Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Omura ... Ontario

Omura: city, Nagasaki Prefecture (ken), Kyushu, Japan, facing Omura-wan (Omura Bay), on the western slopes of Tara-dake (Mt. Tara). In the 12th century it was the residence of the Omura daimyo and later developed as a port and post town. It ...
Omura Masujiro: Japanese scholar and soldier popularly regarded in Japan as the founder of the modern Japanese Army.
Omuta: city, Fukuoka Prefecture (ken), northern Kyushu, Japan, on the east coast of the Ariake-kai (Ariake Sea). Formerly a coal-mining centre, Omuta's activity declined after the 1960s with the conversion from coal to petroleum as fuel. Consequently, underground shafts were neglected, ...
Ona: South American Indians once inhabiting the island of Tierra del Fuego and now extinct. They were historically divided into two major sections: Shelknam and Haush. They spoke different dialects and had slightly different cultures. The Ona were hunters and gatherers ...
Ona, Pedro de: first known poet born in Chile.
onager: (Equus hemionus onager), subspecies of the wild ass of Asia that ranged from northwest Iran to Turkmenistan. Pale-coloured and small, it has a short erect mane and fairly large ears. It was domesticated in ancient times but was replaced by ...
Onagraceae: evening primrose family of flowering plants, belonging to the myrtle order (Myrtales), comprising 21 genera concentrated in the temperate region of the New World. The family is characterized by flowers with parts mostly on the plan of four (four sepals, ...
Onassis, Aristotle Socrates: Greek shipping magnate who developed a fleet of supertankers and freighters larger than the navies of many countries.
Onassis, Jacqueline Kennedy: American first lady (1961-63), the wife of John F. Kennedy, 35th president of the United States, who was noted for her style and elegance. Her second husband, Aristotle Onassis, was one of the wealthiest men in the world.
Onate, Juan de: conquistador who established the colony of New Mexico for Spain. During his despotic governorship, he vainly sought the mythical riches of North America and succeeded instead in unlocking the geographical secrets of what is now the southwestern United States.
onchocerciasis: filarial disease caused by the helminth Onchocerca volvulus, which is transmitted to humans by the bite of the black fly Simulium. The disease is found chiefly in Mexico, Guatemala, and Venezuela in the Americas and in sub-Saharan Africa in a ...
Oncidium: genus of some 450 species of tropical and subtropical American orchids, family Orchidaceae, that vary greatly in size and shape. Most species grow on other plants and have flowers that range in width from 6 mm (about 0.25 inch) to ...
oncogene: genetic material that carries the ability to induce cancer. An oncogene is a sequence of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) that has been altered or mutated from its original form, the proto-oncogene. Operating as a positive growth regulator, the proto-oncogene is involved ...
oncopod: collective name for three groups of animals: Onychophora and Tardigrada, which are free-living forms, and Pentastomida, which are parasitic. Onychophora and Tardigrada are considered to be separate phyla, although some authorities have included them within the Arthropoda. Pentastomida is usually ...
Ondaatje, Michael: Canadian novelist and poet whose musical prose and poetry are created from a blend of myth, history, jazz, memoirs, and other forms.
Ondangwa: settlement, northern Namibia, about 335 miles (540 km) north of Windhoek, the capital. In 1870, Onandjokue, near Ondangwa, was the site of the first Christian (Finnish Lutheran) mission in Owambo. The mission introduced Western health and educational institutions and trained ...
ondes martenot: (French: "musical waves"), electronic musical instrument demonstrated in 1928 in France by the inventor Maurice Martenot. Oscillating radio tubes produce electric pulses at two supersonic sound-wave frequencies. They in turn produce a lower frequency within audible range that is equal ...
Ondo: town, Ondo state, southwestern Nigeria, at the southern edge of the Yoruba Hills (elevation 940 feet [287 m]) and the intersection of roads from Ife, Akure, and Okitipupa. A collecting point for cocoa and palm oil and kernels, it is ...
Ondo: state, western Nigeria. It was created out of former Ondo province of former Western state in 1976. It is bounded by the states of Kwara and Kogi on the north, Edo on the east, Delta on the southeast, and Osun ...
Ondorhaan: town, eastern Mongolian People's Republic. Situated on the Kerulen River, 180 miles (290 km) east of Ulaanbaatar, the town lies at a major junction of transportation routes between Ulaanbaatar and Choybalsan. Coal mining is economically important; the coalfield in the ...
One Thousand Guineas: one of the five English Classic horse races, run over a straight mile (1.6 km) on the Rowley Mile course at the Newmarket (Suffolk) spring meeting. The race was first run in 1814. It is for three-year-old fillies and is ...
One Ton Cup: international racing trophy for sailing yachts of about one-ton displacement. From 1907 to 1955 the cup was the object of a major competition for 20-foot (6-metre) yachts, but with the decline of that class the cup was put up for ...
one-horse shay: open two-wheeled vehicle that was the American adaptation of the French chaise. Its chairlike body, seating the passengers on one seat above the axle, was hung by leather braces from a pair of square wooden springs attached to the shafts.
Oneg Shabbat: (Hebrew: "Joy of Sabbath"), informal Sabbath (or Friday evening) gathering of Jews in a synagogue or private home to express outwardly the happiness inherent in the Sabbath holiday. Now more social than religious, the group entertains itself with music, drama, ...
Onega, Lake: second largest lake in Europe, situated in the northwest part of the European portion of Russia, between Lake Ladoga and the White Sea. It covers an area of 3,753 square miles (9,720 square km). It is 154 miles (248 km) ...
