a substance that acts as a catalyst in living organisms, regulating the rate at which chemical reactions proceed without itself being altered in the process.
in blood serum, measurement of the activity of specific enzymes in a sample of blood serum, usually for the purpose of identifying a disease. The enzymes normally are concentrated in cells and tissues where they perform their catalytic function; in ...
major worldwide division of the Tertiary Period that began about 57.8 million years ago and ended about 36.6 million years ago. It follows the Paleocene Epoch and precedes the Oligocene Epoch. The Eocene is often divided into Early (57.8 to ...
second of five main divisions (in ascending order) in the Tertiary System, representing all those rocks on a global basis that were deposited during the Eocene Epoch (57.8-36.6 million years ago). It designates a subdivision proposed in 1833 by the ...
underground nationalist movement of Greek Cypriots dedicated to the expulsion of the British from Cyprus (achieved in 1960) and the eventual union (Greek enosis) of Cyprus with Greece.
sound produced by wind when it encounters an obstacle. Fixed objects, such as buildings and wires, cause humming or other constant sounds called eolian tones; moving objects, such as twigs and leaves, cause irregular sounds. A wind that flows over ...
volcanic group in the Tyrrhenian Sea (of the Mediterranean) off the north coast of Sicily, Italy. The group, with a total land area of 34 square miles (88 square km), consists of seven major islands and several islets lying in ...
(knight of) French secret agent from whose name the term "eonism," denoting the tendency to adopt the costume and manners of the opposite sex, is derived.
in Greco-Roman mythology, the personification of the dawn. According to the Greek poet Hesiod, she was the daughter of the Titan Hyperion and the Titaness Theia and sister of Helios, the sun god, and Selene, the moon goddess. By the ...
genus of extinct brachiopods, or lamp shells, found as fossils in Middle Silurian to Lower Devonian marine rocks (the Silurian Period ended and the following Devonian Period began about 408 million years ago). The genus Eospirifer is closely related to ...
(Baron) novelist, essayist, educator, and statesman, whose life and writings were devoted to the creation of a modern Hungarian literature and to the establishment of a modern democratic Hungary.
Hungarian physicist who introduced the concept of molecular surface tension. His study of the Earth's gravitational field-which led to his development of the Eotvos torsion balance, long unsurpassed in precision-resulted in proof that inertial mass and gravitational mass are equivalent, ...
Theban statesman and military tactician and leader who was largely responsible for breaking the military dominance of Sparta and for altering permanently the balance of power among the Greek states. He defeated a Spartan army at Leutra (371 BC) and ...
(Greek: "Introduction"), legal code compiled c. 879, during the reign of the Byzantine emperor Basil I, intended as the introduction to a comprehensive collection of laws to be published in Greek. Its chief importance lies in its exposition of the ...
the repetition of a word or phrase after intervening language, as in the first line of Algernon Charles Swinburne's "Itylus":Swallow, my sister, O sister swallow,How can thine heart be full of the spring?
the leading Byzantine government official from the 6th to the 11th century, entrusted with the authority to maintain public order and safety in Constantinople (modern Istanbul), the Byzantine capital. Called the "father of the city," he ranked just beneath the ...
town and port, Lagos State, southwestern Nigeria; it lies on the north bank of the coastal Lagos Lagoon and has road connections to Ijebu-Ode and Ikorodu. A traditional settlement of the Ijebu people (a subgroup of the Yoruba), it was ...
blunted sword developed in the 19th century for use in fencing practice and competition. The epee was patterned after the epee du combat, the standard dueling sword of its day. Sporting competitions were designed to simulate what would happen in ...
in geology, broad regional upwarp of the cratonic (stable interior) portions of continents. In contrast to orogeny (q.v.), epeirogeny takes place over broad, nonlinear areas, is relatively slow, and results in only mild deformation. Phenomena accompanying epeirogeny include the development ...
dining table centrepiece-usually of silver-that generally sits on four feet supporting a central bowl and four or more dishes held by radiating branches and used to serve pickles, fruits, nuts, sweetmeats, and other small items. Occasionally, epergnes have additional holders ...
town, Marne departement, Champagne-Ardenne region, northeastern France. It lies on the left bank of the Marne River, 17 miles (27 km) south-southwest of Reims. The archbishops of Reims held it from the 5th to the 10th century, and it then ...
in ancient Greece, any male who had attained the age of puberty. In Athens it acquired a technical sense, referring to young men aged 18-20. From about 335 BC they underwent two years of military training under the supervision of ...
the only genus of the family Ephedraceae, an evolutionally early group of low, straggling, or climbing gymnospermous desert shrubs and the only family in the order Ephedrales. Ephedra contains about 40 species, among them the Asiatic plants known as ma ...
alkaloid used as a decongestant drug. It is obtainable from plants of the genus Ephedra, particularly the Chinese species E. sinica, and it has been used in China for more than 5,000 years to treat asthma and hay fever. It ...
table giving the positions of one or more celestial bodies, often published with supplementary information. Ephemerides were constructed as early as the 4th century BC and are still essential today to the astronomer and navigator.
