Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Olenellus ... Olongapo

Olenellus: genus of trilobites (extinct arthropods) common in but restricted to Early Cambrian rocks (540 to 520 million years ago) and thus a useful guide fossil for the Early Cambrian. Olenellus had a well-developed head, large and crescentic eyes, and a ...
Olenyok River: river rising on the southern slopes of the Bukochan Ridge on the Central Siberian Plateau and flowing mainly through Sakha (Yakutiya), east-central Russia. The total length of the river is 1,424 miles (2,292 km), and it has a drainage basin ...
oleograph: colour lithograph produced by preparing a separate stone by hand for each colour to be used and printing one colour in register over another. Sometimes as many as 30 stones were used for a single print. The technique was pioneered ...
Oleron Island: island in the Bay of Biscay, forming part of the Charente-Maritime departement, located off the coast of France south of La Rochelle and north of the Gironde Estuary. Oleron is the second largest French island (after Corsica), with an area ...
Olesha, Yury Karlovich: Russian writer who dealt with the conflict between the old mentality and the new in the early years of the Soviet Union.
Olesnicki, Zbigniew: Polish statesman and cardinal who was chief councillor to King Wladyslaw II and regent of Poland (1434-47).
olethreutid moth: any member of the cosmopolitan insect family Olethreutidae (order Lepidoptera), containing several species with economically destructive larvae. The pale larvae roll or tie leaves and feed on foliage, fruits, or nuts-e.g., Cydia pomonella, the codling moth (previously Carpocapsa, or Laspeyresia, ...
Olga, Saint: princess who was the first recorded female ruler in Russia and the first member of the ruling family of Kiev to adopt Christianity. She was canonized as the first Russian saint of the Orthodox Church.
Olgas: tors (isolated weathered rocks) in southwestern Northern Territory, Australia, comprising a circular grouping of some 36 red conglomerate domes rising from the desert plains north of the Musgrave Ranges. They occupy an area of 11 square miles (28 square km) ...
Olhao: town, port, and concelho (township), Faro distrito ("district"), southern Portugal. It lies at the head of the Barra Nova (a shipping channel landward of sandbars fringing the coast), just east of Faro town. Olhao was one of the first Portuguese ...
Olier, Jean-Jacques: founder of the Sulpicians, a group of secular priests dedicated to training candidates for the priesthood.
oligarchy: government by the few, especially despotic power exercised by a small and privileged group for corrupt or selfish purposes.
Oligocene Epoch: major worldwide division of the Tertiary Period that began about 36.6 million years ago and ended about 23.7 million years ago. It follows the Eocene Epoch and precedes the Miocene Epoch. The term Oligocene is derived from Greek and means ...
oligochaete: any worm of the class Oligochaeta (phylum Annelida). About 3,200 living species are known, the most familiar of which is the earthworm (q.v.), Lumbricus terrestris. Oligochaetes are common all over the world. They live in the sea, in fresh water, ...
oligoclase: the most common variety of the feldspar mineral plagioclase (q.v.).
oligomenorrhea: prolonged intervals between menstrual cycles. Menstruation is the normal cyclic bleeding from the female reproductive tract. Most women menstruate every 25 to 30 days if they are not pregnant, nursing a child, or experiencing reproductive disorders. In oligomenorrhea, menstruation may ...
oligopoly: market situation in which each of a few producers affects but does not control the market. Each producer must consider the effect of a price change on the actions of the other producers. A cut in price by one may ...
oligosaccharide: any carbohydrate of from three to six units of simple sugars (monosaccharides). A large number of oligosaccharides have been prepared by partially breaking down more complex carbohydrates (polysaccharides). Most of the few naturally occurring oligosaccharides are found in plants. Raffinose, ...
oligotrich: any spherical to pear-shaped protozoan of the ciliate order Oligotrichida, found in fresh, salt, and brackish water. Body cilia (minute, hairlike projections), when present, are often fused into groups of bristles, or cirri. The oligotrichs have conspicuous adoral (on margin ...
Olinda: city, eastern Pernambuco estado (state), northeastern Brazil. It is located atop a low hill on the Atlantic coast, 5 miles (8 km) north of Recife, the state capital. It was founded by the Portuguese Duarte Coelho Pereira ...
olingo: (Bassaricyon), any of about four species of small arboreal carnivores of the raccoon family, Procyonidae, found in the jungles of Central and northern South America. Olingos are slender, grayish-brown animals 35-50 centimetres (14-20 inches) long, excluding the bushy, faintly ringed ...
Oliphant, Laurence: British author, traveller, and mystic, a controversial figure whose quest to establish a Jewish state in Palestine-"fulfilling prophecy and bringing on the end of the world"-won wide support among both Jewish and Christian officials but was thought by some to ...
Oliphant, Margaret Oliphant: prolific Scottish novelist, historical writer, and biographer best known for her portraits of small-town life.
Olitski, Jules: U.S. painter generally identified with the Color Field school. He was one of the first to use thinned paints in a staining technique to create colour compositions of a delicate, ethereal quality.
