Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Euric ... Eustace, Saint

Euric: king of a great Visigothic realm (usually called the kingdom of Toulouse) in the western part of the Roman Empire that included what is now southwestern France (south of the Loire and west of the Rhone) and most of Spain. ...
Euripides: last of classical Athens' three great tragic dramatists, following Aeschylus and Sophocles.
Euripus: narrow strait in the Aegean Sea (an arm of the Mediterranean Sea), between the Greek island of Euboea (Evvoia) and the mainland of central Greece. It is 5 miles (8 km) long and varies from 130 feet (40 m) to ...
euro: monetary unit and currency of the European Union (EU). It was introduced as a noncash monetary unit in 1999, and currency notes and coins appeared in participating countries on January 1, 2002. After February 28, 2002, the euro became the ...
euro: one of the largest species of kangaroo (q.v.).
Eurocommunism: trend among European communist parties toward independence from Soviet Communist Party doctrine during the 1970s and '80s. With Mikhail Gorbachev's encouragement, all communist parties took independent courses in the late 1980s, and by 1990 the term Eurocommunism had become moot.
Eurodollar: a United States dollar that has been deposited outside the United States, especially in Europe. Foreign banks holding Eurodollars are obligated to pay in U.S. dollars when the deposits are withdrawn. Dollars form the largest component of all currencies in ...
Europa: in Greek mythology, the daughter either of Phoenix or of Agenor, king of Phoenicia. The beauty of Europa inspired the love of Zeus, who approached her in the form of a white bull and carried her away from Phoenicia to ...
Europa: the smallest and second nearest of the four large moons (Galilean satellites) discovered around Jupiter by the Italian astronomer Galileo in 1610. It was probably also discovered independently that same year by the German astronomer Simon Marius, who named it ...
Europe: second smallest of the world's continents, composed of the westward-projecting peninsulas of Eurasia and occupying nearly one-fifteenth of the world's total land area. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, ...
Europe, Concert of: in the post-Napoleonic era, the vague consensus among the European monarchies favouring preservation of the territorial and political status quo. The term assumed the responsibility and right of the great powers to intervene and impose their collective will on states ...
Europe, Council of: organization of European countries that seeks to protect democracy and human rights and to promote European unity by fostering cooperation on legal, cultural, and social issues. By the beginning of the 21st century, more than 40 countries were members of ...
Europe, history of: history of European peoples and cultures from prehistoric times to the present. Europe is a more ambiguous term than most geographic expressions. Its etymology is doubtful, as is the physical extent of the area it designates. Its western frontiers seem ...
Europe, James Reese: American bandleader, arranger, composer, a major figure in the transition from ragtime to jazz.
European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company: major European aerospace company that builds commercial and military aircraft, space systems, propulsion systems, missiles, and other defense products. It was formed in 2000 from the merger of three leading European aerospace firms: Aerospatiale Matra of France, DaimlerChrysler Aerospace (Dasa) ...
European Atomic Energy Community: international organization established by one of the Treaties of Rome in 1958 to form a common market for the development of the peaceful uses of atomic energy. The original members were Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands. ...
European Coal and Steel Community: administrative agency established by a treaty ratified in 1952, designed to integrate the coal and steel industries in western Europe. The original members of the ECSC were France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The organization subsequently expanded ...
European Community: association designed to integrate the economies of Europe. The term also commonly refers to the "European Communities," which comprise the EC, the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). The EC is the principal ...
European Court of Human Rights: judicial organ established in 1959 that is charged with supervising the enforcement of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950; commonly known as the European Convention on Human Rights), which was drawn up by the ...
European Court of Justice: the judicial branch of the European Union (EU). Its headquarters are in Luxembourg. The ECJ originated in the individual courts of justice established in the 1950s for the European Coal and Steel Community, the European Economic Community, and the European ...
European Defense Community: an abortive attempt by western European powers, with United States support, to counterbalance the overwhelming conventional military ascendancy of the Soviet Union in Europe by the formation of a supranational European army. The idea was originally mooted at the Hague ...
European Economic Co-operation, Organisation for: organization set up by a convention signed in Paris in April 1948 to coordinate efforts to restore Europe's economy under the European Recovery Program (Marshall Plan). Among its many functions, the OEEC helped abolish quantitative trade restrictions between its member ...
European exploration: the exploration of regions of the Earth for scientific, commercial, religious, military, and other purposes by Europeans beginning in the 15th century.
European Free Trade Association: group of four countries-Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland-organized to remove barriers to trade in industrial goods among themselves, but with each nation maintaining its own commercial policy toward countries outside the group. Headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland.
European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party: transnational parliamentary group representing the interests of allied liberal and centrist parties in the European Parliament of the European Union (EU). The ELDR was formed in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1976 and coordinates the interests of its member parties. It consists ...
European Parliament: legislative assembly of the European Union (EU). Inaugurated in 1958 as the Common Assembly, the European Parliament originally consisted of representatives selected by the national parliaments of EU member countries. Beginning in 1979, members of the Parliament, who now number ...
