Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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liberum veto ... lied

liberum veto: in Polish history, the legal right of each member of the Sejm (legislature) to defeat by his vote alone any measure under consideration or to dissolve the Sejm and nullify all acts passed during its session. Based on the assumption ...
Libeskind, Daniel: Polish American architect known for introducing complex ideas and emotions into his designs.
libido: concept originated by Sigmund Freud to signify the instinctual physiological or psychic energy associated with sexual urges and, in his later writings, with all constructive human activity. In the latter sense of eros, or life instinct, libido was opposed by ...
Libitina: in Roman religion, goddess of funerals. At her sanctuary in a sacred grove (perhaps on the Esquiline Hill), a piece of money was deposited whenever a death occurred. There the undertakers (libitinarii) had their offices, and there all deaths were ...
Libourne: town, Gironde departement, Aquitaine region, southwestern France. Libourne lies northeast of Bordeaux, at the confluence of the Isle and Dordogne rivers. It is a port for ocean-going vessels and is the centre of a wine-producing district. Libourne (Leybornia) takes its ...
libra: the basic Roman unit of weight; after 268 BC it was about 5,076 English grains or equal to 0.722 pounds avoirdupois (0.329 kg). This pound was brought to Britain and other provinces where it became the standard for weighing gold ...
Libra: (Latin: "Balance"), in astronomy, zodiacal constellation lying between Scorpius and Virgo, at about 15 hours 30 minutes right ascension (the coordinate on the celestial sphere analogous to longitude on the Earth) and 15° south declination (angular distance south of the ...
library: traditionally, collection of books used for reading or study, or the building or room in which such a collection is kept. The word derives from the Latin liber, "book," whereas a Latinized Greek word,
library classification: system of arrangement adopted by a library to enable patrons to find its materials quickly and easily. While cataloging provides information on the physical and topical nature of the book (or other item), classification, through assignment of a call number ...
Library of Congress Classification: system of library organization developed during the reorganization of the U.S. Library of Congress. It consists of separate, mutually exclusive, special classifications, often having no connection save the accidental one of alphabetical notation.
library science: the principles and practices of library operation and administration, and their study. Libraries have existed since ancient times, but only in the second half of the 19th century did library science emerge as a separate field of study. With the ...
libration: in astronomy, an oscillation, apparent or real, of a satellite, such as the Moon, the surface of which may as a consequence be seen from different angles at different times from one point on its primary body.
libretto: text of an opera, operetta, or other kind of musical theatre. It is also used, less commonly, of a musical work not intended for the stage. A libretto may be in verse or in prose; it may be specially designed ...
Libreville: city and capital of Gabon, located on the north shore of the Gabon Estuary, which empties into the Gulf of Guinea. It is built on a succession of hills overlooking a well-sheltered port. The former European sector (modern in appearance ...
Libya: country of North Africa. It is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea on the north, Egypt on the east, The Sudan on the southeast, Niger and Chad on the south, and Tunisia and Algeria on the west. Largely composed of the ...
Libyan Desert: northeastern portion of the Sahara, extending from eastern Libya through southwestern Egypt into the extreme northwest of The Sudan. The desert's bare rocky plateaus and stony or sandy plains are harsh, arid, and inhospitable. The highest point is Mount Al-'Uwaynat ...
Licata: town and Mediterranean port, southern Sicily, Italy, situated at the mouth of the Salso River (ancient Himera Meridionalis), northwest of Ragusa. It lies at the foot of the promontory of Sant'Angelo (ancient Ecnomus), the site of the town of Phintias, ...
Licchavi: a people who settled (6th-5th century BC) on the north bank of the Ganges River in modern Bihar state, India, with its capital city at Vaisali. The Licchavis were renowned for their republican government, having a general assembly of the ...
license: in property law, permission to enter or use the property of another. There are three categories of license: bare licenses, contractual licenses, and licenses coupled with an interest. A bare license occurs when a person enters or uses the property ...
lichen: any of about 15,000 species of thallophytic plants that consist of a symbiotic association of algae (usually green) and fungi (mostly Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes).
Lichfield: city and district, administrative and historic county of Staffordshire, England, located on the northern margin of both the West Midlands plateau and the metropolitan complex centred on Birmingham.
Lichtenberg: until 1990 a Stadtbezirk (urban district) of East Berlin, German Democratic Republic. A distinct town dating from before the 1280s, it underwent rapid industrial growth between the Franco-German War of 1870-71 and the beginning of World War I in 1914. ...
Lichtenberg, Georg Christoph: German physicist and satirical writer, best known for his ridicule of metaphysical and romantic excesses.
Lichtenstein, Roy: American painter who was a founder and foremost practitioner of Pop art, a movement that countered the techniques and concepts of Abstract Expressionism with images and techniques taken from popular culture.
Licinius: Roman emperor from 308 to 324.
Lick Observatory: astronomical observatory located about 21 km (13 miles) east of San Jose, California, U.S., atop Mount Hamilton. It was the first major mountaintop observatory built in the United States and the world's first permanently occupied mountaintop observatory.