Olivares, Gaspar de Guzman y Pimental, conde-duque de, duque de Sanlucar de Barrameda: prime minister (1623-43) and court favourite (valido) of King Philip IV of Spain. He attempted to impose a strong centralizing policy and eventually provoked rebellion and his own fall.
olive: (Olea europaea; family Oleaceae), subtropical, broad-leaved, evergreen tree and its edible fruit. The tree, ranging in height from 3 to 12 metres (10 to 40 feet) or more, has numerous branches; its leaves, leathery and lance-shaped, are dark green above ...
olive shell: any of the marine snails that constitute the family Olividae (subclass Prosobranchia of the class Gastropoda). Fossils of the genus Oliva are common from the Eocene Epoch (57.8 to 36.6 million years ago) to the present. The shell, which is ...
Oliver, Isaac: miniature painter.
Oliver, King: American cornetist who was a vital link between the semimythical prehistory of jazz and the firmly documented history of jazz proper. He is also remembered for choosing as his protege the man generally considered to have been the greatest of ...
Oliver, Mary: American poet whose work reflects a deep communion with the natural world.
Oliver, Sy: jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader who was one of the leading music arrangers of the 1930s and '40s.
Olives, Mount of: multisummited limestone ridge just east of the Old City of Jerusalem and separated from it by the Kidron valley. Frequently mentioned in the Bible and later religious literature, it is holy both to Judaism and to Christianity. Politically, it is ...
Olivet College: private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Olivet, Mich., U.S. It is affiliated with the Congregational Christian Church and the United Church of Christ. It is a liberal arts college offering bachelor's degree programs in business, communications, education, arts and ...
Olivetti & C. SpA: Italian multinational firm that manufactures office equipment and information systems. Headquarters are in Ivrea, Italy.
Olivier, Laurence, Baron Olivier of Brighton: a towering figure of the British stage and screen, acclaimed in his lifetime as the greatest English-speaking actor of the 20th century. He was the first member of his profession to be elevated to a life peerage.
olivine: any member of a group of common magnesium, iron silicate minerals.
Olivos: cabecera (county seat) of Vicente Lopez partido (county), Gran (Greater) Buenos Aires, Arg., directly north of the city of Buenos Aires, in Buenos Aires provincia, on the Rio de la Plata estuary. During the 16th and early 17th centuries, the ...
Oljeitu: eighth Il-Khan ruler of Iran, during whose reign the Shi'ite branch of Islam was first proclaimed the state religion of Iran.
Olkhon Island: island in Lake Baikal, administered as part of Irkutsk oblast (province), east-central Russia. It is separated from the lake's western shore by the straits of Olkhon and the Maloye More (Little Sea). Its area is 280 square miles (730 square ...
Ollivier, Emile: French statesman, writer, and orator who, as minister of justice under Napoleon III, authored an abortive plan for achieving a governmental compromise between Napoleonic autocracy and parliamentary democracy.
olm: (Proteus anguinus), blind salamander belonging to the family Proteidae (order Caudata) and found in caves of the Carpathian Mountains in southeastern Europe. It grows to about 30 cm (12 inches) long and has a normally white (unpigmented) body, tiny limbs, ...
Olmaliq: city, eastern Uzbekistan. It is situated 35 miles (55 km) southeast of the city of Tashkent on the northern slopes of the Qurama Mountains and on the left bank of the Ohangaron River. Olmaliq was founded in 1951 from several ...
Olmec: the first elaborate pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica, and one that is thought to have set many of the fundamental patterns evinced by later Indian cultures of Mexico and Central America.
Olmedo, Jose Joaquin: poet and statesman whose odes commemorating South America's achievement of independence from Spain captured the revolutionary spirit of his time and inspired a generation of Romantic poets and patriots. They have remained monuments to the heroic figures of the liberation ...
Olmert, Ehud: Israeli politician who served as mayor of Jerusalem (1993-2003) and as prime minister of Israel (from 2006).
Olmi, Ermanno: Italian motion picture director whose formative work examines life in the business world and whose later films explore religious and social themes.
Olmsted, Frederick Law: American landscape architect who designed a succession of outstanding public parks, beginning with Central Park in New York City.
Olmutz, Punctation of: (Nov. 29, 1850), agreement signed at Olmutz (Olomouc, Moravia, in modern Czech Republic) between Prussia and Austria that regulated those two powers' relations. The development leading up to the punctation was triggered when the elector of Hesse in the autumn ...
Olney, Richard: U.S. secretary of state (1895-97) who formulated the Olney Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, which maintained the right of the United States to intervene in any international disputes within the Western Hemisphere.
Olomouc: city, Severomoravsky kraj (region), Czech Republic. The city lies along the Morava River at its confluence with the Bystrice River, at the northern edge of the fertile Hana farming region.
Olongapo: city, southwestern Luzon, Philippines. The city is situated in a lowland area near the mouth of Subic Bay. Olongapo was heavily damaged in World War II (1939-45). It became a municipality in 1959 and a chartered city in 1966. The ...