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Avery, Milton ... Awe, Loch
Avery, Milton
painter noted in his later years for depicting the human figure as a contoured flat pattern in vivid colours. In 1905 his family moved to Hartford, Conn., where he studied briefly (1913) at the League of Art Students, but he was largely self-taught. He presented his first one-man show in ...
Avery, Oswald
Canadian-born American bacteriologist whose research helped ascertain that DNA is the substance responsible for heredity, thus laying the foundation for the new science of molecular genetics. His work also contributed to the understanding of the chemistry of immunological processes.
Avery, Samuel Putnam
artist, connoisseur, art dealer, and philanthropist best remembered for his patronage of arts and letters.
Avery, Tex
influential American director of animated cartoons, primarily for the Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) studios.
Avesta
sacred book of Zoroastrianism containing its cosmogony, law, and liturgy, the teachings of the prophet Zoroaster (Zarathushtra). The extant Avesta is all that remains of a much larger body of scripture, apparently Zoroaster's transformation of a very ancient tradition. The voluminous manuscripts of the original are said to have been ...
Avesta
industrial town in the southeastern corner of Dalarna lan (county), central Sweden, on the Dal River at the Storforsen and Lillforsen rapids. It lies within the ore-producing Bergslagen region. Avesta was first chartered in 1641 but lost its charter privileges in 1686 and was not rechartered until 1919. Its copper ...
Avestan language
eastern Iranian language of the Avesta, the sacred book of Zoroastrianism. Avestan falls into two strata, the older being that of the Gathas, which reflects a linguistic stage (dating from c. 600 BC) close to that of Vedic Sanskrit in India. The greater part of the Avesta is written in ...
Avezzano
town, L'Aquila provincia, Abruzzi regione, central Italy. Avezzano lies south of L'Aquila city. Built on the reclaimed Fucino Basin (q.v.), the town was destroyed in 1915 by an earthquake, of which it was the epicentre, and was subsequently rebuilt. In World War II it was heavily damaged again. Only the ...
aviary
a structure for the keeping of captive birds, usually spacious enough for the aviculturist to enter. Aviaries range from small enclosures a metre or so on a side to large flight cages 30 m (100 feet) or more long and as much as 15 m high. Enclosures for birds that ...
aviation
the development and operation of heavier-than-air aircraft. The term "civil aviation" refers to the air-transportation service provided to the public by airlines, while "military aviation" refers to the development and use of military aircraft.
Avicenna
Iranian physician, the most famous and influential of the philosopher-scientists of Islam. He was particularly noted for his contributions in the fields of Aristotelian philosophy and medicine. He composed the Kitab al-shifa' ("Book of Healing"), a vast philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia, and The Canon ...
aviculture
raising and care of wild birds in captivity, for the breeding of game stock, the perpetuation of declining species, or for display and education. The simulation of natural conditions is a necessary goal of aviculturists, allowing them to study aspects of mating and breeding behaviour that may not be easily ...
Avidius Cassius, Gaius
usurping Roman emperor for three months in 175.
avidya
(Sanskrit), in the Buddhist chain of dependent origination, the ignorance that fetters man to transmigration. See pratitya-samutpada.
Avignon
city, capital of Vaucluse departement, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region, southeastern France. It lies at a point on the east bank of the Rhone River where the narrow valley opens into a broad delta plain, northwest of Nimes. It was the capital of the papacy from ...
Avignon papacy
Roman Catholic papacy during the period 1309-77, when the popes took up residence at Avignon instead of at Rome, primarily because of the current political conditions.
Avignon school
a body of late Gothic painting, not necessarily of a single stylistic evolution, produced in and around the city of Avignon in southeastern France from the second half of the 14th century into the second half of the 15th. Subject to both Italian and Flemish influences-in contrast to the contemporary ...
avijja
(Pali), in the Buddhist chain of dependent origination, the ignorance that fetters man to transmigration. See pratitya-samutpada.
Avila
province, in the Castile-Leon comunidad autonoma ("autonomous community"), central Spain, on the plateau of Old Castile. It has an area of 3,107 square miles (8,048 square km) and is separated from Madrid province (east) by the Sierra de Guadarrama and from Toledo province (south) by the Sierra de Gredos. Agriculture ...
