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  • acute disease (pathology)
    Alcohol intoxication produces a wide variety of disturbances of neuromuscular and mental functions and of body chemistry. In addition, the intoxicated person is more liable to accidents and injuries. Alcoholics—who chronically experience severe intoxication—are said to be 30 times more liable to fatal poisoning, 16 times more liable to death from a fall, and 4.5 times more liable to....
  • acute glomerulonephritis (pathology)
    Acute glomerulonephritis is characterized by severe inflammation, renal (kidney) insufficiency, swelling, increased blood pressure, and severe back pain. Recovery is usually fairly complete after an episode of acute glomerulonephritis, but minor infections may do further damage to the kidneys and bring on the subacute and chronic stages. In the acute form of the disease, the kidneys are......
  • acute intermittent porphyria (pathology)
    Eight different porphyrias have been identified. One common form is acute intermittent porphyria, which is caused by a deficiency of the enzyme porphobilinogen deaminase. Symptoms usually arise during adolescence, and hormonal changes (e.g., menstruation), alcohol ingestion, certain foods, and some drugs may exacerbate the condition. Diagnosis is made by detecting porphyrins in the urine.......
  • acute lymphocytic leukemia (pathology)
    Acute leukemia is marked by the presence in the blood of immature cells normally not present. In acute lymphocytic anemia (ALL), most frequently seen in children, the cells are immature forms of the lymphatic series of cells. In acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), the predominant cells are the youngest recognizable precursors (myeloblasts) of the neutrophils of the blood. In a third and the least......
  • acute middle-ear infection (pathology)
    inflammation of the lining of the middle ear and one of the most common infections in childhood. In its acute form, it commonly develops in association with an infection of the upper respiratory tract that extends from the nasopharynx to the middle ear through the eustachian tube. The organisms that cause the disease in children under six years of age most com...
  • acute myelogenous leukemia (pathology)
    ...presence in the blood of immature cells normally not present. In acute lymphocytic anemia (ALL), most frequently seen in children, the cells are immature forms of the lymphatic series of cells. In acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), the predominant cells are the youngest recognizable precursors (myeloblasts) of the neutrophils of the blood. In a third and the least common variety, acute......
  • acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis (pathology)
    acute and painful infection of the tooth margins and gums that is caused by the symbiotic microorganisms Bacillus fusiformis and Borrelia vincentii. The chief symptoms are painful, swollen, bleeding gums; small, painful ulcers covering the gums and tooth margins; and characteristic fetid breath. The ulcers may spread to the throat and tonsils. Fever and malaise may also be present. V...
  • acute otitis media (pathology)
    inflammation of the lining of the middle ear and one of the most common infections in childhood. In its acute form, it commonly develops in association with an infection of the upper respiratory tract that extends from the nasopharynx to the middle ear through the eustachian tube. The organisms that cause the disease in children under six years of age most com...
  • acute pain (pathology)
    Acute pain serves a useful function as a protective mechanism that leads to the removal of the source of the pain, whether it be localized injury or infection. Chronic pain serves a less useful function and is often more difficult to treat. Although acute pain requires immediate attention, its cause is usually easily found, whereas chronic pain complaints may be more vague and difficult to......
  • acute purulent meningitis (pathology)
    the bacterium Neisseria meningitidis, which causes meningococcal meningitis in humans, who are the only natural hosts in which it causes disease. The bacteria are spherical, ranging in diameter from 0.6 to 1.0 μm (micrometre; 1 μm = 10-6 metre); they frequently occur in pairs, with adjacent sides flattened. They are strongly gram-negative. These bacte...
  • acute radiation syndrome
    The signs and symptoms resulting from intensive irradiation of a large portion of the bone marrow or gastrointestinal tract constitute a clinical picture known as radiation sickness, or the acute radiation syndrome. Early manifestations of this condition typically include loss of appetite, nausea, and vomiting within the first few hours after irradiation, followed by a symptom-free interval......
  • acute respiratory distress syndrome of adults (pathology)
    Bacterial or viral pneumonia, exposure of the lung to gases, aspiration of material into the lung (including water in near-drowning episodes), or any generalized septicemia (blood poisoning) or severe lung injury may lead to sudden, widespread bilateral lung injury. This syndrome is known as acute respiratory distress syndrome of adults. It was recognized as “shock lung” in......