Oneida: city, Madison county, central New York, U.S. It lies on Oneida Creek, 6 miles (10 km) southeast of Oneida Lake and 26 miles (42 km) east of Syracuse. Founded in 1834 by Sands Higinbotham and named for the Oneida people ...
Oneida: county, central New York state, U.S., bounded to the west by Oneida Lake and Creek and to the east by West Canada Creek and Hinckley Reservoir. It largely consists of a plateau region that becomes hillier in the south and ...
Oneida: Iroquoian-speaking North American Indian tribe of what is now central New York state and one of the original five nations of the Iroquois League (q.v.; Iroquois Confederacy). Like the other Iroquois tribes, the Oneida were semi-sedentary and practiced corn (maize) ...
Oneida Community: utopian religious community that developed out of a Society of Inquiry established by John Humphrey Noyes and some of his disciples in Putney, Vt., U.S., in 1841. As new recruits arrived, the society turned into a socialized community.
oneiromancy: prophetic divination from dreams, considered a divine act in most ancient cultures and surviving to modern times in certain folk traditions. Oneiromancy is based on the belief that dreams are messages sent to the soul by gods or the dead, ...
Oneonta: city, Otsego county, east-central New York, U.S. It lies in the Catskill foothills, on the Susquehanna River, within the town (township) of Oneonta, some 80 miles (129 km) southwest of Albany.
Onesti: city, Bacau judet (county), eastern Romania. The city was developed as a planned new town, begun in 1953 on the site of a 15th-century settlement. It was originally named for the communist leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and was renamed Onesti in ...
Onetti, Juan Carlos: Uruguayan novelist and short-story writer whose existential works chronicle the decay of modern urban life. The protagonists of his novels lead unhappy, isolated lives in an absurd and sordid world from which they can escape only through memories, fantasies, or ...
oni: in Japanese folklore, a type of demonic creature often of giant size, great strength, and fearful appearance. They are generally considered to be foreign in origin, perhaps introduced into Japan from China along with Buddhism. Cruel and malicious, they can, ...
Onin War: (1467-77), civil war in the central Kyoto region of Japan, that began in the Onin period (1467-68) and was a prelude to a prolonged period of domestic strife (1490-1590). It led to the end of the manorial system and hastened ...
onion: (species Allium cepa), herbaceous biennial plant and its edible bulb. The onion is probably native to southwestern Asia but is now grown throughout the world, chiefly in the temperate zones. The plant belongs to the lily family, Liliaceae, most members ...
Onitsha: port and market town in Anambra State, southern Nigeria. The town lies on the east bank of the Niger River just south of its confluence with the Anambra River. Founded by adventurers from Benin (nearby, to the west) in the ...
Onitsha market literature: 20th-century genre of sentimental, moralistic novellas and pamphlets produced by a semiliterate school of writers (students, fledgling journalists, and taxi drivers) and sold at the bustling Onitsha market in eastern Nigeria. Among the most prolific of the writers were Felix ...
online system: any electronic interactive system that delivers information to users via telephone lines to personal computers (PCs) or via cables to terminals. Such a service provides information, usually in text form, about news, education, business, entertainment, shopping, and more. Some also ...
Onn bin Ja'afar, Dato: Malayan political leader who played a leading role in the Merdeka (independence) movement and the establishment of the Federation of Malaya, forerunner of the present independent nation of Malaysia.
Ono Tofu: Japanese calligrapher known as one of the Sanseki ("Three Brush Traces"), in effect the first calligraphers of the age. The others were Fujiwara Yukinari and Fujiwara Sukemasa, and the three perfected the style of writing called jodai-yo ("ancient style").
Onoe Shoroku II: Japanese kabuki actor, one of the foremost interpreters of the classical kabuki plays, who specialized in female roles (all kabuki players are male).
onomatopoeia: the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it (such as buzz or hiss). Onomatopoeia may also refer to the use of words whose sound suggests the sense. This occurs frequently in ...
Onomichi: city, Hiroshima ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, facing the Inland Sea. The city's port opened in 1168 and served for about 500 years as a rice shipment centre and port of call for trade with China. The port's commercial significance declined ...
Onondaga: county, central New York state, U.S., bounded by the Oswego and Oneida rivers to the north, Oneida Lake to the northeast, De Ruyter Reservoir to the southeast, Skaneateles Lake to the southwest, and Cross Lake to the west. It comprises ...
Onondaga: tribe of Iroquoian-speaking North American Indians who lived in what is now New York state. The Onondaga inhabited villages of wood and bark longhouses occupied by related families. They moved these houses periodically to plant new gardens, to seek firewood, ...
Onsager, Lars: Norwegian-born American chemist whose development of a general theory of irreversible chemical processes gained him the 1968 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.
Ontake, Mount: mountain, rising to an elevation of 10,049 feet (3,063 m) on the boundary of Gifu and Nagano prefectures, central Honshu, Japan. A compound volcano with a heavy snow mantle in winter, it is second only to Mount Fuji in elevation ...
Ontario: county, western New York state, U.S., located southeast of Rochester and bounded by Seneca Lake to the east, Canandaigua Lake to the southeast, and Hemlock Lake and Honeoye Creek to the west. The northern part of the county comprises a ...
Ontario: city, San Bernardino county, southern California, U.S. It is situated in the Riverside-San Bernardino portion of the consolidated Los Angeles metropolitan area on the site of the Spanish colonial Rancho Cucamonga. Named for the province of Ontario in Canada, it ...
Ontario: city, Malheur county, eastern Oregon, U.S. It lies at the juncture of the Snake and Malheur rivers, 60 miles (97 km) west of Boise, Idaho, on the historic Oregon Trail. A gateway to the Oregon cattle country, it grew after ...