# First Line

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Citibank is one of the largest banks in the world.


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Cities of refuge were six cities of ancient Palestine.


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Citizens' Advice Bureaux are offices in the United Kingdom that offer advice to the public on problems relating to citizens' rights and on the availability of social services.


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Citizens band radio is a method of short-distance communication used by private citizens.


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Citizenship is full membership of a nation or of some other unit of government.


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Citrange is a hybrid plant derived from the sweet orange and the trifoliate orange.


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Citric acid is a common organic acid that gives lemons, oranges, and other citrus fruits their sour taste.


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Citrin is a chemical substance that belongs to a group of chemicals called flavonoids.


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Citrine, Lord (1887-1983), a British trade union leader, was general secretary of the Trades Union Congress from 1926 to 1946.


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Citron is a large, usually sour fruit much like the lemon.


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Citronella is a pale yellow oil that is made from citronella grass.


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Citrus is the name of a group of trees and shrubs which belong to the rue family.


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City is a community where thousands--or even millions--of people live and work.


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City of London (pop. 5,400), often known simply as The City, is the financial and business centre of the capital.


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City-state is an independent or nearly independent state in which political and cultural activities are concentrated in a single urban centre.


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Ciudad Bolivar (pop. 249,590), is a major port and commercial city on the Orinoco River in eastern Venezuela.


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Civet is a furry mammal that looks somewhat like a long, slender cat.


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Civil defence, also known as civil protection, is a government-sponsored programme designed to save lives and property if an enemy attacks a country in wartime.


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Civil disobedience is the deliberate and public refusal to obey a law.


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Civil law is a term with several meanings.


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Civil List is the state financial account that pays for the maintenance of the sovereign and the Royal Family in the United Kingdom.


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Civil rights are the freedoms and rights that a person may have as a member of a community, state, or nation.


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Civil service consists of people employed by the state to run the public services of a country.


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Civil War, English, was fought between the forces of King Charles I and those of the English Parliament.


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Civil War, Irish was fought between supporters and opponents of the Anglo-Irish treaty of December 1921.


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Civilization is a way of life that arose after people began to live in cities or in societies organized as states.


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Claim, in its general meaning, is a legal demand.


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Clair, Rene (1898-1981), was a French film director.


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Clairvoyance is an awareness of events, objects, or people without the use of the senses of hearing, sight, smell, taste, or touch.


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Clam is an animal whose soft body is covered with a protective shell.


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Clan is a group of people who are related through a common ancestor.


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Clare is a county on the west coast of the Republic of Ireland, in the province of Munster.


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Clarence is the name of two rivers in Australasia.


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Clarendon, Earl of (1609-1674), played a leading part in restoring the monarchy in England in 1660.


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Clarendon Code was a series of four Acts of Parliament aimed at enforcing religious conformity with the Church of England.


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Clark, Lord (1903-1983), was a British writer on art who won fame with such books as The Gothic Revival (1929), Leonardo da Vinci (1939), The Nude (1955), and Ruskin Today (1964).


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Clark, Ann Nolan (1898-1995), was an American author of children's books.


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Clark, Charles Joseph (1939-...), was prime minister of Canada from June 1979 to March 1980.


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Clark, Charles Manning Hope (1915-1991), an Australian historian, was professor of history at the Australian National University from 1949 to 1975.


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Clark, George Rogers (1752-1818), was an American frontiersman and soldier who won important victories in the Northwest Territory during the American Revolution (1775-1783).


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Clark, Jim (1936-1968), was a Scottish motor-racing driver.


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Clark, Mavis Thorpe (1924-...), is the pen name of Mavis Latham, an outstanding Australian children's novelist.


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Clark, William (1770-1838), was an American soldier and explorer.


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Clarke was the name of Australia's last bushranging gang.


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Clarke, Sir Andrew (1824-1902), a noted Australian administrator, became surveyor general of Victoria in 1853.


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Clarke, Arthur C. (1917-...), is a British-born author of science fiction and related nonfiction.


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Clarke, Austin (1896-1974), was a noted Irish poet.


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Clarke, Jeremiah (1669?-1707), was a British composer and organist.


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Clarke, Marcus Andrew Hislop (1846-1881), was a novelist and journalist who wrote the Australian classic For the Term of His Natural Life.


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Clarke, Ron (1937-...), an Australian athlete, established himself during the mid-1960's as one of the greatest long-distance runners in history.


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Class action is a type of judicial proceeding in which one or more individuals sue on behalf of a group having similar claims.


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Classical music is music written chiefly for concerts, for religious services, and for opera and ballet.


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Classicism is a philosophy of art and life that emphasizes order, balance, and simplicity.


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Classification, Scientific.  Scientific Classification is a method scientists have developed to arrange all of the world's organisms in related groups.


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Claude (1600-1682) was a French painter who established a tradition of landscape painting that influenced artists in Europe and America for 200 years.


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Claudel, Paul (1868-1955), was a French writer and diplomat.


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Claudius (10 B.C.-A.D. 54), was the emperor of Rome from A.D. 41 to 54.


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Clause is a group of words with a subject and a predicate.


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Clausewitz, Karl von (1780-1831), was a Prussian army officer and military theorist.


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Clausius, Rudolf Julius Emmanuel (1822-1888), a German physicist, helped establish thermodynamics as a science.


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Clavichord is a keyboard musical instrument that was a forerunner of the piano.


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Clay is a substance present in most kinds of soil.


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Clay, Henry (1777-1852), was a leading American statesman for nearly 50 years.


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Clay, Lucius Dubignon (1897-1978), served as commander in chief of the United States armed forces in Europe, and as military governor of the U.S. zone in Germany from 1947 to 1949.


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Clay pigeon shooting is a sport in which a person shoots at clay discs that are thrown into the air by a machine.


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Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, signed by the United States and Great Britain in 1850, gave both countries an equal share in the protection of a canal to be built through Central America.


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Clearing house is an institution where financial transactions such as bank payments are set against each other and the final balance for each bank or other institution is settled.


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Cleary, Beverly (1916-...), is an American author of books for children.


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Cleaver, Eldridge (1935-...), became known for preaching the doctrine of Black Power.


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Cleethorpes (pop. 67,500) is a popular seaside resort on the east coast of England, situated in north east Lincolnshire.


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Cleft palate is a birth defect in which there is a split in the roof of the mouth.


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Cleisthenes was a statesman in ancient Athens.


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Clematis is any one of a group of perennial herbs or woody vines that grow throughout Asia, Europe, and North America.


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Clemenceau, Georges (1841-1929), a French statesman, led France triumphantly through the last and most difficult period of World War (1914-1918).


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Clement I, Saint (?-about A.D. 101), was elected pope about A.D. 92.


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Clement VII (1342-1394), was an antipope--that is, a man determined to have improperly claimed to be or served as pope.


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Clement VII (1478-1534), was elected pope in 1523 and reigned during a stormy period in European religious and political affairs.


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Clement VIII (1536-1605), was elected pope in 1592, during the time of renewal and reform in the Roman Catholic Church known as the Counter Reformation.


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Clementi, Muzio (1752-1832), was an Italian composer best known for his piano music.


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Cleopatra (69-30 B.C.), was a queen of ancient Egypt and one of the most fascinating women in history.


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Cleopatra's Needles are two famous obelisks (tall pillars of stone) from ancient Egypt.


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Clerestory is an architectural term for the row of windows in a wall that rises above surrounding roofs.


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Clermont was the first commercially successful steamboat.


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Cleveland (pop. 505,616; met. area pop. 1,831,122), is the second largest city in the state of Ohio and a leading industrial centre of the United States.


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Cleveland was a small administrative county in northeastern England.


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Cleveland, Grover (1837-1908), was president of the United States for two separate terms.


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Cleveland Hills are a group of hills bordering on the counties of North Yorkshire and Cleveland in northern England.


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Cliburn, Van (1934-...), is an American concert pianist.


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Click beetle is the name used for any one of a group of beetles that spring and snap.


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Clifford, Sir Hugh (1866-1941), was a pioneer British administrator in Malaya.


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Climate is the weather of a place averaged over a length of time.


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Clinical psychology is the scientific study, diagnosis, and treatment of people who have psychological problems adjusting to themselves and the environment.


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Clinton, Bill (1946-...), was elected president of the United States in 1992.


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Clipper ship was a fast, slender sailing vessel that was developed in the United States in the mid-1800's.


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Clive, Robert (1725-1774), was the British administrator and military leader who brought India into the British Empire.


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Clock is an instrument that shows the time.


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Cloister, in architecture, refers to a covered walk that encloses the courtyard of a monastery, convent, church, or college.


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Cloncurry River in western Queensland, Australia, flows into the Gulf of Carpentaria.


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Cloncurry (pop. 3,375), is a town in northwestern Queensland, Australia, about 120 kilometres east of the mining centre of Mount Isa.


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Clone is a group of genetically identical cells.


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Closed shop is a workshop or an industry in which only members of a trade union may be employed.


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Clothing includes all the different garments, accessories, and ornaments worn by people throughout the world.


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Cloud is a mass of small water droplets or tiny ice crystals that floats in the air.


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Cloudburst is a sudden heavy rain falling for a short period of time in a small area.


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Clough, Arthur Hugh (1819-1861), was a British poet and scholar.


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Clove is the name given to the dried flower buds of a tropical tree belonging to the myrtle family.


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Clover is a valuable crop used to feed farm animals and to enrich the soil.


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Clovis I (466?-511), a Frankish king, became the first powerful ruler of the Merovingian dynasty, the founders of the French state.


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Clown is a type of comic performer who usually works in a circus.


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Club moss is any one of a group of plants that look somewhat like large mosses.


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Clubfoot is an abnormal condition of the foot, usually present at birth.


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Clumber spaniel is a short, heavy hunting dog.


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Clune, Frank (1893-1971), an Australian writer, became well known for his books of travel, adventure, history, and biography.


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Clunies-Ross is a family connected with the Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean.


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Cluskey, Frank (1930-...), a Labour Party politician, was minister for trade and commerce in the Republic of Ireland's coalition government during the period 1982-1983.


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Clyde, River, is the chief commercial waterway in Scotland.


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Clytemnestra was a princess in Greek mythology.


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Cnidarian is the name of a group of soft-bodied water animals.


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Cnidus was an ancient Greek city located on the southwest coast of present-day Turkey.


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Coach was the name for a four-wheeled vehicle drawn by animals.


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Coagulant is any substance that causes a fluid to clot, or thicken.


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Coal is a black or brown rock that can be ignited and burned.


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Coal tar is a thick, black, sticky liquid.


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Coalition is a combination of political interest groups working toward a mutual goal.


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Coanda, Henri-Marie (1885-1972), a Romanian civil aeronautics engineer and inventor, designed an aeroplane based on a jet-propulsion system.


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Coast Ranges are a system of mountains that form the western coast of North America for about 4,020 kilometres.


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Coates, Eric (1886-1957), was an English composer, conductor, and viola player.


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Coati, also called coatimundi, is a member of the raccoon family.


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Coatsworth, Elizabeth (1893-1986), was an American author best known for her children's books.


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Coaxial cable is an electrical conductor consisting of a central, insulated conducting wire that is surrounded by a flexible, tube-shaped conducting shielding.


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Cobalt is a silver-white metallic chemical element used chiefly in alloys.


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Cobb, Irvin Shrewsbury (1876-1944), was an American humorist.


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Cobb, John Rhodes (1899-1952), a British driver, once held both the world land speed record and the world water speed record.


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Cobb, Ty (1886-1961), was one of the greatest and most exciting players in American baseball history.


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Cobb and Co. organized the first reliable transport system in Australasia.


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Cobbett, William (1763?-1835), a British journalist and politician, became noted for his book Rural Rides (1830), in which he made strong comments on the state of agriculture and politics in Britain.


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Cobden, Richard (1804-1865), a British politician and economist, advocated free trade, particularly in corn.


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Cobh (pop. 6,372), is a port and holiday resort in County Cork in the Republic of Ireland.


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Cobham, Sir Alan John (1894-1973), a British aviator, pioneered refuelling in the air and introduced this system to the United States Air Force and Navy, and the British Royal Air Force, in 1951.


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Cobra is any one of a group of poisonous "hooded" snakes.


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Coca is one of a group of South American shrubs or small trees.


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Cocaine is a powerful drug made from leaves of the coca shrub of South America.


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Cochise (1800?-1874), was an American Indian chief who fought white settlers living in what are now Arizona and New Mexico.


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Cochran, Sir Charles Blake (1872-1951), was a British stage producer who became famous for his spectacular shows.


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Cochran, Jacqueline (1912-1980), was an American businesswoman and pioneer aeroplane pilot.


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Cochrane, Mickey (1903-1962), rose to baseball fame as a catcher for the Philadelphia Athletics and catcher-manager for the Detroit Tigers.


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Cock-of-the-rock is the name of two species of South American birds.


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Cockatiel, also spelled cockateel, is a grey bird related to the cockatoo.


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Cockatoo is the name of several large parrots.


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Cockburn Sound, a deepwater port, is the largest of three main anchorages within the outer harbour of the Port of Fremantle in Western Australia.


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Cockcroft, Sir John Douglas (1897-1967), a British nuclear physicist, won the 1951 Nobel Prize for physics with Ernest T. S. Walton for being the first to disintegrate atomic nuclei with artificially accelerated particles.


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Cocker spaniel is the name of two similar breeds of dogs, the English cocker spaniel and the American cocker spaniel.


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Cockerell, Sir Christopher (1910-...), a British electronics engineer, was a pioneer in the development of the hovercraft.


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Cockfield, Lord (1916-...), Francis Arthur Cockfield, a British politician and a Conservative life peer, was a vice president of the European Community Commission from 1985 to 1988.


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Cockfighting is a sport in which two gamecocks (fighting cockerels) battle each other in a fight to the death.


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Cockle is a sea animal with a tough, protective shell.


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Cocklebur, also known as clotbur, is the name of certain species of annual weeds belonging to the daisy family.


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Cockney is a nickname for a citizen of London, particularly one from the East End area.


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Cockroach is an insect best known as a household pest.


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Cockscomb is a flower with heads of red and yellow blossoms shaped like a cockerel's comb or like an ostrich plume.


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Coconut palm is the tall, graceful tree on which the coconut grows.


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Cocoon is a protective covering that encloses the pupa and sometimes the larva of many insects.


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Cocos (Keeling) Islands are in the Indian Ocean, 2,768 kilometres northwest of Perth, Australia.


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Cocteau, Jean (1889-1963), a French writer, often used his many talents to shock the public.


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Cod-liver oil is a yellow, fishy smelling oil obtained from the livers of codfish.


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Code in law, combines all the laws on a given subject in a single statute or ordinance.


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Code Napoleon is the name often given to the code that contains the civil, as distinguished from the criminal, law of France.


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Codeine, also called methylmorphine, is a drug used to relieve pain (thus an analgesic or pain-killer) and coughing (thus an antitussive).


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Codes and ciphers are methods of writing a message so that only people with a key can read it.


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Codling moth is a small brown and bronze-coloured moth.


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Coe, Sebastian (1956-...), one of the United Kingdom's outstanding athletes, won fame for his record-breaking triumphs in track events.


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Coeducation is the teaching of males and females together in the same class or school.


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Coelacanth is a primitive type of fish found in the western Indian Ocean.


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Coelom is the body cavity found in vertebrates and higher invertebrates.


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Coen, Jan Pieterszoon (1587-1629), served two terms as governor general of the Netherlands Indies.


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Coercion acts were laws passed by the British Parliament during the 1800's to strengthen the powers of the British administration in Ireland.


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Coertse, Mimi (1932-...), was the first South African opera singer to be ranked among the world's best.


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Coetzee, J. M. (1940-...), a highly acclaimed South African writer, won the British Booker-McConnell prize for his novel The Life and Times of Michael K in 1983.


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Coffee, the drink made from the roasted and ground beans of the coffee plant, is a favourite hot drink in almost every country in the world.


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Coffee house was a type of cafe that served as a centre of business, cultural, and political life in Great Britain.


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Cofferdam is a temporary walled enclosure used in construction.


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Coffs Harbour (pop. 18,074), is a port and tourist resort on the midnorth coast of New South Wales, Australia.


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Coggan, Lord (1909-...), Baron Coggan of Canterbury and Sissinghurst, was Archbishop of Canterbury, England, from 1974 to 1979.


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Cohan, George M. (1878-1942), was a leading figure in the American theatre during the early 1900's.


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Cohen, Harriet (1895-1967), was a British pianist of international repute.


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Cohen, Leonard (1934-...), is a Canadian poet and novelist.


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Cohesion is the force that holds a material together.


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Cohn, Ferdinand Julius (1828-1898), was a German botanist and pioneer in bacteriology.


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Coin collecting is one of the most popular hobbies in the world.


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Coke is a hard, greyish substance obtained when soft coal is heated in an airtight coke oven.


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Coke, Sir Edward (1552-1634), was an English barrister and judge.


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Coke, Thomas William (1752-1842), Earl of Leicester of Holkham, was one of the first British agriculturists to improve land and farm produce by the rotation of crops, and by the use of root crops to feed livestock.


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Coke oven gas, also called coal gas, is the gas obtained when coal is heated in an airtight place.


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Colac (pop. 9,170), is a city on the southern shore of Lake Colac in southwestern Victoria, Australia.


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Colbert, Jean Baptiste (1619-1683), a French statesman, served King Louis XIV as superintendent of finance for 22 years.


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Colbung, Ken (1930-...), an Aboriginal organizer, became chairman of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies in 1984.


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Colchester (pop. 141,100), is a town in northeast Essex, England.


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Colchicum is a poisonous plant that grows wild in the moist meadowlands of England, Ireland, and of middle and southern Europe.


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Cold, Common.  The common cold is any of a number of infections of the upper respiratory tract.


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Cold-blooded animal is an animal that has no built-in control over its body temperature.


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Cold frame is a boxlike structure built on the ground to protect plants during cold weather.


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Cold sore is a cluster of small blisters caused by a virus called herpes simplex virus.


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Cold storage is a method of storing foods and other perishable products by keeping them at low temperatures above freezing and in moist air.


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Cold War is the term used to describe the intense rivalry that developed after World War II (1939-1945) in 1945 between groups of Communist and non-Communist nations.


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Cole, G. D. H. (1889-1959), was a British economist, political writer, and novelist.


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Cole, Nat "King" (1917-1965), was an American singer and pianist.


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Cole, Thomas (1801-1848), was a leader of the first group of American landscape painters.


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Colebee was an Aborigine from Port Jackson, on the east coast of Australia.


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Coleman, John (1928-1973), an Australian Rules football player, kicked 537 goals in a little over five seasons playing for Essendon, a suburb of Melbourne.


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Colenso, William (1811-1899), was a missionary, scientist, explorer, printer, and politician.


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Coleraine (pop. 51,060), is a local government district in Northern Ireland.


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Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1772-1834), was a poet and philosopher-critic of the English romantic movement.


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Coleridge-Taylor, Samuel (1875-1912), a British composer, is best remembered for his choral and orchestral setting of Longfellow's poem Hiawatha.


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Colet, John (1467?-1519), was an English scholar, teacher, and priest who influenced the revival of learning and the reformation of the Church in England.


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Colette (1873-1954) was a French author.


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Coleus is the name for a group of plants native to tropical and nearly tropical areas of Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Pacific Islands.


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Colic is a severe cramping pain resulting from the contraction of any of the hollow, muscular abdominal organs, such as the stomach and intestines.


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Coligny, Gaspard de (1519-1572), was one of the ablest French statesmen during the troubled period of religious wars.


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Colitis is a disease involving inflammation of the colon or other parts of the large intestine.


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Collage is a picture or design made by gluing pieces of paper or other materials onto a canvas or another surface.


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Collagen is a protein found throughout the bodies of human beings and animals.


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Collamer, Jacob (1791-1865), an American statesman, was postmaster general in the administration of President Zachary Taylor, who held office from March 1849 to July 1850.


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Collarbone is a long, slender, curved bone that connects the breastbone with a hooklike projection on the shoulder blade.


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Collards are the leaves of the collard plant, a vegetable related to the cabbage.


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Collection agency is an organization that collects overdue payments.


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Collective behaviour is a term in sociology that refers to how people act in crowds and other large, relatively unorganized groups.


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Collective farm is a farm operated by a group cooperatively.


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Collectivism is a political and economic system in which the government or the people as a group own the land, factories, and other means of production.


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College of Arms is a body consisting of 13 members who act officially in matters concerning heraldry in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Commonwealth.


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Colles, Abraham (1773-1843), was an Irish surgeon of the early 1800's.


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Collie is a breed of dog that originated in Scotland, probably during the 1600's.


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Collie, Alexander (1793-1835), a Scottish-born naturalist and surgeon, arrived in Western Australia in 1829 on the warship Sulphur.


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Collier, Marie (1927-1971), an Australian singer, became a principal soprano at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in London, England, in 1956.


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Collier Bay lies at the mouth of the Charnley and Isdell rivers, on the northern coast of Western Australia.


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Collingwood, Lord (1750-1810), Cuthbert Collingwood, was a British admiral who played a prominent part in the wars against revolutionary and Napoleonic France.


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Collins, David (1756-1810), was the founder of Hobart, the capital of Tasmania, Australia, and the first lieutenant governor of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania).


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Collins, Gerard (1938-...), was minister of foreign affairs for the Republic of Ireland for the second time from 1989 to 1992.


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Collins, Michael (1930-...), an American astronaut, was a crewman on the Apollo 11 mission, which made the first manned landing on the moon.


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Collins, Michael (1890-1922), was one of the chief leaders in Ireland's struggle for independence.


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Collins, Wilkie (1824-1889), an English author, was one of the most successful writers of detective fiction in the 1800's.


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Collinsville (pop. 3,173), is a coal-mining centre in Queensland, Australia.


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Collodi, Carlo (1826-1890), an Italian author, wrote the famous children's story The Adventures of Pinocchio (1883).


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Colloid is a material composed of tiny particles of one substance that are dispersed (distributed), but not dissolved, in another substance.


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Colobus is a type of monkey that lives in Africa south of the Sahara to the Zambezi River.


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Cologne (pop. 916,153), is a city in western Germany.


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Colombia is a country in northwestern South America.


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Colombo (pop. 616,000), is the capital, seaport, and largest city of Sri Lanka.


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Colombo Plan provides assistance for economic development to countries of South and Southeast Asia and the Pacific.


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Colon (pop. 59,840), is the third largest city in Panama.


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Colon is a mark of punctuation shown as :.


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Colonial life in America.  The story of the American colonists is one of the great adventure tales of all time.


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Colonialism is the system by which one society or state (the colonial power) controls the people and resources of another place, the colony.


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Colony is a settlement established by people outside their native land, and ruled by the mother country.


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Colorado is a state in the Rocky Mountain region of the western United States.


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Colorado beetle, also called Colorado potato beetle, is a stout yellow beetle and the most destructive of the insect pests that attack the potato plant.


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Colosseum also called the Flavian Amphitheatre, was the largest outdoor theatre of ancient Rome.


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Colossians, Epistle to the, is the 12th book of the New Testament.


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Colour blindness, sometimes called daltonism, is the inability to tell all colours apart.


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Colster, Willem Joosten Van, a Dutch explorer, charted the west coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, in Northern Australia.


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Colt, Samuel (1814-1862), an American gunsmith, developed the first successful repeating pistol.


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Colter, John (1770?-1813), an American trapper, discovered and explored the Yellowstone region, in the United States.


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Coltrane, John William (1926-1967), was a famous jazz saxophonist and composer.


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Coltsfoot is a wild plant of Europe and Asia.


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Colum, Padraic (1881-1972), was an original member of the group of Irish writers that made Dublin's Abbey Theatre famous.


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Columba, Saint (521-597), founded several monasteries in Ireland and made the island of Iona, off western Scotland, a centre for missionary work.


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Columbanus, Saint (?-615), was an Irish missionary whose work greatly influenced the spread of Christian teaching in Europe.


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Columbia River is one of the chief rivers of the Western United States and Canada.


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Columbine, also called aquilegia, is a graceful plant, with about 100 species throughout the Northern Hemisphere.


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Columbus (pop. 632,910; met. area pop. 1,377,419), is the capital city and a leading industrial centre of Ohio, in the United States.


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Columbus, Christopher (1451-1506), was an outstanding navigator and organizer of expeditions.


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Column is a freestanding vertical architectural element.


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Colwyn (pop. 54,600), is a local government area in western Clwyd, Wales.


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Coma is a state of deep and complete loss of consciousness.


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Comaneci, Nadia, (1961-...), a Romanian gymnast, became the first gymnast to receive a perfect score of 10 in the Olympic Games.


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Combine harvester is a farm machine that cuts and threshes grain or other crops in one operation.


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Combustion is a chemical reaction that gives off heat and light.


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Comedy is a form of drama that deals with humorous or ridiculous aspects of human behaviour.


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Comenius, John Amos (1592-1670), was a Czech educational reformer and religious leader.


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Comet is an icy body that normally travels around the sun in a long, oval orbit.


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Comfrey is a bushy perennial plant found in Europe and Asia.


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Comics are a series of related cartoons that tell a story.


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Cominform, short for Communist Information Bureau, was established in 1947.


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Comintern, short for Communist International, often called the Third International, was founded in 1919.


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Comitia were assemblies of the people of ancient Rome.


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Comma is a mark of punctuation shown as , .


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Commander in chief has supreme command of a nation's armed services.


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Commander Islands, also called Komandorskiye Islands, are a Russian island group in the Bering Sea, east of the Kamchatka Peninsula.


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Commando is the British term for a soldier who is trained to take part in specialized hit-and-run or raiding operations.


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Commercial art includes many types of art used for business purposes.


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Commercial paper is a term used broadly to describe business documents that are either orders or promises to pay money.


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Commission, Military, is a written order giving an officer rank in the armed services.


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Committee of the whole is a committee composed of all the members of an organization.


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Commodity exchange is an organized market for almost any raw material or food that is produced in large quantities.


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Common carrier is a person or company who exercises the profession of carrying goods or passengers for a reasonable price, and is available to anyone who wishes to use him.


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Common law is a body of rulings made by judges on the basis of community customs and previous court decisions.


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Common market is an economic union of nations.


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Commons are tracts of open land that people may use in common.


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Commons, John Rogers (1862-1945), was an American pioneer in the development of many applied fields of economics.


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Commonwealth is a term sometimes used for a state, a country, or a group of states and countries.


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Commonwealth Day is celebrated in the United Kingdom (UK) on the second Monday in March.


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Commonwealth Games is the name given to a sporting competition open to individuals and teams representing countries from within the Commonwealth of Nations (see COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS).


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Commonwealth Institute is a building in London that houses exhibitions about the Commonwealth of Nations and its members.


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Commonwealth of Independent States is a loose association of independent nations that were formerly republics of the Soviet Union.


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Commonwealth of Nations is an association of independent countries and other political units that have lived under British law and government.


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Communal society is a community formed by people who believe that they can make a better life together than any of them could make alone.


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Commune is the smallest district of local government in France and some other countries.


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Communication is sharing information or providing entertainment by speaking, writing, or other methods.


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Communion, in Christian churches, is the sacrament (holy ceremony) of the Lord's Supper.


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Communism is a political and economic system that became one of the most powerful forces in the world.


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Community, in the social sciences, is a group of people who share similar beliefs and customs and who may live in the same area.


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Comoros is an archipelago (group of islands) in the Indian Ocean between the mainland of Africa and the island country of Madagascar.


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Compact disc, often called CD, is a round, flat platter on which information is stored in the form of digital (numerical) code.


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Company is a business enterprise in which people work together for the purpose of manufacturing, buying, or selling goods, or providing a service.


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Comparative psychology is the study of differences and similarities in the behaviour of animals of different species.


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Comparison, in grammar, is the inflection of some adjectives and adverbs to express a greater or smaller degree of the quality the word denotes.


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Compass is a device for determining direction.


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Compass plant is a coarse plant that grows in the Midwestern United States.


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Composite family, also called Compositae or Asteraceae, is the largest and the most highly developed family of flowering plants.


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Compost is a kind of fertilizer made from partly decayed plant material.


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Compound is a substance that contains more than one kind of atom.


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Compound eye is a type of eye that has many tiny lenses close together.


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Compton, Denis (1918-1997), played cricket for Middlesex and England.


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Compton-Burnett, Dame Ivy (1892-1969), an English novelist, ranks among the most accomplished literary stylists of her time.


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Computer is a device that processes information with astonishing speed and accuracy.


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Computer, Personal is a desktop or handheld computer designed for general-purpose use.


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Computer file is a collection of electronic data, used to organize the storage and processing of data by computer.


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Computer graphics is a term that refers both to the use of computers to create or change images and to the images themselves.


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Computerized tomography (CT) is an X-ray system used to produce images of various parts of the body, such as the head, heart, and abdomen.


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Computer keyboard is the main device for entering information into a computer.


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Computer language is a set of symbols in which operating instructions for a computer are written.


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Computer modelling is the creation of electronic representations of objects or ideas.


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Computer monitor is the device that displays words and images when we work, play, communicate, or learn with a computer.


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Computer network is a collection of computers that are interconnected to share information and processing resources.


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Computer security is the protection of computer systems, and the data stored on them, against unauthorized access.


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Computer simulation is the creation of electronic representations of objects or ideas that respond to changing factors.


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Computer storage disk is the standard medium for storing data.


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Comte, Auguste (1798-1857), was a French social thinker and philosopher.


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Conakry (pop. 763,000), is the capital, largest city, and chief port of Guinea.


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Concentration camp is a place where political enemies, real or assumed, are imprisoned, usually without trial.


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Concertina is a musical instrument in which metal reeds are made to vibrate by air pressure produced by opening and closing a bellows.


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Concerto is a musical composition played by one or more solo instruments and an orchestra.


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Conch is a large sea snail with a heavy, spiral shell. There are many kinds of conch.


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Concord (pop. 36,006), is the capital and third largest city in the state of New Hampshire in the United States.


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Concord, Battle of on April 19, 1775, marked the second clash between the patriots and the British in the American Revolution.


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Concussion is a temporary disturbance of brain function caused by a sudden blow to the head.


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Condamine is a river in southeastern Queensland, Australia.


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Condensed milk is a pasteurized, concentrated form of milk.


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Condillac, Etienne Bonnot de (1715-1780), a French philosopher and psychologist, stressed the importance of the senses.


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Condon, Edward Uhler (1902-1974), an American physicist, became noted for his contributions to theoretical physics.


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Condor is either of two species of large vulture found in the Western Hemisphere.


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Condorcet, Marquis de (1743-1794), was a French philosopher.


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Cone, in geometry, is a solid figure whose base lies on a plane and is bounded by a closed curve called the directrix.


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Cone shell is one of several marine snails, named after their cone-shaped shells.


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Confederate States of America was the name taken by six southern states of the United States when they organized their own government at Montgomery, Alabama, in February 1861.


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Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is a non-party political body in the United Kingdom that represents more than 250,000 British businesses.


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Confederation of Irish Industry (CII) is an organization that represents industry in the Republic of Ireland.


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Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) is any of a series of conferences designed to increase cooperation between certain Eastern and Western European nations.


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Confession, in law, is a voluntary statement in which a person admits that he or she is guilty of a crime.


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Confirmation is a religious ceremony practised by several faiths.


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Conflict of interest occurs if an individual has a financial or other interest in a company doing business with his or her employer.


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Confucianism is a philosophy based on the ideas of the Chinese philosopher Confucius.


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Confucius (551?-479?  B.C.), was the most influential and respected philosopher in Chinese history.


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Conga drum is a percussion instrument that is chiefly used in playing Latin-American music.


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Congleton (pop. 82,900), is a local government district in Cheshire, England.


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Conglomerate, in business, is a large corporation that controls or owns a number of companies that generally operate in unrelated markets.


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Congo (Brazzaville) is a hot, humid country in west-central Africa.


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Congo River, is the fifth longest river in the world.


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Congregationalists are members of a Protestant religious group.


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Congress comes from the Latin word congressus, which means a meeting.


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Congress of the United States makes the nation's laws.


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Congreve, Richard (1818-1899), was a British essayist.


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Congreve, William (1670-1729), was an English dramatist who wrote witty, sophisticated comedies.


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Congreve, Sir William (1772-1828), a British inventor, developed rockets that could carry explosives.


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Conifer is any one of a large group of trees or shrubs that bears its seeds in cones.


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Conjugation is a complete list of the forms of a verb by mood, number, person, tense, and voice.


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Conjunction is a word used to connect words, phrases, clauses, and sentences.


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Conjunctivitis is an inflammation of the membrane that covers the white part of the eyeball and the inner lining of the eyelid.


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Conkers is a traditional autumn game for children in the United Kingdom.


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Connacht is one of the four provinces of Ireland.


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Connecticut is a state in the northeastern United States.


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Connective tissue connects body organs and tissues, holds organs in place, and supports the body.


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Connell, Desmond (1926-...), became the Roman Catholic archbishop of Dublin and primate of Ireland in 1988.


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Connolly, James (1870-1916), was an Irish trade union leader and nationalist.


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Connolly, Patrick (1927-...), became the Republic of Ireland's attorney general in 1982.


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Connors, Jimmy (1952-...), an American tennis champion, was one of the best singles players in the world.


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Conquistadors were Spaniards who conquered Indian peoples in parts of Latin America mainly during the first half of the 1500's.


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Conrad, Joseph (1857-1924), was a Polish-born author who wrote in English.


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Conscientious objector is a person who, for religious or other reasons, refuses to serve in the military in defence of his or her country.


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Conscription, also called military draft or national service, is a method of selecting men, and very occasionally women, for compulsory military service.


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Conservation is the management, protection, and wise use of natural resources.


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Conservatism is an attitude or philosophy that places great emphasis on tradition.


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Conservative Party is one of the United Kingdom's (UK) two main political parties.


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Consonant is a letter or sound which in speech requires hindering of the breath by the tongue, teeth, or lips.


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Conspiracy is an agreement between two or more people to do something that is against the law.


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Constable, John (1776-1837), ranks with J. M. W. Turner as the leading English landscape painter of the 1800's.


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Constantine (pop. 448,578), is a trading centre in Algeria about 80 kilometres from the Mediterranean Sea.


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Constantine I (1868-1923), of Greece was king from 1913 to 1917 and 1920 to 1922.


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Constantine II (1940-...) of Greece was king from 1964 to 1973.


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Constantine, Learie (1902-1971), was one of the most talented cricketers the game has produced.


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Constantine the Great was the first emperor of Rome to become a Christian.


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Constellation is a group of stars visible within a particular region of the night sky.


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Constipation is a condition in which the bowel does not rid itself of waste materials as readily as usual.


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Constitution is a statement outlining the agreed basic principles of formal organizations ranging from national governments to private clubs.


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Constitution is a famous frigate of the United States Navy.


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Constitutions of Clarendon were an early attempt, in England, to define the boundaries between the rights of the Church and the jurisdiction of the Crown.


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Construction equipment is machinery used to build and demolish bridges, buildings, and other structures.


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Consul is an official appointed by the government of one country to look after its commercial and cultural interests in a city of another country.


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Consumer Price Index is a statistical measurement usually used to describe changes in the retail price of goods and services in a particular area, region, city, or country.


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Consumerism is a movement that promotes the interests of buyers of goods and services.


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Consumption, in economics, is the amount of money that is spent on goods and services during a specified period, usually one year.


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Contact lens is a device used to correct an eye's nearsightedness or farsightedness.


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Containerization is a method of shipping freight by placing it inside large metal boxes called containers.


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Conteh, John (1951-...), is a British boxer who became the world champion in the light-heavyweight class.


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Contempt, in law, is wilful disregard or disobedience of public authority, such as a court or legislative assembly.


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Continent is a part of the earth's surface that forms one of the great dry-land masses of the world.


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Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the American Colonies that first met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 5, 1774.


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Continental divide is the term used to designate the line of elevated land that separates areas drained to opposite sides of a continent.


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Continental drift is the name of the theory that says the continents have moved great distances on the earth's surface and are still moving today.


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Continental System sought to choke off the United Kingdom's (UK) trade with the rest of Europe in the early 1800's.


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Contraband, in commerce, means trade forbidden by law.


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Contract is an agreement made by two or more persons that is enforceable by law.


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Contrail is a thin line of cloud that forms behind aircraft at high altitudes.


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Contralto is the lowest voice a woman can sing, and falls in the lower register of an alto voice.


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Convent is a religious community, usually of women, who have taken religious vows and live under religious rule.


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Converter is a device used to convert electrical energy from alternating current to direct current.


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Convertibility describes a currency which may be freely exchanged for another country's currency or gold.


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Conveyancing is the legal procedure used for transferring real property from one owner to another.


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Conveyor belt is a device that conveys (carries) large quantities of material from place to place.


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Convicts in Australia and their jailers were the earliest European settlers.


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Convoy is a group of merchant ships travelling together for defence against enemy attack.


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Convulsions are involuntary contractions of groups of muscles often accompanied by loss of consciousness.


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Conway, William Cardinal (1913-1977), was Roman Catholic archbishop of Armagh, in Northern Ireland, and primate of All Ireland from 1963 to 1977.


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Coober Pedy (pop. 2,880), is Australia's largest opal-mining centre.


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Cook, Frederick Albert (1865-1940), an American explorer, claimed he discovered the North Pole in April 1908.


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Cook, James (1728-1779), was a British navigator and one of the world's greatest explorers.


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Cook, Sir Joseph (1860-1947), was prime minister of Australia in 1913 and 1914.


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Cook, Robin (1946-...), a British politician, became foreign secretary following the Labour Party's victory in 1997.


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Cook, Thomas (1808-1892), a British businessman, founded the worldwide tourist service of Thomas Cook and Son.


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Cook Islands lie in the South Pacific Ocean, about 2,900 kilometres northeast of New Zealand.


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Cook Strait is the stretch of water that separates the North Island of New Zealand from the South Island.


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Cooker is an appliance that provides heat for cooking.


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Cooking is the preparation of food for eating.


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Cookstown (pop. 30,883), is a local government district in Northern Ireland.


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Cooktown is a coastal town in northeast Queensland, Australia, about 193 kilometres north of Cairns.


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Coolgardie (pop. 5,615), is an Australian mining town in the eastern goldfields district of Western Australia, about 560 kilometres east of Perth.


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Coolidge, Calvin (1872-1933), was the 30th president of the United States (1923-1929).


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Cooma (pop. 9,762), is an Australian town in the Monaro tablelands (plateaus) of southeastern New South Wales, located to the east of the Snowy Mountains.


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Coombs, H. C. (1906-...), was governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia and chairman of the Reserve Bank Board from 1960 to 1968.


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Coonalpyn Downs is part of the Ninety Mile Desert, 256 kilometres southeast of Adelaide, Australia.


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Cooney, Barbara (1917-...), is an American illustrator of children's books.


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Cooper, Sir Astley Paston (1768-1841), was a British surgeon who pioneered many operations.


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Cooper, Gary (1901-1961), was an American film actor who appeared in more than 90 films.