European People's Party: transnational parliamentary group representing the interests of allied conservative parties in the European Parliament of the European Union (EU). The EPP was formed in 1953 as the Christian Democrat Group, which acted as a transnational political party in the Common ...
European Plain: one of the greatest uninterrupted expanses of plain on the Earth's surface. It sweeps from the Pyrenees Mountains on the French-Spanish border across northern Europe to the Ural Mountains in Russia. In western Europe the plain is comparatively narrow, rarely ...
European Socialists, Party of: transnational parliamentary group representing the interests of allied socialist and social democratic parties in the European Parliament of the European Union (EU). Although a socialist group fostered cooperation among socialist parties in the Common Assembly of both the European Coal ...
European Southern Observatory: astrophysical organization founded in 1962. Its activities are financially supported and administered by a consortium of nine European nations-Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland. ESO's scientific, technical, and administrative headquarters are in Garching, Germany, near ...
European Space Agency: western European space and space-technology research organization founded in 1975 from the merger of the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO) and the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO), both established in 1964. Members include Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, ...
European Union: international organization comprising 25 European countries and governing common economic, social, and security policies. Originally confined to western Europe, the EU has expanded to include several central and eastern European countries. The EU's members are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, ...
europium: (Eu), chemical element, rare-earth metal of transition Group IIIb of the periodic table; it is the least dense, softest, and most volatile member of the lanthanide series. The element was discovered (1896) by Eugene-Anatole Demarcay and named for Europe. One ...
Europoort: port on the southwestern coast of The Netherlands. It lies opposite the Hoek van Holland, at the entrance of the New Waterway Canal, a distributary of the Rhine. About 17 miles (27 km) upstream on the canal lies the Port ...
Europop: form of popular music made in Europe for general European consumption. Although Europop hits contain traces of their national origins and often gain international attention via the dance floor, the genre generally transcends cultural borders in Europe without crossing the ...
Eurydice: in ancient Greek legend, the wife of Orpheus. Her husband's attempt to retrieve Eurydice from Hades forms the basis of one of the most popular Greek legends. See Orpheus.
eurypterid: member of an extinct order (Eurypterida) of unusual arthropods rarely preserved as fossils. The eurypterids appeared at the beginning of the Ordovician Period (about 505 million years ago) and became extinct at the end of the Permian Period (about 245 ...
eurythmics: harmonious bodily movement as a form of artistic expression-specifically, the Dalcroze system of musical education in which bodily movements are used to represent musical rhythms.
Eusden, Laurence: British poet who, by flattering the Duke of Newcastle, was made poet laureate in 1718. He became rector of Coningsby and held the laureateship until his death. Alexander Pope satirized him frequently and derisively.
Eusebio: the greatest Portuguese football (soccer) player of all time. Known as "the Panther," he was celebrated for his long runs through defenders and his deft scoring touch.
Eusebius Of Caesarea: bishop, exegete, polemicist, and historian whose account of the first centuries of Christianity, in his Ecclesiastical History, is a landmark in Christian historiography.
Eusebius Of Dorylaeum: bishop of Dorylaeum and famous opponent of the Nestorians (who believed that the divine and human persons remained separate in Christ). He was one of the formulators of doctrines at the ecumenical Council of Chalcedon (451).
Eusebius Of Emesa: bishop of Emesa, one of the chief doctrinal writers on Semi-Arianism, a modified Arianism that held that Christ was "like" God the Father but not of one substance.
Eusebius Of Laodicea: deacon of Alexandria who became bishop of Laodicea, after risking his life by serving Christian martyrs during the persecutions of the Roman emperors Decius (250) and Valerian (257). He was a former pupil of the illustrious theologian Origen.
Eusebius Of Myndus: Neoplatonist philosopher, a pupil of Aedesius of Pergamum. He was distinguished from the other members of the Pergamene school by his comparative sobriety and rationality and by his contempt for the religious magic, or theurgy, to which other members of ...
Eusebius Of Nicomedia: an important 4th-century Eastern church bishop who was one of the key proponents of Arianism (the doctrine that Jesus Christ is not of the same substance as God) and who eventually became the leader of an Arian group called the ...
Eusebius of Samosata, Saint: Christian martyr and famous opponent of Arianism (q.v.).
Eusebius of Vercelli, Saint: noted supporter of St. Athanasius the Great of Alexandria, Egypt, and restorer of the Nicene Creed, the orthodox doctrine adopted by the first Council (325) of Nicaea, which declared the members of the Trinity to be equal.
Eusebius, Saint: pope from April 18 to Aug. 17, 309/310. His epitaph, written by Pope Damasus I, tells of a violent dispute in Rome about readmitting apostates after the persecution of Christians under the Roman emperor Diocletian. Eusebius was opposed by a ...
Eustace IV: count of Boulogne (from 1150) and eldest son of King Stephen of England and his wife Matilda, daughter and heiress of the previous count of Boulogne (Eustace III).
Eustace, Saint: one of the most famous early Christian martyrs venerated in the Eastern and Western churches, one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers (a group of saints conjointly honoured, especially in medieval Germany), and a patron of hunters.