Aaron Burr
(1756–1836)US Democratic Republican statesman. After losing the presidential election to Jefferson in 1800, Burr was elected Vice-President. He was defeated in the contest for the governorship of New ...
abacus
An ancient device for performing arithmetic calculations by sliding beads along rods or in grooves. Despite the spread of electronic calculators and computers, the abacus is still widely used in the ...
abduction
An inference process widely used in artificial intelligence, particularly in expert systems and rule-based systems. In diagnosis, for example, there may be a rule like “if measles then red spots” so ...
abortion
There is no actual prohibition in the Bible against aborting a foetus. Nevertheless, in the unanimously accepted Jewish consensus, abortion is a very serious offence, though foeticide is not treated ...
Abraham Lincoln
(1809–65)US Republican statesman, 16th President of the USA (1861–65). His election as President on an anti‐slavery platform antipathetic to the interests of the southern states helped precipitate ...
academies
Are societies or institutions for the cultivation and promotion of literature, the arts or science, or of some particular branch of science such as medicine, for example, the Académie de ...
Acanthus
(family Acanthaceae)A genus of shrubs and perennial herbs, most of which are xeromorphic and have spiny leaves. Some species are cultivated as ornamentals. The upper lip of the corolla is lacking. ...
acrostic
A poem, word puzzle, or other composition in which certain letters in each line form a word or words. The word is recorded from the late 16th century, and comes via French from Greek akrostikhis, ...
adoption
In the heroic monomyth, the divine child is often adopted by menials or animals after being abandoned or threatened in some way. Oedipus, Sigurd (Siegfried), Krishna, Cybele, and Romulus and Remus ...
advertising
A communication that is paid for by an identified sponsor with the object of promoting ideas, goods, or services. It is intended to persuade and sometimes to inform. The two basic aspects of ...
African Languages
The African continent forms one of the most complex linguistic areas of the world; estimates of the number of languages spoken there range from seven hundred to three thousand. Barely ...
age
The duration of time a person has lived. Age is conventionally defined from the time of birth, which counts as zero, and is measured in completed years of life. For some purposes, age is measured ...
Ahmadou Ahidjo
(b. Garoua, Cameroon, Aug. 1924; d. Dakar, Senegal, 30 Nov. 1989)Cameroonian; Prime Minister 1958–60, President 1960–82 A Fula Muslim from the north of the country, Ahidjo received a secondary ...
Alexander Hamilton
(c. 1757–1804)US Federalist politician. He served under George Washington as First Secretary of the Treasury (1789–95) and established the US central banking system. Hamilton was a prime mover behind ...
Alexander of Hales
(c.1185–1245)Influential Franciscan theologian and writer on logic, known as ‘Doctor Irrefragabilis’ (irrefutable doctor). Alexander taught the independence of theology, based on revelation, and ...
Alexandria
The chief port and second‐largest city of Egypt, on the Mediterranean coast, northwest of Cairo. Founded in 332 bc by Alexander the Great, after whom it is named, it became a major centre of ...
Alfred Harmsworth, Lord Northcliffe
(1865–1922) Britishnewspaper proprietorBorn Alfred Harmsworth in Dublin, he founded the Daily Mail (1896), the Daily Mirror (1903), and bought The Times in 1908. His brother, Viscount Rothermere ...
Alfred Russel Wallace
(1823–1913)British naturalist, who in 1848 went on an expedition to the Amazon, and in 1854 travelled to the Malay Archipelago. There he noticed the differences between the animals of Asia and ...
allegory
A story, poem, or picture which can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one. The word comes (in late Middle English) via Old French and Latin from Greek ...
alliance
N. a union or association formed for mutual benefit, especially between countries or organizations: a defensive alliance between Australia and New Zealand | divisions within the alliance.