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Cooper, Henry (1934-...), a  British professional boxer, was British heavyweight boxing champion for a total of 10 years.


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Cooper, James Fenimore (1789-1851), was an American novelist and social critic.


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Cooper, Peter (1791-1883), was an American inventor, manufacturer, and philanthropist.


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Cooper, Susan (1935-...), a British author, won the 1976 Newbery Medal for her novel The Grey King (1975).


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Cooper, Dame Whina (1895?-1994), was a community leader and campaigner for the rights of the Maori people of New Zealand.


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Cooper Creek is the southern part of the Barcoo River, below the junction of the Thompson and Barcoo rivers near Windorah, in southwestern Queensland, Australia.


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Cooperative is a business owned by the people who use its services.


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Coorong is a narrow strip of water in the southeast of South Australia.


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Coot is the name of nine kinds of marsh birds in the rail family.


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Cootamundra (pop. 7,986), is a town in southern New South Wales, Australia, on the railway line from Sydney to Melbourne.


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Copeland (pop. 70,700), is a local government district in Cumbria, England.


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Copeland, William Taylor (1797-1868), was head of the Spode pottery works in central England.


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Copenhagen (pop. 464,566; met. area pop. 1,339,395), is the capital and largest city of Denmark.


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Copepod is a small crustacean of the class Crustacea.


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Copernicus, Nicolaus (1473-1543), was a Polish astronomer who developed the theory that the earth is a moving planet.


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Copland, Aaron (1900-1990), was an American composer who wrote in many styles and forms.


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Copley, John Singleton (1738-1815), is generally considered the greatest portrait painter in colonial America.


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Coppard, A. E. (1878-1957), a British poet and short-story writer, was noted for the vivid narrative style of his stories.


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Copper has been one of the most useful metals for over 7,000 years.


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Copperhead is the name of two different poisonous snakes, one North American, the other Australian.


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Coppola, Francis Ford (1939-...), is an American film director, producer, and writer.


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Coprosma is a group of about 90 kinds of plants.


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Copts is a term first used to refer to certain native residents of ancient Egypt.


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Copyright refers to a body of exclusive rights that protect the works of authors and other creative people against copying or unauthorized public performance.


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Coral is a limestone formation formed in the sea by millions of tiny animals.


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Coral Sea is the part of the Pacific Ocean between the northeast coast of Australia, the Solomon Islands, and the Vanuatu island group.


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Coral Sea Islands stretch northeast from the Great Barrier Reef.


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Coral snake is the name given to several closely related poisonous snakes of the Western Hemisphere.


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Coral tree, also known as coralbean, is the name of more than 100 species of trees and shrubs that grow in tropical and nearly tropical regions throughout the world.


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Corby (pop. 52,300), is a local government area in Northamptonshire, England.


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Corday, Charlotte (1768-1793), a French patriot, killed Jean Paul Marat, a radical leader of the French Revolution, during the Reign of Terror in 1793.


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Cordillera is a group of mountain ranges, usually the principal mountain group of a continent.


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Cordite is one of the original smokeless powders used to propel projectiles from guns.


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Cordoba (pop. 1,179,372), is Argentina's second largest city.


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Cordoba (pop. 300,229), is an ancient Moorish city in Spain, and the capital of Cordoba province.


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Corduroy is a cotton or cotton blend fabric with raised ribs of the cloth running lengthwise.


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Corelli, Arcangelo (1653-1713), was one of the earliest major violinists and composers of violin music.


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Corelli, Marie (1855-1924), an English writer, won fame as a romantic novelist.


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Coreopsis is a large group of plants related to the sunflower.


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Coriander is an annual herb that grows in the countries around the Mediterranean Sea.


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Corinth was one of the most important cities of ancient Greece.


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Corinth Canal provides a waterway between the Gulf of Corinth and the Saronic Gulf in east-central Greece.


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Corinthians, Epistles to the, are the seventh and eighth books of the New Testament of the Bible.


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Corio Bay is part of the western arm of Port Phillip Bay in Victoria, Australia.


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Coriolanus, Gaius Marcius, was a general of the early Roman Republic.


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Coriolis effect is the apparent effect of the earth's rotation on the motion of anything travelling across the face of the globe.


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Cork is a coastal county in the province of Munster in the southwest of the Republic of Ireland.


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Cork (pop. 127,024), is the second largest city of the Republic of Ireland.


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Cork is a lightweight, spongy substance obtained from the bark of the cork oak tree.


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Corm is a short, thick underground stem.


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Cormorant is a large, web-footed bird that catches fish by diving under water.


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Corn is a small, hard, shiny thickening of the epidermis (outer layer of the skin).


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Corn borer, also called the European corn borer, is a serious insect menace to maize crops.


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Corn Laws were measures passed in England between the 1400's and mid-1800's to control the price of small grains, called corn in England.


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Corn oil is a vegetable oil made from the kernel of the maize plant.


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Corn syrup is a thick, sweet liquid made from cornflour.


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Corneille, Pierre (1606-1684), was a French playwright.


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Cornelian is a red or reddish-brown quartz which can be cut and polished as a jewel.


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Cornell, Ezra (1807-1874), was an American businessman and philanthropist.


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Cornet is a brass musical instrument that resembles a shortened trumpet.


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Cornflour is a fine white flour made by grinding and refining grains of maize.


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Cornflower is a plant that bears small flowers shaped like buttons.


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Cornucopia is a horn of plenty, a symbol of nature's productivity.


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Cornwall is the most southwesterly county in England.


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Cornwall, Duchy of, consists of estates granted to the monarch's eldest son, who receives the revenue from the estates after he is 21.


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Cornwallis, Charles (1738-1805), the first Marquis Cornwallis, was a British general in the American Revolution.


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Cornwallis, Edward (1713-1776), a British soldier and colonial official, led 2,500 settlers to Nova Scotia, in Canada, in 1749 and founded the city of Halifax.


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Coromandel Peninsula is a hilly headland extending northward from the main part of the North Island of New Zealand.


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Corona is the outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere.


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Coronado, Francisco Vasquez de (1510-1554), was a Spanish explorer.


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Coronary thrombosis, also called coronary occlusion, is a condition in which a clot blocks the passage of blood in an artery of the heart.


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Coronation is a ceremony at which a king, queen, or pope publicly receives a crown as a symbol of rule.


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Coroner is the official who makes enquiries into any unnatural or sudden death of which the cause is unknown.


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Corot, Camille (1796-1875), was a French landscape and figure painter.


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Corporation is a person or group of people who obtain a charter giving them certain legal rights and privileges.


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Corps is an army unit consisting of two or more divisions.


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Corpuscle, in physiology, is a term used for a small mass or body.


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Correggio (1489?-1534), was an important painter of the Italian Renaissance.


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Corregidor, a rocky fortified island, covers about 5 square kilometres at the entrance to Manila Bay on the island of Luzon, in the Philippines.


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Correspondence school is an educational institution that teaches by means of an interchange of letters between teachers and pupils.


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Corroboree is a name used by white Australians to describe Aboriginal dances.


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Corrosion is the destruction of a material caused by the chemical action of a gas or liquid.


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Corrupt practices are unethical techniques used by politicians to gain a political advantage in an election.


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Corsica (pop. 240,178), is a French island in the Mediterranean Sea.


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Corso is the popular name for the New Zealand Council of Organization for Relief Services Overseas.


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Cortes, Hernando (1485-1547), was a Spanish explorer who conquered what is now central and southern Mexico.


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Cortisone is one of an important group of hormones made in the cortex (outer part) of the adrenal glands.


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Cortot, Alfred (1877-1962), was a Swiss-born pianist, writer, and teacher.


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Corundum is the second hardest pure mineral.


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Cosby, Bill (1937-...), is a leading American entertainer, author, and TV producer.


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Cosgrave, Liam (1920-...), was Taoiseach (prime minister) of the Republic of Ireland from 1973 to 1977.


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Cosgrave, William Thomas (1880-1965), was president of the Irish Free State's Executive Council from 1922 to 1932.


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Cosmetics are substances applied to a person's body to cleanse, promote attractiveness, or alter the appearance.


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Cosmic rays are electrically charged, high-energy particles that travel through outer space.


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Cosmology, in astronomy and astrophysics, is the study of the structure, dynamics, and development of the universe.


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Cosmos are tall, late-summer flowers native to Mexico and the American tropics.


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Cosmos, in physics and astronomy, is a term used to refer to everything that exists, from the smallest atoms to the most distant celestial bodies.


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Cossacks were originally peasant soldiers who lived chiefly in the areas of the Dnepr and Don rivers, in what are now eastern Ukraine and western Russia.


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Cost-benefit analysis, also called benefit-cost analysis, is a type of economic study that measures the costs and benefits to society of existing projects or plans that have been proposed.


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Cost of living is the amount of money needed to buy a standard amount of consumer goods and services.


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Costa Rica is a small, mountainous country in Central America.


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Costain, Thomas Bertram (1885-1965), a Canadian-American novelist and historian, began writing books at the age of 54.


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Costello, John Aloysius (1891-1976), served as prime minister of Ireland from 1948 to 1951 and from 1954 to 1957.


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Costello, Peter Howard (1957-...), became federal treasurer of Australia in 1996, and deputy leader of the Liberal Party in 1994.


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Cotabato (pop. 3,030,256), is a region in the south-central part of the island of Mindanao, in the Philippines.


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Cote d'Azur is the eastern end of the Mediterranean coast of France.


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Cote d'Ivoire, Republique de, is the official name of the Republic of the Ivory Coast, a country that lies along the Gulf of Guinea on the west coast of Africa.


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Cotillion is one of a family of ballroom dances for four couples in a square formation.


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Cotman, John Sell (1782-1842), a British landscape painter, was noted especially for his early watercolours.


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Cotopaxi, in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador, is one of the highest active volcanoes in the world.


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Cotswold (pop. 73,000), is a local government area in Gloucestershire, England.


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Cotswold Hills, in southwestern England, is a range of limestone hills famed for its beautiful scenery and attractive houses built in local Cotswold stone.


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Cottage industry was a home-based system of manufacturing widely used during the 1700's and 1800's.


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Cotton is the most widely used of all plant fibres.


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Cotton, Sir Henry (1907-1987), was one of the United Kingdom's leading professional golfers for more than 20 years.


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Cotton, John (1584-1652), was a Puritan minister and author.


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Cotton gin is a machine for removing the seeds from cotton fibres.


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Cottonseed oil is an edible oil made from the seeds of cotton plants.


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Cottonwood is a group of large, spreading, poplar trees that grow in the United States.


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Cotyledon is the leafy portion of a plant's embryo.


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Cough is a strong, sudden expelling of air from the lungs.


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Coulomb is a unit in the metric system measuring electric charge.


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Coulomb, Charles Augustin de (1736-1806), a French scientist, inventor, and army engineer, made fundamental contributions in the fields of friction, electricity, and magnetism.


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Coulton, G. G. (1858-1947), a British author and historian, wrote many important works on medieval history.


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Council, in local government, is the elected local authority of an administrative area.


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Counselling is the process of helping people to explore and understand personal problems and develop their potentialities.


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Count is a title of honour going back to the days of the Roman Empire.


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Counter Reformation is the name generally given to the renewal movement in the Roman Catholic Church during the 1500's and 1600's.


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Counterfeiting is the unauthorized duplication of any object, especially money, with the intent to defraud (cheat someone).


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Counterpoint is a musical term for two or more independent melodies performed at the same time.


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Country is a term that means any independent nation with a definite name and a geographic boundary.


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Country crafts, in Ireland or the United Kingdom (UK), include old, traditional activities, such as weaving, spinning, and thatching, and small country industries that have developed from them.


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Country music is a type of American popular music associated with rural culture and the Southern region of the United States.


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County is a territorial division of a country, state, or province established as a unit of local government.


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Coup d'etat is a sudden take-over of a country's government by a group of conspirators.


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Couperin, Francois (1668-1733), called "Le Grand" (The Great), was a French composer during the baroque period.


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Courbet, Gustave (1819-1877), a French painter, helped found the realist movement in art.


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Courgette is a type of small marrow, or squash, that resembles a cucumber.


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Courser is the name for a group of desert birds found in Africa, India, and Australia.


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Coursing is a field sport, popular in many countries, in which two greyhounds compete in pursuing a hare.


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Court is a government institution that settles legal disputes and administers justice.


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Court, Sir Charles (1911-...), leader of the West Australian Liberal Party, was premier of Western Australia from 1974 to 1982.


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Court, Margaret Smith (1942-...), an Australian tennis star, was rated among the world's top 10 female tennis players from 1961 to 1975, ranking number one seven times.


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Court-martial decides legal cases relating to members of the armed services and civilians employed on military bases.


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Court of Saint James's is the title of the British royal court.


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Courtois, Bernard (1777-1838), was a French chemist who discovered the element iodine in 1811.


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Cousin is a person outside your immediate family related to you by blood and descended from the same ancestor.


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Cousins, Frank (1904-1986), a British trade union leader, became minister of technology in the Labour Government of 1964.


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Cousins, Samuel (1801-1887), an English engraver, engraved the paintings of famous artists such as Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir Edwin Landseer, and Sir John Millais.


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Cousteau, Jacques-Yves (1910-1997), was a French oceanographer, author, and film producer.


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Couzens, James Joseph (1872-1936), an American Republican politician, served as mayor of Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A. from 1919 to 1922, and as a United States senator from 1922 to 1936.


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Covarrubias, Miguel, (1904-1957), a Mexican painter, became internationally known for his caricatures of famous people.


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Covenanters were Scottish Protestants who opposed Anglicanism and Roman Catholicism, and supported a Presbyterian system of church government.


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Covent Garden, in London, is the home of the Royal Opera House, one of the world's great opera houses.


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Coventry (pop. 292,600), is a city and local government district in West Midlands, England.


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Coverdale, Miles (1488-1568), a bishop of Exeter, England, became famous for his English translation of the Bible in 1535.


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Cow is a female adult animal of the bovine group.


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Cow parsnip is a large, coarse North American plant, closely related to the hogweeds of Europe and Asia.


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Coward, Sir Noel (1899-1973), a British playwright, actor, and composer, became famous for his witty, sophisticated comedies.


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Cowbird is the name of a group of birds found in North America and South America.


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Cowboy is a person who helps take care of a large herd of cattle for a ranch owner.


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Cowen, Sir Zelman (1919-...), a distinguished Australian lawyer, was governor-general of Australia from 1977 to 1982.


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Cowes is a well-known yachting centre on the north coast of the Isle of Wight, England.


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Cowley, Abraham (1618-1667), was an English poet and essayist whose first volume of verse was published when he was 15.


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Cowpastures was the name given, in the early days of the settlement of New South Wales, to an area of land around Camden, south of Sydney, Australia.


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Cowpea, also known as black-eyed pea or black-eyed bean, is a popular plant that grows in warm climates.


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Cowper, William (1731-1800), was an English poet.


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Cowra (pop. 11,915), is a town in the Lachlan Valley in the central west of New South Wales, Australia.


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Cowrie, also spelled cowry, is a sea snail with a shiny, colourful shell.


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Cowslip is an attractive plant that blooms in the spring.


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Cox, John Edward (1791-1837), established the first coaching service in Australia to run between Hobart and Launceston, in 1832.


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Cox, William (1764-1837), was a pioneer settler in Australia.


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Coyote is a wild member of the dog family.


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Coysevox, Antoine (1640-1720), was the leading French sculptor during the latter part of the reign of Louis XIV. Coysevox produced much of the sculpture that decorated the gardens and palace of Versailles.


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Cozzens, James Gould (1903-1978), an American author, became best known for his novels of upper-class manners.


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Crab is an animal that is covered by a hard shell, and that has jointed legs.


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Crab apple is any of a wide variety of small trees that bear apples less than 5 centimetres in diameter.


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Crab plover is a wading bird found on the shores of the Indian Ocean, from East Africa to Burma, and on the Andaman Islands and Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.


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Crabbe, George (1754-1832), a British poet, brought a direct and often unromantic approach to his work.


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Cradle Mountain in Tasmania, Australia, rises to 1,545 metres and is located 64 kilometres southwest of Devonport in the Lake St. Clair National Park.


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Craig, Edward Gordon (1872-1966), a British stage designer, producer, and author, strongly influenced theatre production and the art of stage settings after 1910.


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Craigavon (pop. 74,350), is a local government district located to the south of Lough Neagh, in Northern Ireland.


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Craigavon, Lord (1871-1940), James Craig, was the first prime minister of Northern Ireland.


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Craik, Dinah Maria Mulock (1826-1887), was an English novelist and poet.


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Crake is a type of bird which lives on the ground, often in swamps or marshes.


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Cramp is a painful, uncontrolled contraction of one or more muscles.


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Cranach, Lucas, the Elder (1472-1553), was one of the leading German painters of the Renaissance.


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Cranberry is a red, sour, round or oval berry that grows on an evergreen vine.


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Crane is the name of a family of large birds with long legs and a long neck.


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Crane is a hoisting machine used to lift and move heavy loads in shipyards and factories, and at construction sites.


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Crane, Hart (1899-1932), was an American poet best known for his complex work The Bridge (1930).


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Crane, Stephen (1871-1900), was an American novelist, short-story writer, and poet.


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Crane, Walter (1845-1915), was a British artist who became famous for his illustrations for children's books.


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Cranmer, Thomas (1489-1556), was the first Protestant archbishop of Canterbury, the leader of the Church of England.


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Crapp, Lorraine (1938-...), an Australian swimmer, broke the 5-minute mark for 440 yards freestyle in 1956.


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Crashaw, Richard (1613-1649), an English poet, wrote poetry that is noted for its sensuous mysticism and for its extravagant imagery.


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Crassus, Marcus Licinius (112?-53 B.C.), was a Roman statesman, financier, and military leader.


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Crater is a funnel- or bowl-shaped depression on the surfaces of planets and other bodies in the solar system.


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Craven (pop. 49,700), is a local government district in North Yorkshire, England.


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Craven, Danie (1910-1993), became South Africa's leading Rugby Union football administrator.


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Crawford, Jack (1908-...), an Australian tennis player, was the winner of the men's singles title at Wimbledon in 1933.


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Crawford, Sir John (1910-1984), was a distinguished Australian economist, public servant, and academic.


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Crawford, Thomas (1813?-1857), was an American sculptor.


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Crawley (pop. 87,100), is a new town in West Sussex, England.


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Crayfish, also called crawfish, is a freshwater crustacean that is closely related to the lobster.


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Crayon is a piece of coloured wax shaped like a pencil.


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Crazy Horse (1844?-1877), was a chief of the Oglala Sioux American Indians.


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Creaghe, Caroline (1860-1944), participated in an exploration of territory at the base of the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia in 1883.


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Cream of tartar, also called potassium bitartrate, or potassium hydrogen tartrate, is a white, crystalline substance with a slightly acid taste.


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Creasey, John (1908-1973), a British author, became one of the best-known writers of detective stories of the 1900's.


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Crecy, Battle of, was the first important battle of the Hundred Years' War.


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Credit enables people to obtain goods or services even if they do not have enough money to pay for them right away.


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Credit card is a plastic card which allows the holder to buy goods, services, and (sometimes) foreign currency on credit.


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Credit union is a cooperative banking association operated exclusively for the benefit of its members.


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Creel, George (1876-1953), a newspaperman and author, served as chairman of the Committee on Public Information, the United States information agency, in World War I (1914-1918).


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Creeper, also called treecreeper, is the name of many species of small, woodland birds that live in most parts of the world.


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Creeping thistle is one of the most troublesome of weeds.


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Cremation is burning a dead body to ashes.


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Cremer, Sir William Randal (1838-1908), a British politician, advocated a system of international arbitration that would enable countries to settle their differences peacefully.


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Creole, in North or South America, is a person whose ancestors were early French or Spanish settlers of the New World.


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Creosote is a heavy, oily liquid made by distilling wood or coal tar.


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Crerar, Henry Duncan Graham (1888-1965), was a Canadian soldier.


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Crescent is a symbol that resembles the moon in its first quarter.


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Cresol is the common name for a group of chemicals that scientists called hydroxytoluenes.


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Cress is any one of three green plants in the mustard family.


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Crested swift, or tree swift, is the only bird of the swift family that has feet adapted for perching.


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Cretaceous Period is a period in the geologic time scale of the earth's history.


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Crete (pop. 502,165), is a Greek island in the Mediterranean Sea.


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Cretinism is a condition in which babies are born with underdeveloped brains and poorly formed skeletons.


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Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is a rare disease that destroys the brain.


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Crevecoeur, Michel-Guillaume Jean de (1735-1813), was a French-born essayist who portrayed rural life in colonial America.


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Crewe and Nantwich (pop. 101,800), is a local government district in south Cheshire, England.


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Crewel, also called crewelwork, is a form of embroidery done with woollen yarn.


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Cribbage, also called crib, is a card game for two, three, or four people.


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Crichton, James (1560-1582?), became known as the admirable Crichton because of his all-round learning.


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Crick, Francis H. C. (1916-...), is a British biologist.


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Cricket is a game played with a bat and a ball by two teams of 11 players each.


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Cricket is a type of jumping insect related to the grasshopper.


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Crime is a term that refers to misconduct forbidden by law.


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Crimea, a region of Ukraine, is a peninsula that juts from the southern part of Ukraine into the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.


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Crimean War (1853-1856), was fought between Russian forces and the allied armies of France, the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey), Sardinia-Piedmont, and the United Kingdom (UK).


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Criminology is the scientific study of crime, criminals, criminal behaviour, and the criminal justice system.


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Cripps, Sir Stafford (1889-1952), a noted English statesman and diplomat, held several important governmental posts.


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Criticism is the analysis and judgment of works of art.


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Cro-Magnons were a type of prehistoric human being who lived in Europe, Asia, and North Africa from about 40,000 to 10,000 years ago.


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Croagh Patrick is an isolated mountain about 760 metres above sea level that rises in County Mayo, in the Republic of Ireland.


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Croatia is a country in southeastern Europe that declared its independence in June 1991.


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Croce, Benedetto (1866-1952), was probably the most distinguished Italian philosopher of the 1900's.


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Crocheting is a way of making lace by methods similar to knitting.


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Crockett, David (1786-1836), was one of the most famous frontiersmen in United States history.


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Crocodile is one of the largest living reptiles.


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Crocus is a flowering herblike plant that grows in southern Europe and Asia, and is cultivated in many regions of the world.


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Croesus (reigned 560-546 B.C.), was the last king of Lydia, a country in what is now western Turkey.


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Croft, William (1678-1728), was an English organist and composer.


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Crofter is the tenant or owner-occupier of a croft in northern Scotland.


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Crofters' war was a series of agrarian disturbances in Scotland in the years 1882 to 1886.


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Croly, Herbert (1869-1930), was an American political philosopher.


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Crome, John (1768-1821), was one of the great English landscape painters.


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Crompton, Richmal (1890-1969), a British author, created the comic character of William, a boy whose vivid imagination and thirst for adventure are always getting him into trouble with the adult world.


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Crompton, Samuel (1753-1827), a British inventor, developed an improved spinning machine that brought about a new era for the British textile industry.


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Cromwell, Oliver (1599-1658), led the armed forces of Parliament to victory in the English Civil War during the 1640's, and ruled England from 1653 to 1658.


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Cromwell, Richard (1626-1712), ruled England as lord protector from September 1658 to May 1659.


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Cromwell, Thomas (1485?-1540), Earl of Essex, was chief minister to Henry VIII of England.


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Cronin, A. J. (1896-1981), was a popular British novelist.


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Cronkite, Walter (1916-...), an American television news reporter, was anchorman of the evening news for CBS, a major U.S. broadcasting company, from 1962 to 1981.


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Cronus was the youngest child of Gaea, the earth; and Uranus, the sky, in Greek mythology.


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Crookes, Sir William (1832-1919), was a British chemist and physicist.


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Crop is a large number of plants of any given kind that are grown for human use.


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Cropping system is a method of growing crops and producing high yields without weakening the soil.


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Croquet is a popular outdoor lawn game in which the players use mallets to hit balls through narrow arches called hoops.


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Crosby, Bing (1903-1977), was a popular American singer and film star.


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Crosland, Anthony (1918-1977), a British Labour Party politician, was secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs from 1976 to 1977.


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Cross is the most common symbol of Christianity.


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Cross-country is a type of long-distance racing.


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Cross-reference is a method used in books, indexes, library catalogues, and filing systems to direct attention to additional information about a subject in another part of the book or index.


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Crossbill is a bird of the finch family.


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Crossbow was a popular weapon in the Middle Ages.


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Crossman, Richard (1907-1974), a British politician, was secretary of state for social services in the Labour Party government from 1968 to 1970.


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Crossword puzzle is a popular word game.


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Crotalaria is any one of a large group of plants of the pea family that grow in tropical countries.


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Croton is a group of evergreen, tropical shrubs belonging to the spurge family.


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Croup is an inflammation of the air passages of the throat and windpipe.


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Crouse, Russel (1893-1966), was an American playwright.


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Crow is the name of a group of large black birds.


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Crowe, Martin (1962-...), was made captain of the New Zealand cricket team in 1989.


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Crown is a British coin worth 25 new pence, or one-quarter of a pound sterling.


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Crown is a circular ornament worn on or around the head as a symbol of authority, merit, or distinction.


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Crown, The, is a term used to describe the power and property of the monarch as head of state.


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Crown jewels are precious ornaments owned by the kings and queens of England.


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Crown of thorns is a multiarmed starfish that eats the flesh of coral.


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Croydon (pop. 299,600), is a London borough on the borders of Surrey.


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Cruikshank, George (1792-1878), a British artist, became famous for his caricatures and illustrations.


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Cruiser is a large warship used to escort aircraft carriers and for independent operations with destroyers.


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Crumb, George (1929-...), is an American composer known for his innovative and highly individual works.


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Crump, Barry (1935-1996), a New Zealand writer and television personality, became well known when his book A Good Keen Man became a best-seller in 1960.


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Crusades were Christian military expeditions organized mainly to recapture Palestine during the Middle Ages.


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Crustacean is an invertebrate animal with many jointed legs.


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Cruyff, Johann (1947-...), is a Dutch soccer player and manager.


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Cryobiology is the study of how extremely low temperatures affect living things.


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Cryogenics is the study of extremely low temperatures.


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Cryotron is a tiny electronic device that can be used as a switch or an amplifier.


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Crystal is a solid that is composed of atoms arranged in an orderly pattern.


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Crystal Palace was an iron and glass building designed by Joseph Paxton for the Great Exhibition held in London in 1851.


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CSIRO, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, is Australia's largest scientific research body.


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CSR is one of the largest Australian public companies.


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Ctenophore is a small transparent sea animal that lives in all the oceans of the world.


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Cuauhtemoc (1495?-1525), was the last Aztec ruler of Mexico.


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Cuba is an island country in the West Indies, about 140 kilometres south of the United States.


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Cubberley, Ellwood Patterson (1868-1941), an American educator, helped develop the profession of school administration in the United States.


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Cube, in geometry, is a solid bounded by six equal squares, such as a child's alphabetical block.


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Cube root is one of three equal factors of a number (see FACTOR).


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Cubism was the most influential movement in the history of modern art.


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Cubit is a measure of length used by several early civilizations.


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Cuchulainn, also spelled Cuchulain, is a great hero of Irish mythology and folklore.


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Cuckoo is any one of a group of related birds found throughout most of the world.


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Cuckoo-shrike is the name of a family of about 70 species of songbirds.


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Cucumber is a common garden vegetable native to southern Asia, but cultivated as an annual in many parts of the world.


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Cud is a small mass of food that animals called ruminants bring up from their stomachs for a second chewing.


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Cuenca (pop. 152,406), is a city in the Andes Mountains of southern Ecuador.


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Cuillin Hills are a range of mountains on the Isle of Skye, in Highland Region, Scotland.


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Cuisenaire Method is a teaching system designed to help students discover basic mathematical principles by themselves.


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Cukor, George (1899-1983), was an American film director.


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Cullen, Paul Cardinal (1803-1878), Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, was active in reforming the Irish educational system to provide better education for Roman Catholics.


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Culloden is a moor in Highland Region, Scotland.


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Cult is a religious group devoted to a living leader, a new teaching, or an unusual practice.


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Cultural lag is the failure of certain parts of a culture to keep up with other, related parts.


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Culture is a term used by social scientists for a way of life.


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Culture, in biology, is a growth of microorganisms or cells produced under controlled conditions in a laboratory.


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Cumberland Mountains are part of the Appalachian Mountain system in North America.


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Cumbernauld and Kilsyth (pop. 61,042) is a local government district in Strathclyde Region, Scotland.


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Cumbria is a beautiful, mountainous county in the northwestern corner of England.


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Cumin is a small herb grown for its fruit.


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Cummings, E. E. (1894-1962), was one of the most innovative poets in American literature.


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Cumnock and Doon Valley (pop. 41,998), was a local government district in Strathclyde Region, Scotland.


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Cunard, Sir Samuel (1787-1865), a British merchant, founded the Cunard line of steamships.


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Cuneiform was a system of writing used by the people of ancient Middle Eastern civilizations.


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Cunha, Euclides da (1866-1909), a Brazilian newspaper reporter, wrote perhaps the greatest work in Brazilian literature.


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Cunjevoi is a kind of sea squirt found along the rocky coasts of the Australian states of New South Wales and Western Australia.


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Cunningham, Allan (1791-1839), was an explorer and botanist who became famous for his pioneering expeditions in eastern Australia.


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Cunningham, Andrew Brown (1883-1963), Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope, was first sea lord and chief of the British Naval Staff from 1943 to 1946.


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Cunningham, Merce (1919-...), is an American dancer and choreographer (dance creator).


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Cup moth is a small- to medium-sized, rather stout, furry moth of dark colour.


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Cupola is a small dome that crowns a roof or tower.


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Cuquenan Falls, on the Cuquenan River in Venezuela, is one of the three highest waterfalls in the world.


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Curacao is the largest island of the Netherlands Antilles--two groups of islands in the West Indies that belong to the Netherlands.


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Curare is a poisonous extract from South American plants, mainly those of the Chondodendron and Strychnos species.


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Curassow is a large, handsome bird of tropical America.


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Curfew is the time of day which once brought with it evening and the end of work.


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Curia regis was a group that helped English kings govern during the Middle Ages.


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Curie is a unit used to measure radioactivity.


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Curie, Marie Sklodowska (1867-1934), was a French physicist who became famous for her research on radioactivity.


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Curie, Pierre (1859-1906), was a French physicist known for his work in radioactivity.


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Curium is an artificially created radioactive element.


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Curlew is a long-legged wading bird related to sandpipers and snipes.


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Curling is a game played on a level sheet of ice.


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Curly-coated retriever is a dog trained to bring back game that has been shot.


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Currant is a small berry that grows on a low, bushy shrub.


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Currawong is a large bird belonging to the Australian crow-shrike family.


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Currie, Sir Arthur William (1875-1933), a Canadian soldier, won fame as a courageous officer and successful field commander during World War I (1914-1918).


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Currier and Ives was a firm of American lithographers.


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Curry is a stewlike dish of eggs, fish, meat, or vegetables seasoned with a blend of spices.


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Curry, John Steuart (1897-1946), an American painter, became famous for his dramatic scenes of Midwestern rural life.


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Cursetjee, Ardaseer (1808-1877), was an Indian engineer who played an important part in introducing the steam engine to India.


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Curtin, John (1885-1945), served as prime minister of Australia from 1941 to 1945.


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Curtis, Dame Myra (1886-1971), a British academic, was principal of Newnham College, Cambridge University, England, from 1942 to 1954.


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Curtiss, Glenn Hammond (1878-1930), an American inventor, was a manufacturer of aeroplanes, and made thousands of planes during World War I (1914-1918).


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Curzon, Lord (1859-1925), Marquis of Kedleston, a British statesman, was a Conservative Party politician.


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Curzon, Sir Clifford (1907-1982), was a British pianist.


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Curzon Line was the eastern boundary of Poland proposed by the Allies in 1919, after World War I (1914-1918).


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Cusco (pop. 255,300), also spelled Cuzco, is a city in the Andes Mountains in southern Peru.


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Cuscus is a tree-dwelling mammal that lives on the northern tip of Australia and in New Guinea and the nearby islands of Sulawesi and the Solomon Islands.


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Cushing, Harvey (1869-1939), an American doctor and surgeon, was one of the world's greatest brain surgeons.


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Cushing, Richard Cardinal (1895-1970), was an American religious leader, made a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church in 1958, by Pope John XXIII. He had gained wide recognition as a gifted writer and preacher.


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Cushman, Charlotte (1816-1875), an American actress, won fame for her roles as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Meg Merrilies in Guy Mannering, and Nancy Sykes in Oliver Twist.


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Custard apple is the fruit of a small tropical American tree.


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Custer, George Armstrong (1839-1876), was a United States Army officer who won fame as an American Civil War general and an Indian fighter.


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Custom is a practice or a way of doing things that has been handed down from one generation to the next.


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Customs are duties paid to a nation's government on items that people bring in from another country.


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Customs union is an association of two or more countries which agree to eliminate duties, quotas, and any other barriers to trade among themselves.


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Cuthbert, Betty (1938-...), an Australian sprinter, won four gold medals at Olympic Games.


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Cutler, Sir Roden (1916-...), was governor of New South Wales, Australia, from 1966 to 1981.


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Cuttlefish is a mollusc (soft boneless animal) in the same class as the squid.


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Cutty Sark is a clipper ship preserved at Greenwich, in London.


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Cutworm is the caterpillar of certain dull-coloured, night-flying moths.


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Cuvier, Baron (1769-1832), was a French naturalist.


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Cyanide is the name given to metal salts containing the CN group (a carbon atom linked to a nitrogen atom).


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Cyanosis is a bluish discoloration of the skin and mucous membranes.


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Cybernetics is the study of control and communication in machines and animals.


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Cycad is a plant that grows in regions of the world with tropical and subtropical climates.


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Cyclamen is the name of a group of attractive plants that grow wild in the Mediterranean region of Europe.


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Cycling, or bicycle racing, is one of the most popular sports in the world.


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Cyclone is a low-pressure area in the atmosphere in which winds spiral inward.


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Cyclops, in Greek mythology, was any member of a race of giants with one eye in the middle of the forehead.


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Cyclosporin is a drug that fights the rejection of transplanted body tissues and organs.


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Cyclotron is a machine that accelerates electrically charged atomic particles to high energies.


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Cygnus is a constellation in the Northern Hemisphere.


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Cylinder, in geometry, is a solid figure with two identical bases that lie on parallel planes.


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Cymbal is a brass percussion instrument shaped like a broad-brimmed hat.


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Cymbeline (?-A.D. 43?), also called Cunobelinus, was a king of the Catuvellauni, who were the most powerful tribe of southern Britain during the period before the Roman invasion in A.D. 43.


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Cynic philosophy was established in the 300's B.C. by Antisthenes, a disciple of the Greek philosopher Socrates.


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Cynon Valley (pop. 63,600), is a local government area in Mid Glamorgan, Wales.


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Cypress is any one of a group of evergreen trees and shrubs that grow in Asia, Europe, and North America.


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Cyprus is an island country in the northeast corner of the Mediterranean Sea.


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Cyrano de Bergerac, Savinien de (1619-1655), was a French author and soldier.


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Cyril of Alexandria, Saint (378?-444), was the most outstanding Christian theologian of the early 400's.


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Cyrus the Great (?-530 B.C.), founded the Persian Empire about 550 B.C. He extended this empire to include most of southwestern Asia.


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Cyrus the Younger (424?-401 B.C.) a Persian prince, was a son of King Darius II, ruler of the Achaemenid Empire.


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Cyst is an abnormal sac in the body that contains fluid and has no outside opening.


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Cystic fibrosis, also called CF or mucoviscidosis, is a hereditary disease in which the mucous glands produce abnormally thick, sticky secretions, and the sweat glands secrete unusually salty sweat.


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Cytology is the study of the internal structure and organization of cells.


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Czar, also spelled tsar, was the title used by the emperors of Russia.


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Czech Republic is a country in central Europe that became independent on Jan. 1, 1993.


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Czechoslovakia was a country in central Europe from 1918 until 1992.


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Czechs are a Slavic people who make up most of the population of the Czech Republic.


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Czerny, Karl (1791-1857), was an Austrian composer, teacher, and pianist.


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D is the fourth letter of the English alphabet.


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D-day is the term for a secret date on which a military operation is to begin.


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Da Nang (pop. 492,194) is one of the largest cities in Vietnam.


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Dachau was one of the first concentration camps set up in Germany by the Nazis.


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Dachshund is a dog known for its long, low-slung body and short legs.


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Dacorum (pop. 129,200) is a local government district in Hertfordshire, England, on the lower slopes of the Chiltern Hills.


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Dadaism, a protest movement in the arts, was formed in 1916 by a group of artists and poets in Zurich, Switzerland.


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Daddy longlegs is the popular name for a long-legged insect also known as a crane fly.


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Dadra and Nagar Haveli (pop. 138,542) is one of the union territories of India.


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Dadswell, Lyndon (1908-1986), an Australian sculptor, became assistant to the sculptor Paul Montford when Montford was working on carvings for the war memorial in Melbourne, Australia.


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Daedalus, in Greek mythology, was a skilled Athenian craftsman and inventor.


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Daendels, Herman Willem (1762-1818), was governor general of the Netherlands Indies (now Indonesia) from 1808 to 1811.


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Daffodil is a yellow flower that blooms in the early spring.


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Da Gama, Vasco (1469?-1524), was a Portuguese sea captain and explorer.


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Dagger is a small, handheld weapon with a short, pointed blade.


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Daghestan also spelled Dagestan, is a state, or autonomous republic, in Russia.


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Dagohoy, Francisco (1704?-1774?), a Filipino patriot, led a revolt against Spanish colonial rulers of the Philippines in 1744.


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Daguerre, Louis Jacques Mande (1787-1851), a French stage designer and painter, introduced the first popular form of photography.


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Daguerreotype was the first popular method of photography.


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Dahl, Roald (1916-1990), was a famous British writer best known as an author of children's books.


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Dahlia is the name of a popular group of flowers cultivated from the original dahlia of Mexico.


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Dahlgren, John Adolphus Bernard (1809-1870), was an American naval officer.


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Daimler, Gottlieb (1834-1900), a German engineer, developed an internal-combustion engine light enough to power a car.


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Dairying is the branch of agriculture concerned with the production of milk, butter, evaporated milk, ice cream, cheese, and dried milk products.


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Dakar (pop. 978,523) is the capital and largest city of Senegal and the westernmost city on the mainland of Africa.


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Daladier, Edouard (1884-1970), served as French premier in 1933, 1934, and from 1938 to 1940.


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Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people.


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Dalby (pop. 9,384), is a town located on the fertile black soil plains of the Darling Downs, about 220 kilometres from Brisbane in Queensland, Australia.


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Dale, Robert (1810- ?  ), a British soldier, explored large areas of Western Australia.


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Dales are beautiful valleys, situated chiefly in North Yorkshire, England.


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Daley, Victor (1858-1905), was an Irish-born Australian poet.


