• Abhinavagupta (Indian philosopher)

    Abhinavagupta was a philosopher, ascetic, and aesthetician, as well as an outstanding representative of the “recognition” (pratyabhijna) school of Kashmiri Shaivite monism. This school conceived of the god Shiva (the manifestation of ultimate reality), the individual soul, and the universe as

  • abhinna (Buddhist philosophy)

    abhijna, in Buddhist philosophy, miraculous power obtained especially through meditation and wisdom. Usually five kinds of abhijna are enumerated: the ability (1) to travel any distance or take on any form at will, (2) to see everything, (3) to hear everything, (4) to know another’s thoughts, and

  • Ābhīra (people)

    India: Oligarchies and kingdoms: The Abhiras lived in scattered settlements in various parts of western and central India as far as the Deccan. Most of these tribes claimed descent from the ancient lineages of the Puranas, and some of them were later connected with the rise of Rajput dynasties.

  • Abhisamayalambkaraloka (Buddhist text)

    Abhisamayalambkaraloka, important contribution to exegetical literature on the Prajnaparamita- (“Perfection of Wisdom”) sutras of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and one of the texts most often studied in Tibetan monasteries. The Prajnaparamita-sutras, with their emphasis on the doctrine of

  • abhiṣeka (religion)

    abhiseka, (“sprinkling”), in esoteric Buddhism, a purificatory or initiatory rite in which a candidate is sprinkled with water or other liquid, signifying a change in status. Originally, abhiseka was an integral part of the ancient Indian royal consecration rite. Water from the four oceans was

  • abhiseka (religion)

    abhiseka, (“sprinkling”), in esoteric Buddhism, a purificatory or initiatory rite in which a candidate is sprinkled with water or other liquid, signifying a change in status. Originally, abhiseka was an integral part of the ancient Indian royal consecration rite. Water from the four oceans was

  • Abhisit Vejjajiva (prime minister of Thailand)

    Thailand: Yellow shirts and red shirts: Within two weeks, Abhisit Vejjajiva, leader of the opposition Democrat Party, was chosen by a special parliamentary vote to become the new prime minister—the fifth in a period of just over two years.

  • Abia (biblical figures)

    Abijah, (“Yahweh Is My Father”), any of nine different persons mentioned in the Bible, of whom the most noteworthy are the following: (1) The son and successor of Rehoboam, king of Judah (II Chronicles 12:16, 13), who reigned about two years (c. 915–913 bc). (2) The second son of Samuel (I Samuel

  • Abia (state, Nigeria)

    Abia, state, east-central Nigeria. Abia was administratively created in 1991 from the eastern half of former Imo state. It is bordered by the states of Enugu and Ebonyi to the north, Akwa Ibom to the east and southeast, Rivers to the south and southwest, and Imo and Anambra to the west. Abia

  • Abiathar (biblical figure)

    Abiathar, in the Old Testament, son of Ahimelech, priest of Nob. He was the sole survivor of a massacre carried out by Doeg. Fleeing to David, he remained with him throughout his wanderings and his reign. He was loyal through the rebellion of Absalom, but he supported Adonijah against Solomon.

  • ʿAbīd al-Bukhārī (Moroccan military organization)

    ʿAbīd al-Bukhārī, army of Saharan blacks organized in Morocco by the ʿAlawī ruler Ismāʿīl (reigned 1672–1727). Earlier rulers had recruited black slaves (Arabic: ʿabīd) into their armies, and these men or their descendants eventually formed the core of Ismāʿīl’s guard. The ʿabīd were sent to a

  • Abidatsuma-kusha-ron (work by Vasubandhu)

    Abhidharmakosha, encyclopaedic compendium of Abhidharma (scholasticism). Its author, Vasubandhu, who lived in the 4th or 5th century in the northwestern part of India, wrote the work while he was still a monk of the Sarvastivada (Doctrine That All Is Real) order, before he embraced Mahayana, on

  • Abide with Me (novel by Strout)

    Elizabeth Strout: Amy and Isabelle and Olive Kitteridge: Her next novel, Abide with Me (2006), centers on a reverend who is grieving the death of his wife. While not as successful as her previous work, it was a thoughtful look into the human condition.

