-1925) was an American Democratic Party politician.


First Line:
Bryant, Sir Arthur (1899-1985), was a British historian and author.


First Line:
Bryant, Gridley (1789-1867), was the supervising engineer for one of the first corporations to build and operate a railway in the United States.


First Line:
Bryant, William Cullen (1794-1878), was the first great American poet.


First Line:
Bryce, David (1803-1876), was a leading Scottish architect.


First Line:
Bryce Canyon National Park, which lies in southern Utah, U.S.A., contains some of the world's most oddly shaped and beautifully coloured rocks.


First Line:
Brydone, Thomas (1837-1904), was the founder of the New Zealand frozen-meat export industry.


First Line:
Brymer, Jack (1915-...), an outstanding British clarinetist, became a popular soloist in many countries.


First Line:
Bryophyte is any of a group of small, nonflowering green plants made up of mosses, liverworts, and hornworts.


First Line:
Bryozoan is a type of water animal that lives only in colonies.


First Line:
Bubble chamber is a device physicists use to study subatomic particles.


First Line:
Buber, Martin (1878-1965), was one of the greatest Jewish philosophers of modern times.


First Line:
Bubonic plague is one of the most formidable epidemic diseases.


First Line:
Buccaneer Archipelago is a group of islands that lies at the entrance to Yampi Sound, on the northwestern coast of Western Australia.


First Line:
Buchan, John (1875-1940), a British diplomat and author, served as governor general of Canada from 1935 to 1940.


First Line:
Buchanan, James (1791-1868), was president of the United States from 1857 to 1861.


First Line:
Bucharest, or, in Romanian, Bucuresti (pop. 1,961,189; met. area pop. 2,227,568), is the capital and largest city of Romania.


First Line:
Buchenwald was a Nazi concentration camp located near Weimar, Germany.


First Line:
Buchman, Frank Nathan Daniel (1878-1961), was an American clergyman who founded the Oxford Group in the 1920's.


First Line:
Buchner, Georg (1813-1837), a German writer, is often considered a forerunner of the naturalism movement of the late 1800's.


First Line:
Buchwald, Art (1925-...), is an American newspaper columnist who specializes in political and social satire.


First Line:
Buck, Frank (1884-1950), was an American wild-animal authority and collector.


First Line:
Buck, Pearl S. (1892-1973), an American author, won the 1938 Nobel Prize for literature.


First Line:
Buck, Sir Peter (1880-1951), was a Maori leader and anthropologist.


First Line:
Buck-jumping is a sport in which riders try to stay on bucking horses.


First Line:
Buckingham, Duke of (1592-1628), an English nobleman, was the real ruler of England during the later years of King James I and the first three years of King Charles I. His forename and family name were George Villiers.


First Line:
Buckingham Palace is the London residence of the United Kingdom's monarch.


First Line:
Buckinghamshire is a small county in southern England, near London.


First Line:
Buckland Tableland is an area of raised land in central eastern Queensland, Australia.


First Line:
Buckley, William (1780-1856), an escaped convict, lived with Aborigines in Victoria, Australia, for 32 years.


First Line:
Buckley, William F., Jr. (1925-...), an American editor and author, is one of the best-known spokesmen for political conservatism in the United States.


First Line:
Buckskin is a velvetlike finished leather made from the skin of deer or elk.


First Line:
Buckthorn is the name of about 150 species of shrubs and small trees native to the Northern Hemisphere.


First Line:
Buckwheat is a plant grown for its starchy seeds.


First Line:
Bud is a cluster of developing leaves surrounding a growing point of a plant.


First Line:
Budapest (pop. 1,995,696) is the capital and largest city of Hungary.


First Line:
Buddha (563?-483?  B.C.) is the title given to the founder of Buddhism, one of the world's great religions.


First Line:
Buddhism is one of the major religious and philosophical traditions in the world.


First Line:
Budge, Don (1915-...), an American tennis player, was the first man in history to win the world's four major tennis championships in one year.


First Line:
Budgerigars are small parrots that live in inland and some coastal areas of Australia.


First Line:
Budget is a financial plan that helps people make the best possible use of their money.


First Line:
Buenaventura (pop. 193,185) is an important port on the Pacific Coast of Colombia.


First Line:
Buenos Aires (pop. 2,965,403; met. area pop. 10,934,729) is the capital and largest city of Argentina.


First Line:
Buffalo (pop. 328,123; met. area pop. 968,532) is the second largest city in the state of New York and one of the major industrial and transportation centres of the United States.


First Line:
Buffalo is the common name of several kinds of large wild oxen.


First Line:
Buffalo Bill (1846-1917), whose real name was William Frederick Cody, was a rugged frontiersman and noted marksman of the American West.


First Line:
Buffalo fish is a large, dark-coloured fish that lives in fresh water from southern Canada to Guatemala.


First Line:
Buffalo Lodges have more than 100,000 members in Australia and New Zealand.


First Line:
Bug is the common name of all insects, but true bugs are insects of the order Hemiptera.


First Line:
Bugbane is a tall, perennial plant with large, broad leaves divided into many leaflets.


First Line:
Bugle is a wind instrument widely used by drum and bugle corps and by some bands.


First Line:
Buick, David Dunbar (1855-1929), was a pioneering car manufacturer.


First Line:
Building construction.  The construction of the homes and buildings in which people live and work has been a major industry ever since early human beings first made huts of sticks, mud, or rocks.


First Line:
Building society is a specialist savings bank.


First Line:
Building stone ranks in importance with steel as a construction material.


First Line:
Building trade is any one of the branches of a large section of industry concerned with the construction of public buildings, homes, bridges, canals, harbours, railways, reservoirs, roads and motorways, sewers, and tunnels.


First Line:
Bujumbura (pop. 151,000) is the capital and largest city of Burundi.


First Line:
Bulawayo (pop. 413,800) is the second largest city and a major industrial centre of Zimbabwe.


First Line:
Bulb is a round, underground structure that develops in certain flowering plants.


First Line:
Bulbul is any member of a family of about 120 species of tropical songbirds found in Africa and southern Asia.


First Line:
Bulfinch, Charles (1763-1844), an American architect, is generally considered the greatest architect New England has produced.


First Line:
Bulfinch, Thomas (1796-1867), was an American writer who became famous for his popular retelling of myths and legends for young people.


First Line:
Bulganin, Nikolai Aleksandrovich (1895-1975), was premier of the Soviet Union from 1955 to 1958, when Nikita S. Khrushchev replaced him.


First Line:
Bulgaria is a country on the Balkan Peninsula of southeastern Europe.


First Line:
Bulimia is a disorder in which individuals experience frequent and uncontrollable periods of overeating called binges.


First Line:
Bull, in the Roman Catholic Church, is a decree or mandate issued by the pope on important or solemn occasions.


First Line:
Bull, John Wrathall (1804-1885), an Australian pioneer, helped to revolutionize agriculture with his steam-driven threshing machine, which he invented in 1842.


First Line:
Bull ants include several species (kinds) of ants in Australia.


First Line:
Bull roarer is a propeller-shaped piece of hardwood made by the Australian Aborigines.


First Line:
Bulldog is a medium-sized dog with a thick, heavy, low-slung body.


First Line:
Bullet is a pointed cylinder of lead or other metal that is fired from a pistol, a revolver, a rifle, or a machine gun.


First Line:
Bulletin board service is a communications feature available on computer networks.


First Line:
Bullfighting is a contest between a bull and a man called a matador.


First Line:
Bullfinch is a small, stout-billed songbird found in Europe and Asia.


First Line:
Bullfrog is the largest species (kind) of frog to be found in the United States.


First Line:
Bullhead is the name given to six species of North American freshwater catfish.


First Line:
Bullins, Ed (1935-...), is a black American playwright.


First Line:
Bullion is gold or silver bars called ingots that are considered as metals or commodities rather than as money.


First Line:
Bullmastiff is a dog bred by crossing the bulldog and the mastiff.


First Line:
Bullock teams were the foundation of the Australian transport industry.


First Line:
Bulrush is the name given to several plants of the sedge family.


First Line:
Bulwer-Lytton, Edward George Earle Lytton (1803-1873), was a historical novelist and playwright in Victorian England.


First Line:
Bumble bee is a large, burly, black and yellow bee that may be seen flying from flower to flower during the summer.


First Line:
Bunbury (pop. 25,662) is a city on Geographe Bay in Western Australia.


First Line:
Bunchberry, or dwarf cornel, is a flowering plant related to dogwood.


First Line:
Bunche, Ralph Johnson (1904-1971), was an American statesman.


First Line:
Bundaberg (pop. 48,530) is a city in southeastern Queensland, Australia.


First Line:
Bundy, McGeorge (1919-1996), served as special assistant for national security affairs under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.


First Line:
Bunin, Ivan (1870-1953), was the first Russian to receive the Nobel Prize for literature.


First Line:
Bunion is a hard swelling at the point where the great toe connects with the rest of the foot.


First Line:
Bunker Hill, Battle of, was the bloodiest battle of the American War of Independence (1775-1783).


First Line:
Bunsen, Robert Wilhelm (1811-1899), was a German chemist.


First Line:
Bunsen burner is a gas burner used for heating substances in scientific laboratories.


First Line:
Bunting is the name of small, stout-billed, seed-eating birds of the finch family that live throughout the Northern Hemisphere.


First Line:
Bunton, Haydn (1911-1955), was one of the greatest Australian Rules footballers.


First Line:
Bunuel, Luis (1900-1983), was a Spanish-born film director and writer.


First Line:
Bunya ceremony was a periodic gathering of the Aborigines of southeast Queensland, Australia, in the Bunya Mountains.


First Line:
Bunyan, John (1628-1688), an English preacher, wrote The Pilgrim's Progress (1678, 1684).


First Line:
Bunyan, Paul, is a giant lumberjack in American folklore.


First Line:
Bunyip is a legendary Australian animal that, according to the Australian Aborigines, lives in water holes.


First Line:
Buoy is a floating object that is anchored in the water to guide ships.


First Line:
Burbage was the family name of an English theatrical family of Shakespeare's time.


First Line:
Burbank, Luther (1849-1926), was an American plant breeder, nurseryman, and horticulturist.


First Line:
Burchfield, Charles Ephraim (1893-1967), was an American water-colour painter of landscapes and rural life.


First Line:
Burckhardt, Jakob (1818-1897), was a Swiss historian who wrote History of the Renaissance in Italy (1867).


First Line:
Burdekin River Irrigation Project is the largest irrigation scheme in Queensland, Australia.


First Line:
Bureaucracy is a system that carries out the functions of a government or a private organization.


First Line:
Burger, Warren Earl (1907-1995), served as chief justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986.


First Line:
Burgess, Anthony (1917-1993), was an English novelist and critic.


First Line:
Burgess, Gelett (1866-1951), was an American writer and illustrator.


First Line:
Burgess, Thornton Waldo (1874-1965), was an American author of children's books about animals and wildlife.


First Line:
Burgh was an administrative area in Scotland.


First Line:
Burghley, Lord (1520-1598), also spelled Burleigh, was an English statesman.


First Line:
Burglar alarm is an electronic device that helps protect cars, offices, homes, and other buildings from intruders.


First Line:
Burglary is a crime that is defined differently by the laws of different countries.


First Line:
Burgoyne, John (1722-1792), was a British general at the time of the American Revolution, and a writer of plays.


First Line:
Burgundy is a historic region in east-central France.


First Line:
Burhanuddin, al-Hemy (1911-1969), was a Malay political leader.


First Line:
Burke, Arleigh Albert (1901-1996), was an American naval officer in World War II (1939-1945).


First Line:
Burke, Brian (1947-...), an Australian Labor Party politician, was premier of Western Australia from 1983 to 1988.


First Line:
Burke, Edmund (1729-1797), a British statesman, influenced the history of many countries besides England.


First Line:
Burke, Kenneth (1897-1993), was an American philosopher.


First Line:
Burke, Ray (1943-...), an Irish Fianna Fail politician, was the Republic of Ireland's minister for justice from February 1991 until February 1992.


First Line:
Burke, Richard (1932-...), an American-born Republic of Ireland politician, became a European Community commissioner in 1976.


First Line:
Burke, Robert O'Hara (1821-1861), led the tragic expedition that first crossed the Australian continent from south to north.


First Line:
Burke and Hare were notorious murderers in the early 1800's.


First Line:
Burke's Peerage is a book that contains the names of all the peers and baronets of the United Kingdom and of some Irish peers.


First Line:
Burkina Faso is a country in western Africa.


First Line:
Burlap is a coarse, heavy cloth woven with yarns made from fibres of the jute plant.


First Line:
Burleigh Heads is a town on Queensland's Gold Coast, in  Australia.


First Line:
Burlesque was a popular form of variety entertainment in the United States during the early 1900's.


First Line:
Burma Road was built between 1937 and 1938 to carry war supplies to China for its war against Japan.


First Line:
Burne-Jones, Sir Edward (1833-1898), was a British painter whose meticulously executed works made him one of the foremost artists of his day.


First Line:
Burnett River runs for 435 kilometres, rising in the Burnett Ranges in southeastern Queensland, Australia, and flowing through Bundaberg before reaching the Pacific Ocean at Burnett Heads.


First Line:
Burnet, Sir Macfarlane (1899-1985), an Australian doctor and virologist, shared the 1960 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine with Peter Brian Medawar.


First Line:
Burnett, Frances Hodgson (1849-1924), was an English-born author best known for her children's novel Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886).