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Dali, Salvador (1904-1989), was a surrealist painter.


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Dallapiccola, Luigi (1904-1975), was an Italian composer.


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Dallas is one of the largest cities in the United States.


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Dalles are deep gorges in which North American rivers flow rapidly over basaltic rocks or slabs.


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Dallin, Cyrus Edwin (1861-1944), an American sculptor, used American Indian life as the theme for many of his greatest works.


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Dalmatia, a region of Croatia, is a long, narrow strip of land extending over 320 kilometres along the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea.


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D'Almeida, Jose (1784-1850), was a doctor and pioneer businessman in Singapore.


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Dalton, John (1766-1844), an English chemist, formulated the law of partial pressures in gases in 1802.


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Daly is a river on the northwestern coast of the Northern Territory, Australia.


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Dam is a barrier placed across a river to stop the flow of water.


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Damages, in law, means money that a court orders one person to pay to another person for violating that person's rights or for breaking a contract.


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Daman and Diu (pop. 101,439) are two districts that form one of the Union Territories of India.


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Damascus (pop. 1,200,000) is the capital and largest city of Syria.


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Damask is a firm, lustrous fabric that may be woven from any fibre.


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D'Amboise, Jacques (1934-...), an American dancer, won fame as a featured performer with the New York City Ballet.


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Damien de Veuster, Joseph (1840-1889), was a Roman Catholic priest who gave his life to the care of lepers in a colony at Molokai, Hawaii.


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Damocles was a member of the court of Dionysius II, who ruled Syracuse, Sicily, from 367 to 344 B.C. Damocles was an excessive flatterer.


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Damon and Pythias were two noble youths in Greek legend.


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Dampier (pop. 2,201) is a deepwater port and township at King Bay on the northwest coast of Western Australia.


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Dampier, William (1651-1715), was the first Englishman to make a written description of the Australian mainland, its plants and animals, and its Aboriginal inhabitants.


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Damping-off is a plant disease caused by certain fungi that live near the surface of the soil (see FUNGI).


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Damrosch was the family name of a father and son who spent their lives educating Americans to serious music.


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Dana, Charles Anderson (1819-1897), editor and part owner of the New York Sun, built it into one of the most important newspapers of its time.


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Dana, James Dwight (1813-1895), was an American geologist, mineralogist, and zoologist.


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Dana, John Cotton (1856-1929), was an American librarian.


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Dana, Richard Henry, Jr. (1815-1882), was an American author known for his sea adventure story Two Years Before the Mast (1840).


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Dancing is an act of moving the body in rhythm, usually in time to music.


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Dandelion is a bright-yellow wild flower that grows in lawns and meadows.


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Dandenong Ranges are low hills about 30 kilometres east of Melbourne, Australia.


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Dandi march was a walk undertaken by the Indian nationalist leader Mohandas Gandhi and his followers in 1930.


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Dandie Dinmont terrier is a dog that got its name from a book.


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Dandruff is a condition in which flakes of dead skin are shed from the scalp.


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Danegeld, meaning Dane money, was a land tax levied in England in the A.D. 900's and 1000's.


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Danelaw was the area of England that the Danes occupied during and after their invasion of the 800's.


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Daniel, Book of, is a book of the Bible.


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Daniel, Glyn (1914-1986), was a professor and historian of archaeology renowned as an expert on the prehistoric period of Britain and western Europe.


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Daniel-Rops, Henri (1901-1965), was the pen name of Henri-Jules Periot, a French author and religious historian.


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Daniels, Jonathan Worth (1902-1981), an American author, first became known for his book A Southerner Discovers the South (1938).


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Daniels, Josephus (1862-1948), was an American politician, diplomat, and newspaper editor.


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Danilova, Alexandra (1904?-...), was a great Russian ballerina.


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D'Annunzio, Gabriele (1863-1938), was an Italian author and political figure.


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Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), an Italian author, was one of the greatest poets of the Middle Ages.


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Danton, Georges Jacques (1759-1794), was a great leader of the French Revolution.


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Danube River is the second longest river in Europe.


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Dar es Salaam (pop. 870,020) is the largest city of Tanzania, and a chief seaport in eastern Africa.


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Darby, Abraham (1677-1717), revolutionized the casting of iron.


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Darcy, Les (1895-1917), was an Australian boxer.


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Dardanelles is a strait that joins the Aegean Sea with the Sea of Marmara.


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Dare, Virginia (1587-?), was the first English child born in America.


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Dargie, Sir William (1912-...), an Australian artist known especially for his realistic portraits, won the Archibald Prize for portraits eight times (see ARCHIBALD PRIZE).


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Dario, Ruben (1867-1916), was the pen name of Felix Ruben Garcia Sarmiento, one of the most important poets to write in Spanish.


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Darius I (550?-486 B.C.) ruled the Persian Empire from 522 B.C. until his death.


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Darius III (380?-330 B.C.) was the last of the Achaemenid kings of Persia.


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Darjeeling (pop. 57,603) is the summer capital of the state of West Bengal and the administrative centre of the Darjeeling district.


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Dark Ages is a term once used to describe the early centuries of the Middle Ages, from the A.D. 400's to the 900's.


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Dark matter is the invisible substance that makes up most of the mass of galaxies and clusters of galaxies.


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Darling, Ding (1876-1962), was an American editorial cartoonist.


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Darling, Grace Horsley (1815-1842), became a famous English heroine by helping save nine survivors of a shipwreck.


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Darling, John (1852-1914), a South Australian wheat merchant, was chairman of the Broken Hill Proprietary Company from 1907 to 1914.


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Darling, Sir Ralph (1775-1858), was governor of New South Wales from 1825 to 1831.


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Darling Downs, known as the granary of Queensland, is a fertile tableland situated about 160 kilometres west of Brisbane.


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Darling River is the longest river in Australia.


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Darling Scarp is a chain of mountains in Western Australia.


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Darlington (pop. 96,700), is a unitary authority with all the local government powers within its boundaries, and the largest town in the county of Durham, England.


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Darnley, Lord (1545-1567), Henry Stuart, a Scottish nobleman, was close in the line of succession to the throne of England.


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Darrow, Clarence Seward (1857-1938), was the most famous American lawyer of the early 1900's.


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Dart, Raymond (1893-1988), was an Australian-born South African anthropologist (person who studies human beings scientifically).


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Darter is any of about 140 species of small freshwater fish belonging to the perch family.


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Dartford (pop. 78,400) is a local government district in Kent, England, between the River Thames and the North Downs.


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Dartmoor is a rocky plateau in Devon in southwestern England.


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Dartmouth Dam is Australia's largest dam.


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Darts is a game in which the players throw darts at a target called a dartboard.


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Darwin (pop. 78,139) is the administrative centre and capital of Australia's Northern Territory.


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Darwin, Charles Robert (1809-1882), was a British naturalist who became famous for his theories on evolution.


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Data protection is the safeguarding of electronic information stored in computers.


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Data storage, in computer science, is the use of magnetic and optical devices to store information.


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Database is a body of information made up of individual items that are organized so that they can be reviewed in a variety of ways.


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Database management system (DBMS) is software that organizes, provides access to, and otherwise manages a body of information stored in a computer.


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Date palm is the tree that produces dates.


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Datura is a group of poisonous shrubs and trees, including jimson weed and angel's trumpet.


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Daudet, Alphonse (1840-1897), is sometimes called the French Dickens.


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Daugherty, James Henry (1889-1974), was an American artist and author of children's books.


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D'Aulaire is the family name of a husband and wife who wrote and illustrated children's books.


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Daumier, Honore (1808-1879), was a French artist and one of the most influential social critics of the 1800's.


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Dauphin was the official title of the oldest son of the king of France from 1349 to 1830.


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Davao (pop. 1,055,016) is a city in southern Mindanao in the Philippines.


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Davenant, Sir William (1606-1668), was an English playwright.


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Daventry (pop. 61,600) is a historic town in Northamptonshire, England.


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Davey, Jack (1910-1959), became one of Australia's most outstanding radio personalities.


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Davey, Thomas (1760?-1823), was lieutenant governor of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) from 1813 to 1817.


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David (1030?-965?  B.C.) was the second king of Israel and one of the greatest figures in the history of the Jews.


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David was the name of two kings of Scotland.


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David, Jacques Louis (1748-1825), was the leading French painter during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era.


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David, Saint (520?-589?), is the patron saint of Wales.


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David, Sir T. W. E. (1858-1934), an author, explorer, and geologist, became famous for his scientific expeditions in Australasia.


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Davidson, Alan (1929-...), one of Australia's finest all- round cricketers, played in 44 test matches between 1953 and 1963.


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Davidson, Jo (1883-1952), an American portrait sculptor, created heads of many famous people.


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Davidson, Philmore "Boots" (1927-1993), was a musician who introduced steel drums to the United Kingdom (UK).


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Davies, Clement (1884-1962), a Welsh politician, was leader of the United Kingdom Liberal Party from 1945 until 1956.


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Davies, Sir Henry Walford (1869-1941), a British composer, is best remembered for his church music.


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Davies, Sir Peter Maxwell (1934-...), is a British composer and conductor.


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Davies, Robertson (1913-1995), was a Canadian novelist, playwright, and journalist.


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Davies, Siobhan (1950-...), is a British dancer and choreographer.


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Davies, William Henry (1871-1940), a British poet and author, led a roving life as a tramp, pedlar, and street singer.


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Davis is the family name of two English brothers who became famous snooker and billiards players.


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Davis, Bette (1908-1989), was an American film actress known for her portrayals of strong-willed women.


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Davis, Sir Colin (1927-...), a British conductor, is remarkable for the originality and freshness of his interpretations.


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Davis, Dwight Filley (1879-1945), was an American statesman who established the Davis Cup in 1900.


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Davis, Edward Wilson (1888-1973), an American mining engineer, was known as the father of taconite, because he discovered how to get iron ore from taconite rocks.


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Davis, Jefferson (1808-1889), served as president of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War.


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Davis, John (1543-1605), also spelled Davys, an English mariner and explorer, was the first European to discover what is now Davis Strait, between Greenland and Canada.


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Davis, Miles (1926-1991), was one of the most influential American jazz trumpeters and bandleaders in jazz history.


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Davis, Owen (1874-1956), was an American playwright.


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Davis, Paulina Wright (1813-1876), was an American social reformer.


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Davis, Steve (1957-...), is an English snooker player.


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Davis, Stuart (1894-1964), was an American painter and illustrator.


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Davis, Thomas (1814-1845), was an Irish essayist, poet, and patriot.


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Davis Cup is a silver bowl trophy awarded each year to the nation that wins the world's men's tennis championship.


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Davison, Frank Dalby (1893-1970), an Australian writer, became known for novels and short stories that reflect his affection for country life and especially for animals.


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Davisson, Clinton Joseph (1881-1958), was an American physicist.


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Davitt, Michael (1846-1906), was one of the chief leaders in the movement to reform the land system in Ireland.


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Davy, Sir Humphry (1778-1829), an English chemist, rose to fame as inventor of the miner's safety lamp.


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Davy Jones, in sailors' folklore, is the wicked spirit who rules over the souls in the ocean deep.


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Dawe, Bruce (1930-...), an Australian poet, wrote a number of books of poetry from No Fixed Address (1962) to Towards Sunrise: Poems 1979-1986 (1986).


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Dawkins, Richard (1941-...), is one of the United Kingdom's best known popular scientists.


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Daws, Lawrence (1927-...), an Australian painter, studied at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School from 1949 to 1953.


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Dawson, George Mercer (1849-1901), was a Canadian geologist and the son of the geologist Sir John William Dawson.


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Dawson, Sir John William (1820-1899), was a Canadian geologist and educator.


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Dawson, Peter (1882-1961), an Australian baritone, featured on some of the earliest gramophone recordings.


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Day.  While the earth travels through space around the sun, it also spins on its own axis.


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Day, Clarence (1874-1935), was an American writer.


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Day care is a service in which children or dependent adults are cared for while the person who normally cares for them cannot do so.


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Day-Lewis, Cecil (1904-1972), was an Irish-born English poet and novelist.


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Day-Lewis, Daniel (1957-...), is an Irish actor.


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Day lily is a lily plant whose beautiful blossoms, usually yellow or orange, live only from sunrise to sunset.


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Dayan, Moshe (1915-1981), was an Israeli military hero and political leader.


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Daylight saving is a plan in which clocks are set one hour ahead of standard time for a certain period.


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Dayton (pop. 182,044), is a leading manufacturing centre in the Midwestern state of Ohio in the United States.


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DDT is an insecticide that has been widely used on crops for pest control.


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Deacon is one of the classes or ranks of Christian clergy.


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Dead Sea is a saltwater lake in southwestern Asia.


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Dead Sea Scrolls are among the oldest known manuscripts of any Biblical books.


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Deadly nightshade is a bushy plant that supplies several drugs.


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Deafness is usually defined as the inability to hear and understand speech.


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Deakin, Alfred (1856-1919), an Australian politician and statesman, was prime minister of Australia three times--from 1903 to 1904, from 1905 to 1908, and from 1909 to 1910.


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Dean, Dixie (1908-1980), was one of the best centre-forwards in English soccer.


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Dean, James (1931-1955), was an American film actor.


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Dearborn (pop. 89,286) is a manufacturing centre near Detroit in the state of Michigan, part of the Great Lakes region of the United States.


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Dearden, John Francis Cardinal (1907-1988), an American cardinal, was archbishop of Detroit, Michigan.


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Death adder is among Australia's most dangerous snakes.


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Death Valley lies chiefly in east-central California, U.S.A. A small part of it extends into Nevada.


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Death's-head moth is a large moth with a thick, hairy body.


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Deathwatch is a name given to several kinds of small brownish beetles that have the strange habit of knocking their heads against wood.


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DeBakey, Michael Ellis (1908-...), an American surgeon, won fame for his work with the heart and for his contributions to techniques used to replace damaged blood vessels, including the coronary bypass operation.


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Debate is a series of formal spoken arguments for and against a definite proposal.


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De Boissiere, Ralph A. C. (1907-...) is a novelist, story-writer who was born of a wealthy French-Creole family in Trinidad.


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Deborah was a Biblical prophetess of Israel in the period of the Judges, the 1100's B.C. She was the wife of Lapidoth.


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Debrecen (pop. 211,823) is a commercial and industrial city in eastern Hungary.


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De Broglie, Louis Victor (1892-1987), was a French physicist who won the 1929 Nobel Prize for physics for his theory of the wave nature of electrons.


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Debre, Michel Jean Pierre (1912-1996), was prime minister of France from 1959 to 1962.


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Debs, Eugene Victor (1855-1926), was a colourful and eloquent spokesman for the American labour movement and for socialism.


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Debt is anything owed, especially a sum of money that one person owes to another.


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Debussy, Claude (1862-1918), was an important French composer.


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Debye, Peter Joseph William (1884-1966), a Dutch physicist and chemist, won the 1936 Nobel Prize for chemistry for studies of the physical properties of molecules.


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Decal is the process of transferring printed designs, letters, or pictures from specially prepared paper onto various surfaces.


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De Castella, Robert (1957-...), an Australian athlete, won the marathon at the Commonwealth Games in 1982 and 1986.


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Decathlon is a two-day contest in 10 events to determine an all-round athletics champion.


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Decatur, Stephen (1779-1820), was one of the most daring officers in the United States Navy during its early years.


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Decay is the process by which dead animal or dead plant matter is broken down to simple compounds.


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December is the twelfth and last month of the year according to the Gregorian calendar, which is used in almost all the world today.


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Decibel is a unit used in comparing sound pressure, voltage, power, and some other related acoustic and electrical quantities.


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Deciduous tree is the name for any tree that loses its leaves at a certain time each year and later grows new leaves.


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Decimal system is a way of writing numbers.


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Declaration of Independence is the historic document in which the British colonies in America declared their freedom from British rule.


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Declension is a listing of the different case forms of a noun or pronoun.


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Decomposition, in chemistry, is the breaking down of a substance into simpler products, or into the elements of which it is composed.


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Decorations, medals, and orders are honours that are awarded to people for bravery or merit.


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Decorative arts is a term used to designate a variety of categories including furniture, woodwork, and glass.


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Decoupage is the art of using paper cutouts to decorate furniture and such accessories as boxes, lamps, plaques, and trays.


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Deductive method is the process of reasoning by which we draw conclusions by logical inference from given premises.


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Dee is the name of five rivers in either Britain or Ireland.


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Deed is a written document to transfer ownership of property.


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Deep refers to any ocean area that has a depth of more than 5,490 metres.


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Deeping, Warwick (1877-1950), an English novelist, wrote his most famous book, Sorrell and Son (1925), as a result of his experiences in World War I.


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Deer are the only animals with bones called antlers on their heads.


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Deer fly is an insect related to the horseflies.


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Deere, John (1804-1886), was an American inventor and manufacturer.


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Deerhound is a Scottish breed of dog, close to the Irish wolfhound in ancestry.


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Defender of the Faith is one of the titles used by British sovereigns.


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Defoe, Daniel (1660-1731), was an English novelist and journalist.


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De Forest, John William (1826-1906), was an American novelist.


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De Forest, Lee (1873-1961), an American inventor, pioneered in wireless telegraphy and radio broadcasting.


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Degas, Edgar (1834-1917), was a French impressionist painter.


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De Gasperi, Alcide (1881-1954), leader of the Italian Christian Democratic Party, was prime minister of Italy from 1945 to 1953.


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De Gaulle, Charles Andre Joseph Marie (1890-1970), became the outstanding French patriot, soldier, and statesman of the 1900's.


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Degree is a name given to various small units of measure.


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Degree, University and college.  A university or college awards a degree to a person who has completed a required course of study.


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De Groot, Francis Edward (1888-1969), was a member of the Australian right-wing group called the New Guard.


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De Havilland, Sir Geoffrey (1882-1965), was a noted British aircraft designer and manufacturer.


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De Hooch, Pieter (1629-1684?), was a Dutch painter noted for his charming scenes of middle-class life.


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Dehumidifier is a device that removes moisture from the air.


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Dehydrated food is food that has been preserved by drying.


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Dehydration is a condition characterized by the excessive loss of water from the body.


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Deighton, Len (1929-...), is an English author known for espionage and war novels.


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Deism is a religious and philosophic belief.


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DeJong, Meindert (1906-...), is an author of children's books.


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Dekker, Thomas (1572?-1632?), an English writer, brought to Elizabethan popular literature a fresh emphasis on the life of his day.


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De Klerk, F. W. (1936-...) was state president of South Africa from 1989 to 1994.


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De Koven, Reginald (1859-1920), was an American composer who became known for his light operas.


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De Kooning, Willem (1904-1997), was a leading abstract expressionist artist.


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De Kruif, Paul (1890-1971), an American writer, specialized in scientific and medical subjects.


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Delacroix, Eugene (1798-1863), was the chief representative of the romantic style of painting in France.


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De la Cruz, Apolinario (1814-1841), was a Filipino religious leader who tried to provide native-born Filipinos with a means of entering a career in the Roman Catholic Church.


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De La Mare, Walter (1873-1956), was an English author noted for his romantic works for both adults and children.


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Delane, John Thaddeus (1817-1879), was a British journalist whose writings on political matters had much influence on government policy during his time.


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Delaware (pop. 668,696) is one of the smallest states in the United States.


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Delbruck, Max (1906-1981), a German-born American biologist, shared the 1969 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine with Alfred Hershey and Salvador Luria.


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De Lee, Joseph Bolivar (1869-1942), an American obstetrician and gynaecologist, was noted for his work in improving obstetrical methods.


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Delft is a type of earthenware that was made in the late 1500's and flourished into the mid-1700's.


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Delhi (pop. 9,370,475), sometimes called Dilli, is an Indian union territory.


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Delhi Sultanate was a Muslim empire that controlled much of what is now Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan from 1206 to 1526.


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Delibes, Leo (1836-1891), was a French composer.


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Delilah, in the Old Testament, was the Philistine mistress of Samson, the Israelite folk hero famed for his tremendous strength.


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Delirium tremens, often called the DT's, is a nervous and mental disturbance that results from acute alcoholism.


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Delius, Frederick (1862-1934), was an English composer.


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Della Robbia, Luca (1399?-1482), was an Italian sculptor of the early Renaissance.


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Deller, Alfred (1912-1979), was a leading English countertenor (a male singer in a voice that is higher than the tenor and lower than the soprano or treble).


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Delors, Jacques (1925-...), a French politician, was president of the European Commission from 1985 to 1994.


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De los Angeles, Victoria (1923-...), a Spanish lyric soprano, won international acclaim as an opera singer, a recitalist, and an orchestral soloist.


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Delphi was a town situated on the southern slope of Mount Parnassus.


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Del Rey, Lester (1915-1993), was an American author of science fiction.


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Del Sarto, Andrea (1486-1531), was an outstanding painter of the Italian Renaissance.


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Delta is a low plain composed of clay, gravel, sand, and other sediments deposited at the mouth of a river.


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Deluge, according to the Bible, was a great flood that covered the earth thousands of years ago.


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Delville Wood, Battle of, was a battle fought by South African soldiers against German soldiers in World War I (1914-1918).


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Delyn (pop. 66,200) is a local government district in Clwyd, Wales, administered from the town of Holywell.


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De Maupassant, Guy (1850-1893), a French author, was one of the world's great short-story writers.


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Demeter, in Greek mythology, was the goddess of the earth, agriculture, fertility, and grain.


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De Mille, Agnes (1909-1993), became a leading American choreographer (dance composer), dancer, and author.


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De Mille, Cecil Blount (1881-1959), an American film producer and director, became famous for his spectacular films based on the Bible.


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Democracy is a form of government, a way of life, a goal or ideal, and a political philosophy.


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Democratic Party is the older of the two major political parties of the United States.


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Democritus (460?-370?  B.C.) was a Greek philosopher.


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Demography is the study of human populations.


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Demosthenes (384?-322 B.C.) was an Athenian statesman who is usually considered to have been the greatest Greek orator.


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Dempsey, Jack (1895-1983), an American boxer, became one of the most popular heavyweight champions of all time.


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Dempster, Arthur Jeffrey (1886-1950), was an American physicist.


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Denarius was a silver coin used by the Romans during the periods of the Republic and the Empire.


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Dench, Dame Judi (1934-...) is a British actress.


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Deneb is the brightest star in the constellation Cygnus, or the Swan.


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Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997), also spelled Teng Hsiao-p'ing, was China's most influential leader from the late 1970's, following the death of Mao Zedong, to the early 1990's.


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Dengue, also called breakbone fever, is a disease that causes fever, head and eye aches, and pain in the muscles and joints.


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Denilikoon, an Australian Aborigine, was the man after whom the town of Deniliquin in Australia was named.


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Denim is a sturdy fabric commonly used for jeans and other durable clothes.


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De Niro, Robert (1943-...), is an American film actor.


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Denis, Saint (A.D. 200's), is the patron saint of France.


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Denison, Sir William Thomas (1804-1871), a British statesman, was lieutenant governor of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania), Australia, from 1847 to 1855.


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Denmark is a small kingdom in northern Europe that is almost surrounded by water.


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Denning, Lord (1899-...), a distinguished British judge, was Master of the Rolls from 1962 to 1982.


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Dennis, C. J. (1876-1938), called the Laureate of the Larrikin, was considered one of the most humorous and witty of Australian poets.


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Denominate number tells the amount of a quantity by giving the number of units and the kind of units that make up the quantity.


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Density is the mass--that is, the amount of matter--in a unit volume of any substance.


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Dental hygiene is the science and practice of caring for the teeth, gums, and other parts of the mouth.


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Dentistry is the art and science of diagnosing, treating, and preventing diseases of the teeth, jaws, and surrounding soft tissues of the mouth.


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D'Entrecasteaux, Bruni (1739-1793), a French naval commander, explored much of southern Australia.


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Denver (pop. 467,610; metropolitan area pop. 1,622,980) is the capital of the Rocky Mountain state of Colorado in the United States.


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Deodorant is a consumer product or an ingredient designed to reduce, prevent, or cover up unpleasant body odours.


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Deodorizer is a substance or device that eliminates or reduces disagreeable odours.


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De Palma, Ralph (1883-1956), was a pioneering American racing driver.


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Department store is a large store that sells many kinds of goods in separate departments under one management.


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Deportation is the action a government takes when it forces an alien to leave the country and return to the place where the alien was born or had lived.


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Deposition, in law, is the testimony of a witness who does not appear in court.


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Depressant is a drug that slows the activity of the nervous system.


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Depression is a deep, extended slump in total business activity.


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Depression is a serious mental disorder in which a person suffers long periods of sadness and other negative feelings.


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De Quincey, Thomas (1785-1859), was an English essayist.


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Derain, Andre (1880-1954), was a French artist.


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Derby (pop. 7,727) is the administrative centre for the Kimberley region of Western Australia.


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Derby (pop. 214,000), is a city in Derbyshire, England.


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Derby is a famous horse race begun in 1780 by the Earl of Derby in Epsom, England.


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Derby, Earl of (1799-1869), Edward Geoffrey Smith Stanley, was British prime minister three times.


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Derbyshire, which lies in the centre of England, is a county of hills, valleys, moorland, and swift-flowing streams.


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Derbyshire Dales (pop. 67,700) is a local government district in Derbyshire, England.


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Dermatitis is an inflammation of the skin that itches or burns.


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Dermatology is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of skin diseases.


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Derry (pop. 94,721) is a local government district in Northern Ireland.


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Dervish is a member of one of the mystical religious orders of the Islamic religion.


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Derwent is a river in Tasmania in Australia that flows 195 kilometres from Lake St. Clair to Storm Bay.


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Derwentside (pop. 84,800), is a local government district in Durham.


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Derwentwater, Earl of (1689-1716), James Radcliffe, an English nobleman, supported James Stuart, "The Old Pretender," in the first Jacobite rising, in 1715.


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DES is a synthetic sex hormone used as a drug.


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Desai, Morarji (1896-1995), was India's prime minister from 1977 to 1979.


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Descartes, Rene (1596-1650), was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist.


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Deseret is a word meaning honeybee in the Book of Mormon.


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Desert is generally thought of as a hot, barren region that receives little rainfall.


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Desert Road in the North Island of New Zealand, stretches from Turangi, near Lake Taupo, to Taihape, about 100 kilometres away.


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De Seversky, Alexander Procofieff (1894-1974), was an American pilot, aircraft designer, and military authority.


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De Sica, Vittorio (1902-1974), an Italian film director and actor, became noted for his realistic portrayals of life among the poor.


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Design is the intended arrangement of materials to produce a certain result or effect.


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De Sitter, Willem (1872-1934), was a noted Dutch astronomer.


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Desktop publishing is the use of a personal computer to write, illustrate, and lay out high-quality documents.


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De Soto, Hernando (1500?-1542), a Spanish explorer, led the first European expedition to reach the Mississippi River in what is now the United States.


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Despotism is a form of government in which the ruler has unlimited power over the people.


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Dessalines, Jean Jacques (1758?-1806), is the national hero of Haiti.


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Detective story is a work of fiction about a puzzling crime, a number of clues, and a detective who eventually solves the mystery.


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Detergent and soap.  A detergent is a substance that cleans soiled surfaces.


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Determinant, in mathematics, is a single number related to a square array (arrangement) of numbers called elements.


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Detonator is a small metal or plastic capsule that contains an easily explodable charge.


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Detroit is the largest city in the Midwestern state of Michigan in the United States of America.


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Dettori, "Frankie" (1970-...), is an Italian-born jockey who has settled in England.


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Deucalion was the "Noah" of Greek mythology.


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Deuterium, also called heavy hydrogen, is a stable isotope of hydrogen (see ISOTOPE).


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Deuteronomy is the name of the fifth book of the Bible, and the last book of the Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses.


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Deutschland uber Alles, or Germany Over All, became Germany's national anthem in 1922.


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Deutzia is a shrub related to the hydrangea.


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Kapil Dev, (1959-...), an Indian cricketer, was the best fast bowler produced by India for many years.


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De Valera, Eamon (1882-1975), a leader in Ireland's fight to win independence, served three times as prime minister after 1937, and was elected president in 1959 and 1966.


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De Valois, Dame Ninette (1898-...), founded the United Kingdom's Royal Ballet and served as its director until her retirement in 1963.


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Devaluation is a measure that a government may take to reduce the value of its currency in terms of foreign currencies.


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Developing country is any of the world's poor, or "have-not," nations.


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Developmental psychology is the study of changes in behaviour during a lifetime.


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Devil, according to many religions, is an evil spirit that opposes God or good spirits.


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Devil worship is the practice of worshipping demons or other evil spirits.


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De Vlamingh, William (1640-?), was a skilful and daring Dutch navigator.


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Devolution is the transfer of certain powers from the central government to regional governments within a country.


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Devon, a county in the southwest of England, has scenery of great beauty and variety.


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Devonian Period, in geology, is a period of the earth's history.


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Devonport (pop. 24,622) is a major port in northwestern Tasmania, Australia.


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Devonshire, Duke of (1720-1764), William Cavendish, became Prime Minister of Great Britain in November 1756.


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De Voto, Bernard Augustine (1897-1955), an American editor and critic, became well known for his histories of the western frontier.


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Devoy, Susan (1964-...), a New Zealand squash champion, ranked as the world's top woman player in the mid-1980's.


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De Vries, Hugo (1848-1935), a Dutch botanist and student of organic evolution, was known primarily as the author of the mutation theory (see MUTATION).


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Dew is the name given to the glistening beads of water that often appear on blades of grass, leaves, and car tops early on clear mornings.


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DEW line, which stands for Distant Early Warning line, provides the United States and Canada with warning of an air attack from the north.


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Dew point is the temperature at which moisture in the air begins to condense.


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Dewberry is a small, oval fruit that grows on a trailing blackberry plant.


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De Wet, Christiaan Rudolf (1854-1922), was a famous guerrilla leader and politician in South Africa.


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Dewey, George (1837-1917), an American naval officer, won fame as the hero of Manila during the Spanish-American War (1898).


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Dewey, John (1859-1952), was an American philosopher and educator.


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Dewey, Melvil (1851-1931), an American librarian, began the decimal library-classification system (see DEWEY DECIMAL CLASSIFICATION).


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Dewey Decimal Classification is the most widely used method of classifying books in a library.


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Dextrin is a sticky substance formed during the chemical breakdown of starch.


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Dextrose is the name used in industry for pure, crystalline glucose sugar.


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Dhaka (pop. 3,637,892) is the capital, largest city, and commercial and industrial centre of Bangladesh.


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Dharma is the moral and religious law of Buddhism and Hinduism.


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Diabetes is the name of two diseases that have the same symptoms, excessive thirst and the production of large quantities of urine.


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Diacritical mark is a sign used with letters of the alphabet to show pronunciation or meaning of words.


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Diaghilev, Sergei Pavlovich (1872-1929), was one of the greatest producers and directors in ballet history.


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Dialect is a variation of a language used by a particular group of speakers.


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Diamantina is one of the rivers of the Lake Eyre system in Australia.


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Diameter, in geometry, is the length of any straight line segment that passes through the centre of a circle or a sphere and touches the figure's boundaries at opposite points.


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Diamond is the hardest naturally occurring substance, and also one of the most valuable natural substances.


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Diana, Princess of Wales (1961-1997), was a member of the royal family of the United Kingdom.


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Diaphragm, the large muscle attached to the lower ribs, separates the chest from the abdomen.


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Diarrhoea is a condition characterized by loose and frequent bowel movements.


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Diary is a written account of a person's experiences and thoughts, recorded each day or every few days.


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Dias, Bartolomeu (1450?-1500), also spelled Diaz, was a Portuguese sea captain and explorer.


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Diathermy is a method of treating muscle and joint disorders and other diseases by creating heat energy in tissues beneath the skin.


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Diatom is a microscopic, single-celled organism.


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Diaz, Porfirio (1830-1915), served two terms as president of Mexico from 1877 to 1880 and from 1884 to 1911.


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Diaz Ordaz, Gustavo, (1911-1979), served as president of Mexico from 1964 to 1970.


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Dice are small cubes used in such games of chance as craps.


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Dick, Sir William Reid (1879-1961), was a skilful British portrait painter and sculptor who was noted for his deep insight into character.


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Dickcissel is a bunting of the finch and sparrow family (see BUNTING).


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Dickens, Charles (1812-1870), was a great English novelist and one of the most popular writers of all time.


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Dickerson, Bob (1924-...), an Australian painter, became famous for his paint and charcoal works based on social themes.


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Dickey, James (1923-1997), was an American poet and novelist.


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Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886), was an American poet.


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Dickinson, Goldsworthy Lowes (1862-1932), a British humanist and author, wrote many works on historical and philosophical subjects.


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Dicotyledon is a type of flowering plant that has two cotyledons (leafy parts within each seed).


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Dictating machine is a business machine that records speech on a magnetic disc, tape, or other device.


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Dictatorship is a form of government in which an individual, a committee, or a group holds absolute power.


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Dictionary is a book that contains a selected list of words arranged in alphabetical order.


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Diderot, Denis (1713-1784), was a major French philosopher of an intellectual movement called the Age of Reason.


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Didgeridoo is a musical instrument that the Aborigines of northern Australia play in their religious ceremonies.


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Didion, Joan (1934-...), is an American essayist and novelist.


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Dido, also called Elissa, was the legendary founder and queen of Carthage.


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Die and diemaking.  A die is a precision tool used to shape or cut metals or other materials.


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Dieback refers to the death of eucalyptus trees in Australia.


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Diefenbaker, John George (1895-1979), served as prime minister of Canada from 1957 to 1963.


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Diego Garcia is an island in the Indian Ocean.


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Diels, Otto (1876-1954), a German chemist, shared the 1950 Nobel prize for chemistry with his former pupil, Kurt Alder.


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Dien Bien Phu, Battle of, was fought between Vietnamese Communists, called Vietminh, and France in 1954.


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Diesel, Rudolf (1858-1913), a German mechanical engineer, developed an internal-combustion machine that used oil as fuel.


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Diesel engine is a type of internal-combustion engine used chiefly for heavy-duty work.


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Diet is the food and drink that a person takes regularly day after day.


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Dietrich, Marlene (1904-1992), a German-born actress and singer, became a famous Hollywood film star.


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Diffraction is the spreading out of waves--water, sound, light, or any other kind--as they pass by the edge of an obstacle or through an opening.


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Diffusion, in chemistry, is the mixing of the atoms or molecules of one substance with those of another.


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Digestive system is the group of organs that break down food into smaller particles, or molecules, for use in the human body.


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Digitalis is a powerful drug made from the dried leaves of the purple foxglove, a common woodland and garden plant.


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Dik-dik is one of the smallest antelopes.


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Dill is a plant used in making pickles and as a flavouring in other foods, including fish, sour cream, and vinegar.


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Dillinger, John Herbert (1903-1934), was one of the most notorious criminals in United States history.


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Dillon is the family name of three prominent Irish politicians.


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Dillon, George (1906-1968), was an American poet.


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DiMaggio, Joe (1914-...), was one of the greatest outfielders in baseball history.


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Dimboola (pop. 4,058), is an agricultural township on the Wimmera River, 360 kilometres northwest of Melbourne.


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D'Indy, Vincent (1851-1931), was a French composer, organist, and conductor.


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Dinefwr (pop. 38,000) is a local government district in Dyfed in southwest Wales.


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Dinesen, Isak (1885-1962), was the pen name of Baroness Karen Blixen-Finecke, a Danish author who wrote in English and Danish.


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Ding Ling (1904-1986), also spelled Ting Ling, the pen name of Jiang Bingzhi, or Chiang Wei-chi, one of modern China's most popular and controversial writers.


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Dingane (1795-1840) was king of the Zulu from 1828 to 1840.


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Dinka are a cattle-herding people of central Africa.


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Dinkins, David Norman (1927-...), became the first African American mayor of New York City.


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Dinoflagellate is a kind of single-celled organism found throughout the oceans and in freshwater lakes and ponds.


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Dinosaur is the name of a group of prehistoric reptiles that ruled the earth for about 160 million years.


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Diocletian, a Roman emperor, was born about A.D. 245 and died in 313.


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Diogenes (412?-323 B.C.) belonged to the Cynic school of ancient Greek philosophy.


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Dionysius the Elder (430?-367 B.C.) was a Greek tyrant and military leader who ruled in ancient Sicily for almost 40 years.


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Dionysus was the god of wine in Greek mythology.


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Diopside is a widely occurring mineral with a glassy lustre.


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Dior, Christian (1905-1957), is considered one of the great French fashion designers of the 1900's.


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Dioxin is any of 75 related chemicals, all of which consist of carbon, chlorine, hydrogen, and oxygen.


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Diphtheria is a severe, contagious infection of the upper respiratory system or the skin.


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Diphthong is the sound produced by pronouncing two vowels as a single syllable.


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Diplodocus was an extremely long, slender, plant-eating dinosaur that lived about 150 million years ago in what is now the Western United States.


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Diplomacy is the means of conducting negotiations between nations.


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Diplomatic corps consists of all the heads of diplomatic missions, such as ambassadors and ministers, who represent their governments in a foreign nation.


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Diponegoro, Pangeran (1785-1855), was a Javanese prince who fought against the Dutch in the Java War (1825-1830).


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Dipper is a small thrushlike bird that dives and dips under water in search of insects.


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Diprotodon was the largest marsupial that ever lived (see MARSUPIAL).


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Dirac, Paul Adrien Maurice (1902-1984), a British theoretical physicist, became noted for his mathematical equation describing the behaviour of the electron.


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Direct Selling Association (DSA) is a trade organization of companies that sell products to consumers in their homes or work places.


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Disarmament is the elimination, reduction, or limitation of a nation's armed forces.


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Disaster is a sudden unfortunate event that affects many people.


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Discus throw is one of the oldest individual sports.


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Disease is a sickness of the body or the mind.


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Disinfectant is any substance that destroys germs on nonliving objects.


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Dislocation occurs when any part of the body moves from its normal position.


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Dismal Swamp is one of the largest swamps in the United States.


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Dismas, Saint, is a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.


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Disney, Walt (1901-1966), was one of the most famous film producers in history.


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Displacement behaviour refers to any of a variety of activities that seem inappropriate in the situation in which they occur.


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Disraeli, Benjamin (1804-1881), was one of the most important British political leaders of the 1800's.


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Distance is the space between two points.


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Distemper is a contagious disease of dogs and other animals.


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Distillation is a process that separates a substance or a mixture of substances from a solution through vaporization.


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Distilling is a process used in manufacturing various alcoholic beverages, including whisky, brandy, and rum.


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Distributed computing is the sharing of computing tasks among connected computers.


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District of Columbia (D.C.) is the seat of the United States government.


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Disulfiram is a drug used to treat alcoholism (see ALCOHOLISM).


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Ditmars, Raymond Lee (1876-1942), was a noted American authority on reptiles.


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Diuretic is a drug or other substance that increases the amount of urine discharged by the kidneys.


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Diverticulitis is a common disease of the colon (large intestine).


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Divide is a high place in the land, situated so that the streams on one side flow in the opposite direction to the streams on the other side.


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Divider is an instrument used to divide lines into equal parts.