  • ʿĀbidīn ibn ʿAlī, Zayn al- (president of Tunisia)

    Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was an army officer and politician who served as president of Tunisia (1987–2011). Ben Ali was trained in France at the military academy of Saint-Cyr and at the artillery school at Châlons-sur-Marne. He also studied engineering in the United States. From 1964 to 1974 he was

  • Abidjan (national capital, Côte d’Ivoire)

    Abidjan, chief port, de facto capital, and largest city of Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast). It lies along the Ébrié Lagoon, which is separated from the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic by the Vridi Plage sandbar. A village in 1898, it became a town in 1903. Abidjan was a rail terminus from 1904 but had

  • Abiel Smith School (school, Boston, Massachusetts, United States)

    African Meeting House: Origins: …new building and became the Smith Primary and Grammar School. Owned by the city, the school had an endowment from Abiel Smith, a wealthy Boston businessman who was an early supporter of the education of black youth.

  • Abies (tree, Abies genus)

    fir, (genus Abies), genus of more than 40 species of evergreen trees of the conifer family Pinaceae. Although several other coniferous trees are commonly called firs—e.g., the Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga), the hemlock fir (see hemlock), and the joint fir (see Ephedra), true firs are native to North

  • Abies alba (tree)

    silver fir, (Abies alba), tree growing to a height of 150 feet; abundant in the mountainous regions of central and southern

  • Abies balsamea (tree)

    Canada balsam: …greenish liquid exuded by the balsam fir of North America, Abies balsamea. It is actually a turpentine, belonging to the class of oleoresins (natural products consisting of a resin dissolved in an essential oil), and not a balsam.

  • Abies grandis (tree)

    tree: Tree height growth: For example, those of the grand fir (Abies grandis) in the area of Vancouver are preformed in October, so that at spring bud break those height growth units elongate and develop; a new bud is then initiated in July. Thus, the environmental conditions between July and October affect the number…

  • abietic acid (chemical compound)

    abietic acid, the most abundant of several closely related organic acids that constitute most of rosin, the solid portion of the oleoresin of coniferous trees. Commercial abietic acid is usually a glassy or partly crystalline, yellowish solid that melts at temperatures as low as 85° C (185° F). It

  • Abigail (biblical figure)

    Abigail, in the Old Testament, the wife of Nabal of southern Judah, on whose death she became one of the first wives of David (1 Samuel 25) and the mother of his son Chileab. The name Abigail was also borne by David’s sister (1 Chronicles 2:16), who was the mother of Amasa, commander of the army of

  • Abigail Johnson (American business executive)

    Most chief executives who lead Wall Street’s largest financial firms have to answer to shareholders, but Abigail Johnson isn’t among them. As chair and chief executive officer of Fidelity Investments, she oversees a privately held company started by her grandfather that has grown into one of the

  • Abijah (biblical figures)

    Abijah, (“Yahweh Is My Father”), any of nine different persons mentioned in the Bible, of whom the most noteworthy are the following: (1) The son and successor of Rehoboam, king of Judah (II Chronicles 12:16, 13), who reigned about two years (c. 915–913 bc). (2) The second son of Samuel (I Samuel

  • Abijah’s Luce (American poet and activist)

    Lucy Terry was a poet, storyteller, and activist of colonial and postcolonial America. Terry was taken from Africa to Rhode Island by slave traders at a very young age. She was baptized a Christian at age five, with the approval of her owner, Ebenezer Wells of Deerfield, Massachusetts; she became a

  • Abijah, Luce (American poet and activist)

    Lucy Terry was a poet, storyteller, and activist of colonial and postcolonial America. Terry was taken from Africa to Rhode Island by slave traders at a very young age. She was baptized a Christian at age five, with the approval of her owner, Ebenezer Wells of Deerfield, Massachusetts; she became a

  • Abijah, Lucy (American poet and activist)

    Lucy Terry was a poet, storyteller, and activist of colonial and postcolonial America. Terry was taken from Africa to Rhode Island by slave traders at a very young age. She was baptized a Christian at age five, with the approval of her owner, Ebenezer Wells of Deerfield, Massachusetts; she became a

