second-order partial differential equation widely useful in physics, because its solutions R (known as harmonic functions) occur in problems of electrical, magnetic, and gravitational potentials, of steady-state temperatures, and of hydrodynamics. The equation is named for the 18th-19th-century French mathematician ...
region of northern Europe largely within the Arctic Circle, stretching across northern Norway, Sweden, and Finland and into the Kola Peninsula of Russia. It is bounded by the Norwegian Sea on the west, the Barents Sea on the north, and ...
natural area set aside for research in the natural sciences in the western part of the Kola Peninsula, northwestern Russia. It lies west of Lake Imandra and has an area of 1,075 square miles (2,784 square km). The reserve was ...
city, Kymi laani (province), southeastern Finland. Lappeenranta lies at the southern end of Lake Saimaa, northeast of Kotka. It was a major trade centre during the Middle Ages, with a municipal charter granted by Per Brahe, the Swedish governor-general of ...
any member of the insect genus Tolype of the Lasiocampidae family of moths (order Lepidoptera). The genus includes the eggars, named for their egg-shaped cocoons, and the tent caterpillars, which spin huge, tent-shaped communal webs in trees. Lappets in the ...
landskap (province) of northern Sweden. Lappland is bounded on the west by Norway, on the north by Finland, on the east by the landskaper (provinces) of Norrbotten and Vasterbotten, and on the south by those of Angermanland and Jamtland. Administratively ...
rate of change in temperature observed while moving upward through the Earth's atmosphere. The lapse rate is considered positive when the temperature decreases with elevation, zero when the temperature is constant with elevation, and negative when the temperature increases with ...
in Indian history, formula devised by Lord Dalhousie, governor-general of India (1848-56), to deal with questions of succession to Hindu Indian states. It was a corollary to the doctrine of paramountcy, by which Great Britain, as the ruling power of ...
marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean off the coast of Northern Siberia (Russia), bounded by the Taymyr Peninsula (Poluostrov) and the islands of Severnaya Zemlya on the west and by the New Siberian Islands and Kotelny Island on the east. ...
city, northwestern Mactan Island, Philippines, on a narrow channel of the Bohol Strait opposite Cebu City. Formerly called Opon, the city was renamed in honour of Chief Lapulapu, who, on April 27, 1521, killed the navigator Ferdinand Magellan. The chief ...
(1929-32), fascist movement in Finland that threatened the young state's democratic institutions and for a time dictated the policies of the government. It was named for the parish of Lapua, where a fascist group disrupted a meeting of communists late ...
any of numerous species of birds of the plover family, Charadriidae (order Charadriiformes), especially the Eurasian lapwing, Vanellus vanellus, of farmlands and grassy plains. The name lapwing, which refers to the birds' slow wingbeat, is sometimes applied broadly to members ...
in the decorative arts, East Asian technique of decorating lacquer ware with inlaid designs employing shaped pieces of the iridescent blue-green shell of the sea-ear (Haliotis). This shell inlay is sometimes engraved and occasionally combined with gold and silver. Workmanship ...
in Roman religion, any of numerous tutelary deities. They were originally gods of the cultivated fields, worshipped by each household at the crossroads where its allotment joined those of others. Later the Lares were worshipped in the houses in association ...
state, northwestern Venezuela. Bordered on the north by Falcon, east by Yaracuy, south by Portuguesa and Trujillo, and west by Zulia, the territory comprises 7,645 sq mi (19,800 sq km) and lies in the Segovia Highlands, a hilly region plagued ...
West Indian cricketer, one of the sport's most renowned contemporary players. The compact left-handed batsman is the record holder for most runs scored in an innings in both Test (international) and first-class cricket.
Atlantic port city, northern Morocco, at the mouth of the Oued Loukkos (Lucus River). The ruins of ancient Lixus, successively a Phoenician, Carthaginian, and Roman settlement, are 2 mi (3 km) northeast on the river's north bank. Larache was under ...
a series of mountain-building events that affected much of western North America in Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary time (the Cretaceous period ended 66.4 million years ago and was followed by the Tertiary period). Evidence of the Laramide orogeny is ...
city, seat (1868) of Albany county, southeastern Wyoming, U.S., on the Laramie River, 49 miles (79 km) west of Cheyenne, surrounded by divisions of the Medicine Bow National Forest (headquartered at Laramie). It was founded in 1868 when several thousand ...
range of the central Rocky Mountains, in southeastern Wyoming, U.S. A northern section of Colorado's Front Range, it stretches north-northwestward for 125 miles (200 km) from the Wyoming-Colorado border, between Laramie and Cheyenne, to the North Platte River, around Casper. ...
river in Colorado and Wyoming, U.S., rising in the Front Range in Roosevelt National Forest, northern Colorado. It flows north across the Wyoming border and then turns northwest past the city of Laramie, through the Laramie Plains and Wheatland reservoirs, ...