First Line:
Burney, Fanny (1752-1840), was an English author.


First Line:
Burnham, Daniel Hudson (1846-1912), was an American architect.


First Line:
Burnie (pop. 20,483) is an important town and deepwater port on the northwestern coast of Tasmania, Australia.


First Line:
Burnley (pop. 89,000) is an industrial town in Lancashire, England.


First Line:
Burns, John (1858-1943), a British politician and labour leader, was the first person from a working-class family to become a member of the Cabinet.


First Line:
Burns, Robert (1759-1796), is the national poet of Scotland.


First Line:
Burns, William John (1861-1932), was a prominent American detective.


First Line:
Burns and scalds rank among the most serious and painful injuries.


First Line:
Burnside, Ambrose Everett (1824-1881), was a Union general in the American Civil War.


First Line:
Burrawongs, also spelled burrawangs, belong to a family of cone-bearing plants that superficially resemble palms.


First Line:
Burroughs, Edgar Rice (1875-1950), an American author, created Tarzan, one of the most famous characters in fiction.


First Line:
Burroughs, William (1855-1898), an American inventor, is best known for his development of the adding machine.


First Line:
Burroughs, William S. (1914-1997), was an American writer.


First Line:
Bursitis is a disorder that causes pain in the body's joints.


First Line:
Burt, Sir Cyril (1883-1971), was an English psychologist who pioneered intelligence testing among children.


First Line:
Burton, Richard (1925-1984), became a leading film and stage actor.


First Line:
Burton, Sir Richard Francis (1821-1890), was a British explorer and language expert who became famous for his travels in Africa and his translations of Arab literature.


First Line:
Burton, Virginia Lee (1909-1968), was an American painter, designer, author, and illustrator.


First Line:
Burundi is one of the smallest and most crowded countries in Africa.


First Line:
Bury (pop. 172,200) is a textile town in Lancashire, England.


First Line:
Burying beetle, also called the sexton beetle, is an insect that buries small dead animals and birds.


First Line:
Bus is a vehicle that carries passengers along streets and main roads.


First Line:
Busch, Fritz (1890-1951), was a German conductor.


First Line:
Bush, George (1924-...), was president of the United States from 1989 to 1993.


First Line:
Bush, Vannevar (1890-1974), was a famous United States electrical engineer and scientific research administrator.


First Line:
Bush Nursing Associations provide the benefits of home nursing to people living in the thinly populated areas of the Australian bush or outback.


First Line:
Bushel is the common measure of bulky articles of commerce.


First Line:
Bushfires are large forest, grass, and scrub fires that threaten lives and property in Australia each year.


First Line:
Bushing is a hollow cylinder used as a removable lining in moving machine parts and electrical parts.


First Line:
Bushmaster is a large poisonous snake of Central America, tropical parts of South America, and Trinidad.


First Line:
Bushrangers were criminals who operated in country districts of Australia from about 1790 until 1900.


First Line:
Bushwalking is a sport enjoyed by many Australians.


First Line:
Bushveld Complex is a 50,000-square-kilometre area of volcanic rocks in the central Transvaal, South Africa.


First Line:
Business includes the activities of all commercial producers of goods and services.


First Line:
Business cycle is the pattern of the business activity of a nation's economy.


First Line:
Business law, also called commercial law, is the body of legal rules that applies to everyday business transactions.


First Line:
Busoni, Ferruccio Benvenuto, (1866-1924), was an Italian pianist, conductor, and composer.


First Line:
Bussell, Grace (1860-1935), heroically rode a horse into raging surf to rescue passengers on the ship-wrecked steamer Georgette.


First Line:
Bustamante, Sir William Alexander (1884-1977), became Jamaica's first prime minister when the island gained independence in 1962.


First Line:
Bustard is a large game bird which lives on the dry, open plains of all continents except the Americas.


First Line:
Butane and propane are colourless, flammable gases.


First Line:
Butcherbird is the name given in Australia to birds that resemble shrikes, the butcherbirds of Europe.


First Line:
Bute, Earl of (1713-1792), became British prime minister in 1762.


First Line:
Buthelezi, Mangosuthu Gatsha (1928-...), is a political leader in South Africa.


First Line:
Butler, Benjamin Franklin (1818-1893), an American statesman and general, became one of the most hated Northern officers in the South during the American Civil War (1861-1865).


First Line:
Butler, Josephine (1828-1906), a British social reformer, vigorously opposed the white slave trade and the exploitation of women.


First Line:
Butler, R. A. (1902-1982), Lord Butler of Saffron Walden, was a British Conservative Party politician.


First Line:
Butler, Reg (1913-1981), was a British sculptor whose intelligence, assurance, and technical skill won him a place among the world's great sculptors.


First Line:
Butler, Samuel (1613-1680), was an English poet and satirist.


First Line:
Butler, Samuel (1835-1902), an English author, is best known for the satirical novel Erewhon (1872).


First Line:
Butlin, Sir Billy (1899-1980), a pioneer of holiday camps in the United Kingdom, opened his first holiday camp, at Skegness, in 1936.


First Line:
Butt, Isaac (1813-1879), an Irish politician, founded a Home Rule League in 1873, with the aim of gaining internal self-government for Ireland.


First Line:
Butte is a steep-sided hill or small mountain that stands alone, rising sharply above the surrounding countryside.


First Line:
Buttercup is a bright yellow wild flower found in most parts of the temperate zones.


First Line:
Butterfish is the name given to several fish that have slippery skins covered with mucus.


First Line:
Butterfly is one of the most beautiful of all insects.


First Line:
Butterflyfish is a colourful fish that lives around coral reefs in tropical, subtropical, and temperate seas.


First Line:
Buttermilk is the milky liquid remaining after cream has been churned to make butter.


First Line:
Butternut, or white walnut, is a medium-sized spreading tree which belongs to the walnut family.


First Line:
Butterwort is one of a group of plants that trap insects.


First Line:
Button is a disc or other object used to hold a garment closed.


First Line:
Buttrose, Ita (1942-...), an Australian editor and media personality, founded ITA Magazine in 1989.


First Line:
Buvelot, Louis (1814-1888), is considered by critics to be the founder of Australian landscape painting.


First Line:
Buxar, Battle of, was a decisive battle fought between British and Indian forces at Buxar, a town on the Ganges River.


First Line:
Buxtehude, Dietrich (1637-1707), was a German composer and organist.


First Line:
Buxton, Sir Fowell (1786-1845), was a British social reformer concerned with slavery and prison life.


First Line:
Buzzard is any one of a group of birds of prey closely related to hawks.


First Line:
Bylaws are rules adopted by members of a club, corporation, or society.


First Line:
Byng, John (1704-1757), a British admiral, was executed for neglect of duty during the Seven Years' War (see SEVEN YEARS' WAR).


First Line:
Byng, Julian Hedworth George (1862-1935), was governor general of Canada from 1921 to 1926.


First Line:
Byrd was the family name of two famous Americans, father and son.


First Line:
Byrd, Harry Flood (1887-1966), was an American politician.


First Line:
Byrd, Richard Evelyn (1888-1957), an American rear admiral, was an Antarctic and Arctic explorer, aviator, and navigator.


First Line:
Byrd, William (1543-1623), was an English composer known for his religious music.


First Line:
Byrne, Joe (1857-1880), was a member of Ned Kelly's gang of Australian bushrangers.


First Line:
Byrnes, James Francis (1879-1972), is best remembered as secretary of state under U.S. President Harry S. Truman from 1945 to 1947.


First Line:
Byron, Lord (1788-1824), was the most colourful of the English romantic poets.


First Line:
Byron Bay (pop. 7,730), is a town on the north coast of New South Wales, Australia.


First Line:
Byzantine art was a style of Eastern Christian art that flourished during the time of the Byzantine Empire.


First Line:
Byzantine Empire was a continuation of the Roman Empire.


First Line:
C is the third letter of the English alphabet.


First Line:
Cabal is a close-knit group of people who work privately or secretly to carry out their own plans.


First Line:
Cabbage is a common vegetable native to England and northwestern France, but grown throughout Europe, Asia, and America.


First Line:
Cabbage palm is the name given to several kinds of palm trees whose young leaf buds can be eaten.


First Line:
Cabell, James Branch (1879-1958), was an American author.


First Line:
Cabeza de Vaca, Alvar Nunez (1490?-1557?), was a Spanish explorer of both North and South America.


First Line:
Cabinda is a district of Angola and a major oil-producing area.


First Line:
Cabinet is a group of advisers who help the head of a government establish policies and make decisions.


First Line:
Cable is an insulated bundle of metal wires or threadlike fibres that carry electric current.


First Line:
Cable is a unit of nautical measurement.


First Line:
Cable, George Washington (1844-1925), was an American writer known for his books about Creoles, who were natives of Louisiana descended from French and Spanish settlers.


First Line:
Cable car is a passenger vehicle that is pulled by a constantly moving wire cable.


First Line:
Caboolture is a town about 50 kilometres north of Brisbane, Australia.


First Line:
Cabot is the family name of two navigators, father and son, who made important explorations in the Western Hemisphere.


First Line:
Cabral, Pedro Alvares (1467?-1528?), was a Portuguese navigator who sailed to Brazil in 1500 and claimed it for Portugal.


First Line:
Cabrillo, Juan Rodriguez (?-1543), led the first European expedition to explore the coast of what is now California, U.S.A. His explorations aided the Spanish in the settling of California.


First Line:
Cabrini, Saint Frances Xavier (1850-1917), was the first United States citizen to be made a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.


First Line:
Cacao is an evergreen tree whose seeds, or beans, are used to make chocolate and cocoa.


First Line:
Cactus is any of a family of plants that are native to North and South America and usually have clusters of spines.


First Line:
Cadbury is the name of an English Quaker family of businessmen, social reformers, and liberals.


First Line:
Cade, Jack, was the leader of a rebellion directed against waste and corruption in the government of Henry VI of England.


First Line:
Cadillac, Antoine de la Mothe (1656?-1730), a French colonist, founded Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A. He also served as governor of French Louisiana.


First Line:
Cadiz (pop. 157,766), is a great Spanish port.


First Line:
Cadman, Charles Wakefield (1881-1946), was an American composer.


First Line:
Cadman's Cottage is one of the oldest buildings in Sydney.


First Line:
Cadmium, a chemical element, is a soft, silvery-white metal used for alloys and plating.


First Line:
Cadmus, in Greek mythology, was the son of Agenor, the king of Tyre, a city in Phoenicia.


First Line:
Cadogan, Sir Alexander (1884-1968), a British diplomat, played a part in making vital decisions during World War II (1939-1945).


First Line:
Caedmon was a British poet who lived in England in the late 600's.


First Line:
Caerleon is a small town in Gwent in South Wales.


First Line:
Caernarvonshire was a county in northwestern Wales.


First Line:
Caesar was a title which came from the family name of Julius Caesar, who ruled Rome as a monarch without a crown from 49 to 44 B.C. Octavian, Caesar's great-nephew and adopted son, took his great-uncle's name and also the title of Augustus.


First Line:
Caesar, John (?-1796), known as Black Caesar, was Australia's first bushranger.


First Line:
Caesar, Julius (100?-44 B.C.), was one of ancient Rome's greatest generals and statesmen.


First Line:
Caesium is a soft, silvery metallic element.


First Line:
Caetano, Marcello (1906-1980), was premier of Portugal from 1968 to 1974.


First Line:
Caffeine is an odourless, slightly bitter solid.


First Line:
Cagayan de Oro (pop. 339,598), is the capital of Misamis Oriental, a province in the Philippines.


First Line:
Cage, John (1912-1992), was perhaps the most controversial modern American composer.


First Line:
Cagney, James (1899-1986), an American film actor, became famous for his roles as a cocky tough guy.


First Line:
Cain, in the Bible and the Quran, was the eldest son of Adam and Eve.


First Line:
Caine, Sir Hall (1853-1931), a British author, used the Isle of Man as the setting for many of his novels.


First Line:
Cairn terrier is a breed of dog that originated in the Highlands and island regions of Scotland.


First Line:
Cairngorm Mountains are in the central Highlands of Scotland.


First Line:
Cairns (pop. 49,334; met. area pop. 97,640), is the main city of north Queensland in Australia.


First Line:
Cairns, James (1914-...), a member of the Australian Labor Party, was deputy prime minister in 1974 and 1975.


First Line:
Cairo (pop. 6,800,000), is the capital of Egypt.


First Line:
Caisson, in building, is a watertight chamber used in the construction of building foundations, bridges, tunnels, and other structures.


First Line:
Caithness was a local government district in Highland Region, Scotland.


First Line:
Cajuns are a group of people in southern Louisiana and Texas, USA, who are descendants of French settlers called Acadians.


First Line:
Calabash is a gourd that grows on a climbing vine in the tropics.


First Line:
Caladium is a group of foliage plants that grow in tropical America.


First Line:
Calais (pop. 76,527), a seaport in northern France, is closer to England than any other city in mainland Europe.


First Line:
Calamity Jane (1852?-1903) was the nickname of Martha Jane Canary, a famous American frontierswoman.


First Line:
Calceolaria is a plant with round or pouch-shaped flowers, generally brightly coloured.


First Line:
Calcite is one of the most common minerals in the earth.


First Line:
Calcium, a chemical element, is a soft, silvery-white metal found most widely in such rocks as chalk, limestone, and marble.


