process of cooking by dry heat, especially in some kind of oven. It is probably the oldest cooking method. Bakery products, which include bread, rolls, cookies, pies, pastries, and muffins, are usually prepared from flour or meal derived from some ...
ruling in which, on June 28, 1978, the U.S. Supreme Court declared affirmative action constitutional but invalidated the use of racial quotas. The medical school at the University of California, Davis, as part of the university's affirmative action program, had ...
rich Turkish, Greek, and Middle Eastern pastry of phyllo (filo) dough and nuts. Phyllo is a simple flour-and-water dough that is stretched to paper thinness and cut into sheets, a process so exacting that it is frequently left to commercial ...
mountain range in western Hungary, covering about 1,500 square miles (4,000 square km) between Lake Balaton and the Little Alfold and running southwest-northeast for 70 miles (110 km) from the Zala River. The range forms the major component of the ...
river in western Africa, rising in the Fouta Djallon massif of Guinea and flowing generally northeast through the sandstone Mandingues Hills to the Mali border. It then flows north-northwest through less elevated terrain to be fed by the Baoule River. ...
(Oct. 22, 1764), conflict between the East India Company's forces, commanded by Major Hector Munro, and those of the Mughal emperor, Shah 'Alam; the Mughal governor of Oudh, Shuja' ud-Dawlah; and the dispossessed governor of Bengal, Mir Qasim. This decisive ...
city, capital of Azerbaijan. It lies on the western shore of the Caspian Sea and the southern side of the Abseron Peninsula, around the wide, curving sweep of the Bay of Baku. The bay, sheltered by the islands of the ...
handwoven floor covering made in the vicinity of Baku, Azerbaijan, a major port on the Caspian Sea. Rugs have been woven in this area since at least the 18th century and probably long before, although it is difficult to determine ...
chief propagator of 19th-century anarchism, a prominent Russian revolutionary agitator, and a prolific political writer. His quarrel with Karl Marx split the anarchist and Marxist wings of the revolutionary socialist movement for many years after their deaths.
market town, Gwynedd county, historic county of Merioneth (Meirionnydd), Wales, in Snowdonia National Park at the northern end of mountain-girt Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid), the largest natural lake in Wales. The town was founded under a charter of 1324. In ...
a non-Israelite prophet described in the Old Testament (Num. 22-24) as a diviner who is importuned by Balak, the king of Moab, to place a malediction on the people of Israel, who are camped ominously on the plains of Moab. ...
island, extreme southwestern Philippines. It is located about 19 miles (30 km) southwest of the southern tip of Palawan island, and hardly twice that north of Borneo. Balabac rises to an elevation of about 1,890 feet (576 metres) and has ...
town, south-central Madhya Pradesh state, central India. The town lies just east of the Wainganga River and is about 95 miles (155 km) south of Jabalpur. A major road and rail junction, Balaghat is an agricultural trade and manganese-mining centre. ...
series of hills in western Maharashtra state, western India. Originating in the Western Ghats at the Harishchandra Range, the range extends southeastward for about 200 miles (320 km) to the border of Maharashtra and Karnataka states. Its width varies from ...
lawyer, writer, and diplomat who was vice president of the Dominican Republic (1957-60) during the regime of President Hector Trujillo and was president from 1960 to 1962, 1966 to 1978, and from 1986 to 1996.
(Oct. 25 [Oct. 13, Old Style], 1854), indecisive military engagement of the Crimean War, best known as the inspiration of the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade." In this battle, the Russians failed to capture Balaklava, ...
city, Saratov oblast (province), southwestern Russia, on the left bank of the Volga River. Founded in 1762, it long remained a small agricultural town. Its growth was greatly stimulated by the construction in 1967-70 of the Saratov hydroelectric station on ...
