Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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needlegrass ... Nelson, Byron

needlegrass: any of the grasses of the genus Stipa (family Poaceae), consisting of about 150 species with a sharply pointed grain and a long, threadlike awn (bristle). In some species, such as porcupine grass (Stipa spartea), the sharp grain may puncture ...
needlepoint: type of embroidery known as canvas work until the early 19th century. In needlepoint the stitches are counted and worked with a needle over the threads, or mesh, of a canvas foundation. Either single- or double-mesh canvas of linen or ...
Needles: city, San Bernardino county, southeastern California, U.S. Situated on the Colorado River (impounded [south] to form Lake Havasu), the city was founded in 1883 as a way station for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad (now the Santa Fe) and was ...
Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, Union of: North American trade union formed in 1995 by the merger of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (q.v.) and the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (q.v.). The union represents apparel workers in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. ...
Neel, Louis-Eugene-Felix: French physicist who was corecipient, with the Swedish astrophysicist Hannes Alfven, of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1970 for his pioneering studies of the magnetic properties of solids. His contributions to solid-state physics have found numerous useful applications, particularly ...
Neenah: city, Winnebago county, east-central Wisconsin, U.S. It lies on Lake Winnebago and the Fox River, just south of Appleton. The city, with adjoining Menasha to the north, forms one economic and social community. Menominee, Fox, and Ho-Chunk Nation (Winnebago) Indians ...
Neer, Aert van der: Dutch painter of the Baroque period, famous for his nocturnal landscapes.
nef: European vessel in the form of a medieval ship, often complete with rigging. Although occasionally made of Venetian glass, nefs were usually elaborately constructed of precious metals and sometimes had a hull of rock crystal, hardstone, or nautilus shell. Perhaps ...
Nef'i: one of the greatest classical Ottoman poets and one of the most famous satirists and panegyrists in Ottoman Turkish literature.
Nef, John Ulric: American chemist whose studies demonstrated that carbon can have a valence (i.e., affinity for electrons) of two as well as a valence of four, thus greatly advancing the understanding of theoretical organic chemistry.
Nefertem: in ancient Egyptian religion, youthful god associated with the lotus flower. Nefertem was an ancient god, mentioned in the Pyramid Texts (c. 2350 BC), but he became more prominent during the New Kingdom (1539-c. 1075 BC) and later. As a ...
Nefertiti: queen of Egypt and wife of King Akhenaton (reigned 1353-36 BC) who supported her husband's religious revolution and is thought by some to have adhered to the new cult of the sun god Aton even after the king began to ...
Negara National Park: park in the south-central part of the Malay Peninsula, West Malaysia, occupying 1,677 square miles (4,343 square km). Established in 1938 as King George V National Park, it consists largely of tropical rain forest and also encompasses the country's highest ...
negative: photographic image that reproduces the bright portions of the photographed subject as dark and the dark parts as light areas. Negatives are usually formed on a transparent material, such as plastic or glass. Exposure of sensitized paper through the negative, ...
negatron: (physics): electron with a negative electric change (see electron).
Negeri Sembilan: state (negeri), southwestern West Malaysia (Malaya), bounded by the states of Selangor (northwest), Pahang (north), Johor (east), and Melaka (south). Its area of 2,565 sq mi (6,642 sq km) is drained by the Linggi and Mirar rivers and has a ...
Negev: (The Southland), arid region, southern part of Israel, occupying almost half of Palestine west of the Jordan, and about 60 percent of Israeli territory under the 1949-67 boundaries. The name is derived from the Hebrew verbal root n-g-b, "to dry," ...
negligee: (French: "careless," or "neglected"), informal gown, usually of a soft, sheer fabric, worn at home by women. In the days of tightly corseted and laced clothing, the negligee was a loose-fitting gown worn during the rest period after lunch. The ...
negligence: in law, the failure to meet a standard of behaviour established to protect society against unreasonable risk. Negligence is the cornerstone of tort liability and a key factor in most personal injury and property-damage trials.
Negra, Cordillera: range of the Andes Mountains in west central Peru. It extends for about 110 mi (180 km) southeast from the Santa River and rises to a height of 14,764 ft (4,430 m). The Santa River Valley separates the Cordillera Negra ...
Negrin Lopez, Juan: Republican prime minister (1937-39) of Spain who held office during the last two years of the Spanish Civil War. He was a determined wartime leader but was forced to rely heavily on communist support during his time in power. His ...
Negritude: literary movement of the 1930s, '40s, and '50s that began among French-speaking African and Caribbean writers living in Paris as a protest against French colonial rule and the policy of assimilation. Its leading figure was Leopold Sedar Senghor (elected first ...
Negro league: any of the associations of African American baseball teams active largely between 1920 and the late 1940s, when black players were at last contracted to play major and minor league baseball. The principal Negro leagues were the Negro National League ...
Negro River: river in Uruguay, rising in the southern highlands of Brazil just east of Bage. The Negro flows southwestward into Uruguay, where it is dammed near Paso de los Toros to create the Rincon del Bonete Reservoir (also called the Gabriel ...
Negro River: major tributary of the Amazon. It originates in several headstreams, including the Vaupes (Mapes) and the Guainia, which rise in the rain forest of eastern Colombia. The Guainia flows east and then arches northeast and southeast, forming the Colombian-Venezuelan border. ...