French novelist and critic, an erudite cosmopolitan who became a literary intermediary between France and Europe, especially England and Spanish-speaking countries.
in criminal law, the trespassory taking and carrying away of personal goods from the possession of another with intent to steal. Larceny is one of the specific crimes included in the general category of theft (q.v.).
any of about 10 to 12 species of coniferous trees constituting the genus Larix of the family Pinaceae, native to cool temperate and sub-Arctic parts of the Northern Hemisphere. One species, Larix griffithii, is found only in the Himalayas. A ...
soft, creamy, white solid or semisolid fat with butter-like consistency, obtained by rendering or melting the fatty tissue of hogs. A highly valued cooking and baking fat, lard is blended, frequently after modification by molecular rearrangement or hydrogenation, with other ...
American writer, one of the most gifted, as well as the most bitter, satirists in the United States and a fine storyteller with a true ear for the vernacular.
city, seat (1848) of Webb county, southern Texas, U.S., on the Rio Grande (there bridged to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico), 150 miles (240 km) southwest of San Antonio. It was established in 1755 by Tomas Sanchez as a ferry crossing (unlike ...
posterior section of the intestine, consisting typically of four regions: the cecum, colon, rectum, and anus. The term colon is sometimes used to refer to the entire large intestine.
French historical and portrait painter who excelled in painting likenesses of the wealthy middle classes. Most artists of his time took as their standard of excellence the adherence to classical models and emphasis on drawing, while some broke away in ...
city, Pinellas county, west-central Florida, U.S., near Clearwater Harbor and just south of Clearwater. The Spanish explorers Panfilo de Narvaez (1528) and Hernando de Soto (1539) visited the region. The site, first settled about 1866, was named for nearby Lake ...
Russian-born French painter and stage designer, a pioneer of pure abstraction in painting, most notably through his founding, with Natalya Goncharova, whom he later married, of the Rayonist movement (c. 1910).
town, capital of the nomos (department) of Larisa and the chief town of Thessaly (Thessalia), Greece, on the Pinios Potamos (river). Since the 9th century it has been the seat of a bishop.
extensive region in southeastern Fars ostan (province), Iran. Situated between the Persian Gulf coast and the main water divide, it is characterized by ridges, dissected uplands, and depressions. The area, sparsely settled, contains nomadic Khamseh peoples of Turkish, Arab, and ...
family name Alaudidae, any of about 75 species of a songbird family (order Passeriformes). Larks occur throughout the continental Old World; only the horned, or shore, lark (Eremophila alpestris) is native to the New World. The bill is quite ...
town and district, Sukkur division, Sind Province, Pakistan. The town, the district headquarters, lies on the Ghar Canal just west of the Indus River; it derives its name from the neighbouring Larak tribe. A railway junction, it is divided into ...
most representative and highly regarded of the poets who gave expression to a clipped, antiromantic sensibility prevalent in English verse in the 1950s.
any of about 300 species of herbaceous plants constituting the genus Delphinium of the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae), many of which are grown for their showy flower stalks.
Irish physicist, the first to calculate the rate at which energy is radiated by an accelerated electron, and the first to explain the splitting of spectrum lines by a magnetic field. His theories were based on the belief that matter ...
port town, southeastern Republic of Cyprus. The modern town, on the bay between Capes Kiti and Pyla, overlays much of ancient Citium, founded by the Mycenaeans in the 13th century BC; it was rebuilt by the Byzantines. Citium was the ...
town, seat, and district (established 1973), formerly in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, bordering the Irish Sea north of Belfast. The Scot Edward Bruce landed near the present town site in 1315 when he attempted to free Ireland from English rule. ...
river, in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, rising in the low watershed (400 ft [122 m]) between its own valley and that of the Six-Mile-Water and flowing northeastward to the important Irish Sea port of Larne, where it swings east and ...
French philosopher who became famous for his thesis on the rights of property in connection with taxation, which he held to be arbitrary and therefore illegal. For the thesis he was censured by the French Parlement.