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Divination is the practice of trying to learn about the unknown by magical or supernatural means.


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Divine Comedy is a beautiful, long epic poem by the Italian writer Dante Alighieri.


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Divine right of kings is the belief that monarchs get their right to rule directly from God, rather than from the consent or wish of their subjects.


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Diving, Underwater, is the way people reach the strange and beautiful world beneath the surface of oceans, lakes, and rivers.


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Division is a way of separating a group of things into equal parts.


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Divorce is the legal ending of a marriage.


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Dixie, also called Dixieland, is a name often given to the southern part of the United States.


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Dixie is the name of a famous song especially popular in the southern parts of the United States.


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Dixon, Joseph (1799-1869), was an American inventor and manufacturer.


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Dixon, Sir Owen (1886-1973), an Australian lawyer, was a justice of the High Court of Australia from 1929 to 1952, and chief justice from 1952 to 1964.


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Dizziness is a condition in which people feel that their surroundings are whirling about, or that they are falling.


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Djibouti is a small country in eastern Africa.


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Djibouti (pop. 317,000) is the capital of Djibouti, a country in eastern Africa.


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DNA fingerprinting, also known as DNA profiling, is a technique used to identify criminals through the analysis of genetic material.


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Dnepr River is one of the longest rivers in Europe.


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Dneproges Dam, a large concrete dam in Ukraine, is located 320 kilometres from the mouth of the Dnepr River.


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Dnepropetrovsk (pop. 1,140,000) is a major industrial city in Ukraine.


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Dnestr River, spelled Nistru in Moldova and Dnister in Ukraine, rises in the Carpathian Mountains in western Ukraine.


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Dobell, Sir William (1899-1970), an artist and Australia's greatest portrait painter, won the Archibald Prize three times--in 1943, in 1948, and in 1959.


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Doberman pinscher is a breed of dog that originated in Germany.


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Dobie, J. Frank (1888-1964), an American author and professor, became famous for his writings on the culture of Texas and the southwest of the United States.


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Dobson, Sir Arthur Dudley (1841-1934), was a British surveyor and explorer.


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Dobson, Frank (1888-1963), a British sculptor, became known for his sculptures of women.


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Dobson, Rosemary (1920-...), a leading Australian poet, won the Patrick White Literary Award in 1984.


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Dock is the water beside a wharf or pier (or between two wharves or piers) in which a ship floats.


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Dock is the name of several kinds of plants belonging to the buckwheat family.


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Doctorfish, one of the surgeonfishes, is a tropical marine fish, found in the East Indies.


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Dodd, Thomas Joseph (1907-1971), a Democratic politician, served in the United States Senate from 1959 to 1971.


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Dodder is a destructive weed found over most of the world.


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Dodecanese Islands include about 40 Greek islands and many small reefs in the Aegean Sea.


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Dodge, Mary Elizabeth Mapes (1831-1905), an American author, wrote Hans Brinker, or, The Silver Skates (1865), a famous children's book about the Netherlands.


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Dodge brothers were two pioneers in car manufacturing.


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Dodge City (pop. 21,129) is a commercial centre in the state of Kansas in the United States.


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Dodo is an extinct flightless bird related to the pigeon.


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Dodoma (pop. 45,703) is a city in central Tanzania.


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Doenitz, Karl (1891-1980), a German admiral, became commander in chief of the German fleet in January 1943, during World War II.


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Dog is a popular pet throughout the world.


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Dog, Guide is a dog specially trained to guide a blind person or to alert a hearing-impaired person to important sounds.


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Dog on the tucker box is a bronze statue of a dog sitting on a tucker box (food box) on the Hume Highway about 8 kilometres from Gundagai, in New South Wales, Australia.


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Dog-proof fences have been constructed in southern and eastern Australia to protect sheep from dingoes.


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Dogbane is the name of 11 closely related plants.


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Doge was the title of the rulers of Venice from 697 to 1797.


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Dogfish is a type of small shark that lives in the ocean.


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Dogger Bank is a large sandbank in the North Sea about 160 kilometres off the northeast coast of England.


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Dogs, Isle of is a small island on the north side of the River Thames in the East End of London.


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Dogtooth violet is any of a group of about 30 plants of the lily family that grow in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.


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Dogwood is the common name for a group of herbs, shrubs, and small trees in Europe and North America.


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Doha, also called Ad Dawhah (pop. 217,294), is the capital, largest city, and chief port of Qatar, a country on the Persian Gulf.


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Doherty, Sean (1944-...), an Irish politician, was the Republic of Ireland's Minister for Justice from March 1982 to December 1982.


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Dohnanyi, Ernst von (1877-1960), a Hungarian composer and conductor, became one of the outstanding pianists of his time.


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Doisy, Edward Adelbert (1893-1986), an American chemist, determined the nature of vitamin K, which helps the liver produce prothrombin, one of the clotting factors in blood.


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Dolbear, Amos E. (1837-1910), an American inventor and physicist, was one of several people who claimed to have invented the telephone before Alexander Graham Bell did.


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Doldrums is a belt of calms, light breezes, or sudden squalls near the equator, mainly over the oceans.


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Dole, Robert Joseph (1923-...), a United States politician, was the Republican Party's leader in the United States Senate from 1985 to 1996.


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Dolin, Sir Anton (1904-1983), became the first internationally famous English male dancer.


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Doll is a child's toy made to look like a human being.


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Dollar is the unit of money in many countries.


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Dollfuss, Engelbert (1892-1934), was an Austrian politician.


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Dolls' house is a miniature house filled with tiny furniture and other home furnishings.


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Dolmetsch is the name of a British musical family who have led the way in making and playing old kinds of instruments.


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Dolomite is a mineral that serves as the chief source of magnesium obtained from the earth's crust.


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Dolphin is the name of a group of sea animals closely related to whales and porpoises.


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Dolphin is a large game fish that lives in warm salt waters.


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Domagk, Gerhard (1895-1964), a German doctor, identified the therapeutic ability of the chemical prontosil rubrum, the first of the sulpha drugs.


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Dome is a curved roof erected on a circular base, much like a bowl turned upside down.


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Domesday Book was the first official record of the property holders living in England and the amount of land they held.


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Domett, Alfred (1811-1887), a politician and poet, was premier of New Zealand in 1862 and 1863.


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Dominance is a form of behaviour among individual animals that shows their ability to win aggressive encounters with other animals.


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Domingo, Placido (1941-...), a Spanish tenor, became one of the most popular opera singers of the 1900's.


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Dominic, Saint (1170?-1221), was a Spanish religious leader.


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Dominica is an independent island country in the Caribbean Sea.


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Dominican Republic is an independent country in the West Indies, a region of the Caribbean Sea.


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Dominicans are members of a Roman Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic of Spain in the early 1200's.


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Dominion Day commemorates the United Kingdom's action on September 26, 1907, which granted dominion status to New Zealand.


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Dominoes is the name of several games played with small, flat, oblong pieces called dominoes.


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Domitian (A.D. 51-96) succeeded his brother Titus as Roman emperor in A.D. 81.


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Don Juan is the hero of one of the most famous legends in literature.


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Don Quixote is a novel by Miguel de Cervantes of Spain.


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Don River is an important waterway in southwestern Russia.


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Donahoe, Jack (1806-1830), an Australian bushranger, is known for the exploits recorded in the song "Bold Jack Donahoe" and later incorporated in the ballad "The Wild Colonial Boy."  Born in Dublin, Ireland, he was convicted in 1823 of "intent to com


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Donatello (about 1386-1466), was a great Italian sculptor.


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Doncaster (pop. 71,595) is an industrial town in South Yorkshire, England.


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Donegal is a county on the northwest coast of Ireland.


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Donetsk (pop. 1,064,000) is the largest city in the Donets River Basin.


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Donizetti, Gaetano (1797-1848) was an Italian opera composer.


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Donkey is the name of the domesticated ass.


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Donne, John (1572-1631), was one of the greatest English poets and preachers of the 1600's.


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Donnelly, Ignatius (1831-1901), was an American politician, reformer, and author who helped form the Populist Party.


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Donoghue, Steve (1884-1945), was one of the United Kingdom's most successful and popular jockeys.


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Dooley, Thomas Anthony, III (1927-1961), an American doctor, became famous in the 1950's as the jungle doctor of Laos.


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Doolittle, Hilda (1886-1961), an American poet, was a leader of the imagism movement in poetry during the early 1900's.


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Doolittle, James Harold (1896-1993), a noted American pilot, led the first bombing raid on Tokyo in World War II.


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Doon, a river in Strathclyde Region, Scotland, was made famous by the poetry of Robert Burns.


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Doppler effect is the change in frequency of sound, light, or radio waves caused by the relative motion of the source of the waves and their observer.


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DORA, Defence of the Realm Acts, were passed in 1914 and 1915 to give the United Kingdom (UK) government special powers during World War I (1914-1918).


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Dore, Gustave (1832-1883), a French painter and sculptor, illustrated a large number of literary masterpieces.


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Dormouse is a tiny mammal that looks like a small squirrel.


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Dorset, a county in southern England, was once a shire of the Kingdom of Wessex.


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Dos Passos, John (1896-1970), was an American novelist whose work is dominated by social and political themes.


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Dostoevsky, Fyodor (1821-1881), was one of the greatest writers in Russian literature.


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Douala (pop. 1,029,731) is the largest city and chief seaport of Cameroon.


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Doubleday, Abner (1819-1893), was a United States Army officer who was once considered the inventor of baseball.


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Doubloon is a Spanish and Spanish-American gold coin that was widely used in America until the 1800's.


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Doubtful Sound is one of the largest and most beautiful fiords on the western coast of New Zealand's South Island.


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Doughnut is a round, fried cake with a hole in the centre.


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Doughty, Charles Montagu (1843-1926), a British author, travelled in western and southern Europe, and in Asia, writing on geology and collecting inscriptions.


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Douglas (pop. 20,368) is the capital of the Isle of Man in Britain.


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Douglas, Donald Wills (1892-1981), an American aircraft manufacturer, organized the Douglas Company in 1921.


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Douglas, Sir James (1803-1877), served as the first governor of the colony of British Columbia, in what is now Canada.


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Douglas, Lloyd Cassel (1877-1951), an American Protestant minister, wrote the best-selling novels Magnificent Obsession (1929), The Robe (1942), and The Big Fisherman (1948).


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Douglas, Norman (1868-1952), a British writer, is best known for his witty and satirical novel South Wind (1917).


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Douglas, Paul Howard (1892-1976), a noted American economist, served as a United States senator from Illinois.


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Douglas fir is one of the largest and most valuable timber trees in the world.


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Douglas of Kirtleside, Lord (1893-1969), William Sholto Douglas, one of Britain's air commanders during World War II (1939-1945), was chairman of British European Airways (now British Airways) from 1949 until 1964.


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Douglass, Frederick (1818?-1895), was the leading spokesman of American blacks in the 1800's.


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Doukhobors, also spelled Dukhobors, belong to a Christian sect in western Canada.


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Doulton, Sir Henry (1820-1897), was a British pottery maker who produced articles of both artistic and commercial value.


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Doum palm, also spelled doom palm, grows in Arabia, upper Egypt, and central Africa.


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Dove is a name that refers to the smaller members of the pigeon and dove family.


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Dove, Arthur Garfield (1880-1946), was one of the earliest abstract painters in the United States.


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Dover (pop. 102,600) is a local government district in eastern Kent, England.


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Dover, Strait of, is a narrow channel which connects the English Channel and the North Sea and separates England and France at their closest points.


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Dow Jones averages are statistics that show the trend of prices of stocks and bonds in the United States.


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Dowding, Lord (1882-1970), Hugh Caswall Tremenheere Dowding, led the British Fighter Command of the Royal Air Force to victory in the Battle of Britain of World War II (1939-1945) in 1940.


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Dowell, Anthony (1943-...), is a British dancer and director.


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Dowie, John Alexander (1847-1907), a Scottish-born religious leader, founded a sect that stressed divine healing, the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church in Zion.


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Downer, Alexander John Gosse (1951-...), was appointed Australia's minister for foreign affairs in 1996.


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Dowland, John (1563-1626), was an English composer during the Renaissance.


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Down (pop. 57,503) is a local government district in Northern Ireland.


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Down, County is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland.


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Down syndrome, formerly called Mongolism, is a disorder that is present at birth.


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Downing Street, in Westminster, London, has the official homes of the United Kingdom's prime minister and chancellor of the exchequer.


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Downpatrick is a town in Down, in Northern Ireland.


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Downs are generally treeless ranges of gently sloping hills.


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Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan (1859-1930), a British writer, created Sherlock Holmes, the world's best-known detective.


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D'Oyly Carte, Richard (1844-1901), an English theatre manager, produced all but the first of the 14 operettas written by Sir William S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur S. Sullivan.


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Drabble, Margaret (1939-...), is an English novelist.


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Draco was a Greek lawmaker who introduced the first written code of law in ancient Athens in 621 B.C. The code was designed to reduce discontent caused by the unfairness of the Athenian justice system.


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Dracula, a novel by the English author Bram Stoker, is the most famous vampire story.


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Draft is a written order drawn by one party, directing a second party to pay a definite amount of money to a third party.


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Drago, Luis Maria (1859-1921), an Argentine statesman and jurist, supported the principle that became known as the Drago Doctrine.


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Dragon is a mythical beast in the folklore of many European and Asian cultures.


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Drainage is the removal of excess water from the soil.


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Drake, Sir Francis (1540?-1596), an explorer and military commander, was the first Englishman to sail around the world.


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Drakensberg is the most important range of mountains in South Africa.


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Drama is an art form that tells a story through the speech and actions of the characters in the story.


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Draughts is a game played on a draughtboard by two people.


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Dravidians were among the earliest known inhabitants of India.


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Drawing is the act of making a design or image, using line or tone, on any suitable surface.


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Drayton, Michael (1563-1631), was an English poet who experimented with many literary forms.


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Dreadnought was a type of battleship first launched by the British Navy in 1906.


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Dream is a story that a person "watches" or appears to take part in during sleep.


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Dredging is the work of clearing out the bottom of rivers, harbours, and other bodies of water so that ships can use them.


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Dreiser, Theodore (1871-1945), ranks as the foremost American writer in the naturalism movement (a sombre and pessimistic form of realism).


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Dresden (pop. 490,571) is one of the largest cities in Germany and a major European art centre.


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Dresden china is a type of porcelain produced in Meissen, Germany, near the city of Dresden.


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Drew, Charles Richard (1904-1950), was an American doctor known for his research on blood plasma and for setting up blood banks.


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Drew, John (1853-1927), an American actor, became noted for his outstanding light comedy roles.


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Drexel, Anthony Joseph (1826-1893), was an American financier and philanthropist.


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Dreyfus, Alfred (1859-1935), was a Jewish French army officer who became the centre of a bitter quarrel as a result of political injustice.


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Drill, also called a seeder, is a tractor-drawn machine used to place seeds of small grains and grasses into soil.


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Drill is a tool used to bore holes into a variety of materials.


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Drinkwater, John (1882-1937), was a British playwright, poet, and biographer.


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Driscoll, Jim (1881-1925), was a British boxer who won fame as a master of the traditional scientific style of boxing, using the straight left as the principal punch.


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Driver, William (1803-1886), an American sea captain, gave the name Old Glory to the United States flag.


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Drogheda (pop. 24,068) is an important seaport and manufacturing centre in Louth, in the Republic of Ireland.


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Dromedary, also called Arabian camel, is a swift camel used mainly for transportation and food in dry parts of India, the Middle East, and Africa.


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Drought is a condition that results when the average rainfall for an area drops far below the normal amount for a long period of time.


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Droving is a term used for walking cattle over long distances.


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Drowning is death caused by suffocation in water or other liquid.


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Drug is one of the medical profession's most valuable tools.


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Drug abuse is the nonmedical use of a drug that interferes with a healthy and productive life.


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Druids were the priestly, learned class among the Celts, a people of ancient Europe.


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Drum is any member of about 200 species of fish.


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Drummond, Henry (1851-1897), was a Scottish evangelist and author.


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Drummond, Stanley (1885-1943), an Australian Methodist missionary, gained distinction for his social welfare work, especially for children.


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Drummond of Hawthornden, William (1585-1649), was one of the few Scottish poets of his time who chose to write in English, rather than in Gaelic.


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Drupe is a fleshy fruit that has a single seed surrounded by a hard covering or stone.


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Drury, Allen (1918-...), an American editor and writer, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1960 for his novel Advise and Consent.


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Drury Lane, in London, connects High Holborn with Aldwych.


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Druses are an Arabic-speaking people of the Middle East.


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Dry, Sir Richard (1815-1869), the first locally born premier of Tasmania, Australia, held office from 1866 to 1869.


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Dry cleaning is a process that removes dirt and stains from fabrics.


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Dry dock is a dock in which a vessel can lie out of the water while repairs are being made below its water line (see DOCK).


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Dry farming is a process of growing crops in semiarid regions without irrigation.


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Dryden, John (1631-1700), was the outstanding English writer of the Restoration period (about 1660 to 1700).


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Drysdale, Sir Russell (1912-1981), an Australian painter, became known for his outback landscapes.


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Duarte, Jose Napoleon (1926-1990), took office as the elected president of El Salvador on June 1, 1984.


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Du Barry, Madame (1746-1793), was the beautiful country girl who became the mistress of King Louis XV of France (see LOUIS [XV]).


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Dubbo (pop. 33,864) is a city in New South Wales, Australia, about 400 kilometres northwest of Sydney.


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Dubcek, Alexander (1921-1992), was first secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and 1969.


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Dublin is the capital city of the Republic of Ireland.


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Dublin is a county in the province of Leinster on the east coast of Ireland.


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Dublin, University of, more generally known as Trinity College, Dublin, was founded in 1592 under a charter granted by Queen Elizabeth I. The financial support of this university came from funds and property given by James I. The university has facul


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Dubois, Eugene (1858-1941), was a Dutch anatomist and physical anthropologist.


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Du Bois, W. E. B. (1868-1963), was one of the most important leaders of black protest in the United States.


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Duboisias are small Australian trees that contain poisonous sap.


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Dubos, Rene Jules (1901-1982), a French-American microbiologist, pioneered in the development of antibiotics, a type of drug.


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Dubuffet, Jean (1901-1985), was a French artist known for the primitive style of his works.


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Ducat is a coin first issued by Roger II of Sicily, Duke of Apulia, in the mid-1100's.


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Duccio di Buoninsegna (1250?-1319?) was the first great painter from Siena, Italy.


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Duchamp, Marcel (1887-1968), was a French-born American artist and a leader of the modern movement in art.


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Duck is a bird with waterproof feathers and webbed feet.


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Duck is a lightweight canvas usually made of linen, cotton, or synthetic fibres in a plain weave.


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Ducking stool was a form of punishment usually given to "witches and nagging women" in England and the American Colonies from the 1600's to the early 1800's.


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Duckweed is the name of several species of tiny plants that float on pools and ponds.


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Ducted propeller is a propeller that turns within a cylinderlike device called a duct.


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Ductility is the ability of certain solids to undergo permanent changes in shape without breaking.


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Dude ranch is an American Western-style ranch which receives paying guests, called dudes.


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Dudley (pop. 300,400) is a local government area in the West Midlands, England.


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Duel is a form of combat between two armed persons.


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Duff, Roger Shepherd (1912-1978), a New Zealand ethnologist and archaeologist, excavated an early Maori site at Wairau Bar, near Blenheim in the South Island of New Zealand.


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Du Fresne, Marion (1726-1772), was a French explorer.


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Du Fu (712-770) was one of China's greatest poets.


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Dufy, Raoul (1877-1953), was a French artist best known for his lively, decorative paintings.


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Dugite is a large venomous snake from southwestern Australia.


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Dugong is a plant-eating mammal that lives in the shallow, warm coastal waters of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, as far south as Australia.


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Duigan, John (1882-1951), a pioneer Australian aviator, designed and built the first Australian-made aeroplane.


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Duisburg (pop. 535,447) is a trading and manufacturing city in the Ruhr region of Germany.


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Dukas, Paul Abraham (1865-1935), was a French composer, music teacher, critic, and editor.


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Duke, Geoffrey (1923-...), was six times World champion motorcyclist and five times winner of the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy (TT) race.


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Duke-Elder, Sir William Stewart (1898-1978), a Scottish ophthalmologist, became a leading authority on eye diseases and eye surgery.


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Duke of Edinburgh's Award is an international character-building scheme for young people first suggested in 1954 by the Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Queen Elizabeth II (see PHILIP, PRINCE).


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Dukes, Alan (1945-...), an Irish Fine Gael politician, was leader of his party from 1987 to 1990.


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Dulcimer is a stringed musical instrument played with wooden hammers.


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Duluth (pop. 85,493) is a city in northeastern Minnesota in the United States.


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Duluth, Sieur (1636-1710), was a French explorer after whom Duluth, Minnesota, U.S.A., was named.


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Dulwich is a residential district in Southwark, in south London, England.


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Duma, officially called the State Duma, was the lower house of the Russian legislature in the early 1900's, during the reign of Czar Nicholas II. Nicholas wanted to rule Russia with supreme authority.


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Dumas, Alexandre, pere (1802-1870), was a French novelist and playwright.


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Dumas, Alexandre, fils (1824-1895), was a French writer.


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Du Maurier is the name of a family of English writers, artists, and actors.


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Dumbarton is an industrial town in southwestern Scotland.


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Dumbarton Oaks was the name of an international conference held in August-October 1944 at Dumbarton Oaks, an estate in Washington, D.C.


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Dumfries and Galloway makes up the most southerly part of Scotland.


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Dumont D'Urville, Jules (1790-1842), a French explorer and naval officer, made several voyages of exploration to Australia and New Zealand.


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Dun Laoghaire (pop. 54,715) is a town on the east coast of Ireland.


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Dunant, Jean Henri (1828-1910), a Swiss banker, was the founder of the International Red Cross.


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Dunbar, a sailing ship, was wrecked against the rocks on the outer South Head of Sydney Harbour in Australia, on Aug. 20, 1857.


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Dunbar, Battles of, were fought in Scotland in 1296 and 1650.


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Dunbar, William (1465?-1530?), a Scottish poet, was noted for his mastery of words and imagery.


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Dunbartonshire was formerly a county in western Scotland.


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Duncan I (?-1040), succeeded his grandfather, Malcolm II, as king of Scotland in 1034.


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Duncan, Isadora (1877-1927), an American dancer, greatly influenced dancing in the 1900's.


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Duncan, Robert (1919-1988), was an American poet.


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Duncan-Sandys, Lord (1908-1987) was an English Conservative politician who held several Cabinet posts.


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Dundalk (pop. 26,581) is the county town and administrative centre of Louth, in the Republic of Ireland.


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Dundee (pop. 165,548) is a seaport on the Firth of Tay, eastern Scotland.


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Dune is a mound or ridge of loose sand that has been deposited by the wind.


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Dunedin (pop. 109,503) is the seventh largest city of New Zealand.


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Dunfermline (pop. 125,529) is a local government district in Fife Region, Scotland.


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Dungannon (pop. 45,408) is a local government area in the south of Northern Ireland.


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Dunham, Katherine (1912-...), a U.S. dancer and choreographer (dance composer), became noted for her interpretations of the dances of blacks of the West Indies and the United States.


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Dunhill, Thomas Frederick (1877-1946), an English composer, wrote chiefly piano pieces, songs, and chamber works.


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Dunk Island is a tourist resort off the coast of northern Queensland, Australia.


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Dunkerque (pop. 73,120; met. area pop. 200,000) is a French seaport and industrial centre and the site of a dramatic Allied evacuation during World War II.


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Dunlap, William (1766-1839), has been called the father of American drama.


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Dunlop, John Boyd (1840-1921), a Scottish veterinary surgeon, patented the first commercially successful pneumatic (air-filled) tyre in Britain in 1888.


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Dunnart is a mouselike marsupial that lives on the ground in deserts and other arid places.


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Duns Scotus, John (1265 or 1266-1308), was one of the greatest theologians and philosophers of the Middle Ages.


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Dunsany, Lord (1878-1957), an English author, wrote more than 50 books, including collections of stories, a novel, and an autobiography.


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Dunstan, Sir Donald (1923-...), a lieutenant general in the Australian Army, became governor of South Australia in 1982.


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Dunstan, Saint (909?-988), was an English religious reformer, statesman, and archbishop of Canterbury.


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Duntroon, in the Australian Capital Territory, is the site of the Royal Military College, which prepares cadets for careers as officers in the Australian Regular Army.


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Duodecimal numerals form a numeration system based on 12.


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Du Pont de Nemours is the name of a famous American family from Delaware that established the chemical firm of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company.


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Dupre, Desmond John (1916-1974) was an outstanding performer on the guitar, lute, and viols.


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Du Pre, Jacqueline (1945-1987), was a brilliantly gifted British cellist.


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Durack is the name of an Australian family of pastoralists who pioneered cattle country in western Queensland and in the Kimberley district of Western Australia.


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Duralumin is a term for any one of a group of aluminium-copper alloys.


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Durante, Jimmy (1893-1980), was an American entertainer.


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Durban (pop. 715,669; met. area pop. 1,106,971) is the chief eastern seaport in South Africa.


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Durer, Albrecht (1471-1528), was the most famous painter and printmaker in the history of German art.


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Durham is the county in the northeast of England where, in 1825, George Stephenson opened the first public steam railway in the world.


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Durham (pop. 85,000) is a city in the county of Durham, England.


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Durham, Earl of (1792-1840), was a British political leader and governor general of Britain's Canadian colonies.


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Durian is a tree which bears edible fruit.


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Durkheim, Emile (1858-1917), was a French sociologist.


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Durrell, Gerald (1925-1995), was a British naturalist and author.


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Durrell, Lawrence (1912-1990), was a British novelist, travel writer, and poet.


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Durrenmatt, Friedrich (1921-1990), was a Swiss dramatist and novelist.


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D'Urville Island lies at the eastern end of Tasman Bay, near the northern coast of the South Island of New Zealand.


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Duryea brothers were two American car manufacturing pioneers.


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Duse, Eleonora (1858-1924), an Italian actress, has been called "the greatest actress of her time."  She seemed to live her parts instead of act them.


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Dushanbe (pop. 539,000) is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan.


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Dusky Sound is the largest, and one of the most beautiful of the many sounds in Fiordland, on the southwestern coast of the South Island of New Zealand.


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Dusseldorf (pop. 561,686) is a commercial and industrial city in Germany.


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Dust is made up of small particles of all kinds of solid matter.


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Dust Bowl refers to a series of destructive wind and dust storms that struck the United States during the 1930's.


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Dust explosion occurs when a cloud of burnable dust is ignited, causing an intense release of energy.


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Dust storm is a strong, turbulent wind that carries fine particles of clay, silt, and other earthy material for long distances.


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Dusty, Slim (1927-...), is the stage name of David Gordon Kirkpatrick, an Australian country and western singer.


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Dutch East India Company was a powerful trading company that helped establish Dutch rule in what is now Indonesia.


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Dutch elm disease is a severe disease of the elm tree.


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Dutch explorers played a major part in the early European exploration of Australia.


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Dutch oven is a covered metal cooking pot.


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Dutch West India Company was formed by Dutch merchants and chartered by the government of the Netherlands in 1621.


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Du Toit, Alexander Logie (1878-1948), was an outstanding South African geologist.


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Dutton, Geoffrey (1922-...), an Australian writer, made a valuable contribution to literary criticism as editor of Literature of Australia (1964).


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Duvalier, Francois (1907-1971), was the president of Haiti from 1957 until his death in 1971.


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Dvina River is the name of two rivers in Eastern Europe.


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Dvorak, Antonin (1841-1904), was a Czech composer.


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Dwarf is an unusually small adult human being, animal, or plant.


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Dwight, John (1635?-1703), was an important early English potter.


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Dwyfor (pop. 28,600) is a local government district in Gwynedd, Wales.


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Dayaks are a group of people most of whom live in Sarawak, eastern Malaysia.


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Dye is a chemical compound used to produce long-lasting colours in materials.


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Dyer, Bob (1909-1984), began his long-running quiz show, "Pick-a-Box," on Australian radio in 1941.


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Dylan, Bob (1941-...), an American composer, singer, and musician, was the most influential folk-song writer of the early 1960's.


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Dynamics, in physics, is the study of objects that change their speed or the direction of their motion because of forces acting upon them.


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Dynamite is one of the most important industrial explosives.


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Dynamotor is an electric machine that can be used as both a motor and a generator.


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Dysentery is a disease involving inflammation of the lining of the large intestine.


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Dyslexia is a term that refers to many reading disabilities.


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Dyson, Edward George (1865-1931), was an Australian writer who wrote about the goldfields and bush where he grew up.


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Dyson, Sir George (1883-1964), was a British composer, teacher, and writer.


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Dyspepsia is a term which is loosely used to refer to a disorder in digestion.


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Dysprosium, a chemical element with symbol Dy, is one of the rare-earth metals.


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E is the fifth letter of the English alphabet.


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E = mc-squared is a formula developed by the physicist Albert Einstein that directly relates mass (matter) and energy.


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E Pluribus Unum is the Latin motto on the face of the Great Seal of the United States of America.


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Eads, James Buchanan (1820-1887), was an American engineer and inventor.


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Eagle is the name of some of the largest and most powerful birds in the world.


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Eakins, Thomas (1844-1916), was one of the greatest American realist painters of the 1800's.


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Ealing (pop. 263,600) is an English borough within the Greater London area.


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Eames, Charles (1907-1978), was an American designer who became internationally famous for creating some of the most imaginative furniture of the 1900's.


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Eames, Robert Henry Alexander (1937-...), was elected Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland and Metropolitan by the bishops of the Church of Ireland in 1986.


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Ear is the sense organ that makes it possible for us to hear.


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Earhart, Amelia (1897-1937?), was an American aviator.


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Earl is the oldest title of nobility in the British peerage.


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Earl, George (1813-1865), a British colonial official, became an expert on the Malay language.


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Earl Marshal is the head of the College of Arms, a body of heralds in Britain, who are responsible for matters concerning the peerage and heraldry.


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Early childhood education includes a wide variety of planned educational experiences for young children.


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Earp, Wyatt (1848-1929), was a frontiersman and peace officer in the American West.


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Earth, in electricity, is any electrical conductor that is connected to the earth.


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Earth means many things to the people who live on it.


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Earth science is the study of the earth and its origin and development.


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Earthquake is a shaking of the ground caused by the sudden breaking and shifting of large sections of the earth's rocky outer shell.


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Earthworm is a name for many kinds of common worms found in moist, warm soil throughout the world.


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Earwig is an insect that has a large pair of pincers at the rear of its body.


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Easement is the right to use another person's land for a specific purpose.


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Easington (pop. 96,300) is a local government district on the coast of Durham, England.


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East Anglia is a region in eastern England.


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East Cambridgeshire (pop. 59,300) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England.


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East Coast is a region of the North Island of New Zealand that includes the East Cape and Poverty Bay areas.


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East Devon (pop. 116,300) is a local government district in Devon, England.


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East Dorset (pop. 77,200) is a local government district in England.


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East Hampshire (pop. 101,100) is a local government district in Hampshire, England, centred on the towns of Alton and Petersfield.


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East Hertfordshire (pop. 114,200) is a local government district in the county of Hertfordshire, England.


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East India Company was the name of several European companies that controlled trade with India and the Far East during the 1600's.


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East Indies, in its widest sense, refers to southeastern Asia, including India, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam; the islands around the Malay Archipelago; and the Philippines.


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East Kilbride (pop. 81,399) is a new town in the local government area of South Lanarkshire, Scotland, about 11 kilometres south of Glasgow.


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East Lindsey (pop. 115,600) is a local government district in Lincolnshire, England.


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East London (pop. 77,060, met area pop. 105,887) is a port and city on the eastern coast of South Africa in Eastern Cape province.


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East Lothian is a United Kingdom local government area in Scotland.


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East Northamptonshire (pop. 66,600) is a local government district in Northamptonshire, England.


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East Staffordshire (pop. 96,200) is a local government district in Staffordshire, England.


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East Yorkshire (pop. 83,700) was a local government district in northern Humberside, England.


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Eastbourne (pop. 83,200) is a seaside resort in East Sussex, England.


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Easter is the most important Christian festival of the year.


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Easter Island, in the South Pacific Ocean, is famous as the site of enormous statues of people that were carved hundreds of years ago.


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Easter lily, a flower that has become a sign of Easter, is a tall plant with long, pointed leaves.


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Eastern Cape is the second largest of South Africa's nine provinces.


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Eastern Catholic Churches are a group of independent but related Christian churches in eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia that accept the pope as their head.


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Eastern Orthodox Churches are the major Christian churches in Greece, Russia, eastern Europe, and western Asia.


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Eastleigh (pop. 103,200) is a local government district in southwestern Hampshire, England.


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Eastland, James Oliver (1904-1986), an American Democratic politician, served in the United States Senate for more than 35 years, from 1943 to 1979.


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Eastman, George (1854-1932), was an American businessman and inventor.


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Eastman, Max Forrester (1883-1969), was an American writer whose Enjoyment of Poetry (1913) introduced many readers to poetry.


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Eastwood (pop. 58,322) is a local government district in Strathclyde Region, Scotland.


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Eastwood, Clint (1930-...), is an American film actor and director.


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Ebejer, Francis (1925-1993), a Maltese writer, had his plays presented in many countries in Europe.


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Ebbinghaus, Hermann (1850-1909), was a German experimental psychologist who performed highly original work in the study of memory and association.


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Ebla was a kingdom that flourished during the 2000's B.C. in what is now northern Syria.


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Ebola virus is a virus that has caused several outbreaks of deadly disease in Africa.


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Eccles, Sir John (1903-...), an Australian scientist, shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine with British professors Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley for research into nerve impulses.


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Eccles, Marriner Stoddard (1890-1977), was an American financier.


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Ecclesiastes is the 21st book of the Old Testament, or Hebrew Bible.


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Ecclesiastical court is a court set up to judge cases involving clerics.


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Echeverria Alvarez, Luis (1922-...), served as president of Mexico from 1970 to 1976.


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Echidna is a type of mammal that lays eggs.


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Echinoderm is the general name of certain spiny-skinned sea animals.


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Echo is a sound that we hear after it is reflected back to its source after striking some object.


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Echuca (pop. 9,437), is a city on the Murray River in northern Victoria, Australia.


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Eck, Johann (1486-1543), was a Catholic theologian who challenged Martin Luther at a debate in Leipzig, Germany in 1519.


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Eckhart, Johannes (1260?-1328?), was a German theologian.


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Eclipse is the darkening of a heavenly body.


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Eco, Umberto (1932-...), is an Italian philosopher, novelist and literary critic.


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Ecole des Beaux-Arts is a school of fine arts in Paris, sponsored by the French government.


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Ecology is the branch of science that deals with the relationships living things have to each other and to their environment.


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Econometrics is the branch of economics that applies mathematics and statistics to economic theory.


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Economic determinism is a theory for interpreting history which states that a society's economic system shapes its social, political, and religious institutions.


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Economics is the social science concerned with the analysis of commercial activities and with how goods and services are produced.


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Ectoplasm is a term with two meanings, one used by spiritualists and the other by biologists.


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Ecuador is one of the smallest countries of South America.


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Eczema is a skin disorder characterized by itching and inflammation.


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Edda is a term that refers to two separate works of medieval Icelandic literature.


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Eddington, Sir Arthur Stanley (1882-1944), a British astronomer, early became interested in the structure of the universe and in the motions and internal constitution of the stars.


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Eddy, Mary Baker (1821-1910), was the founder of Christian Science and the Church of Christ, Scientist.


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Edelweiss is a flower that grows in the mountain regions of Europe and Asia.


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Eden was a region described in the Bible as the place where God planted a garden for Adam and Eve.


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Eden (pop. 46,300) is a local government district in the east of Cumbria, England.


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Eden, Anthony (1897-1977), Earl of Avon, a British statesman, served as prime minister of Great Britain and leader of the Conservative Party from 1955 to 1957.


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Edentate is any one of a group of mammals that have incomplete sets of teeth or no teeth at all.


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Ederle, Gertrude Caroline (1906-...), a famous American swimmer, became the first woman to swim the English Channel.


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Edgeworth, Maria (1767-1849), was an Irish writer.


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Edinburgh (pop. 421,213) is the capital and second largest city of Scotland.


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Edinburgh, Treaty of (1560), ended the civil war in Scotland between Scottish Protestants and Scottish Roman Catholics backed by France.


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Edinburgh, University of, is one of the oldest universities in the United Kingdom.


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Edirne, formerly Adrianople (pop. 86,909), is an ancient Turkish city.


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Edison, Thomas Alva (1847-1931), was one of the greatest inventors and industrial leaders in history.


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Editorial is usually a brief newspaper or magazine article that gives the publication's position on current events.


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Edmondson, John Hurst (1914-1941), an Australian soldier, was awarded the Victoria Cross after his death.


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Edmonton (pop. 616,741; metropolitan area pop. 839,924) is the capital of the western Canadian province of Alberta.


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Edom was an ancient kingdom that is mentioned often in the Old Testament.


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Education, in its broadest sense, refers to the ways in which people learn skills and gain knowledge and understanding about the world, and about themselves.


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Educational psychology is a field of psychology in which psychological knowledge and methods are used to study the processes of teaching and learning.


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Edward (1330-1376), known as the Black Prince, is one of the most famous English warriors in history.


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Edward I (1239-1307), became king of England in 1272.


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Edward II (1284-1327), was one of the most unsuccessful kings in English history.


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Edward III (1312-1377), became king of England in 1327.


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Edward IV (1442-1483), became king of England in 1461.


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Edward V (1470-1483), succeeded his father, Edward IV, as king of England in April 1483 at the age of 12.


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Edward VI (1537-1553), was king of England and Ireland from 1547 until his death.


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Edward VII (1841-1910), became king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1901.


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Edward VIII (1894-1972), became king of the United Kingdom (UK) on Jan. 20, 1936, and gave up the throne December 11 that same year.


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Edward, Prince (1964-...), is the third son and youngest child of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom (UK).


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Edward the Confessor (1002?-1066), an Anglo-Saxon king descended from Alfred the Great, was crowned in 1042.


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Edwards, Gareth (1947-...), won fame as one of Wales's outstanding international rugby players.


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Edwards, Hilton (1903-1982), became well known as a director at the Gate Theatre in Dublin, Ireland.


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Edwards, Sir Hughie (1914-1982), an Australian airman, won the Victoria Cross while serving with the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II (1939-1945).


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Edwards, Sir James Bevan (1834-1922), a British general, was commissioned to advise the separate Australian colonial administrations on the best use of their current military systems in 1889.


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Edwards, Sir Owen Morgan (1858-1920), was a Welsh writer, educationalist, and champion of Welsh culture.


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Eel is a long, slimy fish that looks like a snake.


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Eelgrass is either of two different underwater plants.


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Eelworm is a tiny, threadlike worm that lives as a parasite in plants.


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Efficiency, in engineering and physics, is the ratio of the work we get out of a machine to the amount of energy put into the machine.