  • acute rhinitis (viral infection)
    acute viral infection that starts in the upper respiratory tract, sometimes spreads to the lower structures, and may cause secondary infections in the eyes or middle ears. More than 100 agents cause the common cold, including parainfluenza, influenza, respiratory syncytial viruses, and reoviruses. Rhinoviruses, however, are the most frequent...
  • acute-phase protein (immune system)
    ...In addition to raising body temperature, the interleukins stimulate liver cells to secrete increased amounts of several different proteins into the bloodstream. These proteins, collectively called acute-phase proteins, bind to bacteria and, by doing so, activate complement proteins that destroy the pathogen. The acute-phase proteins act similarly to antibodies but are more......
  • acute-phase response (physiology)
    When the body is invaded by a pathogen, macrophages release the protein signals interleukin-1 (IL-1) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) to help fight the infection. One of their effects is to raise the temperature of the body, causing the fever that often accompanies infection. (The interleukins increase body temperature by acting on the temperature-regulating hypothalamus in the brain and by affecting......
  • Acuto, Giovanni (Anglo-Italian mercenary)
    mercenary captain who for 30 years played a role in the wars of 14th-century Italy....
  • ACV
    ...differential irrespective of forward speed; and those, more closely related to true aircraft, that require forward speed before the pressure differential can be generated. The former are classed as aerostatic craft (ACVs); the latter are called aerodynamic ground-effect machines (GEMs)....
  • ACV (insurance)
    Recovery under homeowner’s forms may be on the basis of either full replacement cost or actual cash value (ACV). Under the former, the owner suffers no reduction in loss recovery due to depreciation of the property from its original value. This basis applies if the owner took out coverage that is at least equal to a named percentage—for example, 80 percent—of the replacement v...
  • ACWA (American union)
    former union of garment and apparel workers in the United States and Canada. It was formed in 1976 by the merger of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA), a large union representing workers in the men’s clothing industry, with the Textile Workers Union of America, a smaller union founded in 1939. The ACWA was originally formed when militant elements within the United Garment......
  • acyclic dialkene (chemical compound)
    ...basis for the extensive petrochemicals industry. Most uses of these compounds involve reactions of the double bond with other chemical agents. Acyclic diolefins, also known as acyclic dialkenes, or acyclic dienes, with the general formula CnH2n-2, contain two double bonds; they undergo reactions similar to the monoolefins. The best-known dienes are...
  • acyclic diene (chemical compound)
    ...basis for the extensive petrochemicals industry. Most uses of these compounds involve reactions of the double bond with other chemical agents. Acyclic diolefins, also known as acyclic dialkenes, or acyclic dienes, with the general formula CnH2n-2, contain two double bonds; they undergo reactions similar to the monoolefins. The best-known dienes are...
  • acyclic diolefin (chemical compound)
    ...basis for the extensive petrochemicals industry. Most uses of these compounds involve reactions of the double bond with other chemical agents. Acyclic diolefins, also known as acyclic dialkenes, or acyclic dienes, with the general formula CnH2n-2, contain two double bonds; they undergo reactions similar to the monoolefins. The best-known dienes are...
  • acyclic monoolefin (chemical compound)
    Acyclic monoolefins have the general formula CnH2n, C being a carbon atom, H a hydrogen atom, and n an integer. They are rare in nature but are formed in large quantities during the cracking (breaking down of large molecules) of petroleum oils to gasoline. The lower monoolefins—i.e., ethylene, propylene, and butylene—have become the.....
  • acyclic monoterpene (chemical compound)
    ...points in the range of 150 to 185 °C (300 to 365 °F). Purification is usually achieved by fractional distillation at reduced pressures or by regeneration from a crystalline derivative. Acyclic monoterpene hydrocarbons are few in number, but their oxygenated derivatives are more widespread in nature and of greater importance....
  • acyclovir (drug)
    ...viral DNA is transferred to the nucleus and transcribed into viral mRNA for the viral proteins. Drugs that are effective against herpesviruses interfere with DNA replication. The nucleoside analogs (acyclovir and ganciclovir) actually mimic the normal nucleoside and block the viral DNA polymerase enzyme, which is important in the formation of DNA. All the nucleoside analogs must be activated by...