First Line:
Calcium carbide is a hard, brittle, crystalline compound made of calcium and carbon.


First Line:
Calcium carbonate is a white, crystalline mineral.


First Line:
Calcium-channel blocker is any of a group of drugs used to treat various disorders of the heart and blood vessels.


First Line:
Calculator is a device that adds, subtracts, multiplies, and divides with accuracy and speed.


First Line:
Calculus is one of the most important branches of mathematics.


First Line:
Calcutta (pop. 4,399,819; met. area pop. 10,916,272), is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal.


First Line:
Caldecott, Randolph (1846-1886), was a British illustrator of children's books.


First Line:
Caldecott Medal is an annual American award for the most distinguished picture book for children published during the previous year.


First Line:
Calder, Alexander (1898-1976), was one of the first American sculptors of international significance, and one of the best-known American artists of the 1900's.


First Line:
Calderdale (pop. 187,300), is a local government area in west Yorkshire, England, administered from the town of Halifax.


First Line:
Calderon de la Barca, Pedro (1600-1681), was a Spanish playwright, and the last great writer of Spain's Golden Age.


First Line:
Calderone, Mary Steichen (1904-...), an American doctor, won fame for her efforts to promote sex education in schools.


First Line:
Caldwell, Erskine (1903-1987), was an American author best known for the sensationalism of his novels about rural life in the Southern United States.


First Line:
Caledonia is the ancient Roman name for northern Scotland.


First Line:
Caledonian Canal is a system of canals and locks linking the freshwater lochs (lakes) that lie in Glen Mor, Scotland.


First Line:
Calendar is a system of measuring and recording the passage of time.


First Line:
Calendula is a group of herbs of the daisy family.


First Line:
Calgary (pop. 710,677) is the oil centre of Canada and the largest city in the province of Alberta.


First Line:
Calico is a cotton fabric of plain weave.


First Line:
California is a state on the West Coast of the United States.


First Line:
Californium is an artificially produced radioactive chemical element.


First Line:
Caligula (A.D. 12-41), was a Roman emperor.


First Line:
Calla is a flowerlike herb with a white, yellow, or pink leaf shaped like a funnel or bell.


First Line:
Callaghan, Jim (1912-...), was the prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979.


First Line:
Callao (pop. 640,000), is the chief port and second largest city of Peru.


First Line:
Callas, Maria (1923-1977), was an American-born soprano.


First Line:
Callide Valley is situated in central Queensland, Australia, about 96 kilometres southwest of Gladstone.


First Line:
Calligraphy is the art of beautiful handwriting.


First Line:
Calliope is an organlike musical instrument that creates sounds by forcing compressed steam through pipes.


First Line:
Calliper is an instrument much like a geometry compass.


First Line:
Callisthenics are exercises that help strengthen and stretch body muscles.


First Line:
Callot, Jacques (1592-1635), was a major French printmaker.


First Line:
Caloundra (pop. 53,765), is an Australian tourist resort on the Sunshine Coast, 96 kilometres north of Brisbane.


First Line:
Callus is a hardening and thickening of the skin.


First Line:
Calms, Regions of, are places in the atmosphere which usually have little or no wind.


First Line:
Caloocan (pop. 601,660), is a city on the island of Luzon in the Philippines.


First Line:
Calorie is a unit used to measure heat energy in the metric system of measurement.


First Line:
Calvary, called Golgotha in Hebrew, is the spot outside ancient Jerusalem where Christ was crucified.


First Line:
Calvin, John (1509-1564), was one of the chief leaders of the Protestant Reformation.


First Line:
Calvin, Melvin (1911-...), an American chemist, received the 1961 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his studies of photosynthesis.


First Line:
Calwell, Arthur (1896-1973), was leader of the Australian Labor Party from 1960 to 1967.


First Line:
Calypso is a type of music that originated on the island of Trinidad, in the Caribbean Sea.


First Line:
Cambodia is a Southeast Asian country that borders on Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam.


First Line:
Cambric is a fine white cotton cloth of plain weave.


First Line:
Cambridge (pop. 101,000), is a city in England and the home of Cambridge University.


First Line:
Cambridge University is a famous university in the United Kingdom.


First Line:
Cambridgeshire is an inland county in eastern England.


First Line:
Camden (pop. 22,477), is a town 51 kilometres southwest of Sydney on the Nepean River.


First Line:
Camden (pop. 170,500), is a borough within Greater London.


First Line:
Camden, William (1551-1623), was an English antiquary and historian.


First Line:
Camellia is a group of about 80 semitropical evergreen trees or shrubs.


First Line:
Camel's-hair cloth is a soft, medium-weight woollen cloth made from the fur of the Bactrian camel.


First Line:
Cameo is an engraved gem with the designs carved so they project from the surface.


First Line:
Camera is an instrument used for taking photographs or making films.


First Line:
Camera lucida is a sketching device that consists of a four-sided prism and a magnifying glass, both attached to a frame.


First Line:
Camera obscura is a box used for sketching large objects.


First Line:
Cameron, Julia Margaret (1815-1879), a British photographer, pioneered in the field of artistic photography.


First Line:
Cameroon is a country on the west coast of Africa.


First Line:
Camilleri, Charles (1931-...), a Maltese composer, was the first to write operas with Maltese librettos.


First Line:
Camm, Sir Sydney (1893-1966), was a leading British aircraft engineer.


First Line:
Camomile is a group of small plants that are sometimes used as medicinal herbs.


First Line:
Camorra was a secret society of criminals that formed in Naples, Italy, in the early 1800's.


First Line:
Camouflage is the art of hiding military equipment and troops from an enemy.


First Line:
Camp, Walter (1859-1925), is often called the father of American football.


First Line:
Camp Cove in Australia was the site of Governor Arthur Phillip's first landing within Port Jackson when he explored Sydney Harbour from Botany Bay in 1788.


First Line:
Camp David is the official retreat of the president of the United States.


First Line:
Campanula is a group of slender plants with bell-shaped flowers that grow wild in Europe, Asia, and North America.


First Line:
Campbell, David (1915-1979), an Australian poet, became known for his lyrics about the countryside.


First Line:
Campbell, Donald (1921-1967), became the first speedboat racer to drive faster than 320 kph and live to talk about it.


First Line:
Campbell, Sir John (1779-1861), a British lawyer, politician, and writer, played a major part in reforming English law.


First Line:
Campbell, Sir John Logan (1817-1912), was one of the first Europeans to settle in Auckland, in the North island of New Zealand, where he established the first retail shop.


First Line:
Campbell, Kim (1947-...), became Canada's first woman prime minister on June 25, 1993, after being elected leader of the ruling Progressive Conservative Party on June 13.


First Line:
Campbell, Mrs. Patrick (1865-1940), was a British stage actress.


First Line:
Campbell, Robert (1769-1846), was an Australian merchant, farmer, politician, and philanthropist.


First Line:
Campbell-Bannerman, Sir Henry (1836-1908), served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1905 to 1908.


First Line:
Campbelltown (pop. 137,898), is a city in New South Wales, Australia, 50 kilometres southwest of Sydney.


First Line:
Campese, David (1962-...), is an Australian Rugby Union player.


First Line:
Camphor is a substance that comes from the camphor tree.


First Line:
Campin, Robert (1375?-1444), was an important painter of altarpieces and portraits in northern Europe.


First Line:
Camping is a popular form of outdoor recreation.


First Line:
Campion, also called catchfly, is the name of a large number of plants of the pink family.


First Line:
Campion, Edmund (1540-1581), was the first English Jesuit martyr.


First Line:
Campion, Thomas (1567-1620), was an English composer, poet, and doctor.


First Line:
Camus, Albert (1913-1960), was a French journalist, essayist, novelist, and playwright who was associated with the existentialist movement (see EXISTENTIALISM).


First Line:
Canaanites were a people mentioned in the Old Testament.


First Line:
Canada is the second largest country in the world.


First Line:
Canada, Government of.  Canada combines a federal form of government with a cabinet system.


First Line:
Canada, History of.  The first people to live in what is now Canada arrived from Asia at least 20,000 years ago.


First Line:
Canada goose is the common wild goose of North America.


First Line:
Canadian Shield is a huge, rocky region that curves around Hudson Bay like a giant horseshoe.


First Line:
Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal) (1697-1768) was an Italian painter celebrated for his views of Venice, where he was born.


First Line:
Canary is one of the most popular bird pets.


First Line:
Canary Islands make up two provinces of Spain.


First Line:
Canas, Jose Simeon (1767-1838), was a scholar and statesman who took part in the Central American independence movement.


First Line:
Canasta is the name of a high-scoring card game that originated in Uruguay.


First Line:
Canberra is the national capital of Australia.


First Line:
Canby, Henry Seidel (1878-1961), was an American editor, author, and educator.


First Line:
Cancellation is a method of shortening mathematical problems by striking out terms or factors.


First Line:
Cancer is a disease in which cells multiply wildly, destroy healthy tissue, and endanger life.


First Line:
Cancer, the Crab, is a faint constellation that lies between the stars Castor and Pollux on one side, and the Sickle of Leo on the other.


First Line:
Candela is the unit of measurement of luminous intensity, the amount of light produced in a certain direction by a glowing object.


First Line:
Candle is an object made out of wax or a similar material that is burned to give light.


First Line:
Candlefish is a saltwater fish about 20 centimetres long.


First Line:
Candlemas Day is a Christian festival observed on February 2.


First Line:
Candlenut, also known as candlenut oil tree or candleberry, is an evergreen tree of Southeast Asia.


First Line:
Candolle, Augustin Pyrame de (1778-1841), a Swiss botanist, published many books about plant classification and its theoretical aspects.


First Line:
Candytuft is any one of several flowering plants that belong to the mustard family.


First Line:
Cane harvester is a machine for harvesting sugar cane.


First Line:
Cane toad is the Australian name of the giant marine toad of Central and South America.


First Line:
Canebrake is a dense growth of cane in swamps and along river beds in the Southern United States.


First Line:
Cango Caves, in South Africa, are among the great wonders of the world.


First Line:
Canine parvovirus, also called parvovirus, is a contagious disease that affects dogs.


First Line:
Canisius, Saint Peter (1521-1597), was the founder of the first German house of Jesuits, and the foremost promoter of the reform of the Roman Catholic Church in south German lands.


First Line:
Canker is a small, painful sore in the mouth.


First Line:
Cankerworm is the larva (caterpillar) of two North American moths.


First Line:
Canna is a tall, ornamental plant with brilliantly coloured flowers.


First Line:
Cannes (pop. 72,259), is a luxurious resort city on the French Riviera in southeastern France.


First Line:
Cannibal is a person who eats the flesh of human beings.


First Line:
Canning, George (1770-1827), played an important part in the British government during the Napoleonic Wars, first as a supporter of William Pitt, and later as foreign secretary from 1807 to 1809 in the Duke of Portland's administration.


First Line:
Canning Stock Route, in Western Australia, was Australia's longest cattle-droving route.


First Line:
Cannizzaro, Stanislao (1826-1910), was an Italian chemist whose ideas laid the basis for modern chemistry.


First Line:
Cannock Chase (pop. 87,400), a local government district in Staffordshire, England, gets its name from an area of wild moorland and woodland.


First Line:
Cannon is a weapon of more than 2.5 centimetres in calibre that has a barrel, breech, and firing mechanism.


First Line:
Cannon, Annie Jump (1863-1941), was a leading American female astronomer.


First Line:
Cannon, Joseph Gurney (1836-1926), served in the United States House of Representatives for 46 years.


First Line:
Cannon-ball tree is a South American tree that sheds its leaves more than once a year.


First Line:
Canoeing is a popular sport in many countries.


First Line:
Canon is a musical composition in which two or more voices or instruments repeat a melody.


First Line:
Canonization is a proclamation in the Roman Catholic Church by which a person famous for holiness is understood to be in heaven.


First Line:
Canova, Antonio (1757-1822), was one of the most famous and influential European sculptors of the Napoleonic period.


First Line:
Cantata is a form of dramatic vocal music.


First Line:
Canterbury (pop. 127,100), is a cathedral city in east Kent, England.


First Line:
Canterbury is a statistical area in the east central part of the South Island of New Zealand.


First Line:
Canterbury bell is a type of flowering plant with blue, pink, or white bell-shaped flowers.


First Line:
Canterbury Tales is a group of stories by the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer.


First Line:
Cantilever is a structural beam which is supported at one end and free at the other end.


First Line:
Canton is a political division in some countries of Europe.


First Line:
Canungra is a small town and tourist centre located 40 kilometres inland from the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia.


First Line:
Canute (994?-1035), a Danish prince, also spelled Cnut, became king of England in 1016.


First Line:
Canvasback is a large duck that lives in North America.


First Line:
Canyon is a deep valley with steep sides.


First Line:
Cap-Haitien (pop. 64,406), is the second largest city of Haiti.


First Line:
Capacitance is the property of an electric circuit or other system that determines the amount of electric charge it is able to store.


First Line:
Capacitor is a device that stores electric energy in the form of an electric charge.


First Line:
Cape is a body of land that extends prominently into a lake, sea, or ocean.


First Line:
Cape Agulhas is the southernmost point of Africa.


First Line:
Cape Barren goose is a large, unusual Australian bird.


First Line:
Cape Breton Island is a large island off the Atlantic coast of Canada.


First Line:
Cape Byron is a steep headland on the north coast of New South Wales, Australia.