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Egbert (775?-839), was king of the ancient kingdom of Wessex in England from 802 to his death.


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Eggleston, Edward (1837-1902), an American writer, wrote The Hoosier Schoolmaster (1871), a delightful story of early Indiana.


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Eglantine is a wild rose, commonly called sweetbrier.


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Ego is a term used in psychoanalysis to describe one of the three parts of the mind.


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Egret is any of eight species of birds in the heron family.


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Egypt is a Middle Eastern country located in the northeast corner of Africa.


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Egypt, Ancient, was the birthplace of one of the world's first civilizations.


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Ehrlich, Paul (1854-1915), a German bacteriologist, founded chemotherapy and showed that certain dye injections cure certain tropical diseases.


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Eichmann, Adolf (1906-1962), a lieutenant colonel in Nazi Germany's secret police, was convicted and executed for his part in the killing of about 6 million Jews during World War II.


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Eider duck is the name of several ducks which live close to sea waters.


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Eiffel, Alexandre Gustave (1832-1923), was the French structural and aeronautical engineer who designed the 300-metre Eiffel Tower in Paris for the World's Fair of 1889.


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Eiffel Tower is a huge wrought-iron skeleton tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris.


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Eildon Dam forms a large storage reservoir on the Goulburn River in northern Victoria, Australia.


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Einstein, Albert (1879-1955), was one of the greatest scientists of all time.


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Einsteinium (chemical symbol, Es) is an artificially created radioactive element.


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Einthoven, Willem (1860-1927), a Dutch physiologist, was the founder of electrocardiography.


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Eisenhower, Dwight David (1890-1969), was president of the United States from 1953 to 1961.


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Eisenhower, Milton Stover (1899-1985), a brother of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, won fame as an American educator and administrator who specialized in agriculture, public information, and governmental organization.


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Eisenstaedt, Alfred (1898-1995), was an American photographer known for his photographs of news events and famous people.


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Eisteddfod is a popular festival of music and the arts that takes place in Wales.


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El Aaiun (pop. 96,784), also called Laayoune, is the principal city of Western Sahara.


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El Alamein (pop. 980) is an Egyptian coastal village that lies about 105 kilometres west of Alexandria.


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Eland is the largest antelope in Africa.


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Elasticity is the ability of a solid to return to its original shape and size after it has been deformed by a force.


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Elat (pop. 33,300) is an Israeli port on the Gulf of Aqaba, an arm of the Red Sea.


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Elba is a mountainous island in the Mediterranean Sea, 10 kilometres southwest of the coast of Tuscany, in Italy.


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Elbe River is one of the most important commercial waterways of central Europe.


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Elbow is the joint that connects a person's upper arm with the forearm.


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Elder is the name of a group of 30 species of small trees or shrubs in the honeysuckle family.


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Elder, Sir Thomas (1818-1897), a pastoralist and benefactor, invested in sheep stations in northern South Australia and spent much money improving these properties, especially on water conservation.


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Eldershaw, Flora (1897-1956), an Australian author, combined with Marjorie Barnard to write under the pen name M. Barnard Eldershaw.


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El Dorado is the name of a fictitious kingdom of enormous wealth located on the Amazon River.


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Eleanor Crosses mark the places where, in 1290, the body of Eleanor of Castile, wife of King Edward I of England, rested on its journey from Harby, near Lincoln, to London.


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Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204), was the wife of King Louis VII of France and later of King Henry II of England.


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Elecampane is a coarse perennial plant closely related to the asters.


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Election is the process by which people vote for the candidate or proposal of their choice.


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Electoral college is a system for the indirect election of a political candidate.


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Electra in Greek mythology was famous for her loyalty to her father, the Greek leader Agamemnon.


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Electric arc is a curve of intense heat and light formed when a strong electric current leaps across a gap between two electrodes.


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Electric bell.  The most common type of electric bell is the doorbell found in homes.


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Electric car is a car powered by rechargeable batteries.


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Electric circuit is the path followed by an electric current.


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Electric current is the movement or flow of electric charges.


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Electric eel is a long, narrow fish that can produce a strong electric discharge.


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Electric eye, also known as photocell, is an electronic device that either produces a current or allows a current to flow when light shines on it.


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Electric field exists in the space around a charged body and can be detected by its effect on another charged body in the field.


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Electric fish is any of several fishes with special muscles that can generate an electric current.


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Electric furnace is a device for providing heat by electrical means.


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Electric generator is a machine that produces electricity.


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Electric light is a device that uses electric energy to produce visible light.


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Electric measurement.  Electricity itself cannot be observed.


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Electric meter is a device that measures electric current.


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Electric motor is a machine that changes electric energy into mechanical power to do work.


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Electric power is the use of electric energy to do work.


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Electric railway is an electrically powered railway system.


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Electric switch is a device that controls the flow of electric current in a circuit.


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Electric wiring is the system of wires and cables that distributes electricity throughout a home, store, factory, or other building.


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Electrician is a person who repairs, installs, operates, or maintains electrical devices.


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Electricity is a basic feature of the matter that makes up everything in the universe.


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Electrocardiograph is an instrument used to diagnose heart disorders.


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Electrochemistry is a science that deals with chemical reactions that involve electricity.


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Electrocution is a means of causing death by the use of a strong electric shock.


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Electrode is a conductor through which current enters or leaves an electric or electronic device.


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Electroencephalograph is an instrument used to measure and record the electrical voltages produced by neurons (nerve cells) in the brain.


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Electrolysis is a process in which an electric current is passed through a liquid, causing a chemical reaction to take place.


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Electrolyte is a substance that conducts electricity.


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Electromagnet is a temporary magnet formed when electric current flows through a wire or other conductor.


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Electromagnetic waves are related patterns of electric and magnetic force.


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Electromagnetism is the branch of physics that studies the relationship between electricity and magnetism.


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Electromotive force is a measure of the amount of work required to carry a unit of electric charge through a circuit.


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Electromotive series, also called the electrochemical series or activity series, is a listing of metals and hydrogen with respect to their tendency to lose electrons during chemical reactions.


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Electron is a negatively charged subatomic particle.


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Electron gun is the heart of various electron devices.


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Electron microscope is a device that uses a beam of electrons to magnify an object's image.


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Electronic data processing (EDP) is the handling of information in electronic form by computers and similar machines.


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Electronic game is a game controlled by a tiny computer called a microprocessor.


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Electronic mail, also called e-mail, is a message sent from one computer to another over telephone lines.


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Electronic music is music in which sounds are produced electronically.


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Electronic publishing is the use of computers to design, edit, and distribute material that traditionally would have been produced on printing presses.


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Electronic tagging is a method of monitoring the whereabouts of a person, such as in the enforcement of house arrest.


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Electronics is a branch of physics and engineering that involves controlling the flow of electric charges in certain devices for a useful purpose.


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Electrophoresis is a method of separating and purifying large biological molecules, such as proteins and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), through the use of an electric field.


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Electroplating is the process of putting a metallic coating on a metal or other conducting surface by using an electric current.


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Electroscope is an instrument that detects the presence of an electric charge.


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Electrotyping is the process of making metal reproductions of type, engravings, or etchings.


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Elegy is a poem that usually reflects upon death--often the death of a friend.


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Element, Chemical, is any substance that contains only one kind of atom.


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Element 104 is an artificially produced radioactive element.


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Element 105 is an artificially produced radioactive element.


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Element 106 is an artificially created radioactive element.


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Element 107 is an artificially produced radioactive element.


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Element 108 is an artificially produced radioactive element.


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Element 109 is an artificially produced radioactive element.


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Element 110 is an artificially produced radioactive element.


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Element 111 is an artificially produced radioactive element.


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Elephant is the largest animal that lives on land.


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Elephant bird is any one of about seven species of giant extinct birds that once lived on the island of Madagascar.


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Elephantiasis is a skin disease that is most common in the tropics.


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Elephant's-ear is a plant with large leaves shaped like an elephant's ear or a shield.


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Eleusinian Mysteries were ancient Greek religious rituals performed annually at Eleusis, near Athens.


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Elevated railway is an electric railway that runs on tracks above other traffic.


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Eleven-Plus is an examination taken in a few parts of the United Kingdom (UK) by primary schoolchildren between the ages of 101/2 and 111/2.


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Elf is an imaginary creature in northern European folklore.


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Elgar, Sir Edward William (1857-1934), a British composer, became best known for his Pomp and Circumstance, a set of five marches.


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Elgin, Earl of (1811-1863), served as governor general of Canada from 1847 to 1854.


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Elgin Marbles are a group of ancient Greek sculptures that originally decorated the Acropolis in Athens.


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Elijah was a Hebrew prophet of the 800's B.C. He was born in Tishbe in what was then northern Israel.


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Elimination, also called excretion, is the process of removing water, waste matter, and harmful substances from the body.


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Eliot, George (1819-1880), was the pen name of Mary Ann (or Marian) Evans, a great English novelist.


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Eliot, T. S. (1888-1965), ranks among the most important poets of the 1900's.


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Elisha was the follower, servant, and later the successor of the Hebrew prophet Elijah.


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Elision, in poetry, means dropping or slurring the final vowel or syllable in a word to keep a strict rhythm.


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Elixir is a sweetened alcoholic preparation used to disguise the taste of medicines.


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Elizabeth (pop. 28,958), 27 kilometres north of Adelaide in South Australia, was once a satellite city.


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Elizabeth I (1533-1603), was queen of England from 1558 until her death in 1603.


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Elizabeth II (1926-...) is the queen of the United Kingdom and the head of the Commonwealth of Nations.


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Elizabeth, Saint, according to Luke 1, was the mother of John the Baptist and a kinswoman of Mary.


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Elizabeth Farm House is the oldest building still standing in Australia.


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Elk is the common name in Europe for the largest member of the deer family.


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Elkhorns are specialized kinds of ferns, found in rainforests in warm, coastal areas of Australia.


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Ell was a measure of length taken from the forearm.


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Ellesmere Island lies west of northern Greenland.


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Ellesmere Port and Neston (pop. 78,800) is an industrial centre and local government district in northern Cheshire, England.


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Ellington, Duke (1899-1974), was an American jazz composer, bandleader, and pianist.


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Elliott, Herb (1938-...), an Australian runner, set a world record by running a mile in less than 4 minutes 17 times before he retired in 1962.


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Ellipse is a geometric figure with the shape of a flattened hoop.


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Ellis, Havelock (1859-1939), was a British author and psychologist.


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Ellis Island was a United States immigration station for more than 60 years.


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Ellison, Ralph (1914-1994), a black American author, became famous for his novel Invisible Man (1952).


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Elm is a large attractive tree used for shade and for timber.


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Elman, Mischa, (1891-1967), a Russian-born violinist, made his first public appearance in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1904 with great success.


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Elmbridge (pop. 109,900) is a local government district in northern Surrey, England.


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El Misti is a beautiful cone-shaped volcano in southern Peru.


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El Nino is a warm current in the Pacific Ocean that flows southward along the west coast of South America.


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Elodea is a plant that grows submerged in water.


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Elohim is a Hebrew word that means gods, a god, or God, depending on the context in which it is used.


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Elorde, Cirilo Gabriel (1935-1985), a Filipino boxer, won world titles in 1956 and 1960.


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El Paso, Texas, U.S.A. (pop. 515,342, met. area pop. 591,610), lies on the border between the United States and Mexico and serves as a main gateway for travel between the two countries.


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El Salvador is the smallest Central American country in area.


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Elton, Charles Sutherland (1900-1991), was an English biologist.


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Elwyn-Jones, Lord (1909-1989), was lord chancellor in the British Labour government from 1974 to 1979.


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Ely is a city in East Cambridgeshire, England.


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Elysium in Greek and Roman mythology, was the place to which the souls of heroes were sent after death as a reward for their virtuous lives.


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Elzevir is the name of a famous family of Dutch printers.


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Embalming is the preservation of dead bodies by chemical means.


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Embargo is an order designed to stop the movement of goods to another country by land, sea, or air.


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Embezzlement is the crime committed when someone entrusted with another's money or property illegally takes it for personal use.


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Emblem is a symbol of an idea, or of things for which a person, a country, or an organization stands.


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Embolism is a condition in which a blood vessel is blocked by material that has been carried there by the bloodstream.


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Embossing is a process in which a raised design is stamped or pressed on such materials as leather, paper, wood, or metal.


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Embroidery is the art of stitching decorations on a fabric or similar material with a needle and thread.


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Embryo is an animal or plant in an early stage of its development.


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Embryology is the study of multicellular organisms during their early stages of development.


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Emden was a German cruiser that was stationed in the China Seas and the Indian Ocean at the outbreak of World War I.


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Emerald is a rich green gemstone that is a variety of the mineral beryl.


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Emerald Irrigation Scheme serves farms on more than 35,000 hectares around the town of Emerald in central Queensland, Australia.


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Emerald Isle is a poetic name for Ireland.


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Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882), ranks as a leading figure in the thought and literature of American civilization.


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Emery is a hard black or grey rock used for grinding and polishing.


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Emetic is a medicine that is used to produce vomiting.


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Emigres were people who fled France because of the French Revolution.


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Emin Pasha (1840-1892), was a German colonial administrator and explorer in Africa.


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Eminent domain is the inherent right of a state to force property owners to sell their property when it is needed for public use.


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Emmer is a cereal grain similar to wheat.


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Emmet, Robert (1778-1803), an Irish patriot, became one of that country's best-remembered heroes.


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Emotion is usually considered to be a feeling about or reaction to certain important events or thoughts.


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Empedocles (495?-435?  B.C.), was an early Greek philosopher.


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Emperor is the ruler of an empire, or group of nations or states.


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Emperor gum moth lives in eastern Australia from northern Queensland to Tasmania.


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Emperor moth is a European moth that lives in heathland areas.


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Emphysema is a lung disease in which victims have difficulty breathing, especially when they exhale.


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Empire is a domain made up of different countries or states, held together and ruled by the strongest nation in the group.


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Empire State Building is one of the tallest skyscrapers in the world.


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Empiricism is a philosophical approach that views experience as the most important source of knowledge.


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Empson, Sir William (1906-1984), a British poet and literary critic, became known for his technically complex poetry.


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Emu is a large, flightless bird that lives in Australia.


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Emulsion is a preparation of one liquid evenly distributed in another.


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Enamel is a glasslike substance used primarily to form a smooth, glossy surface on metal.


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Encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain.


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Enclave is a territory belonging to one country but lying within the boundaries of another country.


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Enclosures of open fields and common land to form independent farms played an important part in the development of English farming in the late 1500's, and particularly in the late 1700's.


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Encounter Bay lies at the entrance of Lake Alexandrina, at the mouth of the Murray River, between the northern end of the Coorong and Cape Jervis in South Australia.


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Encumbrance, also spelled incumbrance, is a legal restriction on land and property.


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Encyclical is a letter from a Christian leader, particularly the pope, which is intended for general distribution among churches.


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Encyclopedia is a collection of information about people, places, events, and things.


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Endangered species are living things threatened with extinction--that is, the dying off of all individuals of their kind.


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Enderby Land is a region on the fringe of Antarctica.


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Enders, John Franklin (1897-1985), an American research bacteriologist, shared the 1954 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine with Frederick C. Robbins and Thomas H. Weller.


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Endive is a leafy vegetable closely related to chicory.


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Endometriosis is a disease of the female reproductive system in which clusters of cells from the lining of the uterus invade other areas of the body.


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Endorphin is any of a group of substances in the nervous system of human beings and animals.


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Endoscope is a medical instrument used to examine the interior of a hollow organ or cavity of the body.


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Endymion in Greek mythology, was a handsome youth loved by Selene, the goddess of the moon.


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Energy, in physics, is the ability to do work.


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Energy supply is the total quantity of usable energy available to people.


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Enewetak is an isolated atoll in the northwest corner of the Marshall Islands, in the Pacific Ocean.


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Enfield (pop. 249,100) is a borough within Greater London, England.


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Engels, Friedrich (1820-1895), was a German social scientist, journalist, and professional revolutionary.


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Engine is a machine that converts energy into mechanical work.


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Engine analyser is an instrument used to determine the performance of parts of petrol and diesel engines.


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Engineering is the profession that puts scientific knowledge to practical use.


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England is the largest of the four political divisions that make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.


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English Channel is a body of water between England and France that connects the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea.


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English foxhound is one of the oldest breeds of hounds.


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English language is the most widely spoken language in the world.


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English literature consists of the poetry, prose, and drama written in the English language by authors in England, Scotland, and Wales.


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English setter is a popular dog because of its handsome face and sleek coat.


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English springer spaniel is a sporting dog that forces game to spring from hiding places.


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English toy terrier is a dog which was originally bred for ratting.


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Engraving is a process of cutting a design or picture into a flat metal plate.


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Ensor, James (1860-1949), was a Belgian painter and printmaker.


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Entail is an estate that descends to certain heirs, rather than to all the heirs.


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Entebbe (pop. 32,488) is a major city in Uganda, a nation in eastern Africa.


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Entomology is a major branch of zoology concerned with the study of insects.


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Entropy is a measure of the amount of disorder or randomness in a system.


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Envelope is a piece of folded, sealed paper.


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Environment is everything that is external to an organism.


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Environmental pollution is a term that refers to all the ways that human activity harms the natural environment.


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Enzyme is a protein molecule that speeds up chemical reactions in all living things.


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Ephedrine is a drug used to treat asthma.


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Ephesians, Epistle to the, is the 10th book of the New Testament.


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Ephesus was an ancient Greek city that stood about 56 kilometres south of modern-day Izmir, Turkey.


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Epictetus (A.D. 50?-138?), was a Greek Stoic philosopher.


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Epicurus (342?-270 B.C.), was a Greek philosopher.


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Epidaurus is the site of several ancient Greek ruins, including a famous outdoor theatre.


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Epidemic is an outbreak of disease which attacks many people at about the same time.


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Epigram is a short, witty poem or pointed saying.


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Epilepsy is any one of a group of disorders of brain function characterized by sudden, recurrent attacks.


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Epiphyte, also called air plant, is any plant that grows on another plant but manufactures its own food.


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Episcopal Church is a Christian denomination in the United States.


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Episcopal Church, Scottish, is the Anglican church in Scotland, governed by bishops.


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Epistle can refer to any letter written to an individual or a group.


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Epitaph is a memorial inscription on a tombstone or other monument to the dead.


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Epithelioma is any tumour of the epithelium, the tissue that lines the body cavities and covers the body surface and the internal organs.


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Epithelium is one of the major kinds of tissue formed in the bodies of human beings and some animals.


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Epping Forest (pop. 113,100) is a residential area and local government district in southwestern Essex, England.


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Epsom and Ewell (pop. 66,000) is a residential area and local government district in Surrey, England.


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Epstein, Sir Jacob (1880-1959), was an American-born sculptor who spent most of his life in London.


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Epstein-Barr virus is a virus that causes several important diseases in human beings.


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Equator is the great circle of the earth that lies halfway between the North and South poles.


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Equatorial Guinea is a small country in western Africa.


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Equestrian order was a class of prominent citizens in ancient Rome.


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Equilibrium, Chemical, is a state of balance that is reached when chemical reactions have apparently stopped.


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Equinox is either of the two days of the year when the sun is directly above the earth's equator.


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Equity, in law, is a set of rules that was originally developed to overcome inflexibility in court decisions.


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Erasmus, Desiderius (1466?-1536), was a Dutch priest and scholar who sought to reform the church.


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Eratosthenes (276?-195?  B.C.) was a Greek mathematician.


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Erbium (chemical symbol, Er), is one of the rare earth metals.


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Erewash (pop. 104,400) is a borough and local government district in Derbyshire, England.


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Ergot is a parasitic fungus that attacks wheat, barley, rye, and many wild and cultivated grasses.


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Erhard, Ludwig (1897-1977), served as chancellor of West Germany (now Germany) from 1963 to 1966.


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Eri, Vincent (1936-1995), a leading public servant in Papua New Guinea, became the first Papua New Guinean to publish a novel in the English language.


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Eric the Red (A.D. 950?-1000?) was a Viking explorer who colonized Greenland.


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Ericson, Leif (A.D. 980?-1025?), was a Norse explorer who led what was probably the first European expedition to the mainland of North America.


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Ericsson, John (1803-1889), was a Swedish-born American engineer.


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Erie Canal was the first important national waterway built in the United States.


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Erigena, Johannes Scotus (810?-877?), an Irish philosopher and theologian, became famous for his great learning.


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Eritrea is a small country on the northeast coast of Africa.


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Ern Malley was the pen name used by two Australian poets, James McAuley and Harold Stewart, in a series of poems they wrote to test the literary value of a surrealist movement of the early 1940's.


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Ernst, Max (1891-1976), was a German artist associated with the development of the dada and surrealist movements.


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Eros is the name popularly given to the statue of a winged youth with a bow that stands in Piccadilly Circus, in London.


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Erosion is a natural process by which rock and soil are broken loose from the earth's surface at one location and moved to another.


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Erskine, John (1879-1951), an American graphic novelist, gained popularity in the 1920's as the author of comic novels about legendary characters.


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Ervine, St. John (1883-1971), an Irish novelist and dramatist, is best known for his novel, Mrs. Martin's Man (1914), and the plays Mixed Marriage (1911), Anthony and Anna (1926), and Robert's Wife (1937).


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Erysipelas is a skin infection that chiefly affects infants, young children, and elderly people.


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Erythema is an abnormal flushing or redness of the skin.


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Erythromycin is an antibiotic used in treating a variety of bacterial infections.


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Esau was the son of Isaac and Rebecca, and the elder twin brother of Jacob in the Bible.


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Escalator is a moving stairway that transports people from one floor or level to another.


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Escorial is an enormous building about 48 kilometres from Madrid, Spain.


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Escrow is cash, a document, or other property given to one person for delivery to someone else when a certain condition is met. The holder of the property is called the escrow agent or escrow holder.


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Esdraelon, Plain of, is a large fertile plain in northern Israel.


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Eshkol, Levi, (1895-1969), helped found the state of Israel and served as prime minister from 1963 until his death.


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Espalier is a method of training a fruit tree or shrub to grow into a definite pattern on a trellis, on a lattice, or against a wall.


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Esperance Bay is a large area of cultivated former heathland in the southeast plains of Western Australia.


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Esperanto is the most widely used international language.


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Espionage is the act of spying on a country, organization, movement, or person.


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Essay is a short, nonfictional composition that presents the writer's opinion or analysis of a particular subject.


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Essen (pop. 619,991) is a city in western Germany.


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Essenes were members of a Jewish sect living in Palestine from about 150 B.C. to A.D. 68.


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Essex is a county in southeastern England.


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Essex, Earl of, was the title held by two English noblemen who became famous as soldiers.


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Esson, Louis (1879-1943), did much to develop drama in Australia--both as a playwright and as a promoter of repertory theatre.


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Establishment refers to the relationship in the United Kingdom between the state and the Church of England and Church of Scotland.


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Estate is a legal term that refers to a person's total property.


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Estates-General, often called States-General, was the French representative assembly from 1302 to 1789.


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Ester is any of an important group of organic (carbon-containing) compounds.


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Estes, Eleanor (1906-1988), an American children's author, based most of her plots on her childhood experiences in a small town.


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Estevanico (1500?-1539), also called Esteban, was a black slave from Morocco who became one of the first explorers of the southwestern United States.


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Esther, Book of, a book of the Bible, tells the story of Esther, a young Jewish woman, during the reign of Persian King Ahasuerus.


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Estonia is a European nation that regained its independence in 1991, after more than 50 years of forced annexation to the Soviet Union.


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Estournelles de Constant, Paul Henri d' (1852-1924), Baron d'Estournelles, was a French diplomat, political leader, and author.


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Estrada, Joseph Ejercito (1937-...), became vice-president of the Philippines in 1992, and is also chairman of the presidential Anti-Crime Commission.


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Etching is a process of creating a design or picture on a metal plate with the use of acid.


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Ether, in chemistry, is a colourless, highly flammable liquid with a strong, sweet smell.


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Ether, in physics, was once believed to be a substance that filled all space.


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Etherege, Sir George (1634?-1691), was an English playwright.


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Ethics, or moral philosophy, is the study of human actions in respect to their being right or wrong.


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Ethiopia is a country in northeastern Africa.


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Ethnic group is a group of people with characteristics in common that distinguish them from most other people of the same society.


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Ethnocentrism is the belief that one's own culture is the best and most natural.


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Ethnography is a branch of anthropology that produces scientific descriptions of contemporary cultures.


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Ethology is the branch of zoology that deals with animal instincts.


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Ethylene, an organic gas, is one of the world's most important industrial chemicals.


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Etiquette is a code of behaviour that helps people get on with one another.


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Eton College is the largest and most famous of the group of English private secondary schools called public schools.


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Eton wall game is a ball game played only by boys at Eton College.


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Etruscans were a people who lived in Etruria (present-day Tuscany, Umbria, and Latium) in Italy.


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Ettrick and Lauderdale (pop. 33,939) was a local government district in Scotland until 1996, when Borders Region became the unitary authority of Borders.


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Etymology is the study of the origin and development of words.


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Eucalypt forests make up the majority of the woodland and forest areas of the Australian continent.


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Eucalypts or eucalyptus are the most common type of trees in Australia.


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Eucalyptus oil is obtained from eucalyptus leaves.


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Euclid (330?-270?  B.C.), a Greek mathematician, is often called the father of geometry.


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Eugene III (?-1153), was elected pope in 1145.


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Eugene IV (1383-1447), was elected pope in 1431.


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Eugenics is a method that aims at improving the human race by selection of parents based on their inherited characteristics.


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Eugenie Marie de Montijo (1826-1920), became empress of France as the wife of Napoleon III. She married Napoleon in 1853, soon after the Second Empire was proclaimed.


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Euglena is a genus (group) of microscopic, one-celled organisms.


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Eulenspiegel, Till, was a practical joker whose pranks became a favourite subject of writers and musicians.


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Euler, Leonhard (1707-1783), a Swiss mathematician, became famous for his great output of original mathematics, and for the wide range of subjects he covered.


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Euphrates River is the longest river in southwestern Asia.


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Eureka Stockade was the best-known incident in the quarrel in Australia between the government of Victoria and the gold miners of Ballarat.


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Euripides (about 480-406 B.C.), was the third of the three great writers of Greek tragedy.


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Eurodollar is a U.S. dollar held by individuals or banks outside of the United States.


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Europa, in Greek mythology, was the beautiful daughter of Agenor, king of the city of Tyre in Phoenicia.


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Europe is the birthplace of Western civilization.


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Europe, Council of, is an international organization of nations that seeks to promote closer unity among its members in order to achieve economic and social progress.


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European Community (EC) is the former name of a group of European nations now called the European Union.


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European Court of Human Rights is an organ of the Council of Europe.


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European Economic Area (EEA) agreement came into force on Jan. 1, 1994, creating the world's largest free trade area of 372 million consumers.


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European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is a trade organization of four European nations.


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European Monetary System (EMS) is an organization set up by 10 European nations to stabilize their exchange rates.


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European Space Agency (ESA) promotes a cooperative space programme among the nations of Western Europe.


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European Union (EU), formerly known as the European Community (EC), is an organization of European countries that promotes economic and political cooperation among its members.


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Europium (chemical symbol, Eu) is one of the rare-earth metals.


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Eurydice, in Greek mythology, was a tree nymph loved by Orpheus, a legendary Greek musician.


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Eustachian tube, also called auditory tube, is a canal (passage) about 3.8 centimetres long, made of bone and cartilage, and lined with mucous membrane.


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Euthanasia is the practice of painlessly ending the lives of people who have incurable, painful, or distressing diseases or handicaps.


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Eutrophication is a process that affects lakes and other bodies of water.


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Evangeline is a long narrative poem by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.


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Evans, Sir Arthur John (1851-1941), a British archaeologist, became known for the excavations he began on the island of Crete in 1893.


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Evans, Dame Edith (1888-1976), was one of the most celebrated actresses of her time.


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Evans, George William (1780-1852), an explorer and surveyor, opened up many valuable areas of land in New South Wales, Australia, during the early 1800's.


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Evans, Sir Geraint (1922-1992), was a Welsh baritone whose fine voice and dramatic ability brought him international success as an opera singer.


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Evans, Godfrey (1920-...), one of the greatest wicketkeepers.


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Evans, Maurice (1901-1989), was an English-born actor and theatrical manager.


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Evans, Oliver (1755-1819), an American engineer, inventor, and manufacturer, built what was probably the first self-propelled land vehicle in the United States (see CAR [History of the car]).


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Evans, Robley Dunglison (1846-1912), was an American naval officer known as Fighting Bob.


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Evans, Walker (1903-1975), was an American photographer best known for his pictures of Southern sharecroppers of the 1930's.


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Evaporated milk is whole sweet milk from which about 60 per cent of the water has been removed.


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Evaporation is the conversion of a liquid or solid to a gas.


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Evatt, Herbert Vere (1894-1965), was an Australian statesman, politician, and lawyer who gained a worldwide reputation for his approach to world politics.


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Evelyn, John (1620-1706), an English writer, became famous for his diary, a private account of his life that he kept from 1641 until the year he died.


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Evening primrose is any one of 80 species of wild flowers native to the Americas, especially North America.


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Evening star is an informal name for the planet Venus when it is visible as a brilliant object in the western sky after sunset.


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Everglades is one of the most interesting and unusual swamp areas in the world.


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Evergreen is a plant that remains green throughout the year.


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Evert, Chris (1954-...), is an American tennis champion and one of the top women players in the world.


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Evesham, Battle of (1265), was fought between Simon de Montfort and Prince Edward, son of King Henry III of England.


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Eviction is a legal process that deprives a tenant of the use of leased or rented premises, such as a home or an office.


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Evidence is information that tends to prove or disprove a fact in question.


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Evil eye is the supposed power to harm people or their possessions by merely looking at them.


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Evolution is a process of change over a long period.


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Ex post facto is a Latin term meaning from what is done afterwards.


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Excalibur was the sword of King Arthur, a legendary British ruler of medieval times.


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Exchange rate is the price of one nation's currency expressed in terms of another country's currency.


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Exchequer is a department in the Treasury of the United Kingdom.


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Excise is a tax on the manufacture, sale, or use of goods or services levied by governments.


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Exclamation mark is a punctuation mark shown as ! at the end of a sentence.


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Excommunication is the most severe penalty that a religious body can impose on a member.


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Executor is a person who is named in a will to carry out the provisions of the will.


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Exeter (pop. 101,100) is a city in southern Devon, England.


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Exeter, Marquess of (1905-1981), David George Brownlow Cecil, became a famous British amateur athlete.


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Exile is banishment from one's own land.


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Existentialism is a philosophical movement that developed on the continent of Europe during the 1800's and 1900's.


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Exmoor is a large area of hilly moorland on the northern coast of Devon and Somerset in England.


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Exobiology is the branch of biology that specializes in the search for and study of life elsewhere in the universe.


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Exorcism is the act of breaking the power of the Devil or other evil spirits that influence or control a person.


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Expansion is an increase in the size of a body without the addition of material to the body.


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Exploration Exploration is one of the oldest and most widespread of human activities.


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Explosive is a material that produces a rapid, violent reaction when acted upon by heat or a strong blow.


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Exports and imports are the articles shipped out of and into a country.


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Expressionism was an art movement that flourished in the early 1900's.


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Extinct animal.  A species of animal becomes extinct when every one of its kind has died.


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Extortion is the attempt to obtain money or property by threatening to physically harm a person, injure a person's property or reputation, or accuse a person of a crime.


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Extract is a concentrated preparation of certain substances obtained from plants, herbs, flowers, or animal tissues.


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Extradition is the handing over by one state or country to another of persons accused of crimes.


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Extrasensory perception, usually abbreviated to ESP, describes a way of communicating or of being aware of something without using the known senses.


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Extraterrestrial intelligence is intelligent life that developed somewhere other than the earth.


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Extraterritoriality is a legal term for the privilege granted to some people living in foreign countries.


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Extrovert, when used nontechnically, means a sociable person who makes friends easily.


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Extrusion is the process of shaping a piece of solid material, such as steel, by forcing it through an opening.


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Eye bank is a nonprofit agency through which eyes removed shortly after death are distributed to specially trained surgeons.


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Eyre, Edward John (1815-1901), became famous for his exploration of Australia.


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Eyre Peninsula lies between the Great Australian Bight and Spencer Gulf in South Australia.


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Eysenck, Hans (1916-1997), was a leading British psychologist.


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Ezekiel, Book of, is a book of the Bible named after a Hebrew prophet.


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F is the sixth letter of the English alphabet.


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Faber, Eberhard (1822-1879), a Bavarian-born American businessman, built the first mass-production pencil factory in the United States.


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Faberge, Peter Carl (1846-1920), was a Russian goldsmith and jeweller who won international fame for his design of decorative objects.


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Fabianism, a socialist movement, began in 1884 with the formation of the Fabian Society in London.


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Fable is a brief fictitious story that teaches a moral.


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Fabre, Jean Henri Casimir (1823-1915), a French naturalist, spent his life observing insects and spiders.


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Face is the front part of a person's head.


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Facey, Albert (1894-1982), an Australian, became a best-selling, prizewinning author when his autobiography, A Fortunate Life, was published in 1981.


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Facsimile, often called fax, is a way of transmitting text and pictures over telephone lines.


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Factor.  The factors of a number are the numbers that when multiplied together give the original number.


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Factory is a building or group of buildings in which products are manufactured.


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Factory acts protect people who work in British factories.


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Fadden, Sir Arthur (1895-1973), an Australian politician, was prime minister of Australia from August to October 1941.


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Fadiman, Clifton (1904-...), became well known in the United States as master of ceremonies for several radio and television programmes.


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Fafnir, in Scandinavian mythology, was a man who turned himself into a dragon.


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Fahd (1923-...), became king and prime minister of Saudi Arabia in 1982, following the death of his half-brother King Khalid.


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Fahrenheit, Gabriel Daniel (1686-1736), a German physicist, developed the Fahrenheit temperature scale.


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Fainting is a temporary loss of consciousness.


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Fair is an event held for the presenting or viewing of exhibits, or for recreation.


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Fair-trade laws were designed to allow manufacturers or distributors of goods to set a minimum resale price, preventing large retail stores from undercutting the price of other shops.


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Fairbanks, Douglas, Sr. (1883-1939), was an American film actor who became famous for his acrobatic acting in adventure films.


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Fairbanks, Douglas, Jr. (1909-...), is an American film actor.


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Fairbanks, Thaddeus (1796-1886), an American, invented the platform scale in 1831.


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Fairbridge, Kingsley (1885-1924), founded the Fairbridge farming schools in Australia.


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Fairchild, David Grandison (1869-1954), an American botanist and explorer, brought more than 200,000 species of plants to the United States.


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Fairchild, Sherman Mills (1896-1971), an American inventor and businessman, was called the "father of aerial mapping photography."  He invented many cameras and an automatic photoengraver.


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Fairfax was the name of two leaders, father and son, of the Parliamentary army in the English Civil War.


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Fairfax, a well-known Sydney family, has contributed greatly to the Australian publishing industry.


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Fairweather, Ian (1891-1974), an Australian artist, was known as a wandering painter of subjects in Bali, India, China, and the islands of the South Pacific.


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Fairy is an imaginary creature that appears in the folklore of western Europe.


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Fairy penguin, also called little blue penguin, is the smallest species (kind) of penguin found off the southern coasts of Australia and New Zealand.


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Faisal, also spelled Feisal, is the name of two kings of Iraq, grandfather and grandson.


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Faisal, also spelled Feisal (1906?-1975), was king of Saudi Arabia from 1964 to 1975.


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Faiz Ahmad Faiz (1911-1984), was the leading Pakistani Urdu poet of the 1900's.


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Fakir is a Muslim or Hindu man who practises extreme self-denial as part of his religion.


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Falange Espanola, also called Spanish Phalanx, was the only legal political party in Spain under dictator Francisco Franco.


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Falcon is a type of bird closely related to hawks.


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Falconry, once the "sport of kings," is the art of training falcons, hawks, or eagles to hunt game.


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Faldo, Nicholas Alexander (1957-...) is a British golfer.


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Falkirk (pop. 139,038) is a local government area in central Scotland.


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Falkland Islands are a dependency of the United Kingdom (UK) in the Commonwealth of Nations.


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Fall line is a line or zone where waterfalls occur on a series of roughly parallel rivers (see WATERFALL).


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Falla, Manuel de (1876-1946), was a Spanish composer who gained international recognition for his success in developing a modern Spanish style of music.


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Falling bodies, Law of.  Several laws, or rules, tell what an object does when it is allowed to fall to the ground without anything stopping it.


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Fallopian tube, also called oviduct or uterine tube, is either of a pair of female reproductive organs through which eggs from the ovaries pass to the uterus.


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Fallout is radioactive material that settles over the earth's surface following a nuclear explosion in the atmosphere.


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Falstaff, one of the best-known characters in the plays of the English playwright William Shakespeare, appears in the two parts of Henry IV and in The Merry Wives of Windsor.


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Famechon, Johnny (1945-...), won the Australian featherweight boxing title in 1964 and the world featherweight title in 1969, when he outpointed (scored more points than) Jose Legra in London.


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Family, in biology, is a unit of scientific classification.


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Family is one of the oldest and most common human institutions.


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Famine is a prolonged food shortage that causes widespread hunger and death.


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Fan.  Long ago, people learned they could make themselves feel cooler on hot days by waving a leaf through the air and creating an artificial breeze.


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Faneuil, Peter (1700-1743), a merchant of Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A., built Faneuil Hall for the city as a public market and meeting place.


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Fanon, Frantz Omar (1925-1961), was a political theorist who became a leader of Algeria's struggle to gain independence from France.


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Fantasia is an instrumental musical composition that has no fixed form or style.


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Far East is a term that is sometimes used for the easternmost part of Asia.


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Farad is a unit used to measure electrical capacitance.


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Faraday, Michael (1791-1867), one of the greatest English chemists and physicists, discovered the principle of electromagnetic induction in 1831 (see ELECTROMAGNETISM).


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Fareham (pop. 54,866), is a market town in Hampshire, England.


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Fargo, William George (1818-1881), was a partner in the American gold rush express company of Wells, Fargo & Company (see WELLS, FARGO & COMPANY).


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Farjeon, Eleanor (1881-1965), was a British author who became famous for her stories and poems for children.


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Farm Cove is a bay on the southern side of Sydney Harbour, near Sydney Opera House, in New South Wales, Australia.


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Farmer, Fannie Merritt (1857-1915), was an American cookery expert.


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Farnaby, Giles (1560?-1640), was an English composer.


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Farne Islands are a group of 25 to 30 small islands off the coast of Northumberland, northeastern England.


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Farnese Bull is a famous group sculpture that portrays an episode in Greek mythology.


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Farnsworth, Philo Taylor (1906-1971), an American inventor, was a pioneer in television technology.


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Faroe Islands, also spelled Faeroe and Foroyar, are a group of 18 islands and some reefs in the North Atlantic Ocean.


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Farquhar, George (1678-1707), is a transitional figure in the history of English drama.