  • acyl azide (chemical compound)
    ...or an organic derivative in which the hydrogen atom of hydrazoic acid is replaced by a hydrocarbon group as in alkyl or aryl azide (RN3), or by an acyl (carboxylic acid) group as in acyl azide....
  • acyl chloride (chemical compound)
    The easiest acid derivatives to hydrolyze are acyl chlorides, which require only the addition of water. Carboxylic acid salts are converted to the corresponding acids instantaneously at room temperature simply on treatment with water and a strong acid such as hydrochloric acid (shown as H+ in the equations above). Carboxylic esters, nitriles, and amides are less reactive and......
  • acyl halide (chemical compound)
    Acyl halides...
  • acyl-carrier protein (chemical compound)
    Malonyl coenzyme A and a molecule of acetyl coenzyme A react (in bacteria) with the sulfhydryl group of a relatively small molecule known as acyl-carrier protein (ACP–SH); in higher organisms ACP–SH is part of a multienzyme complex called fatty acid synthetase. ACP–SH is involved in all of the reactions leading to the synthesis of a fatty acid such as palmitic acid from acetyl...
  • acylating agent
    ...out under conditions that favour the conversion of primary amines to isocyanates: RNH2+ COCl2→ RN=C=O + 2HCl). Isocyanates are themselves acylating agents, of a type that also includes isothiocyanates (RN=C=S), ketenes (R2C=C=O), and carbon dioxide......
  • acylation
    Acylation is one of the most important reactions of primary and secondary amines; a hydrogen atom is replaced by an acyl group (a group derived from an acid, such as RCOOH or RSO3H, by removal of −OH, such as RC(=O)−, RS(O)2−, and so on). Reagents may be acid chlorides (RCOC1, RSO2C1), anhydrides......
  • acylcarnitine (chemical compound)
    ...mitochondria for subsequent oxidation. This shuttle requires the fatty acid (acyl) molecule to attach to the carrier molecule carnitine in the presence of the enzyme acylcarnitine transferase. The acylcarnitine that is formed crosses the outer and inner mitochondrial membranes and then is split in the presence of another form of the enzyme acyltransferase to give carnitine and the acyl......
  • acylcarnitine transferase (enzyme)
    These reactions are catalyzed by the enzyme carnitine acyl transferase. Defects in this enzyme or in the carnitine carrier are inborn errors of metabolism. In obligate anaerobic bacteria the linkage of fatty acids to coenzyme A may require the formation of a fatty acyl phosphate, i.e., the phosphorylation of the fatty acid using ATP; ADP is also a product [21c]. The fatty acyl moiety......
  • acylglycerol (chemical compound)
    ...ordinary temperatures, such as 25° C (77° F), but they begin to liquefy at somewhat higher temperatures. Chemically, fats are identical to animal and vegetable oils, consisting primarily of glycerides, which are esters formed by the reaction of three molecules of fatty acids with one molecule of glycerol (see oil)....
  • Acyrthosiphon pisum (insect)
    The pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum) is pale green. It overwinters on clover and alfalfa, migrating to peas in spring. The yellow bean mosaic virus it transmits is often responsible for killing pea plants. Each female produces 50 to 100 young in each of 7 to 20 generations a year. It is controlled by insecticides and weather conditions....
  • Aczél, György (Hungarian politician)
    politician, communist ideologist, and the preeminent personality in the cultural policy of the János Kádár regime (1956–88) in Hungary....
  • AD (political organization, Chile)
    ...(Alianza Democrática; AD) to actively oppose the regime and promote democracy. Following Pinochet’s defeat in a 1988 plebiscite that formally ended his power, this group was renamed the Coalition of Parties for Democracy (Concertación de los Partidos por la Democracia; CPD). Negotiations between the CPD and Pinochet’s government in 1989 resulted in the removal of the...
  • AD (political party, Venezuela)
    social-democratic political party of Venezuela....
  • AD (Christian chronology)
    Though the fact that Jesus was a historical person has been stressed, significant, too, is the fact that a full biography of accurate chronology is not possible. The New Testament writers were less concerned with such difficulties than the person who attempts to construct some chronological accounts in retrospect. Both the indifference of early secular historians and the confusions and......
