Britannica
Encyclopedias since 1768  
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0-9
beginning rhyme ... Bektashi
beginning rhyme
in literature, the rhyme at the beginning of successive lines of verse. Lines 3 and 4 of Robert Herrick's "To Daffodils" demonstrate beginning rhyme: As yet the early-rising sunHas not attained his noon.
begonia
(genus Begonia), any of about 1,000 species of mostly succulent (juicy-stemmed) plants, many with colourful flowers or leaves and used as pot plants indoors or as garden plants. They are from the tropics and subtropics. Prominent features are their usually ...
Begoniaceae
the begonia family of flowering plants. There is debate among botanists about the classification of this family: some assign it to the order Violales; others place it in its own order, Begoniales, along with the family Datiscaceae. The Begoniaceae consists ...
Beguines
women in the cities of northern Europe who, beginning in the Middle Ages, led lives of religious devotion without joining an approved religious order.
Begusarai
city, north-central Bihar state, northeastern India. It is situated in the Middle Ganges Plain, just north of the Ganges River. The name Begusarai is derived from serai (Persian, meaning "travelers' lodge"), a building in the centre of the town. It ...
Behaghel, Otto
language scholar who specialized in studies of the German language and whose Deutsche Syntax, 4 vol. (1923-32; "German Syntax"), is a massive compilation and classification of examples of German linguistic usage from the 8th to the 20th century.
Behaim, Martin
navigator and geographer whose Nurnberg Terrestrial Globe is the earliest globe extant.
Beham, Hans Sebald
German engraver who was the most prolific of the Kleinmeister (German: "Little Masters") of engraving, so called because they produced small prints.
Behan, Brendan
Irish author noted for his earthy satire and powerful political commentary.
behavioral science
any of various disciplines dealing with the subject of human actions, usually including the fields of sociology, social and cultural anthropology, psychology, and behavioral aspects of biology, economics, geography, law, psychiatry, and political science. The term gained currency in the ...
behaviour genetics
the study of the influence of an organism's genetic composition on its behaviour and the interaction of heredity and environment insofar as they affect behaviour. The question of the determinants of abilities as shown through behaviour has commonly been referred ...
behaviour therapy
the application of experimentally derived principles of learning to the treatment of psychological disorders. The concept derives primarily from work of the Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov, who published extensively in the 1920s and 1930s on the application of conditioning techniques ...
behaviourism
a highly influential academic school of psychology that dominated psychological theory between the two world wars. Classical behaviourism concerned itself exclusively with measurable and observable data and excluded ideas, emotions, and the consideration of inner mental experience and activity in ...
Behbehan
town, southwestern Iran, in the foothills of the Zagros Mountains near the Marun River. The largely mountainous county extends to Mt. Dinar and has tribal populations. The town prospers through development of the neighbouring oil fields. It lies on an ...
beheading
a mode of executing capital punishment. The ancient Greeks and Romans regarded it as a most honourable form of death. Before execution the criminal was tied to a stake and whipped with rods. In earlier years an ax was used; ...
Behemoth
in the Old Testament, a powerful, grass-eating animal whose "bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like bars of iron" (Job 40:18). Among various Jewish legends, one relates that the righteous will witness a spectacular battle between Behemoth and Leviathan ...
Beheshti, Mohammad Hosayn
Iranian cleric who played a key role in establishing Iran as an Islamic republic in 1979. As a Shi'ite religious scholar of some note, he was addressed with the honorific ayatollah.
Behn, Aphra
English dramatist, novelist, and poet who was the first Englishwoman known to earn her living by writing.
Behn, Sosthenes
telephone executive, president and founder, with his brother Hernand, of the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation (itt), one of the largest communications companies in the world.
Behrens, Peter
architect noted for his influential role in the development of modern architecture in Germany. In addition, he was a pioneer in the field of industrial design.
Behring, Emil von
German bacteriologist who was one of the founders of immunology. In 1901 he received the first Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work on serum therapy, particularly for its use in the treatment of diphtheria.
Behrman, S N
U.S. short-story writer and playwright best known for popular Broadway plays that commented on contemporary moral issues. Behrman wrote about the wealthy, intellectual sector of society, endowing his characters with eloquence and intelligence. He is distinguished among popular playwrights for ...
Behzad
major Persian painter whose style as a miniaturist and work as a teacher were vital influences on Persian Islamic painting.
Bei Dao
Chinese poet and writer of fiction who was commonly considered the most influential poet in China during the 1980s; he went into exile in 1989.
Beiderbecke, Bix
American jazz cornetist who was an outstanding improviser and composer of the 1920s and whose style is characterized by lyricism and purity of tone. He was the first major white jazz soloist.
Beijing
city, province-level shi (municipality), and capital of the People's Republic of China. Few cities in the world have served for so long as the political headquarters and cultural centre of an area as immense as China. The ...