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Farrar, Frederic William (1831-1903), an English clergyman and schoolmaster, is best remembered as the author of Eric, or Little by Little (1858), an edifying story of a boy's school life.


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Farrar, Geraldine (1882-1967), an American soprano, enjoyed a brilliant career in opera and on the concert stage.


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Farrell, James T. (1904-1979), was an American writer best known for his novels about lower middle-class life in a decaying neighbourhood of a large city.


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Farrer, William (1845-1906), became known as the father of the Australian wheat industry because of his pioneering work in breeding new varieties of wheat.


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Farthing was a coin of the lowest value in British currency.


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Faruk I (1920-1965), also spelled Farouk, was the last king of Egypt.


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Fasces were a symbol of power in the days of the Roman Republic, of the Roman Empire, and, later, of Benito Mussolini's Fascist government in Italy.


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Fascism is a form of government headed, in most cases, by a dictator.


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Fashion is a term commonly used to describe a style of clothing worn by most of the people of a country.


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Fast is abstinence from food, or certain kinds of food, for a period of time.


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Fat is any of a group of chemical compounds found in both animals and plants.


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Fat hen is a tall weed related to beets and spinach.


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Fatalism is the belief that events are determined by forces that human beings cannot control.


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Fates were three goddesses who ruled people's lives.


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Father's Day is a day on which the people of many countries express gratitude and appreciation for their fathers by giving them gifts or greetings cards.


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Fathom is a unit of length used to measure ropes or cables and the depth of water.


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Fathometer is an instrument used on ships to measure the depth of water.


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Fatima (605?-633), was the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad and the wife of Ali.


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Fatima (pop. 3,464), is a town in west-central Portugal and the site of a famous religious shrine.


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Fatimah, Hajjah (?-...?), a Malay woman, built the Hajjah Fatimah Mosque in Singapore between 1845 and 1846.


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Fatimah Hashim (1924-...), was a leader of the women's section of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the main political party of Malaysia.


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Fatimid dynasty was a line of Muslim caliphs (rulers) who held power from A.D. 909 to 1171.


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Faulkner, Brian (1921-1977), was prime minister of Northern Ireland from 1971 until the position was suspended in March 1972.


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Faulkner, William (1897-1962), ranks among the leading authors in American literature.


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Faun was a half-human and half-animal spirit of the woods and herds in Roman mythology.


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Fauna is the name given to the animal life of a certain part of the world or of a certain period of time.


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Faure, Gabriel Urbain (1845-1924), was a French composer.


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Faust, also called Faustus, was a German astrologer and magician who became an important figure in legend and literature.


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Fauves were a group of French artists who painted in a style that emphasized intense colour and rapid, vigorous brushstrokes.


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Favenc, Ernest (1846-1908), was a British-born Australian explorer and author.


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Fawcett, Percy Harrison (1867-1925?), was an Englishman who explored the jungles of Brazil.


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Fawkes, Guy (1570-1606), was a member of the group of conspirators who plotted to blow up King James I of Great Britain and his Protestant Parliament on Nov. 5, 1605.


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Fawkner, John Pascoe (1792-1869), an Australian pioneer, was a cofounder of Melbourne.


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Feasts and festivals are special times of celebration.


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Feather is one of the light, thin growths that cover a bird's body.


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Feather, Lord (1908-1976), Victor Grayson Hardie Feather, was General Secretary of Britain's Trades Union Congress (TUC) from 1969 until 1973.


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Feather-tail gliders, also known as pygmy gliders, are the smallest marsupials able to make gliding flights.


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February is the second month of the year according to the Gregorian calendar, which is used in almost all countries of the world today.


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Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the chief investigating branch of the United States Department of Justice.


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Federal district is a tract of land that a country sets apart as the seat of its national capital.


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Federalism is a system in which political power is divided between a central (national) government and smaller governmental units.


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Federation of Australia dates from 1901, when the six Australian colonies became states of the Commonwealth of Australia.


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Federation wheat was a popular wheat variety bred in Australia between 1894 and 1901 by William Farrer.


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Feed is a term for food given to farm animals.


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Fegen, Fogarty (1891-1940), an Australian sailor, was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross (see VICTORIA CROSS) during World War II (1939-1945).


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Feininger, Lyonel (1871-1956), was an American painter whose works combine qualities of cubism and expressionism.


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Feldspar is any of the most abundant group of minerals on the surface of the earth.


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Fellini, Federico (1920-1993), was a famous Italian film director.


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Fels, Samuel Simeon (1860-1950), was an American civic leader, industrialist, and philanthropist.


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Felt is a fabric made of wool fibres or animal hair matted together by steam and pressure.


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Feminism is the belief that women should have economic, political, and social equality with men.


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Fencing is the art and sport of swordsmanship using blunted weapons.


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Fenech, Jeffrey (1964-...), became the first Australian boxer to win three world titles.


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Fenech Adami, Eddie (1934-...), a leader of the Maltese Nationalist Party, became prime minister of Malta after his party won the general election of 1987.


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Fenelon, Francois de Salignac de la Mothe- (1651-1715), was a French author and a Roman Catholic archbishop, known for his advanced political, social, and educational ideas.


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Fenian movement was a struggle by Irish nationalists to free Ireland from English rule.


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Fenland (pop. 72,900), is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England.


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Fennec is a small fox that lives in the deserts of North Africa and Arabia.


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Fens are a low-lying region of land in England, extending west and south of The Wash as far as Cambridge.


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Fenton, James (1820-1901), was an Irish-born pioneer and historian in Tasmania, Australia.


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Fer-de-lance is one of the largest and deadliest of the poisonous snakes.


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Ferber, Edna (1885-1968), an American novelist and playwright, wrote many books about the colourful life of America in the 1800's.


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Ferdinand II (1578-1637), ruled the Holy Roman Empire from 1619 until his death.


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Ferdinand III (1608-1657), ruled the Holy Roman Empire from 1637 until his death.


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Ferdinand V (1452-1516), ruled what is now Spain and helped unify the country.


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Ferguson, Harry (1884-1960), was an Irish engineer and inventor.


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Ferguson, Sir John (1881-1969), combined a distinguished legal career with a keen interest in bibliography.


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Fermanagh is the most westerly of the six counties of Northern Ireland.


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Fermat, Pierre de (1601-1665), a French mathematician, won fame for his work on the theory of numbers or integers.


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Fermentation is a chemical process that breaks down organic materials.


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Fermi, Enrico (1901-1954), an Italian-born American physicist, designed the first atomic pile and produced the first nuclear chain reaction in 1942.


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Fermion is any member of a certain class of atomic and subatomic particles.


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Fermium is an artificially created radioactive element.


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Fern is a green, nonflowering plant that grows in most parts of the world.


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Fernan, Marcelo Briones (1927-...), a distinguished Filipino lawyer, became chief justice of the Philippine Supreme Court in 1988.


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Ferret is a small, active mammal that belongs to the weasel family.


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Ferrier, Kathleen (1912-1953), was an English contralto who sang opera, oratorio, and lieder (German art songs) with equal distinction.


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Ferris wheel is an entertainment device used at fairs, carnivals, and amusement and theme parks.


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Ferrous sulphate is a substance that occurs in light-green crystals.


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Ferry is a boat used to carry persons, vehicles, and freight across narrow bodies of water.


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Fertile Crescent was a crescent-shaped region in southwest Asia.


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Fertilization is the process by which male and female sex cells unite to form a new individual.


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Fertilizer is a substance that is added to soil to help plants grow.


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Fescue is the name of a group of grasses that grow mostly in the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.


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Fetish is an object that supposedly has magic powers.


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Feud is a long and sometimes murderous conflict between individuals, families, or groups.


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Feudalism is the general term used to describe the political and military system of western Europe during the Middle Ages.


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Feuerbach, Ludwig Andreas (1804-1872), was a German philosopher.


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Fever is a condition in which the body temperature is raised to a higher than normal level.


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Feverfew is a low, hardy plant that requires little attention.


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Feynman, Richard Phillips (1918-1988), of the United States, shared the 1965 Nobel Prize for physics with Julian S. Schwinger and Sin-itiro Tomonaga.


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Fez, also spelled Fes (pop. 769,014), is the religious centre of Morocco and one of its traditional capitals.


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Fez is a tall, red, brimless cap with a coloured tassel of silk or wool.


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Fianna Fail is the largest political party in the Republic of Ireland.


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Fiat, in government, is an executive order or decree that requires obedience but is not a law.


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Fibiger, Johannes Andreas Grib, (1867-1928), was a Danish bacteriologist.


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Fibonacci, Leonardo (1175?-1240?), was an Italian mathematician who helped introduce the Hindu-Arabic numerals (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) into western Europe.


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Fibre is a hairlike strand of a substance that is extremely long in relation to its width.


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Fibre optics is a branch of physics based on the transmission of light through transparent fibres of glass or plastic.


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Fibreboard is a building material made of wood or other plant fibres pressed into sheets.


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Fibreglass, also called fibrous glass, is glass in the form of fine fibres (threads).


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Fibrin is a white, fibrous protein substance that makes up the most important part of a blood clot.


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Fichte, Johann Gottlieb (1762-1814), was a German philosopher.


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Fiction is a story created from an author's imagination.


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Fiddleback spiders are venomous spiders native to the Mediterranean region.


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Fiddler crab is a burrowing animal that lives along sandy or muddy beaches and salt marshes in tropical and temperate regions.


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Fiedler, Arthur (1894-1979), conducted the Boston Pops Orchestra from 1930 to 1979.


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Field is the name of an American family that became prominent in merchandising, publishing, and philanthropy.


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Field, Barron (1786-1846), an English-born judge and critic, brought out the first book of poetry ever published in Australia, First Fruits of Australian Poetry, in 1819.


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Field, John (1782-1837), was an Irish-born composer and pianist who won international fame in Europe for his delicate romantic pieces known as nocturnes.


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Field names may describe the shape of fields, their quality, or their location.


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Fielding, Henry (1707-1754), an English author, wrote The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749), one of the world's great novels.


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Fields, Dame Gracie (1898-1979), an English actress and singer, won fame as a stage and film star in the music hall tradition.


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Fields, W. C. (1879-1946), was an American film comedian.


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Fife is a small woodwind instrument that belongs to the flute family.


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Fife is a local government area lying on the east coast of central Scotland between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth.


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Fifth column refers to undercover agents operating within the ranks of an enemy to undermine its cause.


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Fifty-Four Forty or Fight was a slogan used during a boundary dispute between the United States and Great Britain.


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Fig is a fruit that has been cultivated for more than 4,000 years.


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Fightingfish is a small, quarrelsome fish that lives in the waters around the Malay Archipelago.


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Figure of speech is the use of words in certain conventional patterns of thought and expression.


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Figwort family, also called Scrophulariaceae, is a group of about 3,000 species of herbs, shrubs, and small trees.


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Fiji is a country in the South Pacific Ocean.


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Filaria is a long threadlike roundworm that lives as a parasite in the bodies of human beings and animals.


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Filene, Edward Albert (1860-1937), an American merchant, pioneered in improving retail distribution.


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Filbert is the name for both the nut and the plant of a group of trees and shrubs closely related to the birches.


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Filibustering is the practice by which a minority in a legislature uses extended debate to block or delay action on a proposed bill.


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Fillmore, Millard (1800-1874), was president of the United States from 1850 to 1853.


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Film industry is the art and business of making films, also known as movies, motion pictures, or cinema.


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Filmstrip is a related series of still pictures on 35 mm film.


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Filter is a device that removes unwanted quantities from the flow of liquids or gases, or from the transmission of electric currents, beams of light, or sound waves.


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Finance company is a firm that loans money to people who promise to repay the loan with interest over a specified period of time.


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Finch is a general term applied to any small seed-eating songbird.


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Finch, Peter (1916-1977), an Australian actor, won an Academy Award after his death in 1977 for the role he had played in Network.


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Finch, Robert Hutchison (1925-1995), was United States secretary of health, education, and welfare (HEW) under President Richard M. Nixon in 1969 and 1970.


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Fine is a payment of money ordered by a court from a person who has been found guilty of violating a law.


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Fine arts are concerned with making beautiful objects, or with producing or performing works that appeal to a person's aesthetic tastes.


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Fine Gael is one of the chief political parties in the Republic of Ireland.


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Finger painting is a method of painting pictures using the fingers, hands, and arms to apply the paint.


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Fingerprinting is a process of identification based on the impressions made by the ends of the fingers and thumbs.


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Fingleton, Jack (1908-1981), was a New South Wales cricketer and opening batsman for Australia.


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Finland is a country in northern Europe famous for its scenic beauty.


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Finlay, Carlos Juan (1833-1915), a Cuban doctor, was the first person to report evidence that yellow fever might be transmitted by the bite of the Stegomyia mosquito (Aedes aegypti).


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Finn MacCool was leader of the Fianna, an Irish band of warriors who appear in the Fenian cycle of ancient Irish tales.


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Finney, Albert (1936-...), a British actor and director of plays and films, achieved his first success in the realistic drama of the 1950's and 1960's.


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Finney, Charles Grandison (1792-1875), was a Presbyterian and Congregationalist revival preacher.


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Finnian of Clonard, Saint (?-549), helped develop the early Church in Ireland.


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Finnish spitz is a strong, sturdy dog related to the Siberian husky, the Samoyed, and other Arctic dogs.


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Fiord, also spelled fjord, is a long, narrow, winding inlet or arm of the sea.


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Fir is the common name for about 50 species (kinds) of evergreen trees that belong to the pine family.


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Firdausi, also called Firdusi (940?-1020?), means the Heavenly One.


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Fire.  The earliest use people made of fire was to keep warm.


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Fire ant is any of several species of ants that inflict painful, burning stings.


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Fire extinguisher is a metal container filled with water or chemicals used to put out fires.


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Fire marks are metal plates that British insurance companies used to put on buildings that they insured against fire.


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Fire prevention is a term for the many safety measures used to keep harmful fires from starting.


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Fire worship is an ancient religious practice based on the idea that fire is sacred.


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Firearm is any weapon that uses gunpowder to fire a bullet or shell.


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Fireball is a meteor that burns brightly as it plunges through the earth's atmosphere.


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Firecracker flower is a perennial plant of the amaryllis family.


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Firefighting is one of the most important emergency services in a community.


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Firefly is any member of one particular family of soft-bodied beetles known for producing glowing or flashing light.


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Fireproofing is the popular name for the coatings and methods used to protect paper, plastic, textiles, wood, and other materials against fire.


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Fires of London destroyed large areas of London in 1666 and in 1940.


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Fireweed, also called willow herb, is an erect plant that thrives in the North Temperate Zone.


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Fireworks are combinations of gunpowder and other ingredients that explode with loud noises and colourful sparks and flames when they burn.


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First aid is the immediate care given to a victim of an accident, sudden illness, or other medical emergency.


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First Fleet brought the first convicts from Britain to Australia in 1788.


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Firth of Clyde is the broad, irregularly shaped mouth of the River Clyde in southwestern Scotland.


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Firth of Forth is the large mouth of the River Forth on the east coast of Scotland.


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Fischer, Emil (1852-1919), a German chemist, won the 1902 Nobel Prize for chemistry for his wide research.


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Fischer, Hans (1881-1945), a German biochemist, received the 1930 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work on the composition of the colouring matter in leaves and blood.


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Fischer, Timothy Andrew (1946-...), became Australia's deputy prime minister, and minister for trade, in 1996.


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Fischer-Dieskau, Dietrich (1925-...), a German baritone, is one of the finest singers of lieder (German art songs) of his time (see LIEDER).


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Fish are vertebrates (backboned animals) that live in water.


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Fisher, Andrew (1862-1928), was prime minister of Australia three times--in 1908 and 1909, from 1910 to 1913, and in 1914 and 1915.


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Fisher, Carl Graham (1874-1939), was an American financier and motor racing enthusiast.


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Fisher, Dorothy Canfield (1879-1958), an American novelist, became noted for her stories about the problems of normal married couples and of children.


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Fisher, Geoffrey Francis (1887-1972), Baron Fisher of Lambeth, was archbishop of Canterbury and primate of all England from 1945 until 1961.


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Fisher, H. A. L. (1865-1940), was a British historian, politician, and educationist.


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Fisher, Irving (1867-1947), was an American mathematical economist and monetary reformer.


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Fisher, John Arbuthnot (1841-1920), was a British admiral.


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Fisher, Saint John (1469?-1535), was a Roman Catholic bishop of Rochester, England.


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Fisher, Sir Ronald (1890-1962), a British statistician and geneticist, developed statistical methods on which much modern research and experiment are based.


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Fisher, Sylvia (1910-...), an Australian soprano, became a principal singer at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in London.


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Fisher's ghost is the subject of an Australian legend dating from the 1820's.


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Fishery is an area which supplies abundant fish for commercial purposes.


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Fishing is one of the most popular forms of recreation.


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Fishing industry is an important economic activity that provides food and jobs for millions of people.


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Fisk, Sir Ernest (1896-1965), a radio engineer, received the first direct wireless message between England and Australia in 1918.


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Fission, in physics, is the splitting of the nucleus of an atom into two nearly equal parts.


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Fistula is a deep, sometimes twisting, passage developing abnormally in the body.


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Fitch, John (1743-1798), was an American inventor and metal craftsman.


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Fitt, Gerard (1926-...), Lord Fitt of Bell's Hill, was an independent Socialist politician.


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FitzGerald, Edward (1809-1883), was an English writer famous for his translation of the Rubaiyat, a long poetic work by the Persian poet of the 1200's, Omar Khayyam.


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Fitzgerald, Ella (1918-1996), ranks among the best and most popular jazz singers of all time.


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Fitzgerald, F. Scott (1896-1940), was the leading writer of America's Jazz Age, the Roaring Twenties, and one of its glittering heroes.


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FitzGerald, Garret (1926-...), was Taoiseach (prime minister) of the Republic of Ireland from December 1982 until March 1987, when he lost an election.


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Fitzgerald, R. D. (1902-1987), a leading Australian poet, wrote poetry concerned mainly with the nature of human existence.


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Fitzpatrick, Sir Charles (1853-1942), served as chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada from 1906 to 1918.


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Fitzroy is the name of three Australian rivers.


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Fitzroy, Robert (1805-1865), was a British naval officer, meteorologist, and oceanographer.


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Fitzsimmons, Bob (1863-1917), held the world's heavyweight boxing championship from 1897 to 1899.


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Five Towns is an area in the county of Staffordshire, England, that forms the setting for many of the novels of Arnold Bennett (see BENNETT, ARNOLD).


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Five-year plan is a programme to increase the economic and social development of a country over a five-year period.


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Fives is a simple ball game for two players.


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Fixed star is an expression often used in referring to the stars, because their places in the sky relative to one another do not seem to change.


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Flag.  A flag may represent a nation, person, or organization; it may symbolize a belief or idea; or it may transmit information.


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Flag of truce is a plain white flag used by opposing sides on a battlefield when they want to discuss peace terms.


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Flageolet is a small woodwind instrument that belongs to the flute family.


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Flagstad, Kirsten (1895-1962), a Norwegian operatic soprano, became famous as an interpreter of the heroines in the operas of Richard Wagner.


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Flaherty, Robert Joseph (1884-1951), was a pioneer American filmmaker.


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Flail is a hand implement used to thresh small grain crops such as wheat, barley, and oats.


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Flame test is a way of identifying a chemical element by the colour of the light it gives off when held in a flame.


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Flame thrower is a weapon of war that shoots a stream of burning fuel in much the same way that a fire hose squirts water.


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Flame tree is one of Australia's most colourful trees.


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Flamenco is a type of dance and music first performed by the Gypsies of southern Spain.


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Flamingo is a bird known for its long, stiltlike legs and curved bill and neck.


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Flammarion, Camille (1842-1925), a Frenchman, was one of the most imaginative and colourful writers of science books.


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Flanders is a part of northern Europe that was a separate political unit until modern times.


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Flanders, Ralph Edward (1880-1970), was an American politician, businessman, and author.


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Flannel flowers grow in many parts of Australia and New Zealand.


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Flat-coated retriever is considered a gamekeeper's dog in Great Britain.


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Flatboat is a large, raftlike barge used to haul freight and passengers.


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Flatfish is a name given to several saltwater fish.


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Flatfoot is an inherited condition in which the long arch of the foot appears to be flat or collapsed.


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Flatley, Michael (1958-...), is an American dancer and concert flautist.


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Flaubert, Gustave (1821-1880), was a French writer whose novels contain some of the most vivid and lifelike characters and descriptions in literature.


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Flax is a plant grown for its fibre and seed.


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Flaxman, John (1755-1826), a British designer and sculptor, is best known for his delicate and graceful designs for Wedgwood pottery.


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Flea is a small, wingless insect that lives on mammals and birds, and sucks blood for food.


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Fleabane, also known by its scientific name Erigeron, is the name of over 200 kinds of plants of the daisy family.


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Fleay, David (1907-...), an Australian zoologist, was the first person to breed a platypus in captivity, in 1943, and the first person to milk a taipan (see TAIPAN) to produce an antivenene (an antitoxin used to counteract snake venom) in 1950.


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Flecker, James Elroy (1884-1915), was a British poet and dramatist.


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Fleet Prison, an historic London jail, took its name from its location near Fleet stream.


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Fleet Street is the London street that is identified with the national press of the United Kingdom (UK).


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Fleming, Sir Alexander (1881-1955), was a British bacteriologist at St. Mary's Hospital, part of the University of London.


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Fleming, Ian Lancaster (1908-1964), an English novelist, became one of the most popular authors of the mid-1900's.


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Fleming, Sir John Ambrose (1849-1945), a British electrical engineer, won fame for his invention of the thermionic radio valve.


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Fleming, Sir Sandford (1827-1915), a Canadian civil engineer, built the Intercolonial Railway across Canada and made surveys for the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway (now CP Rail).


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Flemings are a group of people who live in northern Belgium.


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Flemming, Arthur Sherwood (1905-1996), a United States politician, was secretary of health, education, and welfare under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1958 to 1961.


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Flesh is the name given to the soft tissues or parts of the body of human beings and of most animals with backbones.


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Fletcher, Giles (1588?-1623), an English poet, wrote Christ's Victorie and Triumph (1610), an epic poem in the style of Edmund Spenser (see SPENSER, EDMUND).


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Fletcher, John (1579-1625), was an English playwright.


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Fleur-de-lis is a French name that literally means flower of the lily, but actually refers to the iris.


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Flinders, Matthew (1774-1814), was a British navigator who charted and explored large areas of the Australian coastline.


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Flinders Island is the largest of the Furneaux group, in Bass Strait, off the northeastern coast of Tasmania.


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Flinders Range, in South Australia, stretches northward from Port Augusta to beyond Leigh Creek.


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Flinders River is the longest river in Queensland, Australia.


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Flint is a hard mineral that ranges in colour from brown to dark grey to black.


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Flintlock was a firing mechanism used in pistols, muskets, and other firearms from about 1620 to the mid-1800's.


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Flintshire is a United Kingdom local government area in North Wales.


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Flood is a body of water that covers normally dry land.


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Flooring is the general name given to all materials used to cover floors.


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Flora is the name given to the plant life of a particular part of the world or period of time.


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Florence (pop. 403,294) is an Italian city that became famous as the birthplace of the Renaissance.


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Flores Island (pop. 4,367), famed for its abundant foliage, is the westernmost island of the Portuguese Azores.


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Florey, Lord (1898-1968), a British bacteriologist, helped develop with Ernst Chain the antibiotic penicillin (see ANTIBIOTIC; PENICILLIN).


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Floriculture is the art, science, and business of growing and caring for ornamental plants.


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Florida is the southernmost state on the mainland of the United States.


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Florida Keys are a group of small islands or reefs that are part of southern Florida, U.S.A. They stretch in a curved line about 240 kilometres long from Biscayne Bay southwest into the Gulf of Mexico.


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Florin is a type of coin first made in the Italian city of Florence in 1252.


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Florist is a merchant who sells cut flowers and pot plants.


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Flotation process is used to separate valuable minerals from each other or from other minerals with which they are mixed.


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Flotsam, jetsam, and lagan are terms used to describe goods in the sea.


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Flounder is the name of a group of saltwater flatfish.


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Flour is a powdery food made by grinding grain.


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Flour beetle is any of several small, reddish, flattened beetles that breed in flour, meal, and other grain products.


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Flower is a blossom, or an entire plant that is known for its blossoms.


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Flowering maple or abutilon is the common name for about 90 kinds of herbs and shrubs that grow in temperate regions of Africa, Asia, and North and South America.


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Flowering tobacco or nicotiana is the name of several annual and perennial plants in the nightshade family.


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Flowerpecker is a perching bird that lives from southern Asia to the Philippines and from Australia eastward to the Solomon Islands.


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Flugelhorn is a brass musical instrument that resembles a large cornet and has the same general range of about 21/2 octaves.


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Fluid is any substance that flows easily.


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Fluid mechanics is the study of how fluids--liquids and gases--behave at rest and in motion.


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Fluke is any one of a large group of parasitic flatworms (see FLATWORM).


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Fluorescence is a process by which a variety of substances give off light or another form of electromagnetic radiation when they absorb energy.


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Fluorescent lamp is a tube-shaped electric light that has widespread use in factories, offices, and schools.


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Fluoridation is the addition of chemicals called fluorides to water supplies to help teeth resist decay.


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Fluorine is a chemical element with symbol F. At ordinary temperatures, it is a pale yellow gas.


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Fluorocarbon is any of a group of synthetic organic compounds that contain fluorine and carbon.


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Fluoroscopy is a diagnostic medical procedure that uses X rays.


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Fluorspar, also called fluorite or fluor, is a common mineral composed of calcium and fluorine.


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Flute is a woodwind instrument that serves as a soprano voice in many bands, orchestras, and woodwind groups.


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Flux, in chemistry, is any substance that lowers the melting point of a substance to which it is added.


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Fly is an insect with one pair of well-developed wings.


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Flycatcher is the name of four different groups of birds.


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Flying Doctor Service is an unusual medical service that originated in Australia.


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Flying dragon is the name commonly given to the so-called flying lizards of southeastern Asia and the East Indies.


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Flying Dutchman is a ghost ship in folklore.


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Flying fox is a kind of large bat, not a fox.


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Flying lemur, or colugo, is a common mammal of Southeast Asia.


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Flying Pieman was the nickname of William Francis King (1807-1874), a colourful character who lived in old Sydney.


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Flying squirrel is a squirrel that can glide through the air.


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Flyingfish is a type of fish that throws itself from the water with the motion of its strong tail.


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Flynn, Errol (1909-1959), an Australian-born American actor, became famous for his roles as a swashbuckling hero of adventure films.


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Flynn, John (1880-1951), was an Australian Presbyterian minister who gained worldwide fame for his work with the Australian Inland Mission and the Royal Flying Doctor Service.


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Flywheel is a heavy wheel attached to the shaft of an engine to keep its speed nearly constant.


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Foch, Ferdinand (1851-1929), a French military leader, was acclaimed by many as the greatest Allied general of World War I (1914-1918).


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Fodder is a coarse food fed to farm animals.


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Foehn is a warm, dry wind that blows down a mountainside.


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Fog is a collection of tiny water droplets that float in the air.


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Fokine, Michel (1880-1942), was a great Russian ballet dancer and choreographer (dance composer).


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Fokker, Anthony Herman Gerard (1890-1939), was a Dutch engineer, pilot, and aircraft manufacturer.


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Folger Shakespeare Library, in Washington, D.C., houses one of the most important collections of books on British civilization from about 1485 to 1715.


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Folio is the name printers and publishers use for a sheet of paper folded once, making four pages, front and back.


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Folk dancing is the traditional form of dancing of a nation or ethnic group.


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Folk music consists of people's traditional songs or tunes.


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Folklore is any of the beliefs, customs, and traditions that people pass on from generation to generation.


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Follies are buildings and monuments of various kinds, generally erected purely as decorations.


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Folsom point, a type of prehistoric spearhead, was the first evidence that human beings lived in North America during the Ice Age.


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Fonda, Henry (1905-1982), was an American stage and film actor.


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Fonda, Jane (1937-...), is an American film actress.


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Fontainebleau (pop. 15,679), a small city in northern France, is famous for a magnificent chateau (castle) that stands in a nearby forest.


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Fontane, Theodor (1819-1898), a German author, became known for his realistic and critical novels about Prussian society during the 1800's.


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Fontanne, Lynn (1887-1983), was an American actress.


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Fonteyn, Dame Margot (1919-1991), is generally considered to have been the greatest British ballerina of all time.


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Food, Frozen.  Freezing is one of the best ways to preserve foods.


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Food additive is any chemical that food manufacturers intentionally add to one of their products.


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Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations.


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Food poisoning results from eating food that has been contaminated by bacteria or chemicals or that is poisonous in itself.


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Food preservation is the term used to describe any process used to slow the normal decay of food.


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Food supply is the total amount of food available to all the people in the world.


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Foot is the name of three brothers who became British politicians.


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Foot is the structure at the end of the leg, on which humans and some animals stand.


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Foot is a unit of length in the inch-pound system of measurement customarily used in many English-speaking countries.


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Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious disease of animals.


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Foot-candle is a unit of measurement of illumination, the amount of light that falls on an object.


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Foot-pound is a unit of work and energy in the customary, or English, system of measurement.


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Football, American, is an exciting team sport played chiefly in the United States and Canada.


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Football, Association, is the world's most popular sport.


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Football pools are a popular form of gambling in the United Kingdom.


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Footnote is a note printed in small type at the bottom of a page.


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Footprinting is a system of identification similar to fingerprinting.


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Forbes (pop. 7,552), is a town on the Lachlan River in New South Wales, Australia.


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Forbes, Esther (1891-1967), was an American author.


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Forbes, Sir Francis (1784-1841), was the first chief justice of New South Wales, Australia, from 1823 to 1837, and therefore responsible for ensuring that any legislation was consistent with the principles of British law.


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Forbes, George (1869-1947), was the prime minister of New Zealand in 1930 as leader of the United Party and also in 1931 during the coalition administration that followed the election.


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Force is any cause that changes the motion or the shape of an object.


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Ford is a place where a stream or river can be crossed.


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Ford, Ford Madox (1873-1939), was an English author of complex and symbolic novels which show the influence of the psychological novels of Henry James.


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Ford, Gerald Rudolph (1913-...), was president of the United States from 1974 to 1977.


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Ford, Henry (1863-1947), was a leading American manufacturer of cars in the early 1900's.


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Ford, Henry, II (1917-1987), was an American car manufacturer who reorganized the Ford Motor Company during the 1940's and rescued it from near bankruptcy.


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Ford, John (1586-1639?), was an English dramatist.


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Ford, John (1895-1973), an American film director, was the first to win Academy Awards for four films.


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Ford, William (1852-1932), with Arthur Bayley, discovered 8,505 grams of alluvial gold at Coolgardie, Western Australia, in June 1892.


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Ford Motor Company ranks as one of the giants of world industry.


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Forde, Francis (1890-1983), an Australian politician, was prime minister of Australia from July 6 to July 12, 1945.


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Fordyce, Bruce (1955-...), a South African long distance runner, became one of his country's greatest athletes.


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Foreign Legion is one of the world's most colourful and gallant fighting forces.


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Foreign service is the main organization through which a country's international affairs are conducted.


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Foreordination is the belief that every event is foreordained, or decreed beforehand, by God.


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Forest is a large area of land covered with trees.


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Forest Heath (pop. 57,200), a local government district in Suffolk, England, includes the famous horse-racing town of Newmarket.


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Forest of Dean (pop. 74,200), is a local government district in western Gloucestershire, England, which includes the Forest of Dean National Forest Park.


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Forest products have long provided people with food, shelter, clothing, and fuel.


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Forester, Cecil Scott (1899-1966), was an English novelist who won fame for his fictional creation of Horatio Hornblower, a British naval hero of the 1800's.


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Forestry is the science of managing forest resources for human benefit.


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Forfeiture is a legal punishment or penalty by which a person who is guilty of wrongdoing or who has breached a contract or condition loses some right or possession.


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Forgery is deliberately tampering with a written paper for the purpose of deceit or fraud.


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Forget-me-not is a plant that belongs to the borage family.


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Forging is a process in which metal is shaped by being heated and then hammered or pressed.


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Formby, George (1904-1961), a British comedian, began his career in music hall and later won fame through films and radio.


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Formic acid is an important industrial chemical.


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Forrest is the family name of two brothers, born in Australia, who did much for Australian exploration and politics.


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Forssmann, Werner (1904-1979), a German surgeon and urologist, shared the 1956 Nobel Prize for medicine for his work on cardiac catheterization.


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Forster, E. M. (1879-1970), was an English novelist, essayist, and literary critic.


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Forster, William Edward (1818-1886), was a Liberal politician who did much to make education available to all in the United Kingdom.


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Forsythe, William (1949-...), is an American dancer and choreographer.


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Forsythia is one of several species of shrubs that belong to the olive family.


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Fort-de-France (pop. 99,844), is the capital of Martinique, an island in the West Indies that is an overseas department of France.


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Fort Dearborn was built near the mouth of the Chicago River, close to the site of the present Michigan Avenue Bridge in Chicago.


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Fort Denison was built on an island in Sydney Harbour, Australia, between 1841 and 1857.


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Fort Knox, Kentucky, U.S.A., houses the United States Army Armor Center.


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Fort Sumter was the first Union fort captured by the Confederates during the American Civil War (1861-1865).


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Fort Ticonderoga, on Lake Champlain in New York, U.S.A., was an important stronghold during the American Revolution.


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Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.A. (pop. 447,619; met. area pop. 1,332,053), is a major industrial city and one of America's chief aircraft producers.


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Fortaleza (pop. 648,815; met. area pop. 1,581,588), is a city on the northeast coast of Brazil.


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Forth is one of the main rivers of Scotland.


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Fortuna was the goddess of luck in Roman mythology.


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Fortunetelling is the practice of predicting future events by methods generally considered illogical and unscientific.


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Forty-Niner was a gold-seeker who rushed to California, U.S.A., after gold was discovered there in 1848.


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Forum, Roman, was the section of ancient Rome that served as the centre of government.


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Foscolo, Ugo (1778-1827), was an Italian author.


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Fossey, Dian (1932-1985), was an American zoologist who studied the mountain gorillas of the Virunga Mountains in east-central Africa.


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Fossil is the mark or remains of a plant or animal that lived thousands or millions of years ago.


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Foster, Stephen Collins (1826-1864), was one of America's best-loved songwriters.


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Foster parent is a person who provides a home for one or more children who are not legally members of his or her family.


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Foucault, Jean Bernard Leon (1819-1868), a French physicist, used a revolving mirror to measure the speed of light.


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Foundation Day is an annual public holiday in Western Australia.


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Foundry is a plant where workers make moulded metal products called castings.


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Fountain is a jet or stream of water that rises naturally or artificially as a result of pressure.


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Fountain of Youth was an imaginary spring.


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Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are beings mentioned in the sixth chapter of the last book of the New Testament of the Bible, The Revelation of St. John the Divine.


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Four Masters were four Irish scholars who, in the early 1600's, compiled manuscripts on Irish history.


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Four-o'clock, also called the marvel-of-Peru, is an attractive perennial (plant that lives for more than one year) from tropical America.


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Fourier, Charles (1772-1837), was an important French socialist.


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Fourth dimension.  We usually think of space as having three dimensions: length, width, and height.


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Fourth estate is a name sometimes given to the newspaper profession in England.


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Foveaux Strait separates Stewart Island from South Island in New Zealand.


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Fowler is the family name of two brothers who became lexicographers (dictionary makers) and writers.


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Fowler, Henry Hamill (1908-...), served as United States (U.S.) secretary of the treasury from 1965 to 1968 under President Lyndon B. Johnson.


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Fowler, Sir John (1817-1898), a British engineer, built with Sir Benjamin Baker the Forth Rail Bridge, in Scotland.


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Fowler, Sir Norman (1938-...), an English politician, became chairman of the Conservative party in 1992.


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Fox is a bushy-tailed, sharp-snouted member of the dog family.


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Fox, Charles James (1749-1806), an English statesman and speaker, was a friend of the American Colonies in their fight for freedom from Britain.


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Fox, George (1624-1691), an English religious leader, founded the Society of Friends, or Quakers, in about 1647.


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Fox, John William, Jr. (1863-1919), was an American author who wrote novels about the Cumberland mountaineers of Kentucky.


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Fox, Sir William (1812-1893), was four times premier of New Zealand.


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Fox hunting, also called riding to hounds, is a sport that originated in England in about the middle 1700's.


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Fox Talbot, William Henry (1800-1877), was a British scientist who invented the negative-positive system in photography.


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Fox trot is a ballroom dance that first became popular in the United States in about 1914.


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Foxe, John (1516-1587), an English Puritan teacher, was the author of the Book of Martyrs (1563).


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Foxglove is the name for a group of plants native to Europe, northern Africa, and western and central Asia.


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Fra Angelico (1400?-1455), was an Italian painter.


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Fractal is a complex geometric figure made up of patterns that repeat themselves at increasingly smaller scales.


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Fragmentation is the breaking of any material into small pieces.


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Fragonard, Jean Honore (1732-1806), was a French artist who painted in the delicate, decorative style known as rococo.


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Frame, Janet (1924-...), a New Zealand writer, gained an international reputation as a novelist.


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Frampton, Sir George (1860-1928), was a British sculptor.


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France is the largest country of Western Europe in area.


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France, Anatole (1844-1924), was the pen name of Jacques Anatole Francois Thibault, a French novelist and critic.


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Francescatti, Zino (1905-1991), a French violinist, became noted for his concert performances in Europe and America.


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Franchise is a type of business agreement.


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Francis was the name of two kings who ruled France in the 1500's.


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Francis II (1768-1835), was the last Holy Roman emperor.


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Francis, Dick (1920-...), is a British author of mystery novels, most with horse-racing backgrounds.


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Francis de Sales, Saint (1567-1622), was a French nobleman.


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Francis Joseph (1830-1916), also spelled Franz Josef, was the aged ruler of the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary at the beginning of World War I (1914-1918).


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Francis of Assisi, Saint (1181?-1226), founded the Franciscan religious order of the Roman Catholic Church.


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Franciscans are members of a variety of Roman Catholic religious orders that take their inspiration and rule (programme of life) from Saint Francis of Assisi.


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Francium is a radioactive element produced in certain nuclear reactions.


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Franck, Cesar (1822-1890), was a French composer, organist, and teacher.


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Franck, James (1882-1964), was a German scientist.


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Franco, Francisco (1892-1975), was dictator of Spain from 1939 until his death in 1975.


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Franco-Prussian War began in 1870 as a result of a dispute between France and Prussia, a German state.


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Frank, Anne (1929-1945), a German-Jewish girl, wrote a vivid, tender diary while hiding from the Nazis during World War II.


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Frank, Ilya M. (1908-1990), a Russian theoretical physicist, shared the 1958 Nobel Prize for physics with P. A. Cherenkov and I. Y. Tamm.


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Frankenstein is a famous horror novel written by the English author Mary Shelley.