  • Ad abolendum (1184, papal bull)
    ...sought. Undeterred, he and his followers (Pauperes: “Poor”) continued to preach; the archbishop of Lyon condemned him, and Pope Lucius III placed the Waldenses under ban with his bull Ad Abolendam (1184), issued during the Synod of Verona....
  • Ad Atticum (work by Cicero)
    There are four collections of the letters: to Atticus (Ad Atticum) in 16 books; to his friends (Ad familiares) in 16 books; to Brutus; and, in 3 books, to his brother (Ad Quintum fratrem). The letters constitute a primary historical source such as exists for no other part of the ancient world. They often enable events to be dated with a precision that would not otherwise be......
  • ad baculum (logic)
    ...hominem fallacy. The character of the proponent of an argument has no relevance to the validity of the argument. There are several other fallacies of relevance, such as threatening the audience (argumentum ad baculum) or appealing to their feelings of pity (argumentum ad misericordiam)....
  • Ad Demetrianum (work by Cyprian)
    Also, St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage in the 3rd century, revealed the currency of Stoic views; e.g., in his Ad Demetrianum, a denunciation of an enemy to Christianity, in which Cyprian castigates the ill treatment of slaves, who, no less than their masters, are formed of the same matter and endowed with the same soul and live according to the same law. The beliefs in the......
  • Ad familiares (work by Cicero)
    There are four collections of the letters: to Atticus (Ad Atticum) in 16 books; to his friends (Ad familiares) in 16 books; to Brutus; and, in 3 books, to his brother (Ad Quintum fratrem). The letters constitute a primary historical source such as exists for no other part of the ancient world. They often enable events to be dated with a precision that would not otherwise be......
  • Ad Helviam matrem (work by Seneca)
    ...where lofty generalities on the investigation of nature are offset by a jejune exposition of the facts. Of the Consolationes, Ad Marciam consoles a lady on the loss of a son; Ad Helviam matrem, Seneca’s mother on his exile; Ad Polybium, the powerful freedman Polybius on the loss of a son but with a sycophantic plea for recall from Corsica. The De ira......
  • ad hominem (logic)
    ...special names. For example, if one were to attack the premises of an argument by casting aspersions on the character of the proponent of the argument, this would be characterized as committing an ad hominem fallacy. The character of the proponent of an argument has no relevance to the validity of the argument. There are several other fallacies of relevance, such as threatening the audience......
  • ad ignorantiam (logic)
    ...(an appeal “to awe”), which seeks to secure acceptance of the conclusion on the grounds of its endorsement by persons whose views are held in general respect, ( e) the argument ad ignorantiam (an appeal “to ignorance”), which argues that something (e.g., extrasensory perception) is so since no one has shown that it is not so, and (f) the.....
  • ad impossibile nemo obligatur (ethics and logic)
    ...logic, principally in the context of Immanuel Kant’s thesis that “ought implies can” (i.e., ⊢ O p ⊃ Mp), but also about the theses ad impossibile nemo obligatur—“no one is obliged to do the impossible” (i.e., ⊢ ∼Mp ⊃ ∼O p)—and ...
  • Ad liberandam (decree by Innocent III)
    ...capture of Constantinople and large parts of the Byzantine Empire, had prompted Pope Innocent III to reformulate papal involvement in the Crusades, as outlined in the decree Ad liberandam (“To Free the Holy Land”) at the fourth Lateran Council in 1215. Innocent’s program required a level of commitment never before achieved, especially in financ...
  • ad libitum (music)
    The term obbligato accompaniment came to be applied to accompaniments of this type, as opposed to ad libitum accompaniment, the unessential ornamentation or the optional reduplication of a part, performed on a secondary instrument. Obbligato accompaniments were sometimes written out, among them one originally improvised by Bach for a movement of his Sonata in B Minor for flute and......
  • Ad Locos Planos et Solidos Isagoge (work by Fermat)
    Fermat adopted Viète’s notation in his paper Ad Locos Planos et Solidos Isagoge (1636; “Introduction to Plane and Solid Loci”). The title of the paper refers to the ancient classification of curves as plane (straight lines, circles), solid (ellipses, parabolas, and hyperbolas), or linear (curves defined kinematically or by a locus condition)....