Licking River: river, rising in Magoffin county, east Kentucky, U.S., and flowing about 320 miles (515 km) generally northwest to enter the Ohio River at Covington, Kentucky, opposite Cincinnati, Ohio. It is joined by North Fork Licking and South Fork Licking rivers ...
licorice: perennial herb of the Fabaceae family, and the flavouring, confection, and medicine made from its roots, similar in their sweet, slightly bitter flavour to anise. The Greek name glykyrrhiza, of which the word licorice is a corruption, means "sweet root."
lictor: member of an ancient Roman class of magisterial attendants, probably Etruscan in origin and dating in Rome from the regal period. Lictors carried the fasces (q.v.) for their magistrate and were constantly in his attendance in public; they cleared his ...
Lida: city and centre of Lida rayon (sector), Hrodno oblast (province), Belarus. Lida emerged in the 13th century as a fortified point of the Lithuanian duke Gediminas on the border between the Principality of Hrodno and Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The ...
Liddell Hart, Sir Basil: British military historian and strategist known for his advocacy of mechanized warfare.
Liddell, Eric: British runner who won a gold medal in the 400-metre run and a bronze in the 200 metres at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris.
Liddell, Henry George: British lexicographer and co-editor of the standard Greek-English Lexicon (1843; 8th ed., 1897; revised by H.S. Jones and others, 1940; abridged, 1957; intermediate, 1959). In 1834 he and a fellow student at Oxford, Robert Scott, began preparing the Lexicon, basing ...
Liddesdale: valley of the Liddel Water, southern Scotland, extending more than 20 miles (32 km) southwest from Peel Fell to the River Esk, which flows into the head of the Solway Firth. The upper Liddesdale lies within the Scottish Borders council ...
Liddon, Henry Parry: Anglican priest, theologian, close friend and biographer of the Oxford movement leader Edward Bouverie Pusey, and a major advocate of the movement's principles, which included an elaborated liturgy, a recovery of 18th-century church discipline, and an emphasis on Classical learning.
Lidice: village, Czech Republic, just northwest of Prague. Before World War II it was a mining settlement of the Kladno coal basin and had a population of about 450. On June 10, 1942, it was "liquidated" by German armed forces as ...
Lidkoping: town, Vastra Gotaland lan (county), southwestern Sweden, at the mouth of the Lidan River on Kinneviken Bay, Lake Vanern. It is of medieval origin and was chartered in 1446. After devastation by several fires, it was rebuilt, beginning in 1672. ...
Lidman, Sara: novelist, one of the most acclaimed and widely read of the post-World War II generation of Swedish writers.
Lidner, Bengt: Swedish dramatic and epic poet of early Romanticism, noted for his choice of spectacular subjects.
lidocaine: synthetic organic compound used in medicine, usually in the form of its hydrochloride salt, as a local anesthetic. Lidocaine produces prompter, more intense, and longer lasting anesthesia than does procaine (Novocaine). It is widely used for infiltration, nerve-block, and spinal ...
lie detector: instrument for recording physiological phenomena such as blood pressure, pulse rate, and respiration of a human subject as he answers questions put to him by an operator; these data are then used as the basis for making a judgment as ...
Lie, Jonas: novelist whose goal was to reflect in his writings the nature, the folk life, and the social spirit of his native Norway. He is considered one of "the four great ones" of 19th-century Norwegian literature, together with Henrik Ibsen, Bjornstjerne ...
Lie, Sophus: Norwegian mathematician who founded the theory of continuous groups and their applications to the theory of differential equations. His investigations led to one of the major branches of 20th-century mathematics, the theory of Lie groups and Lie algebras.
Lie, Trygve: Norwegian politician and diplomat, the first secretary general of the United Nations (1946-52), who resigned largely because of the Soviet Union's resentment of his support of UN military intervention in the Korean War.
Lieber, Francis: German-born U.S. political philosopher and jurist, best known for formulating the "laws of war." His Code for the Government of Armies in the Field (1863) subsequently served as a basis for international conventions on the conduct of warfare.
Liebermann, Max: painter and printmaker who is known for his naturalistic studies of the life and labour of the poor. He was also the foremost proponent of Impressionism in Germany.
Liebig, Justus, Freiherr von: German chemist who made significant contributions to the analysis of organic compounds, the organization of laboratory-based chemistry education, and the application of chemistry to biology (biochemistry) and agriculture.
Liebknecht, Karl: German Social Democrat, who, with Rosa Luxemburg and other radicals, founded the Spartakusbund (Spartacus League), a Berlin underground group that became the Communist Party of Germany, dedicated to a socialist revolution. Liebknecht was killed in the Spartacus Revolt of January ...
Liebknecht, Wilhelm: German socialist, close associate of Karl Marx, and later cofounder of the German Social Democratic Party.
Liechtenstein: small European principality, less than 62 square miles (160 square km) in area, located between Switzerland and Austria. Its capital is Vaduz.
lied: any of a number of particular types of German song, as they are referred to in English and French writings. The earliest so-called lieder date from the 12th and 13th centuries and are the works of minnesingers, poets and singers ...