(ET), the first dynamical time scale in history; it was defined by the International Astronomical Union in the 1950s and was superseded by Barycentric Dynamical Time in 1984. (See dynamical time.)
any member of the order Ephemeroptera, comprising the group of insects known as mayflies. Other common names for the winged stages are shadfly, sandfly, dayfly, fishfly, and drake. The aquatic immature stage, called a nymph or naiad, is widely distributed ...
New Testament writing once thought to have been composed by Paul in prison but more likely the work of one of Paul's disciples, who probably wrote the text sometime before AD 90 while consulting Paul's letter to the Colossians. The ...
leader of the radical democrats at Athens in the 460s, who by his reforms prepared the way for the final development of Athenian democracy. His hostility toward Sparta and his advocacy of power for the Athenian common people made him ...
part of the ceremonial dress of the high priest of ancient Israel described in the Old Testament (Ex. 28:6-8; 39:2-5). It was worn outside the robe and probably kept in place by a girdle and by shoulder pieces, from which ...
(Greek ephoros), title of the highest Spartan magistrates, five in number, who with the kings formed the main executive wing of the state. In antiquity, time periods were recorded by the names of the ephors on a list that dated ...
Greek historian, the author of the first universal history, who, despite his defects, was esteemed in classical times and is considered the best of the historians writing in his period.
Christian theologian, poet, hymnist, and doctor of the church who, as doctrinal consultant to Eastern churchmen, composed numerous theological-biblical commentaries and polemical works that, in witnessing to the common Christian tradition, have exerted widespread influence on the Greek and Latin ...
one of the 12 tribes of Israel that in biblical times comprised the people of Israel who later became the Jewish people. The tribe was named after one of the younger sons of Joseph, himself a son of Jacob.
city, seat (1909) of Grant county, central Washington, U.S., near the south end of Grand Coulee Dam. Settled in 1882 by ranchers who raised horses, the community was named in 1892, probably for the biblical city. The surrounding farmland was ...
U.S. Protestant monastic settlement, an offshoot of the Germantown Dunkers, founded in 1732 by Johann Conrad Beissel on Cocalico Creek in Lancaster County, Pa.; the present town of Ephrata grew up around it. Beissel and his followers observed the sabbath ...
island of Vanuatu, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Volcanic in origin, it is 27 mi (43 km) long and 11 mi wide, with an area of 171 sq mi (444 sq km), and rises to 2,733 ft (833 m). Although ...
long narrative poem recounting heroic deeds, although the term has also been loosely used to describe novels, such as Tolstoy's War and Peace, and motion pictures, such as Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible. In literary usage, the term encompasses both oral ...
convention of language and theme peculiar to oral epic poetry that is often carried over to the written form. The most obvious epic formulas are the "fixed epithets," stereotyped descriptive phrases that can be varied in different places in the ...
an extended simile often running to several lines, used typically in epic poetry to intensify the heroic stature of the subject and to serve as decoration. An example from the Iliad follows: As when the shudder of the west wind ...
form of didactic drama presenting a series of loosely connected scenes that avoid illusion and often interrupt the story line to address the audience directly with analysis, argument, or documentation. Epic theatre is now most often associated with the dramatic ...
point on the surface of the Earth that is directly above the underground point (called the focus) where fault rupture commences, producing an earthquake. The effects of the earthquake may not be most severe in the vicinity of the epicentre. ...
Greek poet who, according to the Suda lexicon of the 10th century AD, was the originator of Sicilian (or Dorian) comedy. He was born in a Dorian colony, either Megara Hybaea or Syracuse, both on Sicily, or Cos, one of ...
(Greek: "invocation"), in the Christian eucharistic prayer (anaphora), the special invocation of the Holy Spirit; in most Eastern Christian liturgies it follows the words of institution-the words used, according to the New Testament, by Jesus himself at the Last Supper-"This ...
Greek potter and painter who worked in Athens. His work is praised for its care, grace, vitality, delicate line, and fine draftsmanship. He signed his works as both maker and decorator.
Greek philosopher associated with the Stoics, remembered for the religious tone of his teachings, which commended him to numerous early Christian thinkers.