  • Ad Marciam (work by Seneca)
    ...behind the books on natural science, Naturales quaestiones, where lofty generalities on the investigation of nature are offset by a jejune exposition of the facts. Of the Consolationes, Ad Marciam consoles a lady on the loss of a son; Ad Helviam matrem, Seneca’s mother on his exile; Ad Polybium, the powerful freedman Polybius on the loss of a son but with a......
  • ad Martyres (building, Rome, Italy)
    building in Rome that was begun in 27 bc by the statesman Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, probably as a building of the ordinary Classical temple type—rectangular with a gabled roof supported by a colonnade on all sides. It was completely rebuilt by the emperor Hadrian sometime between ad 118 and 128, and some al...
  • ad misericordiam (logic)
    ...relevance to the validity of the argument. There are several other fallacies of relevance, such as threatening the audience (argumentum ad baculum) or appealing to their feelings of pity (argumentum ad misericordiam)....
  • Ad Polybium (work by Seneca)
    ...of nature are offset by a jejune exposition of the facts. Of the Consolationes, Ad Marciam consoles a lady on the loss of a son; Ad Helviam matrem, Seneca’s mother on his exile; Ad Polybium, the powerful freedman Polybius on the loss of a son but with a sycophantic plea for recall from Corsica. The De ira deals at length with the passion of anger, its......
  • ad populum (logic)
    ...to the issue), in which the premises may only make a personal attack on a person who holds some thesis, instead of offering grounds showing why what he says is false, ( b) the argument ad populum (an appeal “to the people”), which, instead of offering logical reasons, appeals to such popular attitudes as the dislike of injustice, ( c) the argument ad......
  • Ad Quintum fratrem (work by Cicero)
    There are four collections of the letters: to Atticus (Ad Atticum) in 16 books; to his friends (Ad familiares) in 16 books; to Brutus; and, in 3 books, to his brother (Ad Quintum fratrem). The letters constitute a primary historical source such as exists for no other part of the ancient world. They often enable events to be dated with a precision that would not otherwise be......
  • Ad reclusos et simplices (work by Hincmar)
    Hincmar’s fame also derives from his theological controversy with Gottschalk, monk of Orbais, on the doctrine of predestination. Hincmar in Ad reclusos et simplices (“To the Cloistered and Simple”) upheld the traditional distinction between divine foreknowledge and predestination and maintained that God does not damn a sinner in advance. Because of widespread criticism ...
  • ad valorem tax (economics)
    any tax imposed on the basis of the monetary value of the taxed item. Literally the term means “according to value.” Traditionally, most customs and excises had “specific” rates; the tax base was defined in terms of physical units such as gallons, pounds, or individual items....
  • ad verecundiam (logic)
    ...misericordiam (an appeal “to pity”), as when a trial lawyer, rather than arguing for his client’s innocence, tries to move the jury to sympathy for him, (d) the argument ad verecundiam (an appeal “to awe”), which seeks to secure acceptance of the conclusion on the grounds of its endorsement by persons whose views are held in general respec...
  • Ad-Dindar (river, Africa)
    tributary of the Blue Nile, rising in the Ethiopian highlands west of Lake Tana. It flows northwest past Dongur, descends into the Sudanese plain, and runs in numerous meanders to join the Blue Nile below Sannār, The Sudan. The river, 300 mi (480 km) long, is navigable for the lower one-third of its course during the flood season (June–September). Its middle course in The Sudan flows...
  • Ada (Oklahoma, United States)
    city, seat (1907) of Pontotoc county, south-central Oklahoma, U.S. It lies along Clear Boggy Creek, south of the Canadian River, and was named for the daughter of the first postmaster, William J. Reed, who built a log store there in 1889. The railroad arrived in 1900, and the city developed as a marketing and trading centre for a large cattle and grain area. The discovery of oil...
  • Ada (computer language)
    Ada was named for Augusta Ada King, countess of Lovelace, who was an assistant to the 19th-century English inventor Charles Babbage, and is sometimes called the first computer programmer. Ada, the language, was developed in the early 1980s for the U.S. Department of Defense for large-scale programming. It combined Pascal-like notation with the ability to package operations and data into......