  • Abildgaard, Nicolai Abraham (Danish painter)

    Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard was a renowned Danish painter of the late 18th century and one of the early Neoclassicists. During 1772–77 Abildgaard studied in Rome, where he was primarily influenced by antique sculpture and Roman wall paintings. His style was classical, though with a romantic trend,

  • Abilene (Texas, United States)

    Abilene, city, seat (1883) of Taylor county (and partly in Jones county), west-central Texas, U.S. It lies on low, rolling plains 153 miles (246 km) west of Fort Worth. Founded in 1881 as the new railhead (built by the Texas and Pacific Railway) for the overland Texas cattle drives, it took not

  • Abilene (Kansas, United States)

    Abilene, city, seat (1861) of Dickinson county, east-central Kansas, U.S. The city lies along the Smoky Hill River. Settled in 1858 and known as Mud Creek, it was named about 1860 for the biblical Abilene (which means “grassy plain”). Development was slow until Joseph McCoy, a cattle entrepreneur

  • Abilene Christian University (university, Abilene, Texas, United States)

    Abilene: …of Hardin-Simmons University (1891; Baptist), Abilene Christian University (1906; Churches of Christ), and McMurry University (1923; United Methodist). Dyess Air Force Base lies just southwest. The West Texas Fair, rodeos, and livestock shows are annual events. The Grace Museum, comprising an art museum, a historical museum, and a children’s museum,…

  • Abilgaard, Nicolaj-Abraham (Danish painter)

    Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard was a renowned Danish painter of the late 18th century and one of the early Neoclassicists. During 1772–77 Abildgaard studied in Rome, where he was primarily influenced by antique sculpture and Roman wall paintings. His style was classical, though with a romantic trend,

  • Abilities of Man, The (book by Spearman)

    Charles E. Spearman: …is to be found in The Abilities of Man (1927). His historical survey, Psychology Down the Ages, 2 vol. (1937), was followed by Human Ability (1950, with L.W. Jones).

  • ability (psychology)

    human intelligence: Psychometric theories: … are levels of gradually narrowing abilities, ending with the specific abilities identified by Spearman. Cattell, for example, suggested in Abilities: Their Structure, Growth, and Action (1971) that general ability can be subdivided into two further kinds, “fluid” and “crystallized.” Fluid abilities are the reasoning and problem-solving abilities measured by tests…

  • ability grouping (education)

    ability grouping, in the United States the separation of elementary and secondary students into classrooms or courses of instruction according to their actual or perceived ability levels. Opponents of ability grouping argue that such policies tend to segregate students along racial and

  • ability test (psychology)

    aptitude test, examination that attempts to determine and measure a person’s ability to acquire, through future training, some specific set of skills (intellectual, motor, and so on). The tests assume that people differ in their special abilities and that these differences can be useful in

  • ability-to-pay principle

    taxation: The ability-to-pay principle: The ability-to-pay principle requires that the total tax burden will be distributed among individuals according to their capacity to bear it, taking into account all of the relevant personal characteristics. The most suitable taxes from this standpoint are personal levies (income, net worth,…

  • Abimelech (king of Shechem)

    biblical literature: The roles of Deborah, Gideon, and Jephthah: Abimelech, one of the 70 sons of the wives and concubines of Gideon, went to Shechem to solicit support for his attempt to establish a monarchy. After receiving financial support from those who controlled the treasury of the shrine of Baal-berith, he hired a band…

  • Abinader, Luis (president of the Dominican Republic)

    Dominican Republic: Bosch, Balaguer, and their successors: Businessman Luis Abinader, the candidate of the Modern Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Moderno; PRM), who won the presidency, had himself been forced to temporarily suspend his campaign when he contracted COVID-19. The PRM had been founded in 2014 by Abinader and other prominent former members of…

  • Abingdon (Virginia, United States)

    Abingdon, town, seat (1778) of Washington county, southwestern Virginia, U.S. It lies in the Blue Ridge highlands of the Appalachian Mountains, near the border with Tennessee, 15 miles (24 km) northeast of Bristol. Originally called “Wolf Hills” by frontiersman Daniel Boone as he passed through the