First Line:
Cape Canaveral, at one time called Cape Kennedy, is the site of the John F. Kennedy Space Center.


First Line:
Cape Cod is a hook-shaped peninsula on the coast of Massachusetts in the United States.


First Line:
Cape Farewell is the northernmost point of the South Island of New Zealand.


First Line:
Cape gooseberry is a plant cultivated for its round edible fruits.


First Line:
Cape Hatteras is a scenic promontory at the southeastern tip of Hatteras Island, which is part of the Outer Banks.


First Line:
Cape Horn is the most southerly part of South America.


First Line:
Cape Kidnappers forms the southern arm of Hawke Bay on the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand.


First Line:
Cape Leeuwin lies at the western end of Flinders Bay, on the southwestern coast of Western Australia.


First Line:
Cape Maria van Diemen is in the extreme north of New Zealand.


First Line:
Cape of Good Hope is a peninsula in South Africa.


First Line:
Cape Province was a province of South Africa from 1910 to 1994.


First Line:
Cape Reinga is in the extreme north of New Zealand.


First Line:
Cape Town (pop. 854,616; met. area pop. 1,869,143), is the legislative capital of South Africa.


First Line:
Cape Turnagain is a headland on the southeastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand.


First Line:
Cape Verde is an African country that consists of 10 main islands and 5 tiny islands.


First Line:
Cape weed is a plant that was introduced from South Africa to Australia in the early 1800's.


First Line:
Cape York Peninsula is the northern tip of Queensland, Australia.


First Line:
Capek, Karel (1890-1938), a Czech playwright and novelist, became famous for introducing the word robot into the modern vocabulary.


First Line:
Capella is the brightest star in the constellation Auriga and the sixth brightest in the heavens, excluding the sun.


First Line:
Caper is a flower bud used in a meat or fish sauce.


First Line:
Capetian dynasty is the name given to a long line of kings that ruled France from 987 to 1328.


First Line:
Capildeo, Rudranath (1920-1970), was a Trinidadian mathematician, barrister, and politician.


First Line:
Capillarity is the tendency of liquids to move into hairlike passageways.


First Line:
Capillary is the smallest blood vessel in the body.


First Line:
Capital is an economic term for wealth, other than land, that is used to produce more wealth.


First Line:
Capital gains tax is a tax on financial gains from the sale of property.


First Line:
Capital punishment is punishment by death.


First Line:
Capitalism is the political economic system based on private property and private profit.


First Line:
Capone, Al (1899-1947), was one of the most famous and powerful gangsters in United States history.


First Line:
Capote, Truman (1924-1984), was an American author known for his distinctive, polished style.


First Line:
Capra, Frank (1897-1991), was an American film director.


First Line:
Capri (pop. 12,400), is an Italian island in the Bay of Naples.


First Line:
Capricorn, the Sea-Goat, is a faint constellation in the Southern Hemisphere which contains no significantly bright stars.


First Line:
Capsicum is the name of a group of small, shrubby plants that grow in tropical America.


First Line:
Captain Cook's Cottage is in the Fitzroy Gardens in Melbourne, Australia.


First Line:
Captain Jack (1837-1873) was a leader of the Modoc Indians of North America who fought the United States Army during the Modoc War (1872-1873).


First Line:
Capuchin, also called sapajou, is a type of monkey that lives in Central and South America.


First Line:
Capuchins are members of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, a Roman Catholic religious order.


First Line:
Car.  The story of the car is one of the most important and exciting chapters in the history of transport.


First Line:
Car, Model, is a small-scale copy of a car.


First Line:
Car racing is a thrilling sport that tests the speed and performance of cars and the skill and daring of drivers.


First Line:
Carabao is a water buffalo of the Philippine Islands.


First Line:
Caracal is a member of the cat family related to the lynxes.


First Line:
Caracara is the name given to several large birds of South and Central America and the Southern United States.


First Line:
Caracas (pop. 1,261,116; met. area pop. 3,310,236), is the capital, largest city, and economic centre of Venezuela.


First Line:
Caradon (pop. 75,800), is a local government area in southeast Cornwall, England, containing several seaside resorts.


First Line:
Caramanlis, Constantine (1907-1998), also spelled Karamanlis, was a Greek political leader.


First Line:
Carat is a measure used by jewellers in weighing precious stones.


First Line:
Caratacus was king of the Catuvellauni, a powerful British tribe at the time of the Roman invasion of Britain in A.D. 43.


First Line:
Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da (1573-1610), was an Italian painter known for the powerful realism of his religious pictures.


First Line:
Caravan is a wheeled vehicle that is pulled by a car or truck.


First Line:
Caravan is a long train of people and pack animals that travels through wild or barren country.


First Line:
Caravel was a type of ship used for trading on the Mediterranean Sea from the 1300's to the 1600's.


First Line:
Caraway, a herb of the parsley family, is famous for its spicy seeds.


First Line:
Carberry, John Joseph Cardinal (1904-...), served as the Roman Catholic archbishop of St. Louis, U.S.A. from 1968 until he resigned in 1979.


First Line:
Carbide is a chemical compound made up of carbon and a metal.


First Line:
Carbine is a short, light-weight version of a rifle.


First Line:
Carbohydrate is one of the three main classes of foods essential to the body.


First Line:
Carbon is one of the most important chemical elements.


First Line:
Carbon dioxide is a colourless, odourless gas.


First Line:
Carbon disulphide, also called carbon bisulphide, is a colourless, poisonous, and highly flammable liquid.


First Line:
Carbon monoxide is a colourless, odourless, tasteless, and extremely poisonous gas.


First Line:
Carbon tetrachloride is a clear, colourless liquid that does not burn.


First Line:
Carbonate is any compound that contains the carbonate ion.


First Line:
Carborundum is a trade name for silicon carbide, an abrasive.


First Line:
Carbuncle is a painful infection of the skin and tissues just under the skin.


First Line:
Carcassonne (pop. 41,153), is a city in southern France that includes one of the finest examples in Europe of a medieval walled town.


First Line:
Card game is a game of chance or skill played with oblong pieces of thin cardboard.


First Line:
Cardamom is the fruit of several plants in the ginger family.


First Line:
Cardboard is a popular name for any stiff paper or paperboard.


First Line:
Cardenas, Lazaro (1895-1970), served as president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940.


First Line:
Cardiff (pop. 272,600), is the capital and largest city of Wales.


First Line:
Cardigan Welsh corgi is a breed of dog that was first bred in the area of Cardigan, Wales.


First Line:
Cardinal is a bird common throughout the eastern half of North America.


First Line:
Cardinal is one of a group of Roman Catholic clergymen who serve as counsellors to the pope and rank next to him within the church.


First Line:
Cardinal flower is a tall plant that grows in wet or moist soil along springs and in meadows, marshes, and roadside areas.


First Line:
Cardiology is a branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the heart.


First Line:
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency first-aid procedure that is used to maintain respiration and blood circulation in a person whose breathing and heartbeat have stopped.


First Line:
Carducci, Giosue (1835-1907), an Italian poet and scholar, won the 1906 Nobel Prize for literature.


First Line:
Cardus, Sir Neville (1889-1975), became well known as a writer on cricket and music.


First Line:
Carew, Jan (1925-...), is a West Indian writer whose work concentrates on the Caribbean identity and the rights of individuals, especially colonized peoples.


First Line:
Carew, Thomas (1595?-1639?), an English writer, was one of the most distinguished of the Cavalier poets, a group of poets at the court of King Charles I. These writers became renowned for their wit and elegance of style and for their direct approach


First Line:
Carey, George (1935-...), became archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the Church of England, in April 1991.


First Line:
Carey, James Barron (1911-1973), was an American trade union leader who gained wide recognition for his fight against Communist influence in unions.


First Line:
Carey, Peter (1943-...), an Australian writer, won international acclaim for his novels and short stories.


First Line:
Carey, William (1761-1834), was one of the first Baptist missionaries and a founder of the Baptist Missionary Society.


First Line:
Carey Street is a street in London, best known for its bankruptcy court.


First Line:
Cargill, William Walter (1784-1860), together with the other members of the Free Church of Scotland, formed the Otago Association in 1845 with the aim of establishing a church settlement in the southern part of New Zealand.


First Line:
Cargo cults is the name given to a large number of intense and short-lived religious cults in New Guinea and eastward through Melanesia to Fiji.


First Line:
Carib Indians were a group of warlike South American tribes who lived mainly in the Amazon River Valley and the Guiana lowlands.


First Line:
Caribbean Sea is a part of the Atlantic Ocean between the West Indies and Central and South America.


First Line:
Caribou is the French-Canadian name for a large deer of North America that is closely related to the reindeer.


First Line:
Caricature in art, is a picture that exaggerates or distorts the physical features or peculiarities of a person or object.


First Line:
CARICOM is an organization for political and economic cooperation of Caribbean states.


First Line:
Carillon is a set of 23 or more stationary bells arranged to play music.


First Line:
Carl XVI Gustaf (1946-...) became king of Sweden in 1973.


First Line:
Carleton, Sir Guy (1724-1808), was a British general and governor in Canada.


First Line:
Carleton, William (1794-1869), an Irish author, wrote many stories about peasant life in Ireland.


First Line:
Carlile, Forbes (1921-...), an Australian swimming coach, trained many swimmers who held world records.


First Line:
Carlile, Wilson (1847-1942), was the founder of the Church Army (see CHURCH ARMY).


First Line:
Carlisle (pop. 99,800), is a city and local government area in Cumbria, England.


First Line:
Carlow is an inland county in the province of Leinster in the southeast of the Republic of Ireland.


First Line:
Carlsbad Caverns National Park in southeastern New Mexico, U.S.A., is famous for its many caverns, or caves.


First Line:
Carlyle, Thomas (1795-1881), was a Scottish essayist and historian.


First Line:
Carman, Bliss (1861-1929), was a Canadian poet whose verse praises the beauty and power he saw in nature.


First Line:
Carmarthenshire is a local government area in South Wales, centred on the town of Carmarthen in Wales.


First Line:
Carmelites are members of several Roman Catholic orders of men and women.


First Line:
Carmichael, Hoagy (1899-1981), was an American composer of popular songs.


First Line:
Carnation is a tall, colourful flower with many blossoms.


First Line:
Carneades (213?-129 B.C.?) was a Greek philosopher who believed that no absolute standard of truth exists.


First Line:
Carnegie, Andrew (1835-1919), a Scottish-born American, was a leading steel manufacturer and one of the wealthiest individuals of his time.


First Line:
Carnegie, Dale (1888-1955), was an American pioneer in public speaking and personality development.


First Line:
Carnival is a festival involving singing, dancing and music-making, and colourful, noisy street processions.


First Line:
Carnivore is any animal that eats chiefly meat.


First Line:
Carnot, Nicolas Leonard Sadi (1796-1832), was a French engineer.


First Line:
Carob is a dark evergreen tree that grows in countries along the Mediterranean Sea.


First Line:
Carol is a traditional song of joyful character, usually associated with a religious or seasonal festival such as Christmas, Easter, or the month of May.


First Line:
Carol I (1839-1914) ruled Romania from 1866 until his death.


First Line:
Carol II (1893-1953) was king of Romania from 1930 to 1940.


First Line:
Caroline Islands (pop. 92,600), are an archipelago of more than 930 islands in the Pacific Ocean.


First Line:
Carolingian art was a style of art created during the late 700's and the 800's in France and western Germany.


First Line:
Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common disorder that causes pain, and interferes with the use of the hand.


First Line:
Carpathian Mountains are part of the great mountain system of central Europe.


First Line:
Carpenter, M. Scott (1925-...), one of the first United States astronauts, was the second American to circle the earth in a spacecraft.


First Line:
Carpenter bee is a type of bee that gets its name because it tunnels in timber or in the stems of plants.


First Line:
Carpentry is the building and repairing of wooden structures.


First Line:
Carpet snake is the name of some of Australia's most common and widespread pythons.


First Line:
Carpetbaggers was an American term that Southerners scornfully applied to Northerners who moved South during the Reconstruction period after the American Civil War (1861-1865).


First Line:
Carr, Harvey (1873-1954), a leading American psychologist, made important contributions in the fields of animal and educational psychology.


First Line:
Carranza, Venustiano (1859-1920), a Mexican general, became president of Mexico in 1915.


First Line:
Carrel, Alexis (1873-1944), a French surgeon and biologist, proved that tissues could survive away from their organs if properly nourished.


First Line:
Carriage is a horse-drawn vehicle used for the transportation of people.


First Line:
Carrick (pop. 82,700), is a local government district in Cornwall, England, that includes Falmouth, Penryn, and Truro.


First Line:
Carrickfergus (pop. 32,299), is a local government district in Northern Ireland.


First Line:
Carrier pigeon is a bird originally bred from pigeons used to carry messages from one place to another.


First Line:
Carrington, Lord (1919-...), Peter Alexander Rupert Carrington, was secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization from 1984 until 1988.


First Line:
Carroll, Sir James (1853-1926), was the first Maori to become a minister in the New Zealand Parliament.


First Line:
Carroll, Lewis, was the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898), an English author.


First Line:
Carrot is a plant with an orange root that is eaten as a vegetable.


First Line:
Carruthers, Jimmy (1929-1990), was Australia's first universally recognized world boxing champion.


First Line:
Carson, Lord (1854-1935), Edward Henry Carson, an Irish barrister and politician, was the leader of the Ulster Unionists, who were violently opposed to any form of Home Rule for Ireland.