  • Ada (ruler of Halicarnassus)
    ...mausoleum was planned by Mausolus himself but was built by his wife and successor, Artemisia II (353–351). Later satraps were the second son Idrieus (351–344), his wife and successor, Ada (344–341), and Pixodarus, the youngest son (341–334)....
  • Ada (novel by Nabokov)
    ...Humbert Humbert, who is possessed by an overpowering desire for very young girls, is yet another of Nabokov’s subtle allegories: love examined in the light of its seeming opposite, lechery. Ada (1969), Nabokov’s 17th and longest novel, is a parody of the family chronicle form. All of his earlier themes come into play in the novel, and, because the work is a medley of Russia...
  • ADA (United States [1990])
    ...Humbert Humbert, who is possessed by an overpowering desire for very young girls, is yet another of Nabokov’s subtle allegories: love examined in the light of its seeming opposite, lechery. Ada (1969), Nabokov’s 17th and longest novel, is a parody of the family chronicle form. All of his earlier themes come into play in the novel, and, because the work is a medley of Russia...
  • ADA (American organization)
    a liberal independent political organization in the United States. It was formed in 1947 by a group of labour leaders, civic and political leaders, and academics who were liberal in their views on national affairs, internationalist in world outlook, and anticommunist in conviction. The ADA is devoted to the propagation of liberal ideas, the election of liberal public officials, and the passage of ...
  • ADA (government agency, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)
    The High Commission for the Development of Riyadh sets forth policies for the city’s development formulated by its executive branch, the Arriyadh Development Authority (ADA). The ADA, which is responsible for the socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental development of the city, devises plans and procedures to improve the standard of services and facilities provided for city residents. The...
  • ADA deficiency (pathology)
    Adenosine deaminase (ADA) deficiency results in the accumulation of 2′-deoxyadenosine in the circulating white blood cells (lymphocytes). This, in turn, causes a decreased number of lymphocytes and a drastically increased susceptibility to infection (severe combined immunodeficiency, SCID). Bone marrow transplantation may be curative, and gene therapy has shown promise, but enzyme......
  • Ada group (Carolingian art)
    ivory carvings and a group of about 10 illuminated manuscripts, dating from the last quarter of the 8th century, the earliest examples of the art of the Court School of Charlemagne. The group is named after a Gospel book (c. 750; Trier, Cathedral Treasury) commissioned by Ada, supposed half sister of Charlemagne. These earliest manuscripts of the Carolingian period, which initiated a reviv...
  • “Ada; or, Ardor: A Family Chronicle” (novel by Nabokov)
    ...Humbert Humbert, who is possessed by an overpowering desire for very young girls, is yet another of Nabokov’s subtle allegories: love examined in the light of its seeming opposite, lechery. Ada (1969), Nabokov’s 17th and longest novel, is a parody of the family chronicle form. All of his earlier themes come into play in the novel, and, because the work is a medley of Russia...
  • adab (literature)
    Islāmic concept that became a literary genre distinguished by its broad humanitarian concerns; it developed during the brilliant height of ʿAbbāsid culture in the 9th century and continued through the Muslim Middle Ages....
  • Adab (ancient city, Iraq)
    ancient Sumerian city located south of Nippur (modern Niffer or Nuffar), Iraq. Excavations (1903–04) carried out by the American archaeologist Edgar James Banks revealed buildings dating from as early as the prehistoric period and as late as the reign of Ur-Nammu (reigned 2112–2095 bc). Adab was an important Sumerian centre only up to about 2000. The Sumerian king list ...
  • Ādāb, Al- (Lebanese literary journal)
    ...This push toward a literature of “commitment” (iltizām) became a constant of Arabic literary criticism; Al-Ādāb, one of the most prominent literary journals founded in the Arabic-speaking region in the latter half of the 20th century, was established by the Lebanese writer Suhayl......
  • Ādāb-ul-Muluk (Islamic literature)
    ...invasions that coincided with his reign, and he succeeded in building an administrative machinery for the empire. He sought out 11th-century Islāmic classics on the art of government; and the Ādāb-ul-Muluk, the first Indo-Muslim classic on the art of government and warfare, was written for him....
  • Adachi family (Japanese family)
    ...among these. Buffeted by economic changes beyond its control, the bakufu began to totter, shaken also by the disputes between the Hōjō family and the rival shugo. The Adachi family was forced into revolt and defeated by the Hōjō in 1285, along with other warrior houses accused of plotting with them. Subsequently, the main Hōjō house turned...