Avila
city and capital of Avila province, in the Castile and Leon comunidad autonoma ("autonomous community"), central Spain. The city of Avila is situated on the Adaja River at 3,715 feet (1,132 metres) above sea level and is surrounded by the lofty Sierra de Gredos (south) and the ...
Avila Camacho, Manuel
soldier and moderate statesman whose presidency (1940-46) saw a consolidation of the social reforms of the Mexican Revolution and the beginning of an unprecedented period of friendship with the United States.
Aviles
city, Asturias provincia and comunidad autonoma ("autonomous community"), northwestern Spain. It lies along the Ria (inlet) de Aviles, an inlet of the Bay of Biscay. A summer resort with beaches at nearby Salinas, the city has an iron and steel industry and a fishing fleet, and it exports coal from ...
Avinu Malkenu
(Hebrew: "Our Father, Our King"), the opening words of each verse of a Jewish litany of supplication that is recited in synagogues with special devotion during the Ten Days of Penitence (except on the sabbath), which mark the beginning of the new religious year. Reform Jews recite the prayer only ...
avionics
(derived from the expression "aviation electronics"), the development and production of electronic instruments for use in aviation and astronautics. The term also refers to the instruments themselves. Such instruments consist of a wide variety of control, performance, and radio navigation devices and systems.
Avison, Charles
English composer, organist, and writer on musical aesthetics.
Avison, Margaret
Canadian poet who revealed the progress of an interior spiritual journey in her three successive volumes of poetry. Her work has often been praised for the beauty of its language and images.
Avitus
Western Roman emperor (455-456).
avocado
fruit of Persea americana of the family Lauraceae, a tree native to the Western Hemisphere from Mexico south to the Andean regions. The tree, tall or spreading, has leaves elliptic to egg-shaped in form and 100-300 mm (4-12 inches) in length. The small, greenish flowers, borne in dense racemes, are ...
avocet
any of several large shorebirds belonging to the genus Recurvirostra, family Recurvirostridae. Avocets have boldly contrasting plumage, long bluish legs, and a long black bill upturned at the tip. They inhabit fresh and salt marshes that have areas of open shallow water and mud flats, and they feed by sweeping ...
Avogadro's law
a statement that under the same conditions of temperature and pressure, equal volumes of different gases contain an equal number of molecules. This empirical relation can be derived from the kinetic theory of gases under the assumption of a perfect (ideal) gas. The law is approximately valid for real gases ...
Avogadro, Amedeo
Italian mathematical physicist who showed in what became known as Avogadro's law that, under controlled conditions of temperature and pressure, equal volumes of gases contain an equal number of molecules.
avoidance behaviour
type of activity seen in animals exposed to adverse stimuli, in which the tendency to act defensively is stronger than the tendency to attack. The underlying implication that a single neural mechanism is involved (such as a specific part of the brain, which, under electrical stimulation, seems to inflict punishment) ...
avoidance relationship
in human societies, the institutionalized, formal avoidance of one individual by another, usually involving persons of opposite sexes standing in definite kinship relationship to one another. A classic example-and one found in numerous and diverse societies-is the culturally prescribed avoidance of a mother-in-law by her son-in-law. Similar patterns of avoidance ...
avoidance, zone of
region characterized by an apparent absence of galaxies near the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy and caused by the obscuring effect of interstellar dust. It was so called by the American astronomer Edwin P. Hubble.
avoirdupois weight
traditional system of weight in the British Imperial System and the United States Customary System of weights and measures. The name derives ultimately from French avoir de pois ("goods of weight" or "property"). The avoirdupois pound contains 7,000 grains, or 256 drams of 27.344 grains each, or ...
Avola
town, Siracusa provincia, southeastern Sicily, Italy, southwest of Syracuse. Rebuilt after an earthquake in 1693, the town has several fine 18th-century churches. Sugar refining and almond packing are the main industries. Pop. (1993 est.) mun., 31,629.