  • Abingdon (England, United Kingdom)

    Abingdon-on-Thames, town (parish), Vale of White Horse district, administrative county of Oxfordshire, historic county of Berkshire, south-central England. It lies south of Oxford at the confluence of the Rivers Thames and Ock. The town was founded by the Saxons and grew up around a Benedictine

  • Abingdon Island (island, Pacific Ocean)

    Pinta Island, one of the northernmost of the Galapagos Islands, in the eastern Pacific Ocean 600 miles (965 km) west of mainland Ecuador. It is an uninhabited island with an area of 20 square miles (52 square

  • Abingdon-on-Thames (England, United Kingdom)

    Abingdon-on-Thames, town (parish), Vale of White Horse district, administrative county of Oxfordshire, historic county of Berkshire, south-central England. It lies south of Oxford at the confluence of the Rivers Thames and Ock. The town was founded by the Saxons and grew up around a Benedictine

  • Abington (Pennsylvania, United States)

    Abington, urban township, Montgomery county, southeastern Pennsylvania, U.S. Abington is a northern suburb of Philadelphia, encompassing the communities of Ardsley, Glenside, McKinley, Noble, North Glenside, and Roslyn. The area was inhabited by Delaware Indians when European settlers began

  • Abington (Massachusetts, United States)

    Abington, town (township), Plymouth county, eastern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies 19 miles (31 km) southeast of Boston and 4 miles (6 km) east of Brockton. Ames Nowell State Park is nearby (to the west). The area now occupied by the town was purchased in 1649 from Massasoit, chief of the Massachusett

  • Abington, Fanny (British actress)

    Fanny Abington was an English actress admired both for her craft and for her leadership in fashion. She was at first a flower girl, hence her later nickname, Nosegay Fan, and a street singer. Employment by a French milliner gave her taste in dress and a knowledge of French that she later found

  • AbioCor artificial heart (medical device)

    artificial heart: Mechanical hearts: …self-contained artificial heart, called the AbioCor artificial heart. The patient survived 151 days.

  • Abiodun (African leader)

    Oyo empire: …not resolved until the alaafin Abiodun (reigned c. 1770–89) conquered his opponents in a bitter civil war and pursued a policy of economic development based primarily on the coastal trade with European merchants.

  • abiogenesis (biology)

    abiogenesis, the idea that life arose from nonlife more than 3.5 billion years ago on Earth. Abiogenesis proposes that the first life-forms generated were very simple and through a gradual process became increasingly complex. Biogenesis, in which life is derived from the reproduction of other life,

  • Abiola, Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (Nigerian entrepreneur and politician)

    Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola was a Nigerian business executive, philanthropist, and politician who is hailed as a figure of democratic change in Nigeria. Abiola was born and raised in poverty but was a hard worker and a bright student. He attended the University of Glasgow, Scotland, on

  • abiotic environment (biology)

    Mangroves Matter: Mangroves Matter transcript: …they provide a lot of abiotic services. They control coastal erosion, they help trap sediments. Um, they even grow coastlines over time. And I saw a study that suggested that coastal areas with mangroves fare better in a hurricane than areas that have removed those plants. Um, can you tell…

  • Abipón (people)

    Abipón, South American Indian people who formerly lived on the lower Bermejo River in the Argentine Gran Chaco. They spoke a language (also called Callaga) belonging to the Guaycuruan group of the Guaycurú-Charruan languages. The Abipón were divided into three dialect groups: the Nakaigetergehè

  • abiraterone (biochemistry)

    prostate cancer: Antiandrogens: The antiandrogen abiraterone inhibits the activity of an enzyme involved in testosterone synthesis in the testes and adrenal glands. Abiraterone prolongs survival in patients with metastatic (spreading) castration-resistant prostate cancer, which is usually refractory to hormone therapy. Its side effects appear to be limited primarily to hypertension,…

  • Ābish Khātūn (Salghurid ruler)

    Salghurid dynasty: …year of independent rule (1263–64), Ābish Khātūn married Mengü Temür, the son of the Il-Khanid ruler of Iran, who assumed de facto power. Following the death of Mengü Temür in 1282, the Il-Khanids assumed direct control of Fārs. Ābish Khātūn died in captivity in Tabrīz several years later, in 1286.