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Frankenthaler, Helen (1928-...), an American artist, is a leading abstract expressionist painter.


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Frankfurt (pop. 644,865), is the transportation hub of Germany.


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Frankincense is a fragrant gum resin obtained from certain trees that grow in Africa and Asia.


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Frankland, Sir Edward (1825-1899), was an English chemist.


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Frankland, George (1800-1838), a surveyor general, explored and mapped Tasmania's river systems and studied the island's plants and animals.


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Franklin, Lady (1792-1875), was the wife of the governor of Tasmania and Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin (see FRANKLIN, SIR JOHN).


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Franklin, Aretha (1942-...), an American rhythm and blues singer, ranks among the best-selling female artists in the history of recorded music.


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Franklin, Benjamin (1706-1790), was an American writer, publisher, public servant, scientist, philanthropist, and diplomat.


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Franklin, Sir John (1786-1847), pioneered English exploration in the Arctic area.


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Franklin, Miles (1879-1954), an Australian author, gained a major reputation as a novelist of the countryside.


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Franklin, Rosalind (1920-1958), was a British chemist and molecular biologist.


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Franklin River is a river in southwestern Tasmania, Australia.


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Franks were members of a confederation of Germanic peoples that attacked the Roman Empire beginning in the A.D. 200's.


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Franz Josef Land is a group of about 85 islands in the Arctic Ocean, north of Novaya Zemlya.


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Fraser, Dawn (1937-...), an Australian swimmer, won three successive gold medals in the women's 100-metre free-style race at the Olympic Games.


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Fraser, Malcolm (1930-...), served as prime minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983.


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Fraser, Neale (1933-...), an outstanding Australian tennis player, won the United States Open in 1959 and 1960, and the Wimbledon singles title in 1960.


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Fraser, Peter (1884-1950), was prime minister of New Zealand from 1940 to 1948.


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Fraser Island, also called Great Sandy Island, is the largest sand island in the world.


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Fraser of the North Cape, Lord (1888-1981), Bruce Austin Fraser, commanded British fleets in World War II.


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Frater, William (1890-1974), was a pioneer of post-impressionist painting in Australia.


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Fraud is an intentional untruth or a dishonest scheme used to take deliberate and unfair advantage of another person or group of persons.


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Frazer, Sir James George (1854-1941), a Scottish anthropologist, wrote the famous Golden Bough.


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Frederick I (1121?-1190), called Barbarossa or Red Beard, succeeded his uncle Conrad III as king of Germany in 1152.


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Frederick II (1194-1250), called Stupor Mundi (The Amazement of the World), was one of the most brilliant rulers of the Middle Ages.


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Frederick II (1712-1786), the third king of Prussia, became known as Frederick the Great.


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Frederick III (1831-1888), the only son of Wilhelm I, became king of Prussia and German emperor in 1888.


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Frederick William (1620-1688), often called the Great Elector, ruled the German state of Brandenburg from 1640 to 1688.


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Frederick William I (1688-1740), served as king of Prussia from 1713 until his death.


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Frederik, also spelled Frederick, is the name of two kings of Denmark who were members of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg.


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Free Churches are Protestant Christian Churches in the United Kingdom and Ireland that are distinct from the established Anglican Churches.


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Free city is an independent or nearly independent city-state with its own government.


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Free-piston engine, sometimes called a gasifier, generates hot gases usually used to run a turbine.


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Free ports are ports or airports through which goods may pass without attracting customs duties and taxes.


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Free settlers were people who travelled to Australia of their own free will after 1793.


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Free State (FS) is a province in central South Africa.


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Free trade is the policy of permitting the people of a country to buy and sell where they please without restrictions.


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Free verse is a style of poetry that does not follow traditional rules of poetry composition.


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Free will is a term for the free choice most of us assume we have in making decisions.


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Freedmen's Bureau was an agency created by the United States Congress to help the slaves freed at the end of the American Civil War (1861-1865).


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Freedom is the ability to make choices and to carry them out.


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Freedom from Hunger is a worldwide information programme planned by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.


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Freedom of religion is the right of a person to believe in and practise whatever faith he or she chooses.


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Freedom of speech is the right to speak out publicly or privately.


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Freedom of the press is the right to publish facts, ideas, and opinions without interference from the government or from private groups.


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Freeling (pop. 827), is a town 60 kilometres northeast of Adelaide in South Australia, situated on the rail connection between Gawler and Kapunda.


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Freesia is a fragrant, attractive plant belonging to the iris family.


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Freethinker is a person who refuses to accept the authority of a church or religious doctrine.


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Freetown (pop. 469,776), is the seaport capital of the West African country of Sierra Leone.


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Freeze-drying is a method of preserving substances by removing water from them.


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Freezing point is the temperature at which a substance changes from a liquid to a solid.


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Freight is manufactured goods or raw materials transported from one place to another.


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Frejus Tunnels are two tunnels--one a railway tunnel and the other a road tunnel--that connect the Italian province of Turin with the French province of Savoy.


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Fremantle (pop. 23,838), is the third busiest port in Australia, after Sydney and Melbourne, and the chief port of Western Australia.


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Fremont, John Charles (1813-1890), an American, sometimes called "The Pathfinder," explored much of the area between the Rocky Mountains of North America and the Pacific Ocean.


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French, John Alexander (1914-1942), an Australian corporal, was awarded the Victoria Cross for heroic action in World War II (1939-1945).


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French, John Denton Pinkstone (1852-1925), Earl of Ypres, a British army officer, commanded the first units of British soldiers sent to France in World War I (1914-1918).


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French, Leonard (1928-...), an Australian painter and designer of stained glass, became widely recognised for his monumental stained-glass ceiling in the Great Hall of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.


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French, Percy (1854-1920), was an Irish singer and songwriter who created songs such as "Phil the Fluther's Ball" (1889).


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French Academy is a French organization of intellectuals.


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French bulldog is a strong, heavy little dog.


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French cricket is a simple game in which the players need only a bat and a soft ball.


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French Equatorial Africa was a federation of four territories in central Africa that was administered by France.


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French Guiana is an overseas department (administrative district) of France on the northeastern coast of South America.


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French horn is a brass musical instrument.


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French language is the official language of France, its overseas territories, and associated states.


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French literature is one of the world's richest and most influential national literatures.


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French Polynesia is an overseas territory of France.


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French Revolution brought about great changes in the society and government of France.


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French Southern and Antarctic Territories are overseas possessions of France.


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French West Africa was a federation of eight territories in western Africa.


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French West Indies consists of several small islands at the eastern end of the Caribbean Sea.


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Freneau, Philip (1752-1832), was an American poet and journalist.


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Frequency band, also called waveband, is a range of radio frequencies set aside for a single broadcasting station.


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Frequency modulation, usually called simply FM, is a method of sending sound signals on radio waves.


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Frere, Sir Henry Bartle Edward (1815-1884), a British colonial official, entered the Indian Civil Service in 1834.


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Fresco is a painting made on fresh plaster, using pigments mixed with water.


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Freud, Anna (1895-1982), was an Austrian-born leader in the field of child psychoanalysis, the treatment of children's mental illnesses.


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Freud, Sigmund (1856-1939), was an Austrian doctor who revolutionized ideas on how the human mind works.


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Frey, also called Freyr, was the god of agriculture and fertility in Norse mythology.


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Freyberg, Bernard (1889-1963), Baron Freyberg, was a British military commander in World Wars I (1914-1918) and II (1939-1945).


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Freyja was the goddess of love and marriage in Norse mythology.


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Friar is the title applied to a member of one of the Roman Catholic religious orders of men who originally lived as mendicants (beggars).


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Frick, Ford (1894-1978), an American, was national commissioner of United States baseball from 1951 to 1965.


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Fricker, Peter Racine (1920-1990), an English composer, used counterpoint and serial techniques, but wrote music with a strong emotional impact.


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Friction is the property that objects have which makes them resist being moved across one another.


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Friedan, Betty (1921-...), is considered the founder of the women's liberation movement in the United States.


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Friendly society is a British organization that exists to provide financial benefits for its members.


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Friese-Greene, William (1855-1921), was an outstanding British inventor of photographic devices.


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Frietchie, Barbara, is the heroine of the American writer John Greenleaf Whittier's poem "Barbara Frietchie" (1864).


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Frigate is a warship used for escort and patrol duty.


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Frigatebird is a sea bird with a large wingspread and unusually great powers of flight.


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Frilled lizard is a lizard of tropical northern Australia that grows to about 1 metre long.


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Friml, Rudolf (1879-1972), a Czech-born U.S. pianist and composer, was one of the most popular composers of operettas of the early 1900's.


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Fringe tree is a small tree or large shrub named after its threadlike or fringelike white flower petals.


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Frink, Dame Elisabeth (1930-1993), was a British sculptor noted for the solidity and strength of her work in bronze.


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Frisbee is a plastic, saucer-shaped disc that skims through the air when flipped with the hand.


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Frisch, Karl von (1886-1982), an Austrian zoologist, was a pioneer in the field of animal behaviour.


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Frisch, Max (1911-1991), was a Swiss author who became one of the leading writers in the German-speaking world after World War II (1939-1945).


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Frisch, Ragnar (1895-1973), a Norwegian economist, shared the 1969 Nobel Prize for economics with Jan Tinbergen of the Netherlands.


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Fritillary is the name given to a group of medium-sized orange and brown coloured butterflies.


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Fritillary is the common name for a genus (group) of herbs that belong to the lily family.


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Frobel, Friedrich Wilhelm August (1782-1852), was a German educator who founded the kindergarten movement.


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Frobisher, Sir Martin (1535?-1594), was one of the first English navigators to search for a Northwest Passage to India and the East.


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Frog is a small, tailless animal with bulging eyes.


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Froissart, Jean (1337?-1410?), a French poet and historian, wrote The Chronicles of France, England, Scotland, and Spain.


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Fromm, Erich (1900-1980), was a German-born social psychoanalyst.


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Fronde was a revolt of nobles against the French monarchy.


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Frontenac, Comte de (1620-1698), was governor general of New France, the French empire in North America, in the late 1600's.


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Frost is a pattern of ice crystals formed from water vapour on grass, windowpanes, and other exposed surfaces near the ground.


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Frost, John (1784?-1877), a British radical, led the Chartist Movement in Wales.


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Frost, Robert Lee (1874-1963), became the most popular American poet of his time.


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Frostbite is an injury that results from exposure of the body to extreme cold.


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Fructose is a sugar produced by nearly all fruits and by many vegetables.


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Fruit is the part of a flowering plant that contains the plant's seeds.


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Fruit fly is any of several kinds of flies whose larvae eat their way through different fruits.


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Fry, Charles Burgess (1872-1956), was one of Britain's best all-round sportsmen.


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Fry, Christopher (1907-...), is an English playwright.


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Fry, Elizabeth Gurney (1780-1845), a British reformer, was among the first to insist that prisoners need help rather than punishment in order to become good citizens.


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Fry, Franklin Clark (1900-1968), was one of America's most prominent Lutheran clergymen.


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Fry, Joseph (1728-1787), was a British doctor and businessman.


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Fuchs, Sir Vivian Ernest (1908-...), is a British geologist and Antarctic expert.


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Fuchsia is a widely cultivated house and garden plant.


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Fuel is a material that provides useful energy.


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Fuel cell is a device that produces electricity from a fuel and an oxidizer, a substance that combines with the fuel.


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Fuel injection is a system for squirting fuel into the cylinders of petrol and diesel engines.


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Fuentes, Carlos (1928-...), is Mexico's best-known fiction writer and an important figure in Spanish-American literature.


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Fugard, Athol (1932-...), is a South African playwright.


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Fugitive slave laws were laws that provided for the return of runaway slaves who escaped from one American state to another.


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Fugue is a musical composition in which several voices or instruments repeat a number of melodies with slight variations.


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Fukuoka (pop. 1,157,111), is an important commercial centre of the island of Kyushu, in Japan.


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Fulani are a people of the grassy regions of western Africa.


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Fulbright, J. William (1905-1995), a United States Senator, served as a Democrat in the U.S. Senate from 1945 to 1974.


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Fulbright Scholarship is an award made by the United States government for research, teaching, or graduate study.


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Fuller, Alfred Carl (1885-1973), founded the Fuller Brush Company.


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Fuller, Buckminster (1895-1983), was an American designer who sought to express the technology and needs of modern life in buildings and enclosures of space.


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Fuller, Roy (1912-1991), was an English poet and author.


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Fuller's earth is a claylike material that bleaches and purifies fats and oils.


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Fulmar, an ocean bird, is one of the petrels.


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Fulton, Robert (1765-1815), an American inventor, civil engineer, and artist, is best known for designing and building the first commercially successful steamboat.


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Fumarole is a hole or vent in the ground that gives off volcanic gases.


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Fumigation is a method of killing pests that involves the use of toxic gases.


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Funafuti (pop. 2,800), is the capital of Tuvalu, a small island country in the South Pacific Ocean.


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Funchal (pop. 99,244), is the capital, largest city, and chief port of the Madeira Islands.


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Fundamentalism is a broad movement within many religions.


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Funeral customs are special ceremonies performed after a person dies.


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Fungal disease.  Many kinds of fungi live and feed on the tissues of living plants and animals (see FUNGI).


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Fungi are organisms that lack chlorophyll, the green colouring matter that many plants use to make food.


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Fungicide is a chemical substance used to kill growths called fungi that are harmful to human beings and plants.


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Funj Sultanate was a Muslim empire in what is now Sudan, in northeastern Africa.


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Funnel web spider is a type of venomous Australian spider whose bite can cause death to human beings.


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Funny bone is not a bone, but a sensitive place at the bend of the elbow.


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Fur is the thick growth of hair that covers the skin of many kinds of animals.


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Furfural is a liquid chemical that is used in many industries.


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Furies were the terrible goddesses of vengeance in Roman mythology.


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Furlong is an English unit of measurement of length equal to 40 rods (220 yards), or about 200 metres.


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Furneaux, Tobias (1735-1781), a British naval officer and explorer, sailed around the world with the explorer Samuel Wallis between 1766 and 1768.


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Furneaux Islands are a group of islands that lie at the eastern end of Bass Strait, between Tasmania and the mainland of Australia.


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Furniture consists of chairs, tables, beds, and other pieces that provide comfort and convenience in our homes, schools, and offices.


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Furphy, Joseph (1843-1912), was one of the most original novelists in Australia at a time when strongly nationalistic themes were prevalent in literature.


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Furtseva, Ekaterina (1910-1974), was the first woman to serve on the Presidium of the Soviet Union's Communist Party Central Committee.


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Furtwangler, Wilhelm (1886-1954), was a noted German musical conductor.


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Furze, a spiny shrub of the pea family, grows wild in Europe and is sometimes called gorse, or whin.


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Fuse is a device that protects an electric circuit against damage from excessive current.


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Fuse is a device used to cause an explosion.


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Fuseli, Henry (1741-1825), was a Swiss painter and art critic.


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Fusion, in physics, is the joining of the nuclei of two atoms to form the nucleus of a heavier element.


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Futurism was an Italian art movement that flourished from 1909 to about 1916.


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Fuzhou (pop. 1,395,739), also spelled Foo-chow or Fu-chou, is the capital of Fujian Province in China.


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Fylde (pop. 70,100), is a local government district in western Lancashire, England.


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Fynbos is a general name given to a large group of shrubs and other plants that grow in the southwestern and southern coastal areas of South Africa.


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Fyrd, in Anglo-Saxon England, was the body of fighting men recruited by each king to protect his kingdom against invaders.


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Fysh, Sir Hudson (1895-1974), a leading Australian airman, helped found the Australian airline Qantas in Winton, Queensland, in 1920.


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G is the seventh letter of the English alphabet.


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G is a symbol used to rate the forces that act on riders in any kind of vehicle, whether an aeroplane, a spacecraft, or even a Ferris wheel.


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Gabardine is a fabric woven in such a way that it has diagonal lines of the yarn raised on one side of the cloth.


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Gable, Clark (1901-1960), was a popular romantic star of American films.


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Gabo, Naum (1890-1977), was a Russian-born sculptor who created constructions of metals, plastics, glass, and wire.


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Gabon is a small, heavily forested country that lies on the west coast of Africa, straddling the equator.


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Gabor, Dennis (1900-1979), a Hungarian-born engineer, invented holography, a method of making three-dimensional photographs.


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Gaborone (pop. 96,000), is the capital and largest city of Botswana.


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Gabriel was one of the archangels and a messenger of God.


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Gades, Antonio (1936-...), is a Spanish dancer and choreographer.


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Gadolinium is a silver-white metal of the rare-earth group of chemical elements (see RARE EARTH).


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Gadwall is a duck found in much of the Northern Hemisphere.


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Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA)--in Irish, Cumann Luthchleas Gael--organizes and promotes traditional Irish games and pastimes.


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Gaelic games are a group of physically demanding, skilful sports that are popular in Ireland and in many other parts of the world, wherever there is a large population of Irish people.


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Gaelic language belongs to the Celtic branch of the Indo-European family of languages.


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Gaelic literature includes all the writings in the Gaelic language.


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Gaels are members of the Goidelic (Gadhelic) branch of the Celtic-speaking peoples.


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Gagarin, Yuri Alekseyevich (1934-1968), a Soviet air force pilot, was the first human to travel in space.


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Gage, Thomas (1721-1787), a British general, gave the orders that resulted in the first battle of the American Revolution (1775-1783).


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Gaia is the idea that the earth is a living organism which functions as a unified whole to regulate conditions in the air, land, and water.


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Gaillardia is a type of flower that looks like a daisy with a dark-coloured disc and yellow or red rays.


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Gainsborough, Thomas (1727-1788), was one of the greatest British painters.


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Gair, Vincent (1902-1980), was parliamentary leader of the Democratic Labor Party in Australia from 1965 to 1973.


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Gairy, Sir Eric (1922-1997), was prime minister of Grenada from 1974 to 1979.


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Gaitskell, Hugh Todd Naylor (1906-1963), a British politician, became the leader of the United Kingdom's Labour Party when Clement Attlee resigned in 1955.


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Gaius was a great Roman teacher and organizer of law who lived in the A.D. 100's.


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Gajah Mada (1300?-1364), a Javanese statesman, was the most outstanding chief minister of the empire of Majapahit, based in eastern Java.


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Galago is a tree-dwelling African animal known for its ability to leap great distances among the branches.


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Galah is a common pink and grey cockatoo of Australia.


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Galahad, Sir, was the noblest and most virtuous knight in the legends of King Arthur's Round Table in medieval Britain.


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Galapagos Islands lie in the Pacific Ocean about 970 kilometres west of Ecuador, and belong to Ecuador.


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Galatea was a beautiful sea nymph in Greek mythology.


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Galatia was a region in central Asia Minor, a region that is now central Turkey.


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Galatians, Epistle to the, is the ninth book of the New Testament of the Bible.


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Galaxy is a system of stars, dust, and gas held together by gravity.


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Galbraith, John Kenneth (1908-...), is an American economist whose books sparked widespread interest in economic issues.


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Galen (A.D. 129-about 210), became one of the most famous and influential doctors in the history of medicine.


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Galicia is a region that lies on the north slope of the Carpathian Mountains in southeastern Poland and the western part of Ukraine.


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Galilee was the northernmost part of Palestine in Roman times.


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Galilee, Sea of, is a small freshwater lake in northern Israel (formerly Palestine).


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Galileo (1564-1642), an Italian astronomer and physicist, has been called the founder of modern experimental science.


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Gall is an abnormal growth on plants, often seen as a rounded swelling.


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Gall bladder is a small pouch that stores bile.


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Galleon was at first an Italian armed merchant ship.


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Galley was a long, narrow, wooden warship.


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Gallienus (A.D. 218?-268), was a Roman emperor.


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Gallinule is the name of several species of small waterbirds that are related to coots and rails.


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Gallium is a chemical element with symbol Ga.


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Gallon is a unit of measurement used for liquids.


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Gallowglass was a type of Scottish foot soldier.


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Gallup, George Horace (1901-1984), an American statistician, specialized in public opinion and business surveys.


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Galsworthy, John (1867-1933), a British novelist and playwright, won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1932.


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Galton, Sir Francis (1822-1911), a British scientist and cousin of Charles Darwin, became known for his researches in meteorology, heredity, and anthropology.


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Galvani, Luigi (1737-1798), an Italian doctor and anatomist, discovered that electrical currents could cause contractions in muscles and nerves.


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Galvanizing is the process of coating such metals as iron and steel with a thin protective layer of zinc or zinc alloy.


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Galvanometer is a delicate instrument used chiefly to detect and measure small electric currents.


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Galway is the second-largest county in area in the Republic of Ireland.


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Galway (pop. 50,842), is the capital and administrative centre of the county of Galway, in the Republic of Ireland.


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Galway, James (1939-...), is an Irish musician who has become one of the most famous flautists of his time.


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Gamaliel was the name of six great ancient Jewish scholars who lived in Palestine.


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Gambetta, Leon Michel (1838-1882), was one of the founders of the Third Republic of France, and served briefly as his country's premier.


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Gambia is one of the smallest independent countries in Africa.


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Gambling is betting on the outcome of a game, event, or chance happening.


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Game is the name given to most wild animals, especially those sought for the sport of hunting or fishing.


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Game is a mental or physical contest played according to rules.


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Game laws protect wild animals by regulating the conditions under which people are allowed to hunt them.


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Game theory is a method of studying decision-making situations in which the choices of two or more individuals or groups influence one another.


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Gamelan is a traditional Indonesian orchestra, mainly comprising percussion instruments, which are played by striking them.


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Gamio, Manuel (1883-1960), was a Mexican anthropologist and archaeologist.


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Gamma globulin is one of the classes of proteins found in blood plasma.


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Gamma rays Gamma rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation similar to X rays.


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Gamow, George (1904-1968), was a Russian-born physicist known for his contributions to many fields of science.


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Ganda are the largest ethnic group in the African nation of Uganda.


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Gandhi, Indira (1917-1984), was the first woman prime minister of India.


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Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand (1869-1948), was one of the foremost political leaders of the 1900's.


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Gandhi, Rajiv (1944-1991), was prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989.


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Gandon, James (1743?-1823), was a British architect who designed several important buildings in England and Ireland.


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Ganges River is the greatest waterway in India and one of the largest in the world.


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Gangrene is the death of body tissues from lack of oxygen.


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Gannet is the name of three species of large seabirds.


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Ganymede was a handsome Trojan prince in Greek mythology.


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Ganz, Rudolph (1877-1972), was a Swiss-American pianist, composer, and conductor.


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Gap is a narrow valley or gorge cut by a stream across a ridge.


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Gar is a fierce, hungry fish that lives chiefly in freshwater lakes and large rivers.


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Garand rifle, also called the M1 rifle, is a .30-calibre, eight-shot semiautomatic weapon.


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Garbo, Greta (1905-1990), became one of the most famous actresses in film history.


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Garcia Lorca, Federico (1898-1936), was one of the greatest Spanish poets and dramatists.


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Garcia Marquez, Gabriel Jose (1928-...), is a Colombian novelist.


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Garcia Y Iniguez, Calixto (1839-1898), was a Cuban lawyer and revolutionary general.


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Garden cities are urban centres deliberately designed to include large areas of gardens and trees.


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Garden Island is the name given to two Australian islands, one in Sydney and one near Perth.


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Garden, Mary (1874-1967), an American soprano, was considered one of the best singing actresses of her time.


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Gardenia is an evergreen shrub or small tree that bears a fragrant, waxy, white flower.


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Gardening is the cultivation of plants, usually in or near the home as a hobby.


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Gardiner, Lord (1900-1990), Gerald Austin Gardiner, was British Lord Chancellor from 1964 to 1970.


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Gardiner, Frank (1831-1890?), was an Australian bushranger.


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Gardner, Erle Stanley (1889-1970), was an American author.


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Garfield, James Abram (1831-1881), became president of the United States in 1881.


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Gargantua and Pantagruel, by Francois Rabelais, is a comic narrative on French society of the 1500's.


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Gargle is a liquid used to soothe sore throats and help prevent the spread of germs.


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Gargoyle is a decorated waterspout that projects from the upper part of a building or tower.


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Garibaldi, Giuseppe (1807-1882), was a military hero who fought to unite Italy into a single kingdom.


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Garland, Hamlin (1860-1940), was an American author.


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Garland, Judy (1922-1969), was an American singer and film actress.


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Garlic is a plant grown for its pungently flavoured bulb, which is used to season foods.


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Garnet is any of a group of hard, glassy minerals.


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Garnishment, also called garnishee proceedings, is a process in law whereby a creditor (A) can demand direct payment of a debt due to his debtor (B) by a third person (C).


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Garran, Sir Robert (1867-1957), an Australian lawyer, was secretary of the committee that produced a draft federal Constitution for Australia in 1897.


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Garret, Leslie (1955-...), is a British opera singer.


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Garrick, David (1717-1779), ranks among the greatest British actors.


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Garter, Order of the, is the highest and oldest order of knighthood in the United Kingdom.


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Garter snake is one of a group of harmless snakes found in many parts of North and Central America.


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Garuda, in the Hindu religion, is an eagle-like being who serves as the vakana (mount) and emblem of the god Vishnu.


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Garvey, Marcus (1887-1940), was a black leader from Jamaica who worked to improve the position of black people throughout the world from 1908 until his death.


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Garvin, James Louis (1868-1947), a leading British journalist, was editor of the Sunday newspaper The Observer from 1908 to 1942.


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Gas (fuel) is one of our most important resources.


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Gas is one of the three main states of matter.


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Gas chamber is a legal means of execution in some states of the United States.


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Gas mask protects the wearer from breathing harmful gases into the lungs.


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Gas meter is a device for measuring the volume of gas used.


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Gas oil is one of the fractions (parts) into which petroleum is divided by distillation.


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Gascoigne, George (1525?-1577), was an English author of the Elizabethan era who was a pioneer in many literary forms.


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Gascony, an old French province, lies between the Pyrenees Mountains and the Garonne River in southwest France (see FRANCE).


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Gascoyne River rises to the north of the Robinson Ranges in Western Australia and flows westward for 680 kilometres.


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Gaskell, Elizabeth (1810-1865), an English writer, is best known for her novel Cranford (1853).


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Gasnier, Reginald (1939-...), is known as one of the greatest centres in the history of Australian Rugby League football.


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Gaston, William (1778-1844), was an American lawyer and advocate of political rights for blacks and Roman Catholics.


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Gastritis is an inflammation of the lining of the stomach.


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Gastroenteritis is an infection of the digestive system.


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Gates, Arthur Irving (1890-1972), an American educator, became well known for his contributions to the improvement of reading.


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Gates, Bill (1955-...), is the cofounder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Microsoft Corporation.


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Gateshead (pop. 196,500) is an industrial centre and metropolitan district in Tyne and Wear, England.


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Gatling gun was the first practical, rapid-firing machine gun.


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Gatti-Casazza, Giulio (1868-1940), directed the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York City from 1908 to 1935, leading it to artistic and financial success.


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Gaucher's disease is a severe hereditary disorder that affects the spleen, liver, bones, and, in some forms of the disease, the brain and nerves.


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Gaucho is the cowboy of the South American pampas, or plains.


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Gaudi, Antonio (1852-1926), was a major Spanish architect.


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Gaudier-Brzeska, Henri (1891-1915), was a French sculptor and artist.


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Gauge, also called gage, is an instrument used for measurement.


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Gauguin, Paul (1848-1903), was a French painter.


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Gaul is the English name for the region called Gallia by the Romans.


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Gauntlet was a leather glove covered with steel plates that medieval knights wore as part of their armour.


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Gaur is a wild ox of India, Burma, and the Malay Peninsula.


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Gauss is a unit used to measure the strength of a magnetic field.


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Gauss, Carl Friedrich (1777-1855), was a German mathematician who became one of the greatest mathematicians of all time.


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Gauteng is a province in the northern region of South Africa.


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Gautier, Theophile (1811-1872), was a French poet, novelist, and critic.


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Gauze is a thin, open cloth made of cotton, silk, rayon, or synthetic fibres.


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Gavaskar, Sunil (1949-...), is an Indian cricketer.


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Gavial is a reptile much like a crocodile, except that it has an extremely long and narrow snout.


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Gawler, George (1795-1869), was governor of South Australia from 1838 to 1841.


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Gawler Range is a series of hills in South Australia that separate the Eyre Peninsula from the semidesert lands surrounding Lake Gairdner and Lake Torrens.


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Gay, John (1685-1732), an English playwright and poet, is best known for The Beggar's Opera (1728).


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Gay-Lussac, Joseph Louis (1778-1850), was a French chemist and physicist.


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Gayndah (pop. 2,848), is a small town situated in the Central Burnett district of southeast Queensland, Australia.


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Gaza Strip is a piece of land that was formerly administered by Egypt.


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Gazankulu was a homeland, an area set aside for Tsonga and Shangane people by the South African government (see SOUTH AFRICAN HOMELANDS).


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Gazelle is a slender antelope that is noted for its beauty, grace, and gentleness.


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Gdansk or, in German, Danzig (pop. 466,500), is a Polish port city 6 kilometres from the Baltic Sea.


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Gear is a mechanical device that transfers rotating motion and power from one part of a machine to another.


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Geber (721?-815?) had a reputation as a great Arab alchemist.


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Gecko is the name of certain small lizards that live in warm climates.


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Ged, William (1690-1749), a British jeweller, developed stereotyping.


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Geddes, Norman Bel (1893-1958), was an American designer and producer.


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Gedling (pop. 107,600) is a local government district in Nottinghamshire, England.


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Geebung is the common name given to a range of small trees and shrubs belonging to the Australian genus Persoonia.


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Geelong (pop. 145,323) is a city and port in Victoria, Australia.


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Geiger, Abraham (1810-1874), was a Jewish theologian and a leader of Reform Judaism.


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Geiger, Hans (1882-1945), was a German physicist who became famous for his work in nuclear physics.


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Geiger counter, also called Geiger-Muller counter, is an instrument that detects forms of ionizing radiation.


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Geikie, Sir Archibald (1835-1924), was a Scottish geologist.


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Geissler tube is a gaseous-discharge tube similar to a neon lamp.


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Gelasius I, Saint (?-496), was elected pope in 492.


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Gelatin is a protein substance that comes from the skins and bones of animals.


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Gelsemium is a climbing shrub that grows in the Southern United States and Southeast Asia.


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Gem is a mineral or other material used in jewellery and other ornaments.


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Gemini, the Twins, is the third sign of the zodiac.


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Gemsbok, also called gemsbuck, is a large antelope related to the roan and sable antelopes.


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Gender.  In English, living things are classed as male or female, and things without life as neuter, or sexless.


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Gene is the part of a cell that determines the characteristics living things inherit from their parents.


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Gene mapping is a method of identifying and locating genes on the chromosomes within cells.


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Gene therapy is a technique for treating diseases by providing the cells of a patient's body with a normal gene (unit of heredity) to make up for a defective or missing gene.


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Genealogy is the study of family origins based on records of important events in the lives of individuals and their ancestors and families.


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General is one of the highest ranks in the major armies of the world and in some air forces.


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General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is a multilateral treaty that aims to promote trade among its members.


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General Certificate of Education (GCE), in England and Wales, is awarded to students who have passed a special examination.


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General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an examination designed for pupils who have completed a five-year course of study in a secondary school in England, Northern Ireland, or Wales.


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General Electric Company is the name of two large electrical companies, one in the United Kingdom and the other in the United States.


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General Motors Corporation is one of the biggest manufacturers, and the largest producer of motor cars, in the world.


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General Santos (pop. 250,389) is a port city in the Southern Mindanao region of the Philippines.


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General Strike was held in 1926 by most of Britain's major trade unions in support of the Mineworkers' Union.


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Generation is a term that refers to a particular group of animals or plants in a line of descent.


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Genet, Jean (1910-1986), a French author, became known for his violent, complex plays.


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Genetic counselling is the technique of determining the possibilities of a baby being born with birth defects.


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Genetic engineering is the term applied to techniques that alter the genes (hereditary material) or combination of genes in an organism.


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Genetics is the scientific study of heredity, the passing on of characteristics of living organisms from one generation to the next.


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Geneva (pop. 159,895; met. area pop. 378,274) is a historic city in southwestern Switzerland.


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Geneva Accords were a series of four international agreements made on July 20 and 21, 1954.


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Geneva Conventions provide for the humane treatment of civilians, prisoners, and wounded persons in wartime.


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Genghis Khan (1162-1227) was a Mongol conqueror who founded the largest land empire in history.


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Genie is a word often used in English for jinni (plural, jinn), a type of demon in Arabian mythology.


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Genius was a guardian spirit worshipped by the ancient Romans.


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Genoa (pop. 678,771) is Italy's busiest and largest port and a major industrial centre.


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Genocide is the extermination of national or religious groups.


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Gentian is the name of a group of plants that consists of about 1,000 species.


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Gentile, in ancient times, referred to the people of all nations other than the Jews.


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Gentileschi, Artemisia (1593-1652?), was an Italian painter.


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Geochemistry is a science that applies chemistry to the study of the earth.


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Geode is a hollow, stonelike formation often lined with crystals.


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Geodesy is a science that deals with determining the size, shape, and gravitational field of the earth.


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Geoduck, also spelled goeduck or gweduc, is a huge edible clam found along the Pacific coast of the United States.


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Geoffrey of Monmouth (1100?-1154?) was a Welsh historian.


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Geoghegan-Quinn, Maire (1950-...), became the Republic of Ireland's first woman Cabinet minister, as minister for the Gaeltacht, in 1979.


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Geography is the study of the location and distribution of living things and the earth features among which they live.


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Geometric style is a term for a number of ancient and modern styles in art.


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Geomorphology is the science that studies the surface of the earth and the changes that take place on it.


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Geophysics is the study of the earth and its atmosphere and waters by means of the science of physics.


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Geopolitics attempts to explain world political developments in terms of geographic space.


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George was the name of six kings of Great Britain.


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George was the name of two kings of Greece.


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George, Saint, is the patron saint of England.


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George, Stefan (1868-1933), was a major German representative of the European symbolism movement in poetry.


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George, Walter Franklin (1878-1957), served as a Democratic United States senator from Georgia from 1922 to 1957.


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George Town (pop. 248,241) is the third-largest city in Malaysia.


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Georges River, in Australia, flows 81 kilometres from the Illawarra Ranges southwest of Sydney to Botany Bay.


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Georgetown (pop. 72,049; met. area pop. 188,000) is the capital and chief city of Guyana.


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Georgia is a country in the Caucasus Mountains that became independent in 1991 after nearly 200 years of Russian and Soviet rule.


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Georgia (pop. 6,508,419) is a state in southeastern United States.


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Georgian architecture was the chief architectural style of England during the reigns of Kings George I, II, III, and IV. The kings reigned from 1714 to 1830.


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Geothermal power.  See ELECTRIC POWER (Other sources of electric power); ENERGY SUPPLY (Geothermal power); NEW ZEALAND (Natural resources); VOLCANO (Benefits of volcanoes).


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Geraldton (pop. 20,590) is a port and holiday resort in Western Australia.


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Geranium is a plant native to temperate regions throughout the world.


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Gerbil is any of a group of furry, ratlike rodents, most of which have long hind legs and a long, hairy tail.


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Geriatrics is the branch of medicine that deals with old age and its diseases.


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Gericault, Theodore (1791-1824), a French artist, was one of the first romantic painters.


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German, Sir Edward (1862-1936), was a British composer who is best remembered for his tuneful operettas Merrie England and Tom Jones.


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German language is the official language of Germany, Austria, and Liechtenstein, and an official language of Switzerland and Luxembourg.


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German literature is the literature of the German-speaking peoples of central Europe.


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German pinscher is a breed of dog that originated in Germany.


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German shepherd dog is often called the German police dog, because many of such dogs are trained for police work.


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German shorthaired pointer is a dog often used to hunt game birds.


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German spitz, also called the great spitz, is a very old breed of dog.


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German wirehaired pointer is a hunting dog that was developed in Germany in the 1800's by crossing German shorthaired pointers with terriers, bloodhounds, and poodles.


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Germanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ge.


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Germany is a large country in central Europe.


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Germiston (pop. 186,426), South Africa, lies 13 kilometres east of Johannesburg in the great gold field of the PWV Province.


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Geronimo (1829-1909) was a warrior of the Chiricahua Apache Indians.


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Gerrymander is the practice of dividing a city, state, or country into voting districts to favour the party in power.


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Gershwin, George (1898-1937), an American composer, became famous for his musical comedies, popular songs, symphonic works, and the opera Porgy and Bess.


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Gerund is a term for a present participle used as a noun.


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Gesell, Arnold Lucius (1880-1961), an American psychologist, became known for his studies of the behaviour of infants and children.


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Gesso is a plasterlike coating used to cover the grain of wooden surfaces.


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Gestalt psychology is a school of psychology that emphasizes the study of experience as a unified whole.


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Gestapo was the secret police force of Nazi Germany.


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Gesualdo, Carlo (1560-1613), Prince of Venosa, was an Italian composer.


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Gethsemane is a garden spoken of in the New Testament of the Bible.


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Getty, J. Paul (1892-1976), an American business executive, became one of the richest people in the world.


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Gettysburg, Battle of, fought from July 1 to July 3, 1863, marked a turning point in the American Civil War (1861-1865).


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Gettysburg Address is a short speech that Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States, delivered on Nov. 19, 1863, at the site of the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania.


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Getz, Stan (1927-1991), was an American jazz tenor saxophonist known for his light, smooth tone and lyrical approach to improvisation.


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Geyser is a spring that throws up hot water with explosive force from time to time.


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Ghan was a train that operated from Marree in South Australia to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory between 1929 and 1980.


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Ghana is a tropical country in western Africa.


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Ghana Empire was an important black trading state in West Africa from about the A.D. 300's to the mid-1000's.


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Ghent (pop. 236,540) is a Belgian city 50 kilometres northwest of Brussels.


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Ghent, Treaty of, ended the War of 1812 between the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States.


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Ghetto is a section of a city settled by a minority ethnic, religious, or nationality group.


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Ghiberti, Lorenzo (1378-1455), was an Italian sculptor and goldsmith.


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Ghirlandajo, Domenico (1449-1494), also spelled Ghirlandaio, was the most successful Italian painter of his time in Florence.


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Ghost, according to tradition, is a spirit of a dead person that visits the living.


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Ghost town.  In the 1800's, many towns, particularly in the United States and Australia, grew up near mines.


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Giacometti, Alberto (1901-1966), was a Swiss sculptor whose long, thin human figures express a feeling of anonymity and helplessness.


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Giannini, Amadeo Peter (1870-1949), was an American businessman.


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Giant is a person who grows abnormally tall because of a disorder in the pituitary gland.


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Giant, in Greek and Roman mythology, belonged to a race of beings that looked like people, but were much bigger.


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Giant schnauzer is the largest of the three schnauzer dog breeds.


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Giant's Causeway is an unusual formation of rock columns along the north coast of Northern Ireland.


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Giardiasis is a common intestinal disease.


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Giauque, William Francis (1895-1982), was an American chemist.


