Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Hallel ... Hamadani, al-

Hallel: (Hebrew: "Praise"), Jewish liturgical designation for Psalms 113-118 ("Egyptian Hallel") as read in synagogues on festive occasions. In ancient times Jews recited these hymns on the three Pilgrim Festivals, when they offered their required sacrifices in the Temple of Jerusalem. ...
hallelujah: Hebrew liturgical expression meaning "praise ye Yah" ("praise the Lord"). It appears in the Hebrew Bible in several psalms, usually at the beginning or end of the psalm or in both places. In ancient Judaism it was probably chanted as ...
Haller, Albrecht von: Swiss biologist, the father of experimental physiology, who made prolific contributions to physiology, anatomy, botany, embryology, poetry, and scientific bibliography.
Haller, Bertold: Swiss religious Reformer who was primarily responsible for bringing the Reformation to Bern.
Halley's Comet: first comet whose return was predicted, demonstrating that at least some comets are members of the solar system. In 1705 the English astronomer Edmond Halley published a work that included his calculations showing that comets observed in 1531, 1607, and ...
Halley, Edmond: English astronomer and mathematician who was the first to calculate the orbit of a comet later named after him. He is also noted for his role in the publication of Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica.
Hallgrimsson, Jonas: one of the most popular of Iceland's Romantic poets.
Halliburton, Richard: American travel and adventure writer who spent most of his adult life exploring the world.
Halliday, M.A.K.: British linguist, teacher, and proponent of neo-Firthian theory who viewed language basically as a social phenomenon.
halling: vigorous Norwegian folk dance for couples. The name derives from Hallingdal, a valley in southern Norway. Two or three males may dance in rivalry, performing difficult leaps, kicks, and other acrobatic stunts to demonstrate vigour and virility. The halling is ...
hallmark: symbol or series of symbols stamped on an article of gold or silver to denote that it conforms to legal standards that define the maximum proportion of base metals that may be alloyed with pure gold or silver for hardening ...
Hallopora: genus of extinct bryozoans (moss animals) found as fossils in Ordovician to Silurian marine rocks (from 505 to 408 million years old). Hallopora is distinguished by the large size of its pores and by its internal structure. Various species of ...
Halloween: holiday, October 31, now observed largely as a secular celebration. As the eve of All Saints' Day, it is a religious holiday among some Christians.
Hallowell, A Irving: U.S. cultural anthropologist known for his work on the North American Indians, especially the Ojibwa.
halloysite: clay mineral that occurs in two forms: one is similar in composition to kaolinite, and the other is hydrated. Both forms have a lower specific gravity than kaolinite, are fibrous rather than platy, and may exhibit a prismatic tubular shape. ...
Hallstatt: site in upper Austria where objects characteristic of the Early Iron Age (from c. 1100 BC) were first identified; the term Hallstatt now refers generally to Late Bronze and Early Iron Age culture in central and western Europe. During excavation ...
hallucination: the experience of perceiving objects or events that do not have an external source. For example, a person may hear his name called by a voice that no one else seems to hear. A hallucination is distinguished from an illusion, ...
hallucinogen: substance that produces psychological effects that are normally associated only with dreams, schizophrenia, or religious exaltation. It produces changes in perception, thought, and feeling, ranging from distortions of what is sensed (illusions) to sensing objects where there are none to ...
Halma: (Greek: "jump"), checkers-type board game, invented about 1880, in which players attempt to move a number of pieces from one corner of a square board containing 256 squares to the opposite corner. The first to transfer all of his pieces ...
Halmahera: largest island of the Moluccas (Maluku), Indonesia; administratively it is part of Maluku Utara (Northern Moluccas) provinsi (province). The island, located between the Molucca Sea (west) and the Pacific Ocean (east), consists of four peninsulas enclosing three great bays (teluk): ...
Halmay, Zoltan: Hungarian swimmer who won seven Olympic medals and was the first world record holder in the 100-metre freestyle.
Halmstad: town and port, capital of the lan (county) of Halland, southwestern Sweden, on the eastern shore of the Kattegat, at the mouth of Nissan River. The town was founded at the beginning of the 14th century and often served as ...
halo: any of a wide range of atmospheric optical phenomena that result when the Sun or Moon shines through thin clouds composed of ice crystals. These phenomena may be due to the refraction of light that passes through the crystals, or ...
halo: in art, radiant circle or disk surrounding the head of a holy person, a representation of spiritual character through the symbolism of light. In Hellenistic and Roman art the sun-god Helios and Roman emperors often appear with a crown of ...
halocarbon: any chemical compound of the element carbon and one or more of the halogens (bromine, chlorine, fluorine, iodine); two important subclasses of halocarbons are the chlorocarbons, containing only carbon and chlorine, and the fluorocarbons, containing only carbon and fluorine. Examples ...
halocline: vertical zone in the oceanic water column in which salinity changes rapidly with depth, located below the well-mixed, uniformly saline surface water layer. Especially well developed haloclines occur in the Atlantic Ocean, in which salinities may decrease by several parts ...
halogen element: any of the five nonmetallic elements that comprise Group VIIa of the periodic table (see ). The halogen elements are fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br), iodine (I), and astatine (At). They were given the name halogen from the Greek ...