  • Abish, Walter (American author)

    Walter Abish was an Austrian-born American writer of experimental novels and short stories whose fiction takes as its subject language itself. Abish spent his childhood in Shanghai, where his family were refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe. In 1949 they moved to Israel, where Abish served in the

  • Abitibi Belt (geological region, Canada)

    Precambrian: Age and occurrence of greenstone-granite belts: …Slave province of Canada; the Abitibi, Wawa, Wabigoon, and Quetico belts of the Superior province of Canada; the Dharwar belts in India; and the Warrawoona and Yilgarn belts in Australia.

  • Abitibi River (river, Ontario, Canada)

    Abitibi River, river, northeastern Ontario, Canada. From its source in the shallow 359-square-mile (931-square-km) Abitibi Lake, lying across the Ontario-Quebec border, the river descends 868 feet (265 m) as it flows generally northward for 340 miles (547 km) to join the Moose River and empty into

  • Abitur (German education)

    education: National education under enlightened rulers: …examination for university entrance, the Abitur—which still exists.

  • Abivard (Iran)

    Parthia: …was probably at Dara (modern Abivard); one of the later capitals was Hecatompylos, probably near modern Dāmghān. The empire was governed by a small Parthian aristocracy, which successfully made use of the social organizations established by the Seleucids and which tolerated the development of vassal kingdoms. Although not an inventive…

  • Abiy Ahmed (prime minister of Ethiopia)

    Abiy Ahmed is an Ethiopian politician who became prime minister of Ethiopia in 2018. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2019 for his efforts toward attaining peace and international cooperation, particularly for his work to end his country’s long-running border dispute with neighbouring

  • Abiy Ahmed Ali (prime minister of Ethiopia)

    Abiy Ahmed is an Ethiopian politician who became prime minister of Ethiopia in 2018. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2019 for his efforts toward attaining peace and international cooperation, particularly for his work to end his country’s long-running border dispute with neighbouring

  • Abiyyah (biblical figures)

    Abijah, (“Yahweh Is My Father”), any of nine different persons mentioned in the Bible, of whom the most noteworthy are the following: (1) The son and successor of Rehoboam, king of Judah (II Chronicles 12:16, 13), who reigned about two years (c. 915–913 bc). (2) The second son of Samuel (I Samuel

  • Abiyyahu (biblical figures)

    Abijah, (“Yahweh Is My Father”), any of nine different persons mentioned in the Bible, of whom the most noteworthy are the following: (1) The son and successor of Rehoboam, king of Judah (II Chronicles 12:16, 13), who reigned about two years (c. 915–913 bc). (2) The second son of Samuel (I Samuel

  • Abjuration, Act of (Netherlands [1581])

    Netherlands: The Union of Utrecht: …followed in 1581 by the Act of Abjuration (Akte van Afzwering), by which the States General declared that Philip had forfeited his sovereignty over the provinces by his persistent tyranny. This was a declaration of independence for the whole of the Low Countries, but the military and political events of…

  • Abkhaz (people)

    Abkhaz, any member of a Caucasian people living chiefly in the Abkhazia republic in northwesternmost Georgia. The Bzyb Abkhaz, who have a distinct dialect, are found around the Bzyb River; the Abzhui Abkhaz, on whose dialect the literary language is based, live near the Kodori River; and the

  • Abkhaz language

    Abaza language: Abaza, like Abkhaz, has no grammatical cases. Abaza is written as well as spoken.

  • Abkhazia (autonomous republic, Georgia)

    Abkhazia, autonomous republic in northwestern Georgia that formally declared independence in 1999. Only a few countries—most notably Russia, which maintains a military presence in Abkhazia—recognize its independence. Bordering the eastern shores of the Black Sea, Abkhazia consists of a narrow

  • Abkhazian (people)

    Abkhaz, any member of a Caucasian people living chiefly in the Abkhazia republic in northwesternmost Georgia. The Bzyb Abkhaz, who have a distinct dialect, are found around the Bzyb River; the Abzhui Abkhaz, on whose dialect the literary language is based, live near the Kodori River; and the

  • Abkhazian language

    Abaza language: Abaza, like Abkhaz, has no grammatical cases. Abaza is written as well as spoken.