Negro River: river, southern Argentina, whose major headstreams, the Neuquen and the Limay, rise in the Andes Mountains near the Chilean border. At Neuquen city they meet to form the Negro, which flows generally east-southeastward across northern Patagonia and empties into the ...
Negros: island, one of the Visayan group, central Philippines. It is separated from the island of Panay to the northwest by the Guimaras Strait and from Cebu island to the east by the Tanon Straits. The island is bordered on the ...
Nehemiah: Jewish leader who supervised the rebuilding of Jerusalem in the mid-5th century BC after his release from captivity by the Persian king Artaxerxes I. He also instituted extensive moral and liturgical reforms in rededicating the Jews to Yahweh.
Neher, Erwin: German physicist, winner with Bert Sakmann in 1991 of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for their research into basic cell function and for the development of the patch-clamp technique, a laboratory method that can detect the very small ...
Nehru, Jawaharlal: first prime minister of independent India (1947-64), who established parliamentary government and became noted for his "neutralist" policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India's independence movement in the 1930s and '40s.
Nehru, Motilal: a leader of the Indian independence movement, cofounder of the Swaraj ("Self-rule") Party, and the father of India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
Nei-chiang: city in central Szechwan sheng (province), China. Situated on the T'o River, it is also at the junction of the Ch'eng-tu-Chungking railway and the southern branch line to I-pin. These railways were completed in 1956, making Nei-chiang an important transportation ...
Neidhart Von Reuenthal: late medieval German knightly poet who, in the period of the decline of the courtly love lyric, introduced a new genre called hofische Dorfpoesie ("courtly village poetry"). It celebrated, in summer and winter dancing songs, the poet's love of village ...
Neihardt, John Gneisenau: American poet, novelist, and short-story writer who described the history of American Indians, especially the Sioux.
neilah: in Judaism, the last of the five Yom Kippur services. As the concluding rite of Yom Kippur, the service is the most sacred of the yearly liturgy and is expressed in melodies of great solemnity. When the shofar (ritual ram's ...
Neill, A.S.: British educator and author who founded the Summerhill School and championed free self-development in the education of children.
Neilson, James Beaumont: Scottish inventor who introduced the use of a hot-air blast instead of a cold-air blast for the smelting of iron, thus greatly advancing the technology of iron production.
Neiman Marcus: prestigious department-store chain. It was founded in Dallas, Texas, in 1907, and from the beginning its owners featured unusual merchandise. It caters to the opulently wealthy, supplying unique and extravagant gift items. The store also offers moderate-income customers a more ...
Neisse River: either of two rivers now in southwestern Poland (until 1945, in Germany). The better-known Nysa Luzycka, or Lusatian Neisse, is the longer (157 miles [252 km]) and more westerly; it forms part of the German-Polish frontier (see Oder-Neisse Line). The ...
Neith: ancient Egyptian goddess who was the patroness of the city of Sais in the Nile River delta. Neith was worshiped as early as predynastic times (c. 3000 BC), and several queens of the 1st dynasty (c. 2925-2775 BC) were named ...
Neiva: city and capital of Huila departamento, south-central Colombia, on the upper Magdalena River. After unsuccessful attempts by Juan de Cabrera in 1539 and by Juan Alonso in 1550 to establish a permanent settlement, the city was officially founded in 1612, ...
Nekhbet: in Egyptian religion, vulture goddess who was the protector of Upper Egypt and especially its rulers.
Nekrasov, Nikolay Alekseyevich: Russian poet and journalist whose work centred on the theme of compassion for the sufferings of the peasantry. Nekrasov also sought to express the racy charm and vitality of peasant life in his adaptations of folk songs and poems for ...
nekton: the assemblage of pelagic animals that swim freely, independent of water motion or wind. Only three phyla are represented by adult forms. Chordate nekton include numerous species of bony fishes, the cartilaginous fishes such as the sharks, several species of ...
Nelligan, Emile: French-Canadian poet who was a major figure in the Ecole Litteraire de Montreal ("Montreal Literary School").
Nelson: city, southeastern British Columbia, Canada, on the western arm of Kootenay Lake, a few miles south of Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park and 408 miles (657 km) east of Vancouver. The discovery of gold at nearby Fortynine Creek in 1867 led ...
Nelson: port city and unitary authority, northern South Island, New Zealand, on an inlet at the head of Tasman Bay, at the mouth of the Matai River. Settled by the New Zealand Company in 1842 and named after British admiral Lord ...
Nelson Lakes National Park: park in northern South Island, New Zealand. The park was established in 1956 and has an area of 393 square miles (1,018 square km). It is named after its chief focal points, the scenic lakes of Rotoiti and Rotoroa. The ...
Nelson River: river in northern Manitoba, Canada, that begins by draining Lake Winnipeg, flows northward, and ends by discharging into Hudson Bay near York Factory. Its 400-mile (644-kilometre) course is the ultimate outlet for a basin of 444,000 square miles (1,150,000 square ...
Nelson, Baby Face: American gunman and bank robber noted for his vicious killings and youthful looks.
Nelson, Byron: one of a long line of outstanding Texas professional golfers. Nelson set several records in a career that he was obliged to shorten for reasons of health.