First Line:
Carson, Johnny (1925-...), a popular American entertainer, became famous as host of "The Tonight Show" on television.


First Line:
Carson, Kit (1809-1868), was an American frontiersman.


First Line:
Carson, Rachel (1907-1964), was an American marine biologist and science writer.


First Line:
Carstensz, Jan (?-...?), was a Dutch navigator who charted part of the northern coast of Australia and named the Gulf of Carpentaria.


First Line:
Cartagena (pop. 166,736), stands on a beautiful bay of the Mediterranean Sea in southeastern Spain.


First Line:
Cartel is an association formed among producers in a particular industry to control the market for their product.


First Line:
Carter, Angela (1940-1992), was a British novelist and short-story writer.


First Line:
Carter, Caroline (1862-1937), an American actress known professionally as Mrs. Leslie Carter, made one of her greatest hits as Maryland Calvert in the play The Heart of Maryland in 1895.


First Line:
Carter, Elliott (1908-...), is one of the leading American composers of the 1900's.


First Line:
Carter, Gerald Emmett Cardinal (1912-...), was appointed a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church in 1979 by Pope John Paul II. He served as archbishop of Toronto, Canada, from 1978 until his retirement in 1990.


First Line:
Carter, Howard (1873-1939), an English archaeologist, specialized in excavating ancient Egyptian tombs.


First Line:
Carter, Jimmy (1924-...), was president of the United States from 1977 to 1981.


First Line:
Carthage was one of the greatest cities of ancient times.


First Line:
Carthusians are members of a Roman Catholic order of monks, nuns, and lay brothers and sisters.


First Line:
Cartier, Jacques (1491?-1557), was a French navigator.


First Line:
Cartier-Bresson, Henri (1908-...), is a French photographer.


First Line:
Cartilage, commonly called gristle, is a bluish-white rubbery tissue found in human beings and animals that have backbones.


First Line:
Cartland, Barbara (1901-...), a British novelist, became known as one of the most prolific writers of all time.


First Line:
Cartography is the making and study of maps.


First Line:
Cartoon is a drawing or series of drawings that tells a story or expresses a message.


First Line:
Cartouche, in architecture, is an ornament shaped like a scroll with rolled-up ends.


First Line:
Cartridge is a metal or paper case that holds a charge of explosive powder and a bullet or a charge of shot.


First Line:
Cartwright, Edmund (1743-1823), was an English inventor and clergyman.


First Line:
Cartwright, Peter (1785-1872), was a circuit rider (travelling preacher) on the American frontier, and a Methodist Church official.


First Line:
Cartwright, Sir Richard John (1835-1912), a Canadian statesman, gained a reputation as an authority on financial matters.


First Line:
Caruso, Enrico (1873-1921), an Italian tenor, was one of the greatest opera stars of the 1900's.


First Line:
Carver, George Washington (1864-1943), was a black American scientist who won international fame for his agricultural research.


First Line:
Carver, Raymond (1938-1988), was an American author known for his short stories.


First Line:
Carving is the art of cutting figures, ornaments, or decorative objects by hand from such materials as stone, marble, wood, ivory, bone, and shell.


First Line:
Cary, Joyce (1888-1957), ranks among the leading British novelists of the 1900's.


First Line:
Casaba is a type of muskmelon sometimes called winter melon.


First Line:
Casablanca (pop. 2,738,477), is the largest city in Morocco and a major port in North Africa.


First Line:
Casals, Pablo (1876-1973), a Spanish cellist, was one of the greatest musicians of his time.


First Line:
Casanova, Giacomo (1725-1798), was an Italian adventurer and author.


First Line:
Cascade Range is a chain of North American mountains that extends from northern California through western Oregon and Washington into southern British Columbia.


First Line:
Cascara sagrada is an important medicinal plant found in the northwestern United States.


First Line:
Case is a feature of nouns and pronouns that helps show their relation to other parts of speech in a sentence.


First Line:
Case, Clifford Philip (1904-1982), an American Republican politician, served in the United States Senate from 1955 to 1979.


First Line:
Case moth is the name of Australian insects that make cases of material from the plants on which they feed.


First Line:
Casein is the chief protein obtained from milk.


First Line:
Casement, Roger (1864-1916), was an official in the British consular service who later became an Irish revolutionary.


First Line:
Casey, Lord (1890-1976), Richard Gardiner Casey, served as governor general of Australia from 1965 to 1969.


First Line:
Cash, Johnny (1932-...), is an American country music singer and composer.


First Line:
Cash, Martin (1810-1877), was an Australian bushranger (bandit).


First Line:
Cash, Pat (1965-...), an Australian tennis player, won the men's singles title at Wimbledon in 1987.


First Line:
Cash register is a device that records and displays the amount of a sale.


First Line:
Cashel (pop. 2,455), is a town in southern Tipperary, in the Republic of Ireland.


First Line:
Cashew is a bean-shaped nut that grows on a tropical evergreen tree.


First Line:
Cashmere is a fibre made from the soft undercoat of Cashmere goats.


First Line:
Cashmere goat is a long-haired goat, known for its fine, silky wool.


First Line:
Caslon, William (1692-1766), was a British typeface founder.


First Line:
Caspian Sea, a great salt lake below sea level, is the largest inland body of water in the world.


First Line:
Cassandra was the daughter of Priam and Hecuba, king and queen of Troy in Greek mythology.


First Line:
Cassatt, Mary (1844-1926), was an American painter who spent most of her life in France.


First Line:
Cassava, also called manioc, is a small shrub native to South America.


First Line:
Cassia is any one of a group of plants that includes many trees, shrubs, and herbs.


First Line:
Cassino (pop. 26,300), is an Italian town about 120 kilometres southeast of Rome.


First Line:
Cassiopeia is an easily seen constellation of the Northern Hemisphere.


First Line:
Cassiterite is the only important mineral ore of tin.


First Line:
Cassius Longinus, Gaius (?-42 B.C.), was a Roman general who, with Marcus Junius Brutus, led the conspiracy against Julius Caesar.


First Line:
Casson, Sir Hugh (1910-...), one of Britain's leading architects, was the director of architecture for the 1951 Festival of Britain.


First Line:
Casson, Sir Lewis (1875-1969), a British actor and producer, was best known for his productions of the plays of George Bernard Shaw and William Shakespeare.


First Line:
Cassowary is a large, shy bird that lives in the thick forests of Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands.


First Line:
Cast and casting.  Casting is a method of shaping an object by pouring a liquid into a mould and letting it harden.


First Line:
Cast iron is a hard, brittle form of iron made by casting.


First Line:
Castanets are a small percussion instrument of indefinite pitch.


First Line:
Caste is a social group to which a person belongs by birth.


First Line:
Castiglione, Baldassare (1478-1529), was a writer of the Italian Renaissance.


First Line:
Castile and Aragon were two separate and powerful kingdoms of Spain.


First Line:
Castilla, Ramon (1797?-1867), one of Peru's great statesmen, served as president of Peru from 1845 to 1851 and from 1855 to 1862.


First Line:
Castle was the home and stronghold of a feudal lord during the Middle Ages.


First Line:
Castle, Barbara (1911-...), a British politician, became a leading member of the Labour Party.


First Line:
Castle Hill Rising began in Australia on March 4, 1804, when convicts from a New South Wales government farm at Castle Hill, near Sydney, broke out and seized firearms and ammunition.


First Line:
Castle Morpeth (pop. 49,700), is a local government district in Northumberland, England.


First Line:
Castle Point (pop. 84,200), is a local government district in Essex, England.


First Line:
Castlereagh (pop. 60,720), is a local government district in Northern Ireland.


First Line:
Castlereagh, Viscount (1769-1822), was a British statesman who played a large part in formulating the peace settlements in 1815 after the Napoleonic Wars.


First Line:
Castor and Pollux were twin heroes in Greek mythology.


First Line:
Castor oil is a colourless oil that is used as a laxative.


First Line:
Castries (pop. 52,868), is the capital and largest city of St. Lucia, an island country in the Caribbean Sea.


First Line:
Castro, Fidel (1926-...), has ruled Cuba since 1959, when he overthrew the military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.


First Line:
Caswell, Hollis Leland (1901-1988), was an American educator who became an authority on curriculum planning in schools.


First Line:
Cat is a favourite pet of people around the world.


First Line:
Catacombs are systems of underground passages or rooms once used as burial places.


First Line:
Catalepsy is a condition in which a person temporarily loses the ability to move voluntarily.


First Line:
Catalpa, also called Indian bean, is the name of a group of trees native to eastern Asia, North America, and the West Indies.


First Line:
Catalysis is a process in which a substance increases the speed of a chemical reaction without being used up by the reaction.


First Line:
Catalytic converter is a device that reduces the exhaust pollutants produced by a motor engine.


First Line:
Catamaran is a raftlike boat that has two hulls.


First Line:
Cataplexy is a condition that involves a sudden, temporary loss of muscle tone.


First Line:
Catapult was a war machine that shot such objects as spears or stones or hurled large weights against an enemy's defences.


First Line:
Cataract is the clouding of the lens of the eye.


First Line:
Catbird is a North American songbird related to mockingbirds and thrashers.


First Line:
Catchpole, Margaret (1762-1819), acted as a nurse, overseer, and midwife (a person who delivers babies) in the early years of Australian settlement at Sydney.


First Line:
Catechism is a summary of basic Christian doctrine used for religious instruction.


First Line:
Catechu is a brown, sticky substance obtained chiefly from the wood of tropical trees called acacias.


First Line:
Caterpillar is a wormlike creature that is the second, or larval, stage in the life history of butterflies and moths.


First Line:
Catfish is the name of a large group of fish that have two to four pairs of whiskers.


First Line:
Catgut is a tough cord made from the intestines of certain animals and used mainly for the strings of musical instruments and for sewing up wounds.


First Line:
Catharsis is a term psychiatrists and psychoanalysts use to describe the way in which psychotherapy helps a person release pent-up emotions.


First Line:
Cathay is the name Europeans once gave to China, especially the part north of the Yangtze River.


First Line:
Cathedral is the church of a bishop of the Christian religion.


First Line:
Cather, Willa (1873-1947), was one of America's finest novelists.


First Line:
Catherine was the name of two rulers of Russia.


First Line:
Catherine de Medicis, or, in Italian, De' Medici (1519-1589), was the wife of King Henry II of France, and the mother of three French kings.


First Line:
Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536) was the first of the six wives of King Henry VIII of England.


First Line:
Catherine of Siena, Saint (1347-1380), was a Christian reformer and mystic.


First Line:
Cathode rays is the name of an invisible radiation emitted from the negative electrode (cathode) of Crookes tubes (see CROOKES TUBE).


First Line:
Catiline (?-62 B.C.) was a Roman who led an unsuccessful plot against his government in 63 B.C. Catiline was a member of a patrician (aristocratic) family.


First Line:
Catkin is a tassellike flower cluster that consists of numerous small flowers arranged around a long central axis.


First Line:
Catlin, George (1796-1872), was an American artist known for his paintings and drawings of American Indians.


First Line:
Catmint, also called catnip, is a strong-smelling plant of the mint family.


First Line:
Cato was the family name of two statesmen and soldiers of ancient Rome.


First Line:
Cato Street Conspiracy was a plot to murder the British Cabinet in 1820.


First Line:
Cat's-eye is a gem that produces a thin streak of white light across the top of the stone when the gem is cut a certain way.


First Line:
Catskill Mountains form a semicircular chain of mountains west of the Hudson River in New York, U.S.A. They are one of the chief ranges in the Appalachian mountain system.


First Line:
Catspaw is a small, tufted plant commonly called kangaroo paw.


First Line:
Cattail,  or reedmace, often wrongly called bulrush, is a wild plant that grows in swamps, marshes, river and lakeside banks, and other wet places in Asia, Europe, and North America.


First Line:
Cattell, James McKeen (1860-1944), an American scientist, professor, editor, and publisher, was a pioneer in the field of experimental psychology.


First Line:
Cattle are among the most important farm animals.


First Line:
Cattle tick, also called Texas fever tick, carries Texas fever, a disease of cattle.


First Line:
Catton, Bruce (1899-1978), an American historian and journalist, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1954 and the 1954 National Book Award for A Stillness at Appomattox.


First Line:
Catullus, Gaius Valerius (84?  B.C.-54 B.C.), a Roman lyric poet, wrote personal and passionate poetry.


First Line:
Caucasia is a region that includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and a small portion of southern Russia.


First Line:
Caucasus Mountains are a large mountain range in Russia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.


First Line:
Cauchy, Augustin Louis (1789-1857), was a French mathematician who became famous for introducing logical and modern ideas into calculus.


First Line:
Caucus is a meeting of members of a political party to name candidates for office or to decide on policy.


First Line:
Caulfield Cup is one of Australia's major horse racing events.


First Line:
Cauliflower is a garden vegetable that is rich in vitamins and minerals.


First Line:
Caulking, also spelled calking, is a technique of sealing seams and joints to make them watertight.


First Line:
Caustic is the common term for certain chemicals that can burn or eat away substances, especially organic material.


First Line:
Cauthen, Steve (1960-...), is an American jockey.


First Line:
Cavalier King Charles spaniel is a breed of dog that descended from spaniels popular with the nobility in the 1600's.


First Line:
Cavalry was a unit of soldiers that fought on horseback.