Halogeton: the generic and common name for a poisonous annual weed, belonging to the goosefoot family (Chenopodiaceae), native to southwestern Siberia and northwestern China. Halogeton glomeratus, introduced into Nevada about 1930, has since spread widely in the northwestern United States. It ...
halon: chemical compound used in fire fighting. A halon may be any of a group of halogenated aliphatic hydrocarbons, most of which are derived from methane or ethane by replacing some or all of the hydrogen atoms by atoms of the ...
Haloragales: the water milfoil order of dicotyledonous flowering plants comprising two families and seven genera of remarkably diverse aquatic and terrestrial herbs distributed throughout the world.
halothane: nonflammable, volatile, liquid drug introduced into medicine in the 1950s and used as a general anesthetic. Halothane rapidly achieved acceptance and became the most frequently used of the potent anesthetics, despite its substantially higher cost than ether and chloroform and ...
halotrichite: a sulfate mineral containing aluminum and iron [FeAl₂(SO₄)₄·22H₂O]. If more than 50 percent of the iron has been replaced by magnesium, the mineral is called pickeringite. These minerals are usually weathering products of sedimentary rocks that contain aluminum and metallic ...
Halpern, Moyshe Leyb: American poet whose unsentimental and psychologically complex free verse in Yiddish extols socialism, individual rights, and social justice.
Halq al-Wadi: town, northern Tunisia, an outport for Tunis. Located on a sandbar between Lake Tunis and the Gulf of Tunis, it is linked to the capital by a canal 7 miles (11 km) long. The harbour complex is a base for ...
Hals, Frans: great 17th-century portraitist of the Dutch bourgeoisie of Haarlem, where he spent practically all his life. Hals evolved a technique that was close to impressionism in its looseness, and he painted with increasing freedom as he grew older. The jovial ...
Halsey, William F., Jr.: U.S. naval commander who led vigorous campaigns in the Pacific theatre during World War II. He was a leading exponent of warfare using carrier-based aircraft and became known for his daring and imaginative tactics.
Halsinge Runes: greatly abbreviated runic alphabet, found mainly in inscriptions dating from the 10th to the 12th century in the Halsingland region of Sweden. Probably developed near Lake Malar, the runes seem to be a simplification of the Swedish-Norwegian Rok runes and ...
Halsingland: landskap (province), east-central Sweden, in the southern part of Norrland region. It is bounded on the east by the Gulf of Bothnia, on the south by the landskap of Gastrikland, on the west by those of Dalarna and Harjedalen, and ...
Halsted, William Stewart: American pioneer of scientific surgery who established at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, the first surgical school in the United States.
Halston: American designer of elegant fashions with a streamlined look.
haltia: a Balto-Finnic domestic spirit who oversees the household and protects it from harm. The word haltia is derived from the Germanic haldiaz, originally from Gothic haldan referring to the ruler or master of a given area.
Haltia, Mount: highest mountain in Finland, at the extreme northwestern tip of Finnish Lapland on the Norwegian border, rising to 4,357 feet (1,328 m). The peak is located in Finland's only true mountain range, the Haltia (Halddia in Norway).
Halton: unitary authority, geographic county of Cheshire, England. The unitary authority comprises Widnes and surrounding suburban areas, on the north shore of the River Mersey in the historic county of Lancashire, and Runcorn and its suburbs, on the south shore of ...
halvah: any of several confections of Balkan and eastern Mediterranean origin, made with honey, flour, butter, and sesame seeds or semolina, pressed into loaf form or cut into squares. Halvah is made with a variety of colourings and flavourings. Its texture ...
Halysites: extinct genus of corals found as fossils in marine rocks from the Late Ordovician Period to the end of the Silurian Period (458 to 408 million years ago). Halysites is also known as the chain coral from the manner of ...
ham: the rear leg of a hog prepared as food, either fresh or preserved through a curing process that involves salting, smoking, or drying. The two hams constitute about 18-20 percent of the weight of a pork carcass. In the United ...
Ham Nghi: emperor of Annam (now Vietnam) in 1884-86 who rejected the role of a figurehead in the French colonial regime.
Hamada Shoji: Japanese ceramist who revitalized pottery making in Mashiko, where ceramic arts had flourished in ancient times. Hamada was designated a Living National Treasure by the Japanese government in 1955.
Hamadan: city, west-central Iran, at the northeastern foot of Mount Alvand (11,716 feet [3,571 metres]), in Hamadan ostan (province). Itself at an elevation of 6,158 feet (1,877 metres), the city dominates the wide, fertile plain of the upper ...
Hamadan rug: any of several handwoven floor coverings of considerable variety, made in the district surrounding the ancient city of Hamadan (Ecbatana) in western Iran and brought there for marketing. Several generations ago, many of these rugs were traded through Mosul and ...
Hamadani, al-: mystic Persian theologian responsible for the propagation of the Kubrawiyah order of Sufis (Islamic mystics) in Kashmir.