Russian stringed musical instrument of the lute family. It was developed in the 18th century from the dombra, or domra, a round-bodied, long-necked, three-stringed lute played in Russia and Central Asia. The balalaika is made in six sizes, from piccolo ...
gymnastics apparatus used in women's competition. It is a wooden beam 5 metres (16.4 feet) long, 10 cm (4 inches) wide, and raised 125 cm (4.1 feet) from the floor. The performer begins the exercise by mounting the beam by ...
systematic record of all economic transactions between residents of one country and residents of other countries (including the governments). The transactions are presented in the form of double-entry bookkeeping.
the difference in value over a period of time between a country's imports and exports of goods and services, usually expressed in the unit of currency of a particular country or economic union (e.g., dollars for the United States, pounds ...
most influential choreographer of classical ballet in the United States in the 20th century. His works, characterized by a cool neoclassicism, include The Nutcracker (1954) and Don Quixote (1965), both pieces choreographed for the ...
order of dicotyledonous flowering plants comprising the family Balanopaceae, with a single genus (Balanops) and 12 species of trees and shrubs that have simple, alternately positioned or somewhat whorled leaves. The plants are further characterized by flowers that lack showy ...
the balanophora family of flowering plants, which includes about 18 genera containing more than 100 species of root parasites that are distributed primarily throughout the tropics. The Balanophoraceae are sometimes placed in their own order, Balanophorales, although they are usually ...
genus of ovoid protozoans of the holotrichous order Trichostomatida. Uniformly covered with longitudinal rows of minute, hairlike projections (cilia), Balantidium exists as a parasite in the intestines of pigs, apes, and other animals. The species B. coli can, in rare ...
oil port, northwestern Ecuador, on the Pacific Ocean, adjacent to Esmeraldas city. Its development is entirely due to its choice as the terminus for the Trans-Ecuadorian Pipeline, built 1970-72 to exploit the rich petroleum deposits of Ecuador's Napo province, in ...
in Hindu mythology, the elder half-brother of Krishna, with whom he shared many adventures. Sometimes Balarama is considered one of the 10 avatars (incarnations) of the god Vishnu, particularly among those members of Vaisnava sects who elevate Krishna to the ...
French chemist who in 1826 discovered the element bromine, determined its properties, and studied some of its compounds. Later he proved the presence of bromine in sea plants and animals.
Romanian athlete, the dominant performer in the women's high jump during the late 1950s and '60s. She won two Olympic gold medals in the event, set 14 world records, and was the first woman to high-jump 6 feet.
Sasanian king (reigned 484-488), succeeding his brother Firuz I. Soon after he ascended the throne, Balash was threatened by the dominance of invading Hephthalites, a nomadic eastern tribe. Supported by Zarmihr, a feudal chief, Balash suppressed an uprising by his ...
city, Moscow oblast (province), western Russia, situated 15 miles (25 km) east of Moscow on the banks of the Pekhorka River. Balashikha developed in the 19th century, first as the site of a cloth factory and later ...
town, northeastern Orissa state, eastern India. Balasore lies on the Burhabalang River, 7 miles (11 km) from the Bay of Bengal. It was the site of a British settlement in 1633; Dutch, Danish, and French merchants followed later in the ...
hard rubberlike material made by drying the milky juice produced principally by the bully tree (species Manilkara bidentata) of Guyana and the West Indies. The tree is tapped by cutting zigzag gashes in the bark and collecting the latex in ...
largest lake of central Europe, located in central Hungary about 50 miles (80 km) southwest of Budapest. It has an area of 231 square miles (598 square km) and extends for 48 miles (77 km) along the southern foothills of ...
Piedmontese political writer, a liberal but cautious constitutionalist who was influential during the Italian Risorgimento and served as the first prime minister of Sardinia-Piedmont under the constitution of March 5, 1848.
Pacific Ocean terminal port in central Panama, at the southern end of the Panama Canal. It lies between the canal docks and Ancon Hill, which separates it from Panama City. Founded in 1914 and named for Vasco Nunez de Balboa, ...
Spanish conquistador and explorer, who was head of the first stable settlement on the South American continent (1511) and who was the first European to sight the Pacific Ocean (on Sept. 25 [or 27], 1513, from "a peak in Darien").
poet and first bishop of Puerto Rico, whose poetic descriptions of the New World earned him an important position among the greatest poets of colonial America.
wealthy Roman, originally from Gades (modern Cadiz, Spain), who exerted influence on the major Roman political figures of the last years of the republic.