First Line:
Cavan is one of the three counties of the province of Ulster which are in the Republic of Ireland.


First Line:
Cave, also called cavern, is a naturally hollow area in the earth that is large enough for a person to enter.


First Line:
Cave dwellers are people who live in caves or in the shelter provided by overhanging rocks at the bottom of cliffs.


First Line:
Caveat emptor is a Latin term meaning let the buyer beware.


First Line:
Cavefish refers to four species of small, slender, spindle-shaped fish of the southeastern United States.


First Line:
Cavell, Edith Louisa (1865-1915), was an English nurse.


First Line:
Cavendish, Henry (1731-1810), an English physicist and chemist, discovered many fundamental laws of electricity.


First Line:
Caviar is the salted eggs of sturgeons, a group of large fish.


First Line:
Cavour, Count di (1810-1861), Camillo Benso Cavour, an Italian statesman, helped unite the peoples of Italy under a single kingdom.


First Line:
Cavy is the general name for several related South American rodents.


First Line:
Cawley, Evonne (1951-...), a part-Aboriginal tennis player, became the second Australian to win a Wimbledon women's singles title.


First Line:
Caxton, William (1422?-1491), introduced printing into England.


First Line:
Cayenne (pop. 38,000), is the capital and largest city of French Guiana, a French possession on the northern coast of South America.


First Line:
Cayenne pepper is a hot-tasting red powder made from the fruit or pods of a kind of capsicum plant.


First Line:
Cayley, Sir George (1773-1857), is often called the father of modern aeronautics.


First Line:
Cayman Islands are an island dependency of the United Kingdom (UK) located in the West Indies.


First Line:
Cazabon, Michel (1813-1888), a Caribbean artist, is remembered for the clear picture his works give of life in the West Indies during the mid-1800's.


First Line:
Cazaly, Roy (1893-1963), was one of the most spectacular players of Australian Rules football.


First Line:
Ceausescu, Nicolae (1918-1989), ruled Romania from 1965 to 1989 as head of the country's Communist Party.


First Line:
Cebu (pop. 2,645,735), is an island province in the centre of the Visayan Islands in the Philippines.


First Line:
Cebu City (pop. 610,417), is the capital of Cebu province in the Philippines.


First Line:
Cecil is the name of one of Britain's most famous families.


First Line:
Cecil, Lord David (1902-1986), an English author and literary academic, wrote lively and scholarly biographies.


First Line:
Cecilia, Saint is a saint and martyr of the Roman Catholic Church.


First Line:
Cedar is a group of large evergreen trees that grow in many parts of the world.


First Line:
Celandine is the name of two unrelated plants of Europe and western Asia, both introduced into North America.


First Line:
Celery is a popular vegetable related to carrots and parsley.


First Line:
Celesta is a pianolike musical instrument played by means of a keyboard.


First Line:
Celibacy is the state of being unmarried.


First Line:
Celine, Louis-Ferdinand (1894-1961), was the pen name of Henri-Louis Destouches, a French novelist.


First Line:
Celebrezze, Anthony Joseph (1910-...), was U.S. secretary of health, education, and welfare from 1962 to 1965.


First Line:
Cellini, Benvenuto (1500-1571), was an Italian goldsmith and sculptor.


First Line:
Cello is a stringed musical instrument of the violin family that is played with a bow.


First Line:
Cellophane is a thin, flexible, synthetic material.


First Line:
Cellular telephone is a movable telephone unit.


First Line:
Cellulose is a substance that forms a major part of the cell walls of trees, grasses, vegetables, and many other plants.


First Line:
Celsius scale is a scale for measuring temperature.


First Line:
Celtic art.  The Celts expressed their artistic genius in such arts and crafts as metalwork, sculpture, and ceramics (pottery).


First Line:
Celts are a people--or their descendants--who are native speakers of a Celtic language.


First Line:
Cement and concrete are among the most important building materials.


First Line:
Cement-Roadstone Holdings (C.R.H.) is one of Ireland's largest companies.


First Line:
Cenozoic Era is the most recent era in the geological time scale of the earth's history.


First Line:
Censer is a vessel in which incense is burned on charcoal as a sign of honour and prayer during religious ceremonies.


First Line:
Censorship is the control of what people may say or hear, write or read, or see or do.


First Line:
Census is a survey conducted by a national government to gather information about the society that it governs.


First Line:
Centaur was a creature in Greek mythology.


First Line:
Centennial Park is a cultivated lawn park in Sydney, Australia.


First Line:
Centimetre is a measure of length in the metric system of measurement.


First Line:
Centipede is one of a group of animals that look like worms or caterpillars.


First Line:
Central African Republic is a thinly populated country in the centre of Africa.


First Line:
Central America is the narrow bridge of land connecting North and South America.


First Line:
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), a United States government agency, gathers political, economic, and military information about more than 150 nations and evaluates it for other U.S. government agencies.


First Line:
Central Region, as its name implies, lies between the Highlands and the Central Lowlands of Scotland.


First Line:
Centrifugal force is often incorrectly defined as the force that pulls an object outward when it moves in a circle.


First Line:
Centrifuge is an instrument used to separate two liquids mixed together, or solid particles that are mixed in a liquid.


First Line:
Centripetal force is the force that compels a body to move in a circular path.


First Line:
Centrosphere is the inner core of the earth.


First Line:
Century plant is the name of a group of American desert plants that belong to the agave family.


First Line:
Cephalosporin is any of a group of widely used antibiotics.


First Line:
Ceramics are one of the three most important types of engineering materials that are primarily synthetic.


First Line:
Cerberus was a monstrous three-headed dog who guarded the entrance to Hades, the Underworld of Greek and Roman mythology.


First Line:
Cereal is a food made from such cereal grains as wheat, oats, maize, rice, barley, and buckwheat.


First Line:
Cerebral haemorrhage is bleeding that results from a broken blood vessel in the brain.


First Line:
Cerebral palsy is a general term for a variety of disorders caused by damage to the brain.


First Line:
Cerebrospinal fluid is the liquid in the body that surrounds the entire surface of the brain and the spinal cord.


First Line:
Ceredigion (pop. 63,600) is a local government area in Wales.


First Line:
Ceres is one of thousands of asteroids (minor planets) that are located mostly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.


First Line:
Ceres was the goddess of grain, the harvest, and agriculture in Roman mythology.


First Line:
Cerium is a soft, grey metal of the rare-earth group of chemical elements.


First Line:
Cermet is a hard material that can withstand high temperatures.


First Line:
CERN is the world's largest research centre for the study of subatomic particles.


First Line:
Cerutty, Percy (1895-1975), an Australian trainer of athletes and teacher in the techniques of all sports, coached nine world record breakers.


First Line:
Cervantes, Miguel de (1547-1616), ranks as the outstanding writer in Spanish literature.


First Line:
Cesaire, Aime (1913-...), is a French-speaking West Indian poet and playwright.


First Line:
Cessnock (pop. 43,854), is a city in the Hunter River Valley, about 190 kilometres north of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.


First Line:
Cetacean is a member of the order of sea mammals made up of whales, dolphins, and porpoises.


First Line:
Cetshwayo (1826-1884), a Zulu leader, reestablished the Zulu as a strong military force in southern Africa.


First Line:
Cezanne, Paul (1839-1906), a French painter, was one of the most significant painters in modern art.


First Line:
Chad is a large, thinly populated country in north-central Africa.


First Line:
Chadwick, Sir Edwin (1800-1890), was a British social reformer concerned with public health and the welfare of the poor.


First Line:
Chadwick, Sir James (1891-1974), a British physicist, won the 1935 Nobel Prize for physics for his discovery of the neutron, one of the particles making up the nucleus of an atom.


First Line:
Chadwick, Lynn Russell (1914-...), a British sculptor, worked mainly with iron.


First Line:
Chaffey was the family name of two Canadian brothers who pioneered irrigation in Australia.


First Line:
Chaffinch is the name of a common European finch.


First Line:
Chagall, Marc (1887-1985), was a Russian-born artist.


First Line:
Chagres River is a chief source of water for the Panama Canal.


First Line:
Chain is a flexible length of links or rings joined together.


First Line:
Chain is the term for a unit of measurement in surveying, and for the measuring instrument itself.


First Line:
Chain, Sir Ernst Boris (1906-1979), a British biochemist, shared the 1945 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine with Sir Alexander Fleming and Sir Howard Florey.


First Line:
Chain store, or multiple store, is a retail shop which has been multiplied until there is a chain of similar shops covering a particular area, all of a country, or even several countries.


First Line:
Chairil Anwar (1922-1949), an outstanding poet, was a leading member of the group known as "the 1945 generation of writers" in Indonesia.


First Line:
Chalcedony is a mineral that consists chiefly of tiny crystals of quartz with extremely small pores.


First Line:
Chalcocite is an important mineral ore of copper.


First Line:
Chalcopyrite is one of the most widespread copper ores and an important source of pure copper.


First Line:
Chaldea, also spelled Chaldaea, was a region of ancient Babylonia, in what is now southeastern Iraq.


First Line:
Chaliapin, Feodor Ivanovich (1873-1938), a Russian opera singer, became a leading interpreter of bass roles in Russian and Italian opera.


First Line:
Chalk is a soft, fine-grained, white limestone.


First Line:
Chalmers, James (1841-1901), was a missionary in New Guinea for 23 years.


First Line:
Chalmers, Thomas (1780-1847), a Scottish preacher and philanthropist, founded the Free Church of Scotland in 1843.


First Line:
Chamber music is a type of classical music written for small groups of musicians.


First Line:
Chamber of commerce is an association of business people that promotes the interests of its members and of business in general.


First Line:
Chamberlain was the family name of a father and two sons in British politics.


First Line:
Chamberlain, Wilt (1936-...), an American professional basketball player, was one of the greatest scorers in the history of the game.


First Line:
Chamberlain Case, involving the disappearance of a nine-week-old Australian girl, attracted worldwide attention in the 1980's.


First Line:
Chambers was the family name of two Scottish brothers who became publishers of dictionaries and encyclopedias.


First Line:
Chambers, Ephraim (1680?-1740), was an English encyclopedist.


First Line:
Chambers, George (1928-...), was prime minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago from 1981 to 1986.


First Line:
Chambers, James (1811-1862), was one of the sponsors of the expedition of the explorer John McDouall Stuart, who crossed the Australian continent from south to north.


First Line:
Chameleon is any of about 85 kinds of lizards.


First Line:
Chaminade, Cecile Louise Stephanie (1861-1944), was a French composer and pianist.


First Line:
Chamois is a shy animal noted for its swiftness and keen sense of smell.


First Line:
Chamorro, Violeta Barrios de (1929-...), was president of Nicaragua from 1990 until 1997.


First Line:
Champlain, Samuel de (1570?-1635), was a French explorer who founded the Canadian city of Quebec.


First Line:
Chan, Sir Julius (1939-...), was prime minister of Papua New Guinea from 1980 to 1982.


First Line:
Chance, Frank (1877-1924), was a great American baseball player and manager.


First Line:
Chancellor is a title given to certain administrators in governments, universities, and churches.


First Line:
Chancellor, Richard (?-1556), an English explorer, opened up a trade route between England and Russia.


First Line:
Chandigarh is a union territory situated in northern India.


First Line:
Chandigarh (pop. 509,452), is a modern city in northern India.


First Line:
Chandler, Happy (1898-1991), a colourful politician, served as Democratic governor of Kentucky and as a United States senator.


First Line:
Chandler, Raymond (1888-1959), an American author, was one of the leading writers of the "hard-boiled" school of detective fiction.


First Line:
Chandor, Douglas Granville (1897-1953), a British artist, painted portraits of many famous and fashionable people.


First Line:
Chandragupta Maurya (?-298?  B.C.), was the first great emperor of India.


First Line:
Chandrasekhar, Subrahmanyan (1910-1995), an American astrophysicist, shared the 1983 Nobel Prize for physics with William A. Fowler for research on the evolution and death of stars.


First Line:
Changi was the prisoner-of-war headquarters on Singapore Island for Allied prisoners of the Japanese during World War II (1939-1945).


First Line:
Changsha (pop. 1,066,030), is the capital of Hunan province in southeastern China.


First Line:
Channel Country consists of a depressed tract of land that stretches southwest from the central Queensland ranges to Lake Eyre, in South Australia.


First Line:
Channel Islands are a group of islands in the English Channel.


First Line:
Channel swimming generally refers to the swimming of the English Channel.


First Line:
Channel Tunnel is an undersea rail link connecting the United Kingdom with France.


First Line:
Channing, Edward (1856-1931), an American historian, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1926 for his book The War for Southern Independence.


First Line:
Channing, William Ellery (1780-1842), an American clergyman, was a leader of the Unitarian Church, which emphasizes the Oneness of God rather than the Trinity.


First Line:
Chantries were small chapels in which priests offered masses for the souls of the dead.


First Line:
Chanute, Octave (1832-1910), an American civil engineer, became famous as a scientific student of gliding.


First Line:
Chaos is a field of science that studies the complex and irregular behaviour of many systems in nature.


First Line:
Chaparral is a region of shrubs and small trees that occurs in areas with mild, moist winters and hot, dry summers.


First Line:
Chapbook is a pamphlet, originally sold by chapmen (pedlars) from the 1500's to the 1700's.


First Line:
Chapel Royal is a royal church in the United Kingdom.


First Line:
Chaplain is a minister, a rabbi, or a priest attached to a unit in the armed forces.