  • Adad (Mesopotamian deity)
    weather god of the Babylonian and Assyrian pantheon. The name Adad may have been brought into Mesopotamia toward the end of the 3rd millennium bc by Western (Amorite) Semites. His Sumerian equivalent was Ishkur and the West Semitic was Hadad....
  • Adad-idri (king of Damascus)
    king of Damascus who led a coalition against the invading forces of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III, repulsing them at Karkar in 853. In a battle with him King Ahab of Israel was killed (I Kings 22:29–36). Ben-hadad was murdered by the usurper Hazael....
  • Adad-nirari I (king of Assyria)
    Still greater successes were achieved by Adad-nirari I (c. 1295–c. 1264). Defeating the Kassite king Nazimaruttash, he forced him to retreat. After that he defeated the kings of Mitanni, first Shattuara I, then Wasashatta. This enabled him for a time to incorporate all Mesopotamia into his empire as a province, although in later struggles he lost large parts to the Hittites......
  • Adad-nirari II (king of Assyria)
    Adad-nirari II (c. 911–891) left detailed accounts of his wars and his efforts to improve agriculture. He led six campaigns against Aramaean intruders from northern Arabia. In two campaigns against Babylonia he forced Shamash-mudammiq (c. 930–904) to surrender extensive territories. Shamash-mudammiq was murdered, and a treaty with his successor, Nabu-shum-ukin......
  • Adad-nirari III (king of Assyria)
    The next invaders were the Assyrians, who under Adadnirari III (811/810–783 bc) overran the eastern part of the country as far as Edom. Revolts against Assyrian rule occurred in the 760s and 750s, but the country was retaken in 734–733 by Tiglath-pileser III (reigned 745–727 bc), who then devastated Israel, sent its people into exile, and divided th...
  • Adad-shum-usur (Kassite king)
    ...waged war on two fronts at the same time—against Elam and Assyria—ending in the catastrophic invasion and destruction of Babylon by Tukulti-Ninurta I. Not until the time of the kings Adad-shum-uṣur (c. 1216–c. 1187) and Melishipak (c. 1186–c. 1172) was Babylon able to experience a period of prosperity and peace. Their successors......
  • adage (folk literature)
    a saying, often in metaphoric form, that embodies a common observation, such as "If the shoe fits, wear it,’’ "Out of the frying pan, into the fire,’’ or "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.’’ The scholar Erasmus published a well-known collection of adages as Adagia in 1508. The ...
  • Adagia (work by Erasmus)
    ...printing house of Aldus Manutius, where Byzantine émigrés enriched the intellectual life of a numerous scholarly company. For the Aldine press Erasmus expanded his Adagia, or annotated collection of Greek and Latin adages, into a monument of erudition with over 3,000 entries; this was the book that first made him famous. The adage “Dutch ear”...
  • Adagio for Strings (work by Barber)
    In 1936 Barber composed his String Quartet. Its slow movement, arranged for string orchestra, was performed under the title Adagio for Strings by the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini in 1938 and acquired extraordinary popularity in the United States and Europe....
  • Adagio für Harmonika K. 356 (work by Mozart)
    ...armonica—now known as the glass harmonica. Its popularity was immediate. Mozart’s Adagio und Rondo K 617 was written for it, as was his Adagio für Harmonika K 356, both performed in 1791. Efforts to combine it with a keyboard enjoyed only a passing vogue. Among the last to write for it was the French composer Hecto...
  • Adagio und Rondo K. 617 (work by Mozart)
    ...a more efficient and, above all, a polyphonic (many-voiced) instrument, which he called armonica—now known as the glass harmonica. Its popularity was immediate. Mozart’s Adagio und Rondo K 617 was written for it, as was his Adagio für Harmonika K 356, both performed in 1791. Efforts to combine it with a keyboard en...
  • ʿādah (Islamic law)
    (Arabic: “custom”), in Islāmic law, a local custom that is given a particular consideration by judicial authorities even when it conflicts with some principle of canon law (Sharīʿah); in Indonesia it is known as adat, in North Africa it is ʿurf, and in East Africa, dustūr. Muslim communitie...