  • Abkhaziya (autonomous republic, Georgia)

    Abkhazia, autonomous republic in northwestern Georgia that formally declared independence in 1999. Only a few countries—most notably Russia, which maintains a military presence in Abkhazia—recognize its independence. Bordering the eastern shores of the Black Sea, Abkhazia consists of a narrow

  • Abkhazo-Adyghian languages

    Abkhazo-Adyghian languages, group of languages spoken primarily in the northwestern part of the Caucasus Mountains. The languages of this group—Abkhaz, Abaza, Adyghian, Kabardian (Circassian), and the nearly extinct Ubykh—are noted for the great number of distinctive consonants and limited number

  • ʿabl (shrub)

    Arabian Desert: Soils: …unique to the area, called ʿabl and ghaḍā, send out long, shallow roots to catch the slightest bit of moisture. The roots of those plants make good firewood.

  • ABL

    Teresa Edwards: Olympics, ABL, and WNBA: The American Basketball League (ABL), a professional league for women in the United States, began play in 1996, allowing Edwards a first chance to compete professionally in her home country. She first played for the Atlanta Glory, and in 1997–98 she also served as the team’s…

  • Ablai Khan (Kazak ruler)

    history of Central Asia: The Russian conquests: …their own, and in 1771 Ablai, ruler of the “Middle Horde,” located west of Lake Balkhash, was confirmed as ruler by both China and Russia. Yet Russian expansion, motivated by the urge to get closer to the Indian Ocean, forced the Kazakhs to yield. Although some Kazakh leaders, such as…

  • ablation (glaciation)

    glacier: Ablation: ) The ice sheets lose material by several processes, including surface melting, evaporation, wind erosion (deflation), iceberg calving, and the melting of the bottom surfaces of floating ice shelves by warmer seawater.

  • ablation (cluster preparation)

    cluster: Preparation of clusters: Often called ablation, this process is an effective means of vaporizing even highly refractory materials like solid carbon. The ablated material is then carried through the cooling jet by an inert gas such as helium or argon.

  • ablation layer (physics)

    fusion reactor: Principles of inertial confinement: Recoil from the ablation implodes the inner layer, producing a shock wave that compresses the inner layers of the D-T fuel. The implosion speed is several hundred kilometres per second, produced by a force equivalent to some 10 billion atmospheres. The target layers are designed such that the…

  • ablation till (geology)

    glacial landform: Glacial deposition: …melt-out till, and sometimes as ablation till. In many cases, the material located between a moving glacier and its bedrock bed is severely sheared, compressed, and “over-compacted.” This type of deposit is called lodgment till. By definition, till is any material laid down directly or reworked by a glacier. Typically,…

  • ablation zone

    glacier: Mass balance: …the superimposed-ice zone is the ablation zone, in which annual loss exceeds the gain by snowfall. The boundary between the accumulation and ablation zones is called the equilibrium line.

  • ablative case (grammar)

    Armenian language: Morphology and syntax: dative, accusative, ablative, instrumental, and locative. However, many of these forms overlapped so that usually only three or four different forms existed; e.g., žam ‘time’ was both nominative and accusative, žamê was ablative, and žamu was genitive, dative, instrumental, and locative. A special form of locative was…

  • ablaut (linguistics)

    Indo-European languages: Vowels: …a pattern of alternation called ablaut. In the course of inflection and word formation, roots and suffixes could appear in the “e-grade” (also called “normal grade”; compare Latin ped-is ‘of a foot’ [genitive singular]), “o-grade” (e.g., Greek pód-es ‘feet’), “zero-grade” (e.g., Avestan fra-bd-a- ‘forefoot,’ with -bd- from *-pd-), “lengthened e-grade”…

  • ABLB test (hearing test)

    human ear: Audiometry: …can be measured by the alternate binaural loudness balance test. The subject is asked to set the controls so that the loudness of the tone heard in the defective ear matches that of the tone heard in the normal ear. By repeating the comparison at several intensity levels, the presence…

  • ableism (discrimination)

    ableism, type of discrimination in which able-bodied individuals are viewed as normal and superior to those with a disability, resulting in prejudice toward the latter. The modern concept of ableism emerged in the 1960s and ’70s, when disability activists placed disability in a political context.