First Line:
Chaplin, Charlie (1889-1977), a British actor, became one of the most famous stars in film history.


First Line:
Chapman, George (1559?-1634?), was an English poet, playwright, and scholar.


First Line:
Chappell is the name of three South Australian brothers who all became top class cricketers.


First Line:
Charcoal is a black, brittle substance that has many uses.


First Line:
Chardin, Jean Baptiste Simeon (1699-1779), is now regarded as one of the great French painters of the 1700's.


First Line:
Chardonnet, Hilaire (1839-1924), was a French chemist and physiologist.


First Line:
Chariot is a two-wheeled or four-wheeled vehicle, usually drawn by a horse.


First Line:
Charlemagne (742-814), or Charles the Great, was the most famous ruler of the Middle Ages and a key figure in European history.


First Line:
Charleroi (pop. 216,144; met. area pop. 225,855), is a large commercial city in Belgium.


First Line:
Charles was the name of two English rulers of the House of Stuart (see STUART, HOUSE OF).


First Line:
Charles was the name of 10 kings of France.


First Line:
Charles was the name of seven rulers of the Holy Roman Empire (see HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE).


First Line:
Charles was the name of several Swedish kings.


First Line:
Charles I (1887-1922), Archduke Karl Franz Joseph, was the last emperor of Austria and king of Hungary.


First Line:
Charles III (1716-1788) reigned as king of Spain from 1759 until his death.


First Line:
Charles, Prince (1948-...), is the heir apparent to the throne of the United Kingdom.


First Line:
Charles, Ray (1930-...), is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist.


First Line:
Charles, Thomas (1755-1814), was a Welsh clergyman and the great organizer of early Welsh Methodism, carrying on the work of Howel Harris and Daniel Rowland.


First Line:
Charles Martel (688-741), ruled the Merovingian Franks from A.D. 719 to 741.


First Line:
Charleston (pop. 57,287; met. area pop. 250,454), is the capital and leading industrial, trade, and transportation centre of West Virginia in the United States.


First Line:
Charlot, Jean (1898-1979), was an illustrator, author, and painter.


First Line:
Charlotte Amalie (pop. 11,756), capital of the American Virgin Islands, is a harbour city on the Caribbean Sea.


First Line:
Charlton is the name of two brothers who became leading English soccer players.


First Line:
Charlton, Boy (1908-1975), was an outstanding Australian swimmer during the 1920's.


First Line:
Charlton, Eddie (1929-...), an Australian snooker player, set a world record running break of 272 in 1967.


First Line:
Charnwood (pop. 140,500), is a local government district in Leicestershire, England.


First Line:
Charon was the ragged old boatman of the Underworld in Greek mythology.


First Line:
Charoux, Siegfried Joseph (1896-1967), was an Austro-British sculptor best known for his works in terracotta.


First Line:
Chart is a diagram, drawing, graph, list, map, or table designed to make information easy to understand.


First Line:
Charter, called articles of incorporation in certain instances, is a written document granted by a monarch or a government.


First Line:
Charter Oak was a huge tree in Hartford, Connecticut, in the United States.


First Line:
Charterhouse was a Carthusian monastery.


First Line:
Charters Towers (pop. 9,017), is a city about 128 kilometres southwest of Townsville in northern Queensland, Australia.


First Line:
Chartism was a political movement of the British working classes during the early 1800's.


First Line:
Chartres (pop. 37,119), is a city in north-central France that is famous for its cathedral, which is a masterpiece of Gothic architecture.


First Line:
Chase, Mary Ellen (1887-1973), an American author and teacher, started writing verse and short stories at 16.


First Line:
Chase, Salmon Portland (1808-1873), was a prominent American statesman and chief justice of the United States.


First Line:
Chase, Samuel (1741-1811), an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, was impeached in 1804 for malfeasance (illegal conduct) in presiding over two sedition trials.


First Line:
Chase, William Merritt (1849-1916), was an American painter and art teacher.


First Line:
Chase Manhattan Bank is one of the largest commercial banks in the United States.


First Line:
Chat is the name of several birds from different groups, named after their harsh, chattering calls.


First Line:
Chat room is a communications service available on computer networks.


First Line:
Chateau is the French word for a castle or a large country house.


First Line:
Chateaubriand, Francois-Rene de (1768-1848), was one of the most important figures in French romantic literature.


First Line:
Chatelet, Marquise du (1706-1749), was a French mathematician, physicist, and science writer.


First Line:
Chataway, Christopher (1931-...), became minister for industrial development in the United Kingdom in 1972.


First Line:
Chatham Islands lie 756 kilometres east of Lyttelton, in the South Island of New Zealand.


First Line:
Chattanooga, Tennessee (pop. 152,466; met. area pop. 433,210), is a chief industrial city of the Southern United States.


First Line:
Chatterjee, Bankim Chandra (1838-1894), was an Indian author who wrote the first modern novels in the Bengali language.


First Line:
Chatterton, Thomas (1752-1770), a brilliant young English poet, wrote a series of poems that he claimed were written in the 1400's by Thomas Rowley, a monk.


First Line:
Chaucer, Geoffrey, (1340?-1400), was the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages.


First Line:
Chauncy, Nan (1900-1970), was an Australian author.


First Line:
Chauvel, Charles (1897-1959), an Australian film producer, made the film Jedda about an Australian Aboriginal girl in 1954.


First Line:
Chauvel, Sir Harry (1865-1945), an Australian soldier, commanded the Australian Light Horse Brigade in Egypt and Gallipoli during World War I (1914-1918).


First Line:
Chavez, Carlos (1899-1978), a Mexican composer, was one of the most important influences on the musical life of Mexico in the 1900's.


First Line:
Chayote, also called chow chow or christophine, is a climbing vine grown chiefly for its fruit.


First Line:
Chechnya is a republic in southwestern Russia in the northern Caucasus Mountains.


First Line:
Cheddar is a village in the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England.


First Line:
Cheese is a healthy, tasty food made from milk.


First Line:
Cheetah is a large cat chiefly found on the grassy plains of Africa.


First Line:
Cheever, John (1912-1982), was an American short-story writer and novelist.


First Line:
Chekhov, Anton (1860-1904), was a Russian playwright and short-story writer.


First Line:
Chelation therapy is medical treatment that involves the use of drugs to remove metal ions from the body.


First Line:
Chelmsford (pop. 150,000), is market town in central Essex, England.


First Line:
Chelmsford, Lord (1868-1933), a British statesman, was an administrator in Queensland and New South Wales, Australia, and in India.


First Line:
Chelsea Pensioners are retired and, in many cases, disabled British soldiers who are cared for in Chelsea Royal Hospital in London.


First Line:
Cheltenham (pop. 85,900), is a residential town in Gloucestershire, England.


First Line:
Chemical is any of the many substances that make up the world's materials.


First Line:
Chemical, biological, radiological warfare (CBR) is war waged with chemicals, biological agents, or radioactive materials.


First Line:
Chemical industry is made up of the many industries that use chemistry in the manufacture of a wide variety of products.


First Line:
Chemical reaction is a process in which one substance is chemically converted to another.


First Line:
Chemistry is the scientific study of substances.


First Line:
Chemnitz (pop. 294,244), is a manufacturing centre on the Chemnitz River in Germany.


First Line:
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancers or infections with drugs that have a toxic effect on the cause of the illness.


First Line:
Chemurgy is the use of farm and forest products as sources of raw materials for chemical manufacturing.


First Line:
Chen Rong (mid-1200's), was one of the greatest painters of Chinese dragons.


First Line:
Cheney, Richard Bruce (1941-...), served as United States secretary of defence under President George Bush from 1989 to 1993.


First Line:
Chengdu (pop. 3,483,834), also spelled Cheng-tu and Changtu, is a major industrial centre in southern China.


First Line:
Chenier, Andre (1762-1794), Andre Marie de Chenier, a French poet, wrote his greatest work, Les Iambes, in prison during the last months of his life.


First Line:
Chenille is a fuzzy yarn made of cotton, silk, wool, or rayon.


First Line:
Chennault, Claire Lee (1890-1958), led the Flying Tigers, a small group of volunteer American aviators who supported China in its war against Japan before the United States entered World War II (1939-1945) in 1941.


First Line:
Cheque is a written order directing a bank to pay money to a person or organization, or to the bearer.


First Line:
Chequers is a nationally owned country estate in England used by the British prime ministers.


First Line:
Cherbourg (pop. 28,442), is an industrial city and seaport on the northern coast of France.


First Line:
Cherimoya is a small tropical tree that bears an edible fruit related to the custard apple (see CUSTARD APPLE).


First Line:
Chernenko, Konstantin Ustinovich (1911-1985), served as general secretary, or head, of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from February 1984 until his death in March 1985.


First Line:
Cherry is a small round fruit that grows on a tree.


First Line:
Cherry laurel is a shrub of eastern Europe and Asia that is closely related to the cherry.


First Line:
Cherubini, Luigi (1760-1842), was an Italian-born composer.


First Line:
Cherwell (pop. 115,900), is a local government district in northeast Oxfordshire, England.


First Line:
Cherwell, Lord (1886-1957), a British physicist, was an adviser on science and economic affairs to the British statesman Winston Churchill.


First Line:
Chesapeake Bay is a long, narrow arm of the Atlantic Ocean in the United States.


First Line:
Chesapeake Bay retriever is an American hunting dog which descended from two Newfoundland dogs.


First Line:
Cheshire is a county in the northwest of England.


First Line:
Cheshire, Leonard (1917-1992), was a leading British bomber pilot during World War II (1939-1945).


First Line:
Chesnutt, Charles Waddell (1858-1932), is generally considered to have been the first major black American writer of fiction.


First Line:
Chess is a game of skill in which two players move objects called men on a board divided into squares.


First Line:
Chest, also called thorax, is the part of the body between the base of the neck and the abdomen.


First Line:
Chester (pop. 115,000), is a local government area in the county of Cheshire, England.


First Line:
Chester-le-Street (pop. 51,600), is an English local government area in the county of Durham, centred on the ancient town of Chester-le-Street itself.


First Line:
Chesterfield (pop. 99,700), is a local government area in Derbyshire, England.


First Line:
Chesterfield, Earl of (1694-1773), was an English aristocrat, wit, and political figure.


First Line:
Chesterton, G. K. (1874-1936), was an English author known for his essays on almost every popular subject of his time.


First Line:
Chestnut is a hardy tree that grows in warm, light soils and tolerates drought well.


First Line:
Chevalier, Maurice (1888-1972), was an internationally popular French film and stage performer.


First Line:
Cheviot Hills are a range of hills situated on the border of England and Scotland.


First Line:
Chevrolet, Louis (1878-1941), an American engineer, helped organize the Chevrolet Motor Company in 1911, and designed its first car.


First Line:
Chevron consists of two lines joined together at one end to form an angle.


First Line:
Chevy Chase was a battle that took place on the English-Scottish border in 1388.


First Line:
Chewing gum is a type of sweet that people chew but do not swallow.


First Line:
Cheyenne (pop. 50,008; met. area pop. 73,142), one of the most historic towns of the American Old West, is the capital and second largest city of the state of Wyoming, U.S.A. Only Casper has more people.


First Line:
Cheyenne Indians are a group of American Indians separated geographically into two groups, the Northern Cheyenne and the Southern Cheyenne.


First Line:
Chiang Ching-kuo (1910-1988), was the most powerful leader of the Nationalist Chinese government of Taiwan from 1975 until his death in 1988.


First Line:
Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975), was the political and military leader of the Nationalist Chinese government of Taiwan from 1949 until his death in 1975.


First Line:
Chiang Mai (pop. 100,146), a spacious city in northern Thailand, is a cultural, educational, and tourist centre.


First Line:
Chiang Soong Mei-ling or Mayling (1897?-...), the wife of Chiang Kai-shek, is a Chinese social leader.


First Line:
Chicago (pop. 2,783,726; met. area pop. 6,069,974), is a large city in northeastern Illinois in the United States.


First Line:
Chichele, Henry (1362?-1443), an English churchman, was cofounder, with Henry VI, of All Souls College, University of Oxford, in 1438.


First Line:
Chichester (pop. 100,300), is a cathedral city in West Sussex, England.


First Line:
Chichester, Sir Francis (1901-1972), an English adventurer, made long-distance boat and aeroplane voyages.


First Line:
Chickadee is the name of seven species of small birds in the tit family.


First Line:
Chicken is a bird that is raised for its meat and eggs.


First Line:
Chickenpox also called varicella, is a common, generally mild, contagious disease of children.


First Line:
Chickpea, also called garbanzo, is a plant grown for its nutritious, edible seeds.


First Line:
Chicle is a gummy substance obtained from the latex of certain tropical trees.


First Line:
Chicory, also known as succory, is a plant grown for its leaves and roots.


First Line:
Chidambaram, Palaniappan (1945-...), became India's minister for finance in 1996.


First Line:
Chifley, Ben (1885-1951), served as prime minister of Australia from 1945 to 1949.


First Line:
Chigger, also called jigger, is the common name of two kinds of pests that attack human beings.


First Line:
Chihuahua (pop. 406,830), is an important city in northern Mexico and the capital of Chihuahua state.


First Line:
Chihuahua is the smallest breed of dogs.


First Line:
Chilblain is a condition in which the skin stings, itches, burns, and sometimes turns red.


First Line:
Child is a person between about 18 months and 10 to 13 years of age.