  • Adah’s Story (work by Emecheta)
    ...for the books that are called her immigrant novels. Her first two books, In the Ditch (1972) and Second-Class Citizen (1974)—both later included in the single volume Adah’s Story (1983)—introduce Emecheta’s three major themes: the quests for equal treatment, self-confidence, and dignity as a woman. Somewhat different in style, Emecheta’s l...
  • Adair, John (Scottish surveyor)
    Scottish surveyor and cartographer whose maps established a standard of excellence for his time and probably inspired the early 18th-century surveys of Scotland. Between 1680 and 1686 he completed maps of the counties adjoining the River Forth as well as charts of the Firth of Forth, the River Clyde, and the west of Scotland. Manuscripts of these are in the National Library of Scotland and other l...
  • Adair, Paul Neal (American firefighter)
    American firefighter (b. June 18, 1915, Houston, Texas—d. Aug. 7, 2004, Houston), showed remarkable daring and creativity in fighting oil blowouts and fires. He took his first job in the oil industry in 1938 and served during World War II with the 139th Bomb Disposal Squad in Japan. After returning to Houston, he began working as an oil-field firefighter, and in 1959 he started the Red Adai...
  • Adair, Red (American firefighter)
    American firefighter (b. June 18, 1915, Houston, Texas—d. Aug. 7, 2004, Houston), showed remarkable daring and creativity in fighting oil blowouts and fires. He took his first job in the oil industry in 1938 and served during World War II with the 139th Bomb Disposal Squad in Japan. After returning to Houston, he began working as an oil-field firefighter, and in 1959 he started the Red Adai...
  • Adair v. the United States (law case)
    (1908), case in which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld “yellow dog” contracts forbidding workers from joining labour unions. William Adair of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad fired O.B. Coppage for belonging to a labour union, an action in direct violation of the Erdman Act of 1898, which prohibited railroads engaged in interstate commerce from requiring workers...
  • Adair, William (American railroad executive)
    (1908), case in which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld “yellow dog” contracts forbidding workers from joining labour unions. William Adair of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad fired O.B. Coppage for belonging to a labour union, an action in direct violation of the Erdman Act of 1898, which prohibited railroads engaged in interstate commerce from requiring workers to refrain from......
  • Adak (Alaska, United States)
    ...top fishing ports (particularly of walleye pollock [Theragra chalcogramma]) in the United States, with large fish-processing plants on land and factory ships offshore. Adak (formerly Adak Station) was the site of a naval station (1942–97); military installations were used during World War II as a base for mounting a campaign against Japanese-held islands.......
  • Adak Station (Alaska, United States)
    ...top fishing ports (particularly of walleye pollock [Theragra chalcogramma]) in the United States, with large fish-processing plants on land and factory ships offshore. Adak (formerly Adak Station) was the site of a naval station (1942–97); military installations were used during World War II as a base for mounting a campaign against Japanese-held islands.......
  • Adal (historical state, East Africa)
    historic Islāmic state of eastern Africa, in the Danakil-Somali region southwest of the Gulf of Aden, with its capital at Harer (now in Ethiopia). Its rivalry with Christian Ethiopia began in the 14th century with minor border raids and skirmishes. In the 16th century, Adal rose briefly to international importance by launching a series of more serious attacks. The first p...
  • Adal (people)
    a people of the Horn of Africa who speak Saho, a language of the Eastern Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic (formerly Hamito-Semitic) family. They live in northeastern Ethiopia and in Djibouti, where, with the Issas, they are the dominant people. It is thought that the Afars were the first of the present inhabitants of Ethiopia to elaborate their pastoral life into full-scale n...
  • Adalbero (duke of Carinthia)
    ...with his son remained close, King Henry at times showed independent initiative. He once concluded a separate peace with King Stephen of Hungary and on another occasion gave his oath to Duke Adalbero of Carinthia never to side against him. Thus, when Conrad fell out with Adalbero in 1035, Henry’s oath severely strained relations between father and son. Conrad managed to overcome his......
  • Adalbero of Ardennes (archbishop of Reims)
    archbishop of Reims who, by declaring the Frankish crown to be elective rather than hereditary, paved the way for the accession of Hugh Capet in place of the Carolingian claimant, Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine....
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