  • Ableman v. Booth (law case)

    Ableman v. Booth, (1859), case in which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld both the constitutionality of the Fugitive Slave Act and the supremacy of the federal government over state governments. Sherman Booth was an abolitionist newspaper editor in Wisconsin who had been sentenced to jail by a federal

  • Ablepharus (lizard)

    snake-eyed skink, any of about 35 species of lizards constituting two genera (Ablepharus and Cryptoblepharus) in the family Scincidae. Snake-eyed skinks lack eyelids and have transparent scales (spectacles) covering the eyes similar to those of snakes. Although the function of the spectacle remains

  • Ablepharus kitaibelii (lizard)

    snake-eyed skink, any of about 35 species of lizards constituting two genera (Ablepharus and Cryptoblepharus) in the family Scincidae. Snake-eyed skinks lack eyelids and have transparent scales (spectacles) covering the eyes similar to those of snakes. Although the function of the spectacle remains

  • Ableton Live (software music program and workstation)

    electronic dance music: Early 2000s: …2001 saw the debut of Ableton Live, a computer software program that enabled users to compose, cue, and blend digital tracks by way of a waveform display—thus eliminating the motor skills previously necessary to perform an effective DJ set.

  • Ablett, Gary (Australian football player)

    Gary Ablett is an Australian rules football player who was celebrated for taking the sport’s “Mark of the Century” against Collingwood at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1994, in which he leaped over two opposing players and caught the ball with one hand while twisting his body several feet in the

  • Abloh, Virgil (American fashion designer)

    Virgil Abloh was an American designer and entrepreneur who was perhaps best known as the founder of the fashion label Off-White and the creative director of Louis Vuitton menswear. He often took existing ideas from a range of sources, including music, history, and architecture, and made them his

  • Abloy lock (security)

    lock: Present status of locks and safes.: The Finnish Abloy lock is a compact combination lock, but the rings, instead of being turned separately by hand, are moved to the correct positions by a single turn of a small key.

  • ablution (religious rite)

    ablution, in religion, a prescribed washing of part or all of the body or of possessions, such as clothing or ceremonial objects, with the intent of purification or dedication. Water, or water with salt or some other traditional ingredient, is most commonly used, but washing with blood is not

  • ABM

    antiballistic missile (ABM), Weapon designed to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles. Effective ABM systems have been sought since the Cold War, when the nuclear arms race raised the spectre of complete destruction by unstoppable ballistic missiles. In the late 1960s both the U.S. and the

  • ABM treaty (international treaty)

    Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty), arms control treaty ratified in 1972 between the United States and the Soviet Union to limit deployment of missile systems that could theoretically be used to destroy incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) launched by the other superpower.

  • ABN AMRO Bank NV (Dutch bank)

    ABN AMRO Holding NV: …company of the Dutch bank ABN AMRO Bank NV. Headquarters are in Amsterdam.

  • ABN AMRO Holding NV (Dutch bank holding company)

    ABN AMRO Holding NV, holding company of the Dutch bank ABN AMRO Bank NV. Headquarters are in Amsterdam. Its origins date to 1824 when King William I of the Netherlands issued a royal decree that established the Netherlands Trading Society (Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij; NHM) in order to

  • Abnaki (people)

    Abenaki, Algonquian-speaking North American Indigenous people that united with other peoples in the 17th century to furnish mutual protection against the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy. The name refers to their location “toward the dawn.” In its earliest known form, the Abenaki Confederacy

  • Abner (biblical figure)

    Ishbosheth: …proclaimed king of Israel by Abner, Saul’s cousin and commander in chief, who then became the real power behind the throne. Judah, however, followed David, and war broke out between the two kingdoms. When Abner took Rizpah, one of Saul’s concubines, Ishbosheth objected because Abner’s action was a symbolic usurpation…

  • Abner Yokum (fictional character)

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