First Line:
Child, Joan (1926-...), an Australian Labor Party politician, became the first woman speaker of the House of Representatives in the Australian Parliament in 1986.


First Line:
Child abuse is a term that generally refers to mistreatment of a child by a parent or another adult.


First Line:
Child labour is the employment of children as wage earners.


First Line:
Childbirth is the process by which a woman gives birth to a baby.


First Line:
Childe, Gordon (1892-1957), an Australian-born archaeologist, made important discoveries of European prehistoric artifacts.


First Line:
Childers is the name of two Irish politicians, a father and son.


First Line:
Children in care are children looked after by the state or by any of several voluntary organizations.


First Line:
Children's home, also called an orphanage, is an institution that cares for homeless children.


First Line:
Children's laws protect children from cruelty, sexual offences, neglect, or exploitation, and assure them of some education.


First Line:
Chile is a long, narrow country on the west coast of South America.


First Line:
Chiltern (pop. 88,700), named after the Chiltern Hills, is a local government district in Buckinghamshire, England.


First Line:
Chiltern Hills is a range of chalk hills in southern England, about 72 kilometres long.


First Line:
Chiltern Hundreds is an area partly in Berkshire and partly in Buckinghamshire, England.


First Line:
Chimborazo is a volcanic mountain in the Andes of Ecuador, about 190 kilometres from the Pacific coast.


First Line:
Chimbus are a people who live among the high central ranges of Papua New Guinea.


First Line:
Chimera was a fire-breathing monster in Greek mythology.


First Line:
Chimes, also called tubular bells, are a percussion instrument that consists of 18 to 20 brass or steel tubes hung on a frame.


First Line:
Chin Peng (1921?-...) was a Chinese Communist guerilla leader.


First Line:
China is a huge country in eastern Asia.


First Line:
China Sea is the name of two seas of the Pacific Ocean along the east coast of Asia.


First Line:
Chinch bug is a small insect that feeds on plants.


First Line:
Chinchilla is a small animal prized for its soft, thick fur.


First Line:
Chinese cabbage is a cabbagelike vegetable that has been grown in China since the A.D. 400's.


First Line:
Chinese crested dog is a small, graceful, finely-boned dog.


First Line:
Chinese-Japanese wars refers to two wars between China and Japan.


First Line:
Chinese language is one of the world's oldest languages.


First Line:
Chinese literature is one of the oldest and greatest of the world's literatures.


First Line:
Chipmunk is a small, striped animal that lives in burrows (tunnels) in Asia and North America.


First Line:
Chippendale, Thomas (1718-1779), was an English furniture manufacturer and designer.


First Line:
Chirac, Jacques (1932-...), a former French prime minister, became president of France in 1995.


First Line:
Chirico, Giorgio de (1888-1978), was an Italian painter.


First Line:
Chiropody, also called podiatry, is the branch of medicine concerned with the examination, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases and ailments of the human foot, ankle, and lower leg.


First Line:
Chiropractic, also called chiropractice in some countries, is a method of treating illness, especially through manual manipulation of the patient's spine.


First Line:
Chisanbop is a method of calculation based on the use of the fingers.


First Line:
Chisholm, Caroline (1808-1877), devoted a great part of her life to the welfare of immigrants to Australia.


First Line:
Chisholm Trail was a North American route that Texas cattle ranchers used in driving their herds north to the railways in Kansas.


First Line:
Chisinau (pop. 676,000), is the capital and largest city of Moldova, formerly the Soviet republic of Moldavia.


First Line:
Chiton is a sea animal with a tough protective shell.


First Line:
Chittenden, Thomas (1730-1797), was the first governor of Vermont, then part of the British colonies in North America.


First Line:
Chive is a green vegetable that is closely related to the onion.


First Line:
Chlamydia is the name commonly given to a widespread sexually transmitted disease.


First Line:
Chloramphenicol is an antibiotic once used for the treatment of many kinds of infections, including most diseases caused by anaerobes (bacteria that can live without oxygen).


First Line:
Chloride is a chemical compound that contains the chlorine ion (an atom of chlorine that has gained an electron).


First Line:
Chlorine is a poisonous, yellowish-green gas with a strong, unpleasant odour.


First Line:
Chlorofluorocarbon is any of a group of synthetic organic compounds that contain chlorine, fluorine, and carbon.


First Line:
Chloroform is a dense, colourless liquid used as a solvent in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, dyes, and pesticides.


First Line:
Chlorophyll is the green pigment in plants that absorbs light energy for use in photosynthesis.


First Line:
Chloroplast is a specialized structure within the cells of plants.


First Line:
Chlorpromazine is an antipsychotic drug, used to treat schizophrenia and other severe forms of mental illness.


First Line:
Chocolate is a food made from the seeds of a tropical tree called the cacao.


First Line:
Choir schools are establishments in the United Kingdom that concentrate on educating boys who sing daily religious services in choirs.


First Line:
Chola Empire was the most powerful empire in southern India for more than 200 years.


First Line:
Cholera is an infectious intestinal disease common in southern Asia.


First Line:
Cholesterol is a fatty substance found in all animal tissues.


First Line:
Chomsky, Noam (1928-...), an American linguist, originated transformational grammar.


First Line:
Chongqing (pop. 2,730,000), also spelled Chungking or Ch'ung-ch'ing, served as the capital of the Republic of China from 1937 to 1946.


First Line:
Choo Hoey (1934-...), a Chinese musician, popularly known as the Maestro, founded the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in 1979.


First Line:
Chopin, Frederic Francois (1810?-1849), a Polish-born composer, was one of the masters of piano composition.


First Line:
Chopsticks are utensils used in many Asian countries to eat and serve food.


First Line:
Chordate is the name of a large phylum (group) of land, marine, and freshwater animals.


First Line:
Chorea is any of a number of conditions characterized by brief, rapid, uncoordinated movements.


First Line:
Chorley (pop. 96,500), is a local government district in Lancashire, England.


First Line:
Chow Chow is one of the oldest breeds of dog.


First Line:
Chretien, Jean (1934-...), became prime minister of Canada in 1993.


First Line:
Chretien de Troyes was a French poet who wrote from about 1160 to about 1190.


First Line:
Christ of the Andes is a bronze statue of Christ on the Argentina-Chile border in the Andes Mountains.


First Line:
Christchurch (pop. 40,500), is a town in Dorset, England.


First Line:
Christchurch (pop. 307,179), is the third largest city of New Zealand, and the largest city in the South Island.


First Line:
Christian IV (1577-1648), was king of Denmark from 1588 until his death.


First Line:
Christian IX (1818-1906), was king of Denmark from 1863 until his death in 1906.


First Line:
Christian X (1870-1947), was king of Denmark from 1912 until his death.


First Line:
Christian, Charlie (1916?-1942), an American musician, established the guitar as a solo instrument in jazz.


First Line:
Christian Brothers is a charitable educational organization founded in Ireland in 1802 by Edmund Ignatius Rice.


First Line:
Christian Era is the period from the birth of Christ to the present.


First Line:
Christian Scientists are members of a religious movement that stresses spiritual healing.


First Line:
Christianity is the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.


First Line:
Christie, Dame Agatha (1890-1976), was an English writer of detective stories.


First Line:
Christie, Linford (1960-...), a British athlete, won the grand slam of international 100-metre sprint titles in 1993.


First Line:
Christmas is a Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.


First Line:
Christmas bells is the name given to a genus (group) of tufted summer-flowering herbs that grow only in Australia.


First Line:
Christmas bush is a name given to several kinds of Australian plants.


First Line:
Christmas Island is an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean about 2,500 kilometres northwest of Perth.


First Line:
Christophe, Henri (1767-1820), was a black king in northern Haiti in the early 1800's.


First Line:
Christopher, Saint, is the patron saint of ferry workers and travellers.


First Line:
Christopher, Warren Minor (1925-...), served as United States secretary of state under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997.


First Line:
Chromatography is a method of separating the substances that make up a mixture.


First Line:
Chrome is a name given to a number of substances used as pigments in paints.


First Line:
Chromic acid is the common name for chromium trioxide, an important industrial compound.


First Line:
Chromium, a chemical element, is a glossy, fairly soft, grey metal.


First Line:
Chromosome is a threadlike structure found in the cells of all organisms.


First Line:
Chronicles, Books of, are two books of the Bible that describe the history of the Hebrews from Adam to the 500's B.C. The books focus on the Hebrew monarchy, especially the reigns of King David (I Chron. 10-29) and King Solomon (II Chron. 1-9).


First Line:
Chronometer is an instrument that keeps time with extreme accuracy.


First Line:
Chrysalis is the third, or pupal, stage in the development of a butterfly.


First Line:
Chrysanthemum is any one of a group of strong-scented shrubby herbs that grow in many temperate regions.


First Line:
Chrysler, Walter Percy (1875-1940), an American car manufacturer, was a founder and the first president of the Chrysler Corporation.


First Line:
Chrysostom, Saint John (347?-407?), was one of the most beloved and celebrated of the fathers of the early Christian church.


First Line:
Chub is the name of several freshwater fish which live in Asia, Europe, and North America.


First Line:
Chuckwalla is the name of several kinds of large, harmless lizards found in rocky deserts of the United States and Mexico.


First Line:
Chulan bin Sultan Adullah, Raja (1869-1933), was a member of the Perak royal family.


First Line:
Church, in Christianity, has two basic meanings.


First Line:
Church, Frederick Edwin (1826-1900), was an American painter known for his huge, dramatic landscapes.


First Line:
Church and state is a term that refers to the relations between churches and governments.


First Line:
Church Army is a voluntary organization within the Church of England.


First Line:
Church in Wales is the Anglican Church in Wales.


First Line:
Church of England is the established or national Church in England.


First Line:
Church of Ireland is the ancient, reformed, and Protestant Church in Ireland.


First Line:
Church of Scotland is the established national Church in Scotland.


First Line:
Churches of Christ are a group of religious congregations that accept the New Testament as their sole rule of faith and practice.


First Line:
Churchill, Clive (1927-1985), was one of Australia's greatest Rugby League fullbacks.


First Line:
Churchill, Odette (1912-...), was a French-born British agent during World War II (1939-1945).


First Line:
Churchill, Lord Randolph (1849-1895), was a British Conservative politician and father of Sir Winston Churchill, prime minister of Great Britain during World War II (1939-1945).


First Line:
Churchill, Sir Winston (1874-1965), became one of the greatest statesmen in world history.


First Line:
Churchill, Winston (1871-1947), was an American author.


First Line:
Churn is a container in which cream or milk is stirred or beaten.


First Line:
Cibber, Colley (1671-1757), an English actor and playwright, won fame for his portrayal of eccentric characters.


First Line:
Cibola, Seven Cities of, were seven legendary cities in what is now the Southwestern United States.


First Line:
Cicada is a dark, heavy-bodied insect with four thin wings, which it can fold over its body like a roof.


First Line:
Cicero, Marcus Tullius (106-43 B.C.), was a great Roman orator and statesman.


First Line:
Cid, The (1040?-1099), also called El Cid, is one of Spain's national heroes.


First Line:
Cider is an alcoholic beverage made from the juice pressed out of apples.


First Line:
Cigar is a tight roll of dried tobacco used for smoking.


First Line:
Cigarette is a roll of shredded tobacco wrapped in paper.


First Line:
Cilento is the family name of three distinguished Australians, father, mother, and daughter.


First Line:
Cilia are tiny, hairlike structures that project from certain kinds of cells.


First Line:
Cimabue, Giovanni (1240?-1302?), an Italian painter, was the first famous painter from the city of Florence.


First Line:
Cimmerians were nomads who lived in what is now southern Ukraine from about 1200 B.C. to 700 B.C. They inhabited an area north of the Caucasus Mountains, near the Black Sea.


First Line:
Cimon (507?-449 B.C.) was a military and political leader in ancient Athens.


First Line:
Cinchona, also spelled chinchona, is a group of valuable South American trees and shrubs.


First Line:
Cincinnati (pop. 364,040; met. area pop. 1,130,324), in Ohio, is a major industrial and commercial centre of the Midwestern region of the United States.


First Line:
Cincinnatus, Lucius Quinctius (519?-439?  B.C.), a Roman statesman and general, was a legendary model of patriotism.


First Line:
Cineraria is a group of small herbs that belong to the composite family.


First Line:
Cinnabar is the most important ore of mercury.


First Line:
Cinnamon is a popular spice used in cooking and for flavouring sweets and preserves.


First Line:
Cinque ports are towns along the southeastern coast of England where, in the past, the monarch was provided with free ships and crew for 15 days each year.


First Line:
Cinquefoil is any one of a group of plants that belong to the rose family.


First Line:
Circe a beautiful enchantress in Greek mythology, had the power to turn men into beasts.


First Line:
Circuit board is a small board containing electronic components that are connected to form a circuit.


First Line:
Circulatory system is a network that carries blood throughout the body.


First Line:
Circumcision is the surgical removal of the skin that covers the tip of the penis.


First Line:
Circus is a variety show that features daring and graceful acts by trapeze artists, acrobats, horseback riders, animal trainers, and other performers.


First Line:
Cirrhosis is a condition of the liver in which scar tissue forms throughout the organ.


First Line:
Ciskei was a homeland, an area set aside for the southern Xhosa people by the South African government (see SOUTH AFRICAN HOMELANDS).


First Line:
Cistercians are monks and nuns who belong to two Roman Catholic religious orders throughout the world.