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Gibberellin, also called GA, is any of a group of hormones that regulate plant growth.


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Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794), was a British scholar who wrote the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, a masterpiece of historical writing.


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Gibbons, Grinling (1648-1720), a sculptor and wood carver, became famous for his delicate work.


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Gibbons, James Cardinal (1834-1921), was one of the leading American religious figures of his time.


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Gibbons, Orlando (1583-1625), was an English composer and musician.


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Gibbs, Josiah Willard (1839-1903), one of the greatest American mathematical physicists, might be called the father of modern physical chemistry.


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Gibbs, May (1875?-1969), an Australian writer and illustrator, published The Gumnut Babies in 1916 and Snugglepot and Cuddlepie in 1918.


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Giblin, Lyndhurst Falkiner (1872-1951), was an Australian economist who frequently advised the federal government on economic affairs.


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Gibraltar is a United Kingdom (UK) dependency in the Commonwealth of Nations.


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Gibraltar, Strait of, is a narrow body of water that connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.


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Gibran, Kahlil (1883-1931), was a Lebanese writer.


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Gibson, Althea (1927-...), an American sportswoman, became the first important black tennis player.


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Gibson, Charles Dana (1867-1944), an American illustrator, drew the famous "Gibson Girl."  She was intended to represent a typical society woman and to be the image of ideal American femininity.


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Gibson, Mel (1956-...), an Australian actor, first became well known for his starring roles in three Mad Max films between 1979 and 1985.


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Gibson Desert forms part of the plateau of Western Australia.


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Gide, Andre (1869-1951), a French author, won the 1947 Nobel Prize for literature.


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Gideon in the Old Testament of the Bible, was a hero of Israel who saved his people from the Midianites.


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Gideons International is an association of Christian business and professional men.


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Gielgud, Sir John (1904-...), is a leading British actor and director.


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Gierek, Edward (1913-...), was first secretary of the Communist Party of Poland from 1970 to 1980.


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Gieseking, Walter (1895-1956), was a German pianist.


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Giftblaar is an extremely poisonous shrub which grows on the high veld (open grassland) of South Africa.


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Gifted children are young people who have extremely high intelligence or exceptional creative ability--or both--in one or more areas.


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Gigli, Beniamino (1890-1957), was an Italian tenor singer of outstanding quality.


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Gila monster is a large, poisonous lizard.


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Gilbert, Sir Alfred (1854-1934), was a British sculptor and goldsmith noted for the simplicity and delicate symmetry of his work.


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Gilbert, Sir Humphrey (1539?-1583), an English scholar and soldier, became famous as a navigator and explorer.


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Gilbert, Johnny (^? ^-1865), was an Australian bushranger (outlaw).


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Gilbert, Kevin (1933-1993), an Aboriginal poet, artist, and author, wrote the first Aboriginal play, The Cherry Pickers, in 1970.


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Gilbert, William (1540-1603), an English doctor and scientist, was the first person to use the word electricity.


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Gilbert and Sullivan wrote the most popular operettas in the history of the British theatre.


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Gilbert Islands are a group of 16 small coral islands in the South Pacific Ocean.


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Gilbreth was the family name of two American industrial engineers, husband and wife.


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Gilding is the art of applying gold leaf or gold dust to glass, metal, paper, porcelain, or other material.


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Giles, Ernest (1835-1897), was an explorer who led four expeditions into the unmapped wilderness of central and western Australia.


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Gilgamesh, Epic of, a Babylonian poem, is one of the oldest epics in world literature.


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Gill is the breathing organ of many animals that live in the water.


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Gill, Eric (1882-1940), was a leading British sculptor, engraver, and typographic designer.


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Gill, Samuel Thomas (1818-1880), was an early Australian artist.


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Gillespie, Dizzy (1917-1993), was an American trumpet player, composer, and bandleader.


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Gillingham (pop. 93,300) is a town and local government district in Kent, England.


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Gillray, James (1757-1815), was a great British caricaturist.


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Gilmore, Dame Mary (1865-1962), was an Australian poet.


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Gilmore, Patrick Sarsfield (1829-1892), was the best-known American bandmaster of the 1800's.


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Gilroy, Sir Norman Thomas Cardinal (1896-1977), was Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Australia, from 1940 to 1971.


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Gilt Dragon, also called Vergulde Draeck, was a Dutch vessel belonging to the Dutch East India Company.


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Ginastera, Alberto (1916-1983), was an Argentinian composer.


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Ginger is a tangy spice most commonly used in baking and in flavouring beverages.


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Gingham is a cloth used to make dresses, curtains, and furniture covers.


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Ginkgo, also called the maidenhair tree, is the only surviving member of a group of plants that lived millions of years ago.


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Ginsberg, Allen (1926-1997), was an American poet.


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Ginseng is a perennial herb of eastern Asia and eastern North America.


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Giorgione (1478?-1510) was an Italian artist who helped make Venice a centre of painting during the Italian Renaissance.


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Giotto (1267?-1337) was the most important painter of the 1300's.


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Gipps, Sir George (1791-1847), was governor of New South Wales, Australia, from 1838 to 1846.


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Gippsland is a district in eastern Victoria, Australia.


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Gippsland giant earthworm is an extraordinary worm found in the Gippsland area of Victoria, Australia.


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Girard, Stephen (1750-1831), was an American businessman and philanthropist.


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Giraud, Henri Honore (1879-1949), a French professional soldier, served as high commissioner of North Africa in 1942 and 1943, and as chief of the French armed forces from 1942 to 1944.


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Giraudoux, Jean (1882-1944), was the most prominent French playwright between the two world wars.


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Girl Guides and Girl Scouts movement is a worldwide organization that encourages girls to develop their interests and abilities and to learn new skills.


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Giro is a system of banking by which holders of accounts can make payments to each other.


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Girona, a ship of the Spanish Armada, provided the richest treasure in the history of Irish archaeology.


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Girondists were members of a French political party that began during the French Revolution.


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Girtin, Thomas (1775-1802), was a British watercolour painter.


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Gisborne (pop. 31,484), is a city in northern New Zealand, on the eastern coast of the North Island.


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Giscard d'Estaing, Valery (1926-...), served as president of France from 1974 until 1981.


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Gish, Dorothy (1898-1968), was an American star of silent films.


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Gish, Lillian (1893-1993), an American film actress, was one of the leading stars of silent films.


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Gissing, George Robert (1857-1903), was a British novelist.


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Giza (pop. 2,144,000) is a suburb of Cairo and Egypt's third largest city.


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Gizzard is a special organ of the digestive system of birds and a few other animals.


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Glacier is a huge mass of ice that flows slowly over land.


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Gladiator was a trained warrior who fought bloody battles to entertain the ancient Romans.


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Gladiolus is a garden plant with spikes of large silky blossoms that are popular as cut flowers.


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Gladstone (pop. 24,205) is a city on the north-central coast of Queensland, Australia.


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Gladstone, William Ewart (1809-1898), was one of the most famous British political leaders of the 1800's.


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Glaisher, James (1809-1903), was a British meteorologist and aeronaut.


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Glamorgan, the leading industrial area in Wales, has been a gateway to South Wales since prehistoric times.


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Gland is a tissue or organ that produces and releases a useful chemical substance.


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Glanders is a severe disease of horses and donkeys.


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Glandular fever, also called infectious mononucleosis, is a mild infectious disease.


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Glanville, Ranulf de (?-1190), wrote one of the earliest commentaries on medieval law.


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Glaser, Donald Arthur (1926-...), an American physicist, won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1960 for inventing the bubble chamber.


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Glasgow (pop. 654,542) is Scotland's largest city and the third largest city in the United Kingdom.


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Glasgow, University of, is the second oldest university in Scotland.


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Glass is one of the most useful materials in the world.


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Glass, Philip (1937-...), is an American composer.


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Glass lizard is the name of certain legless lizards.


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Glasses are a pair of lenses held in place in front of the eyes by a frame.


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Glasshouse Mountains rise east of the Blackall Range in southeastern Queensland, Australia.


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Glasswort is one of several species of plants that grow in salt marshes around the world.


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Glastonbury, an English town, is famous in history and in the legends of King Arthur.


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Glauber's salt is a chemical compound of sodium sulphate and water.


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Glaucoma is an eye disease characterized by increased pressure of the fluid within the eye.


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Glauconite is a bright green mineral that looks like tiny flakes of the mineral mica, or small lumps of clay.


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Glen Coe is a mountain pass in Highland Region, Scotland.


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Glen Mor, sometimes called the Great Glen or the Great Glen of Alban, is a valley in Scotland that extends for about 97 kilometres northeast from Fort William to Inverness.


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Glen of Imaal terrier is a breed of dog which originated in County Wicklow, Ireland.


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Glenbawn Dam is a part of the Hunter Valley irrigation and flood mitigation scheme in New South Wales, Australia.


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Glendower, Owen (1359?-1416?), was a Welsh prince who led his country against English domination.


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Gleneagles agreement was a pledge made by leaders of the Commonwealth of Nations in 1977 to discourage sporting contact with South Africa.


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Glenn, John Herschel, Jr. (1921-...), was the first American to orbit the earth.


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Glenrowan, a small town 290 kilometres north of Melbourne, Australia, is the place where Ned Kelly made his last stand on July 28, 1880.


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Glidden, Carlos (1834-1877), an American inventor, is best known for his share in the invention of the Remington typewriter.


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Glider is an aircraft that resembles an aeroplane but has no engine.


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Glider is a type of possum that lives in forests in New Guinea and northern and eastern Australia.


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Glinka, Mikhail Ivanovich (1804-1857), was the first important Russian composer of the 1800's.


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Global Positioning System, or GPS, is a worldwide navigation system that uses radio signals broadcast by satellites.


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Globe is a map that has been pasted or printed on a hollow sphere.


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Globe Theatre in Southwark, London, was the scene of the first productions of many of the plays of William Shakespeare in the 1600's.


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Globulin is a protein component of the plasma, which is the watery part of the blood.


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Glockenspiel is a percussion instrument that consists of two rows of metal bars on a frame.


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Glorious Revolution of 1688 ended the rule of King James II of England and brought William III and Mary II to the throne.


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Gloucester (pop. 91,800) is an industrial and shipping city near the mouth of the River Severn in west-central England.


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Gloucestershire is one of the most beautiful counties in England.


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Glove is a protective or decorative covering for the hand.


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Glover, John (1767-1849), was an early painter of Australian landscapes.


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Gloxinia is a plant remarkable for its richly coloured velvety leaves and large bell-shaped flowers.


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Glubb, Sir John Bagot (1897-1986), known as Glubb Pasha, was a British Army officer who became Chief of General Staff of the Arab Legion, the Jordanian army.


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Gluck, Christoph Willibald (1714-1787), a German composer, reformed opera in the 1700's.


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Glue is an adhesive made from the skins, connective tissues, or bones of animals.


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Gluon is a subatomic particle that carries a powerful force which holds together the components of protons and neutrons.


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Gluten is an elastic, sticky substance that helps make dough rise.


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Glycerol, also called glycerin or glycerine, is a thick, sweet-tasting liquid used in the manufacture of many products for homes and industry.


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Glycogen is a tasteless, odourless white powder.


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Glyndwr (pop. 41,500) is a local government district in Clwyd, Wales.


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Gnat is a general name given to a wide variety of small flies.


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Gnatcatcher is the name of several small songbirds native to the Western Hemisphere.


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Gneiss is a banded, coarse-grained rock.


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Gnome is a dwarflike creature in European folklore.


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Gnosticism was a religious and philosophical movement in Europe and the Middle East that flourished from about the A.D. 100's to the 700's.


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Gnotobiotics is the scientific study of animals or other organisms reared in environments that are free of germs or that contain only specifically known germs.


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Gnu, also called wildebeest, is a large African antelope.


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Goa is the smallest state of the republic of India.


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Goanna is an Australian name for a large lizard known in other parts of the world as a monitor or monitor lizard.


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Goat is an animal that has provided people with milk, meat, and wool since prehistoric times.


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Gobi is a windswept, nearly treeless desert that stretches across part of southern Mongolia and part of northern China.


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Gobind Singh (1666-1708) was an Indian spiritual leader.


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Goble, Paul (1933-...), is a British author and illustrator of children's books.


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Goby is the name of about 2,000 kinds of fish that live in the shallow parts of warm oceans.


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God is a religious term for the "supreme reality."  In many religions, God is the creator of the universe and the ultimate source of knowledge, power, and love.


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God Save the Queen, or "God Save the King," is the national anthem of the United Kingdom.


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Godard, Jean-Luc (1930-...), is a controversial French film director.


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Goddard, Robert Hutchings (1882-1945), was an American pioneer of rocket science.


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Goderich, Viscount (1782-1859), Frederick John Robinson, was a minister in successive British governments for more than 30 years.


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Godetia is a popular annual garden flower.


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Godey, Louis Antoine (1804-1878), in 1830 founded Godey's Lady's Book, the first women's magazine in the United States.


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Godiva, Lady, the wife of Earl Leofric of Chester, England, lived during the 1000's.


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Godley, John Robert (1814-1861), helped to establish the Anglican settlement at Canterbury, New Zealand.


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Godthab (pop. 11,957) is the capital of Greenland.


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Godwin, William (1756-1836), was a British author and philosopher.


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Godwit is a wading bird of the snipe and sandpiper family.


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Goebbels, Joseph (1897-1945), was the official propagandist of Nazi Germany.


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Goering, Hermann Wilhelm (1893-1946), was second to Adolf Hitler as a leader of Nazi Germany.


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Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (1749-1832), was a German poet, novelist, and playwright.


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Gogarty, Oliver St. John Joseph (1878-1957), was an Irish poet, wit, and literary personality.


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Gogol, Nikolai (1809-1852), was a major Russian playwright, novelist, and short story writer.


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Goh Chok Tong (1941-...) became prime minister of Singapore in 1990.


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Goh Choo San (1948-1987), a Singapore choreographer, created 26 ballets before his early death at the age of 39.


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Goitre is a condition in which the thyroid gland becomes enlarged.


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Gokhale, Gopal Krishna (1866-1915), was a moderate, Indian nationalist politician.


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Golan Heights is a hilly area in the southwestern corner of Syria.


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Gold is a metallic element with the chemical symbol Au.


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Gold Coast (pop. 163,332) is a city located on the extreme southeast corner of Queensland, Australia.


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Gold leaf is gold metal that has been beaten into very thin sheets or leaves.


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Gold rush is a rapid movement of people to a site where gold has been discovered.


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Gold standard is the use of gold as the standard of value for the money of a country.


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Goldberg, Arthur Joseph (1908-1990), an American lawyer and diplomat, was secretary of labour, Supreme Court justice, and United States ambassador to the United Nations.


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Goldberger, Joseph (1874-1929), an American doctor, is remembered chiefly for his work on pellagra.


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Golden Age is a term used by the Greek poet Homer to describe a remote period of the past that he considered more civilized and enlightened than his own.


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Golden Fleece, in Greek mythology, was the golden wool of a flying ram.


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Golden Mile is a rich gold-mining area near Kalgoorlie, in Western Australia.


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Golden retriever is a medium-sized hunting dog.


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Golden rule is the principle that people should treat others as they would like to be treated themselves.


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Golden section, also called the divine proportion, is the division of a line segment in such a way that the ratio of the whole segment to the larger part is equal to the ratio of the larger part to the smaller part.


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Goldenseal, also called orangeroot, is a perennial flowering plant of the eastern United States.


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Goldfinch is the name of species of finch with a lot of yellow in its plumage.


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Goldfish is a variety of carp also called golden carp.


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Golding, Sir William (1911-1993), a British novelist, wrote about the conflict between mind and instinct.


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Goldman, Edwin Franko (1878-1956), was a leading American bandmaster.


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Goldman, Emma (1869-1940), was a revolutionary who left Russia to live in the United States in 1885.


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Goldoni, Carlo (1707-1793), was an Italian playwright.


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Goldsmith, Oliver (1730?-1774), was an Irish-born writer who produced a variety of works marked by a charming, lively style.


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Goldsmithing is the art of making jewellery and other objects from gold.


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Goldstone, Richard (1938-...), is a judge of the Supreme Court of South Africa.


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Goldwater, Barry Morris (1909-1998), an American politician, was the Republican candidate for U.S. president in 1964.


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Goldwyn, Samuel (1882-1974), was one of the first and most successful American film producers.


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Golf is an outdoor sport in which a player attempts to hit a small, hard ball into a hole in as few hits as possible.


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Golgi, Camillo (1844-1926), an Italian anatomist and pathologist, shared the 1906 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine for his studies on the structure of the nervous system.


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Goliath, in the Old Testament of the Bible, was a Philistine warrior almost 3 metres tall.


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Golschmann, Vladimir (1893-1972), a French-born conductor, conducted the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra from 1931 to 1957.


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Goncourt was the family name of two French brothers who had an important influence on literature.


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Gondola is a long, slender boat used on the canals of Venice, Italy.


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Gong is a metal percussion instrument shaped like a circular plate.


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Gongora, Luis de (1561-1627), was the greatest poet of the Spanish baroque period.


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Gonne, Maude (1866-1953), was an Irish nationalist who also won fame for her association with the poet William Butler Yeats, in one of whose plays she acted.


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Gonorrhoea is a sexually transmitted disease caused by a bacterium found only in human beings.


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Gonzaga, Saint Aloysius (1568-1591), was an Italian Roman Catholic saint.


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Gonzalez, Pancho (1928-1995), also spelled Gonzales, was an American who became one of the greatest players in tennis history.


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Gonzalo de Cordoba, Hernandez (1453?-1515), was a Spanish general.


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Good Friday is the Friday before Easter Sunday, the central festival of the Christian year.


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Goodall, Jane (1934-...), is an English zoologist who studies the behaviour of animals.


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Goodman, Benny (1909-1986), was an American clarinet player and bandleader.


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Goodspeed, Edgar Johnson (1871-1962), was a United States Bible scholar.


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Goodwin Sands are a group of sandbanks off the east coast of Kent, England.


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Goodyear, Charles (1800-1860), was an American inventor.


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Googol is the number written as 1 followed by a hundred zeros.


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Goolwa (pop. 2,359), is a tourist town in South Australia.


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Goonyella is a rich opencast coal mine in the Bowen basin, central Queensland, Australia.


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Goose is a water bird closely related to the duck and swan.


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Gooseberry is an oval, tart fruit or berry that is closely related to the currant.


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Goossens is the family name of four famous British musicians, brothers and sisters.


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Gopher is a small animal that lives in long, complex, underground tunnels.


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Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeyevich (1931-...), was the leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991.


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Gordian knot, in Greek mythology, was a skilfully tied knot.


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Gordimer, Nadine (1923-...), a South African writer, won the 1991 Nobel Prize for literature, the first South African author to receive the award.


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Gordon (pop. 73,968) is a local government district in central Grampian Region, Scotland, administered from the town of Inverurie.


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Gordon, Adam Lindsay (1833-1870), one of the best-known Australian poets, is often referred to as the father of the bush ballad.


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Gordon, Charles George (1833-1885), a British soldier, was called Chinese Gordon and Gordon Pasha because of his distinguished service in China and Egypt.


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Gordon, Richard (1921-...), is a British author who became famous for a series of novels he wrote about the life of a doctor.


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Gordon Riots (1780) followed the passing of the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1778 by the British Parliament.


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Gordon River Dam provides water for hydroelectricity in southwestern Tasmania, Australia.


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Gordon setter is a black and tan hunting dog that was well known as early as 1620.


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Gore, Al (1948-...) was elected vice president of the United States in 1992.


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Gorgonian is a type of soft coral with a treelike branching form.


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Gorgons were three sisters in Greek mythology.


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Gorilla is the largest of the anthropoid (humanlike) apes.


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Gorki, Maxim (1868-1936), was a Russian novelist, playwright, and short-story writer.


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Gorky, Arshile (1904-1948), an American artist, was a leading member of the abstract expressionist movement.


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Gormanston (pop. 341), used to be an important mining town in Tasmania, Australia.


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Goroka (pop. 18,797) is the administrative and commercial centre of the eastern highlands province of Papua New Guinea.


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Gorse, also known as furze, is a spiny evergreen shrub native to Europe and Africa.


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Gorton, Sir John (1911-...), a member of the Australian Liberal Party, was prime minister of Australia from 1968 to 1971.


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Gosford (pop. 128,931) is a city on the coast of New South Wales, Australia.


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Gosnold, Bartholomew (?-1607), was an English navigator.


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Gospels are the first four books of the New Testament of the Bible.


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Gosport (pop. 72,800) is a local government district in Hampshire, England, situated on the west side of Portsmouth harbour.


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Gosse, Sir Edmund (1849-1928), was a British poet, critic, and student of northern European languages.


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Gosse, William Christie (1842-1881), an Australian explorer and surveyor, visited Ayers Rock in 1873 and named it in honour of Sir Henry Ayers, who was then premier of South Australia.


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Goteborg, or Gothenburg (pop. 424,085; met. area pop. 698,794), is Sweden's second largest city.


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Gothic art is the name given to the art of the later Middle Ages, especially from the mid-1100's to about 1400.


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Gothic novel was a type of fiction that became popular in England during the late 1700's and early 1800's.


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Goths were a confederation of Germanic tribes that invaded the Roman Empire during the A.D. 200's.


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Gottfried von Strassburg (1170?-1220?) was a medieval German poet.


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Gottlieb, Adolph (1903-1974), was a leading American abstract expressionist artist.


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Goudy, Frederic William (1865-1947), was an American type designer and printer.


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Goujon, Jean (1510?-1568?), was a French sculptor of the Renaissance period.


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Goulburn (pop. 21,453) is an important market city of New South Wales, Australia.


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Goulburn is the name of two rivers in Australia.


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Gould, Glenn (1932-1982), was a famous Canadian pianist.


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Gould, John (1804-1881), a British ornithologist, produced illustrated books on birds from every part of the world.


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Gould, Shane (1956-...), an Australian swimmer, broke every women's world free-style record in 1971 and 1972.


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Gounod, Charles (1818-1893), was a French composer whose reputation rests on his opera Faust (1859, revised and expanded 1869).


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Gourd is the name of a group of ornamental trailing or climbing plants.


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Gout is a chronic disease that can produce severe swelling of the joints.


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Gove Peninsula lies at the eastern end of the Arnhem Land Aboriginal Reserve in the Northern Territory, Australia.


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Government is one of humanity's oldest and most important institutions.


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Government ownership, also called public, or state, ownership, is the ownership and operation of a service, business, or industry by a government.


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Government regulation is the supervision of privately owned businesses or private activities by government or government agencies.


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Governor is an instrument that keeps machines running at desired speeds.


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Governor general is an executive official who directs the activities of deputy or lieutenant governors.


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Gowda, Deve (1933-...) became prime minister of India in 1996, as head of a coalition of parties called the United Front.


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Gower, David (1957-...), a left-handed English batsman, was captain of the Leicestershire and England cricket teams.


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Gower, John (1325?-1408), an English poet, is remembered for three principal poetic works.


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Gower Peninsula is a peninsula that forms part of the county of West Glamorgan, in Wales.


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Goya, Francisco (1746-1828), a Spanish painter, was one of the first masters of modern art.


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Goyder's Line is an imaginary line marking off a huge area of inland South Australia that gets an average of 254 millimetres of rainfall a year or less.


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Goyen, Jan Van (1596-1656), was a Dutch artist who specialized in painting landscapes.


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Gracchus family was a family of high nobility in ancient Rome.


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Grace, in Christianity, is the term for God's action in forgiving, sanctifying, or strengthening people.


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Grace, W. G. (1848-1915), a British cricketer, was one of the greatest cricketers of all time.


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Grace and favour apartments are accommodation made available by the British sovereign.


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Graces, in Greek mythology, were daughters of Zeus, king of the gods, and the nymph Eurynome.


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Grackle is the name of several species of medium-sized birds that live in North and South America.


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Graduation.  Universities and colleges usually give a diploma or certificate in recognition of achievement to students who satisfactorily complete a course.


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Graf, Steffi (1969-...), is a German tennis champion who became the dominant player in women's professional tennis in the late 1980's and 1990's.


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Graf, Urs (1485?-1529), was a Swiss printmaker and professional soldier who became known for his woodcuts and etchings.


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Graf Spee was one of three German pocket battleships (swift, heavily armed cruisers) which preyed on British (United Kingdom) merchant ships in the Atlantic Ocean early in World War II (1939-1945).


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Grafting is the process of uniting parts of two plants to form a single plant.


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Grafton (pop. 17,123), is a commercial city in New South Wales, Australia.


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Grafton, Duke of (1735-1811), Augustus Henry Fitzroy, was prime minister of Britain from 1768 to 1770.


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Graham, Billy (1918-...), of the United States, became a world-famous evangelist.


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Graham, Katharine (1917-...), is chairman of the board of the Washington Post Company.


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Graham, Martha (1894-1991), became a leading American dancer and choreographer (dance composer).


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Graham, Thomas (1805-1869), a British chemist, is recognized as the founder of colloid chemistry (see COLLOID).


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Grahame, Kenneth (1859-1932), a British author, wrote The Wind in the Willows (1908), a children's classic.


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Grahame-White, Claude (1879-1959), was a British pioneer aviator and aeronautical engineer.


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Grahamstown (pop. 25,120; met. area pop. 60,700) is a town in the Eastern Cape region of South Africa.


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Grain is any of several cereal plants that rank among the most important food crops.


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Grain store is a building equipped for storing, loading, and unloading grain before the grain is sold or used.


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Grain sorghum is a cereal plant grown mainly as food for livestock.


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Grain weevil is a small, dark beetle that destroys grain.


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Grainger, Percy Aldridge (1882-1961), an Australian-born pianist and composer, became a leading interpreter of Edvard Grieg's piano music.


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Gram is a unit of mass (quantity of matter) in the metric system.


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Grammar is a set of principles by which a language functions.


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Grampian Region, in northeastern Scotland, is a prosperous area with strong agricultural and fishing industries.


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Grampians are a system of mountain ranges in western Victoria, Australia.


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Gran Chaco is a great, low-lying plain in South America.


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Granada (pop. 58,108), a port on Lake Nicaragua, is an important commercial centre in Nicaragua.


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Granada (pop. 254,034), in southeastern Spain, is the site of the Alhambra palace and fortress (see ALHAMBRA).


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Granada was once a Moorish kingdom in southern Spain.


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Granados, Enrique (1867-1916), was a Spanish pianist and composer, known for his charming piano works, Goyescas, inspired by the famous painter Francisco Goya.


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Grand Alliance was the name of three unions of European countries formed to curb the military power of France under King Louis XIV. Each checked French expansion and maintained a balance of power in Europe.


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Grand Banks is one of the world's richest fishing grounds.


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Grand bleu de Gascogne is one of the oldest breeds of French hounds.


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Grand Canyon National Park, in the United States, consists almost entirely of the Grand Canyon, one of the most spectacular canyons in the world.


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Grand Coulee Dam is the largest concrete dam and the greatest single source of water power in the United States.


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Grand jury is a group of citizens who decide whether there is sufficient evidence of a crime to try a person in court.


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Grand Metropolitan plc is one of the United Kingdom's largest and most diversified companies.


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Grand National is the most famous steeplechase horse race in the world.


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Grand unified theories, also called GUT's, attempt to unite three of the four fundamental forces that are thought to govern the universe.


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Granite is a hard, coarse-grained rock that makes up a large part of every continent.


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Granny Smith is the name of an apple originally cultivated by Maria Ann Smith (?-1870).


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Grant, Cary (1904-1986), was an American film actor.


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Grant, Ulysses S. (1822-1885), was president of the United States from 1869 to 1877.


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Granville-Barker, Harley (1877-1946), was a British playwright, actor, and producer-director.


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Grape is a juicy, smooth-skinned berry that grows on a woody vine.


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Grapefruit is a large, round citrus fruit.


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Graph is a drawing that shows the relative sizes of numerical quantities.


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Graphic arts is a general term for drawing and other techniques used to reproduce words and pictures.


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Graphical user interface (GUI) is a way of interacting with a computer using pictures and other visual elements displayed on a computer screen.


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Graphite is a soft black mineral that is greasy to the touch.


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Graphology is the study of a person's handwriting to obtain information about his or her personality.


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Grass is one of the largest and most varied families in the plant kingdom.


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Grass, Gunter (1927-...), is a German novelist, poet, playwright, artist, and essayist.


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Grasse, Francois Joseph Paul (1722-1788), Comte de Grasse, a French admiral, aided General George Washington at the siege of Yorktown in the American Revolution.


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Grasshopper is an insect that can leap about 20 times as far as the length of its body.


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Grassland is one of the four chief kinds of natural vegetation.


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Grattan, Henry (1746-1820), an Irish orator, worked to free the Irish Parliament from British control, to free Irish commerce from heavy restrictions, and to give voting rights to Roman Catholics.


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Gravel is a mixture of loose pieces of rock and particles of sand and clay.


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Graves, Morris (1910-...), is an American artist who became known for his paintings and watercolours that show the influence of oriental mysticism.


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Graves, Robert James (1796-1853) was an Irish doctor.


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Graves, Robert (1895-1985), was an English author.


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Gravesham (pop. 90,000) is a local government district in north Kent, England.


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Graves's disease is a disorder that causes the thyroid gland to become overactive.


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Gravitation is the force of attraction that acts between all objects because of their mass--that is, the amount of matter they are made of.


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Gravity, Centre of, is the point in an object where the force of gravity appears to act.


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Gray, Asa (1810-1888), became the leading authority of his time on the plant life of the United States.


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Gray, Elisha (1835-1901), an American inventor, disputed Alexander Graham Bell's claims as inventor of the telephone.


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Gray, Robert (1755-1806), was the first person to sail around the world under the American flag.


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Gray, Simon (1936-...), is a British dramatist.


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Gray, Thomas (1716-1771), was a British poet.


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Grayling is a game fish, once called "the flower of fishes" by Saint Ambrose.


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Graz (pop. 243,405), Austria's second largest city, is the capital of the province of Styria.


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Greasewood, also called black, or true, greasewood, is a scraggly thorny bush 0.5 to 1.8 metres high with stiff, grey-barked branches and narrow fleshy leaves.


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Great Artesian Basin is the largest artesian basin in Australia.


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Great Barrier Reef is the largest group of coral reefs in the world.


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Great Barrier Island, the largest island near the coast of the North Island of New Zealand, lies northeast of Auckland and the Coromandel Peninsula.


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Great Basin is a large desert region in the Western United States.


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Great Bear Lake is the largest lake in Canada and the fourth largest in the Americas.


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Great Britain is the name often used for the country officially known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.


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Great-circle route is the shortest, most direct route between two points on the earth's surface.


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Great Dane is a breed of large working dog.


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Great Depression was a worldwide business slump of the 1930's.


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Great Divide, also called Continental Divide, is the highland in North America that separates the waters flowing into the Atlantic Ocean from those flowing into the Pacific.


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Great Dividing Range runs along the eastern and southern coasts of Australia.


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Great Famine took place in Ireland from 1845 to 1847.


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Great Lakes are five lakes in North America that form the largest group of fresh-water lakes in the world.


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Great Plague was an outbreak of bubonic plague that struck London in 1665, and was particularly violent during August and September (see BUBONIC PLAGUE).


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Great Plains is a vast, dry grassland in North America.


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Great Pyrenees is a large dog from the Pyrenees Mountains, where it is used as a sheepdog, guard, and rescue dog.


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Great Rift Valley is a series of valleys that cuts through much of eastern Africa and part of southwestern Asia.


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Great Salt Lake, an inland sea in northwestern Utah, United States, is one of the natural wonders of the world.


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Great Salt Lake Desert is a low, flat, arid region in northwestern Utah, United States, just west of Salt Lake City.


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Great Sandy Desert occupies part of the desert basin in northern Western Australia.


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Great Seal, in the United Kingdom, is used to indicate the monarch's approval on many state documents.


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Great Slave Lake, one of the largest lakes in the Americas, covers 28,438 square kilometres in Canada's Northwest Territories.


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Great Smoky Mountains are so named because they are usually covered by a smoky mist or haze.


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Great Trek was the historic journey made into the interior of South Africa by Dutch-speaking farmers.


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Great Victoria Desert, an area of shifting sand dunes, stretches for about 1,300 kilometres across southwestern Australia (see AUSTRALIA).


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Great Wall of China is the longest structure ever built.


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Great Yarmouth (pop. 85,900) is a local government district on the coast of Norfolk, England.


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Greaves, Captain, also called Red Legs, was a Scots-Irish pirate in the 1670's.


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Grechko, Andrei Antonovich (1903-1976), was a Soviet military leader.


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Greco, El (1541?-1614), was one of the world's great painters.


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Greco, Jose (1918-...), one of the world's best Spanish dancers, learned his art in New York City.


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Greece is a small country in southern Europe where Western civilization started about 2,500 years ago.


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Greece, Ancient, was the birthplace of Western civilization about 2,500 years ago.


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Greek fire is a chemical mixture that ignites and burns furiously when it comes in contact with water.


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Greek language is one of the oldest surviving branches of the Indo-European family of languages.


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Greek literature is the oldest and most influential national literature in the Western world.


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Greely, Adolphus Washington (1844-1935), was an American soldier and Arctic explorer.


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Green, Henry (1905-1973), was the pen name of Henry Vincent Yorke, a British novelist.


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Green, J. R. (1837-1883), a British historian, became known for his work A Short History of the English People.


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Green belts, in the United Kingdom, are areas of land, near a town, on which buildings may not be constructed, except in special circumstances.


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Green party is any of a number of political parties that are most widely known for promoting environmental issues.


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Green tree ant of tropical Australia is one of the most remarkable members of the ant family.


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Greenaway, Kate (1846-1901), was a British illustrator of children's books.


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Greene, Graham (1904-1991), a British author, won fame for both serious novels and for lighter books he called "entertainments."  His entertainments include the detective story This Gun for Hire (1936) and the adventure mystery The Third Man (1950).


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Greene, Robert (1558?-1592), was an English writer.


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Greenhood is a small orchid that grows in Australia, New Guinea, New Caledonia, and New Zealand.


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Greenhouse is a building in which people can grow plants throughout the year.


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Greenhouse effect is a warming of the lower atmosphere and surface of a planet by a complex process involving sunlight, gases, and particles in the atmosphere.


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Greenland is the largest island in the world.


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Greenpeace is an international environmental organization.


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Greenvale is the site of a nickel mine, 224 kilometres west of Townsville in northern Queensland, Australia.


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Greenway, Francis (1777-1837), a convict, was Australia's first fully qualified architect.


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Greenwich (pop. 200,800) is a borough in Greater London.


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Greenwich Meridian is a north-south line that passes through Greenwich, a borough of London, on a map of the earth.


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Greenwich Observatory, Royal, was founded in 1675 by Charles II of England.


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Greer, Germaine (1939-...), is an Australian writer and intellectual.


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Greeting cards mark special occasions or provide friendly greetings to persons receiving them.


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Greevy, Bernadette (1939-...), is an Irish contralto singer of outstanding quality.


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Gregg, John Robert (1867-1948), invented the Gregg system of shorthand, in which lines and curves represent letters and syllables.


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Gregorian calendar is the calendar that is used in almost all of the world today.


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Gregory I, Saint (540?-604), was elected pope in 590.


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Gregory VII, Saint (1020?-1085), was elected pope in 1073.


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Gregory IX (about 1155-1241) was elected pope in 1227.


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Gregory X (1210-1276) was elected pope in 1271, after the office had been vacant for almost three years.


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Gregory XIII (1502-1585) was elected pope in 1572 and devoted his reign to Catholic reform.


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Gregory, Lady (1852-1932), an Irish playwright, helped launch the renaissance in Irish drama associated with Dublin's Abbey Theatre.


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Gregory, Augustus (1819-1905), led four major expeditions of exploration in Australia.


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Gregory, Dick (1932-...), is a black American entertainer who gained fame for his satirical views on American racial attitudes.


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Gregory, Francis Thomas (1821-1888), brother of Sir Augustus Gregory, led two expeditions into Western Australia.


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Gregory, Jack (1895-1973), came from a great Australian cricketing family.


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Greiner, Nick (1947-...), was elected premier of New South Wales in 1988--the first Liberal premier in twelve years.


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Gregory Range is a mountain range offshooting the Great Dividing Range in northern Queensland, Australia.


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Gremlin is a small imaginary creature that supposedly causes mechanical problems in aeroplanes.


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Grenada is an independent country in the Caribbean Sea.


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Grenade is a small explosive bomb that may be thrown, or may be fired from a rifle.


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Grenadines make up a chain of about 600 small and mostly uninhabited islands in the West Indies.


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Grenfell, Sir Wilfred Thomason (1865-1940), a British medical missionary, became known as Grenfell of Labrador.


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Grenoble (pop. 153,973; met. area pop. 400,141) is a city in southeastern France.


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Grenville was the family name of two British Prime Ministers, a father and son.


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Grenville, Sir Richard (1541-1591), an English naval commander, led Sir Walter Raleigh's first colonizing expedition to America.


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Gresham, Sir Thomas (1519?-1579), an English merchant and financier, founded the Royal Exchange in London.


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Gresham's law is an economic principle dealing with the circulation of money.


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Gretna Green is a village in Scotland noted for the runaway marriages that were performed there.


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Greuze, Jean Baptiste (1725-1805), was a French painter known for his scenes of moral family life.


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Grevillea is a genus (group) of about 250 trees and shrubs, almost all of which are Australian.


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Grew, Joseph Clark (1880-1965), served as the United States ambassador to Japan before the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor which brought America into World War II (1939-1945).


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Grey, Earl (1764-1845), Charles Grey, was a British Whig Prime Minister from 1830 to 1834.


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Grey, Beryl (1927-...), is a British ballet dancer.


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Grey, Edward (1862-1933), Viscount Grey of Fallodon, was a British diplomat and statesman.


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Grey, Sir George (1812-1898), was a British colonial governor.


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Grey, Lady Jane (1537-1554), became known as the nine days' queen of England.


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Grey, Zane (1872-1939), ranks as one of the most popular authors in American literature of novels about the Wild West.


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Grey nurse shark is a dangerous enemy to people because of its speed and ferocity.


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Grey Owl (1888-1938) was the name used by Archibald Stansfeld Belaney in writing and lecturing about wildlife.


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Grey Range is a line of hills in southwest Queensland and northwest New South Wales, Australia.


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Greyhound is one of the fastest of all dogs.


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Greyhound racing, also called dog racing, is a sport in which greyhounds compete on an oval track.


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Grid is a network of straight lines drawn on a map.


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Grieg, Edvard (1843-1907), was a Norwegian composer.


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Grierson, John (1898-1972), was a British director and producer of documentary films that influenced the techniques of modern film production.


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Griffin was a strange creature of Greek mythology, with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion.


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Griffin, Robert Paul (1923-...), a United States politician, served as assistant minority leader of the U.S. Senate from 1969 to 1977, a leading role role in the Republican Party, which he represented in Michigan.


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Griffin, Walter Burley (1876-1937), an American architect, gained worldwide recognition as a town planner with his design for Canberra, the capital of Australia.