Avon
region and former administrative county, southwestern England, bordering the Severn estuary and the Bristol Channel. The region comprises parts of the historic counties of Gloucestershire and Somerset to the north and south, respectively. It is divided administratively into the following unitary authorities: Bath and North East Somerset, the city of ...
Avon, River
river, eastern tributary of the River Severn that rises near Naseby in central England and flows generally southwestward for 96 miles (154 km) through the counties of Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire. The river shares the name Avon (derived from a Celtic word meaning "river") with several other rivers in ...
Avon, River
river that rises on the southeastern slope of the Cotswolds, England, and flows through Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, and Somerset. The river shares the name Avon (derived from a Celtic word meaning "river") with several other rivers in Great Britain, including the Avon of Warwickshire (or Upper Avon) and the Avon of ...
Avon, River
river that rises 3 miles (5 km) east of Devizes, Wiltshire, England, on the north side of the Vale of Pewsey and flows generally southward for 48 miles (77 km) to the English Channel. The river shares the name Avon (derived from a Celtic word meaning "river") with several other ...
Avranches
town and port, Manche departement, Basse-Normandie region, northwestern France, on a hill overlooking the See estuary. The celebrated sanctuary of Mont-Saint-Michel is situated on a rock in the bay. Important under the Romans, Avranches retained its position under the Norman dukes.
avunculate
special relationship between a man and his sister's children, particularly her sons, which prevails in many societies, notably those characterized by matrilineal descent. The term is derived from the Latin avunculus, meaning "uncle." It typically involves for the uncle a measure of authority over his nephews, coupled with specific responsibilities ...
Avvakum Petrovich
archpriest, leader of the Old Believers, conservative clergy who brought on one of the most serious crises in the history of the Russian church by separating from the Russian Orthodox church to support the "old rite," consisting of many purely local Russian developments. He is also considered to be a ...
AWACS
a mobile, long-range radar surveillance and control centre for air defense. The system, as developed by the U.S. Air Force, is mounted in a specially modified Boeing 707 aircraft. Its main radar antenna is mounted on a turntable housed in a circular rotodome 9 m (30 feet) in diameter, elliptical ...
Awaji Island
island, southern Hyogo ken (prefecture), Japan. The island lies at the eastern end of the Inland Sea, between west-central Honshu and eastern Shikoku. The narrow straits of Akashi (north) and Tomogashima (Kitan; southeast) separate it from the city of Kobe and the Kii Peninsula, respectively, on Honshu, while Naruto Strait ...
Awali
municipality in the state and emirate of Bahrain, on central Bahrain island, in the Persian Gulf. Founded in the 1930s by the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO), it is situated just north of Bahrain's oil fields and southwest of the country's oil refinery, one of the largest in the world. The ...
Awan
ancient city and region of the land of Elam, prominent throughout early Mesopotamian history and especially in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. Although it was probably situated near Susa, in southwestern Iran, Awan's exact location is unknown. A coalition of four rulers of southwestern Persia, led by ...
Awangarda Krakowska
avant-garde literary movement in Poland, launched in Krakow in 1922 and centring around a local periodical, Zwrotnica (1922-27; "Switch"). Tadeusz Peiper, the first poet in Poland to advance a poetics opposed to that of the Skamander group of poets (who had turned toward the classical in their ...
Awash River
river in eastern Ethiopia. It rises on a steep northern escarpment of the Eastern (Great) Rift Valley and is fed by Lakes Shala, Abiyata, Langano, and Ziway. Cotton is grown in the fertile Awash River valley, and dams (notably the Koka Dam, 1960) supply hydroelectric power. Herds of antelope and ...
awdl
in Welsh verse, a long ode written in cynghanedd (a complex system of alliteration and internal rhyme) and in one or more of the 24 strict bardic metres, though only 4 bardic metres are commonly used. The awdl was, by the 15th century, the vehicle for many outstanding Welsh poems. ...
Awe, Loch
longest lake in Scotland, measuring 24 miles (39 km) from northeast to southwest, situated in Argyll and Bute council area, historic county of Argyllshire, at 117 feet (36 metres) above sea level. At the lake's northern end the scenery is rugged and grand, dominated by Ben Cruachan, with an elevation ...