Beilby, Sir George Thomas
British industrial chemist who developed the process of manufacturing potassium cyanide by passing ammonia over a heated mixture of charcoal and potassium carbonate. This process helped meet the increased demand for cyanide for use in extracting gold from low-grade ores.
Beilstein, Friedrich Konrad
chemist who compiled the Handbuch der organischen Chemie, 2 vol. (1880-83; "Handbook of Organic Chemistry"), an indispensable tool for the organic chemist.
Beinum, Eduard van
Dutch conductor, pianist, and violist who led orchestras in Europe and the United States.
Beira
port city, central Mozambique. Beira is situated on the Mozambique Channel (Indian Ocean) at the mouths of the Pungoe and Buzi rivers. It was founded in 1891 as the headquarters of the Companhia de Mocambique ("Mozambique Company") on the site ...
Beira
former principality and historical province, north-central Portugal, extending from the banks of the Douro River in the north to the upper course of the Tagus in the southeast and from the Spanish frontier in the east to the Atlantic Ocean ...
Beirut
capital, chief port, and largest city of Lebanon. It is located on the Mediterranean coast at the foot of the Lebanon Mountains.
Beirut, American University of
private, nondenominational, coeducational international and intercultural university in Beirut, Lebanon, chartered in 1863 by the state of New York, U.S., as the Syrian Protestant College. Classes started in 1866. Although founded by the American Protestant Mission to Lebanon, the school ...
beisa
African antelope, a race of the species Oryx gazella. See oryx.
Beissel, Conrad
hymn writer and founder of the Ephrata religious community (1732).
Beit Bridge
town, southern Zimbabwe. It lies near the bridge named for Alfred Beit, British South African financier, across the Limpopo River. The bridge is situated on the border with Northern province, South Africa, opposite Messina and is a port of entry ...
Beja
nomadic people grouped into tribes and occupying mountain country between the Red Sea and the Nile and 'Atbarah rivers from the latitude of Aswan southeastward to the Eritrean Plateau-that is, from southeastern Egypt through The Sudan and into Eritrea. Numbering ...
Beja
city, capital, and concelho (township), Beja distrito ("district"), southern Portugal, southeast of Lisbon. According to legend, Beja was founded by Ulysses, and it was named Pax Julia by Julius Caesar in 48 BC to ...
Beja
distrito ("district"), southern Portugal. It is the largest district in Portugal and produces olives, olive oil, wheat, rye, cork, dairy products, and leather goods. There is mining for copper, silver, lead, and zinc near Beja city at ...
Bejaia
town, Mediterranean port, northeastern Algeria. The town lies at the mouth of the Wadi Soummam. Sheltered by Mount Gouraya (2,165 feet [660 m]) and Cape Carbon, it receives an annual average rainfall of 40 inches (1,000 mm) and is surrounded ...
Bejart Family
17th-century French theatrical family closely associated with the playwright Moliere. Its members include the brothers and sisters Joseph, Madeleine, Genevieve, Armande, and Louis.
Bejart, Maurice
French-born dancer, choreographer, and opera director known for combining classic ballet and modern dance with jazz, acrobatics, and musique concrete (composition by tape recordings).
bejel
form of endemic (nonvenereal) syphilis occurring among Bedouin tribes and elsewhere in the Middle East.
Bekabad
city, Tashkent oblast (province), eastern Uzbekistan. It lies along both banks of the Syr River at the extreme southern tip of the oblast. The town arose originally in connection with a cement plant and until World War II was known ...
Beke, Charles Tilstone
English biblical scholar, geographer, and businessman who played an important role in the final phase of the discovery of the sources of the Nile River.
Bekes
megye (county), southeastern Hungary, occupying 2,175 square miles (5,632 square km) of agricultural flatland on the Great Hungarian Plain. It has hot summers, severe winters, light rainfall, and a sparse natural vegetation. In the northern part of the megye, broad ...
Bekescsaba
town, seat of Bekes megye (county), southeastern Hungary. A central point for road and rail communications, it is also connected by canal with the Koros River and serves as an agricultural and industrial centre for a large fertile countryside. A ...
Bekesy, Georg von
American physicist and physiologist who received the 1961 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the physical means by which sound is analyzed and communicated in the cochlea, a portion of the inner ear.
Bekhterev, Vladimir
Russian neurophysiologist and psychiatrist who studied the formations of the brain and investigated conditioned reflexes.
Bekker, August Immanuel
German philologist and classical scholar who prepared a great array of critical editions of many classical Greek writers.
Bektashi
any member of an order of Muslim mystics founded, according to their own traditions, by Hajji Bektash Wali of Khorasan, Iran. It acquired definitive form in the 16th century in Anatolia (Turkey) and spread to the Ottoman Balkans, particularly Albania.
© 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica Australia Ltd
Encyclopedia Home | World Atlas