Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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quantum number ... Queen Elizabeth

quantum number: any of several quantities of integral or half-integral value that identify the state of a physical system such as an atom, a nucleus, or a subatomic particle. Quantum numbers refer generally to properties that are discrete (quantized) and conserved, such ...
Quantz, Johann Joachim: German composer and flute virtuoso who left an important treatise on the flute and who made mechanical improvements in the instrument.
Quapaw: North American Indian people of the Dhegiha branch of the Siouan language stock. With the other members of this subgroup (including the Osage, Ponca, Kansa, and Omaha [qq.v.]), the Quapaw migrated westward from the Atlantic coast. They settled for a ...
quarantine: the detention or restraint of humans or other creatures that may have come into contact with communicable disease until it is deemed certain that they have escaped infection. In the vocabulary of disease control the terms quarantine and isolation are ...
Quare, Daniel: English clockmaker, inventor of a repeating watch mechanism (1680) that sounded the nearest hour and quarter hour when the owner pushed or squeezed a pin protruding from the case.
Quarenghi, Giacomo Antonio Domenico: Italian Neoclassical architect and painter, best known as the builder of numerous works in Russia during and immediately after the reign of Catherine II the Great. He was named "Grand Architect of all the Russias."
quark: any member of a group of elementary subatomic particles that interact by means of the strong force and are believed to be among the fundamental constituents of matter. Quarks associate with one another via the ...
Quarles, Francis: religious poet remembered for his Emblemes, the most notable emblem book in English. (An emblem book is a collection of symbolic pictures, usually accompanied by mottoes and expositions in verse and by a prose commentary.)
quarry: open excavation in the Earth's crust from which stone is obtained. Quarried stone is classed either as dimension stone, meaning blocks or slabs cut to size, or as crushed and broken stone. Older quarrying was concerned almost exclusively with dimension ...
quart: unit of capacity in the British Imperial and U.S. Customary systems of measurement. For both liquid and dry measure, the British system uses one standard quart, which is equal to two imperial pints, or one-fourth imperial gallon (69.36 cubic inches, ...
quarter sessions: formerly, in England and Wales, sessions of a court held four times a year by a justice of the peace to hear criminal charges as well as civil and criminal appeals. The term also applied to a court held before ...
quarter-horse racing: in the United States, the racing of horses at great speed for short distances on a straightaway course, originally a quarter of a mile, hence the name. Quarter-horse racing was begun by the early settlers in Virginia shortly after Jamestown ...
Quartering Act: (1765), in American colonial history, the British parliamentary provision (actually an amendment to the annual Mutiny Act) requiring colonial authorities to provide food, drink, quarters, fuel, and transportation to British forces stationed in their towns or villages.
quartermaster: officer who superintends arrangements for the quartering and movement of troops. In Europe the office dates back at least to the 15th century. During the late 17th century, when the minister of war of King Louis XIV of France reorganized ...
quarterstaff: a staff of wood from 6 to 9 feet (about 2 to 3 m) long, used for attack and defense. It is probably the cudgel or sapling with which many legendary heroes are described as being armed. The quarterstaff attained ...
quartet: musical composition for four instruments or voices; also the group of four performers. Although any music in four parts can be performed by four individuals, the term has come to be used primarily in referring to the string quartet (two ...
quartz: widely distributed mineral of many varieties that consists primarily of silica, or silicon dioxide (SiO₂). Minor impurities such as lithium, sodium, potassium, and titanium may be present. Quartz has attracted attention from the earliest times; water-clear crystals were known to ...
quartz monzonite: intrusive igneous rock (solidified from a liquid state) that contains plagioclase feldspar, orthoclase feldspar, and quartz. It is abundant in the large batholiths (great masses of igneous rocks mostly deep below the surface) of the world's mountain belts. Quartz monzonite ...
quartzite: sandstone that has been converted into a solid quartz rock. Unlike sandstones, quartzites are free from pores and have a smooth fracture; when struck, they break through, not around, the sand grains, producing a smooth surface instead of a rough ...
quasar: any of a class of rare cosmic objects of high luminosity as well as strong radio emission observed at extremely great distances. The term is also often applied to closely related objects that have the same optical appearance but that ...
quasicrystal: matter formed atomically in a manner somewhere between the amorphous solids of glasses (special forms of metals and other minerals, as well as common glass) and the precise pattern of crystals. Like crystals, quasicrystals contain an ordered structure, but the ...
quasicrystal: matter formed atomically in a manner somewhere between the amorphous solids of glasses (special forms of metals and other minerals, as well as common glass) and the precise pattern of crystals. Like crystals, quasicrystals contain an ordered structure, but the ...
Quasimodo, Salvatore: Italian poet, critic, and translator. Originally a leader of the Hermetic poets, he became, after World War II, a powerful poet commenting on modern social issues. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1959.
quasiparticle: in physics, a disturbance, in a medium, that behaves as a particle and that may conveniently be regarded as one. A rudimentary analogy is that of a bubble in a glass of beer: the bubble is not really an independent ...
Quaternary Period: interval of geologic time, the youngest of the 11 periods in the Earth's history. The Quaternary is both the shortest and most recent period. It is the second period of the Cenozoic Era, following the Tertiary Period, and began about ...
Quatre Bornes: town ("township") on the island of Mauritius, in the western Indian Ocean. It lies in the western highlands region of the country, about 9 miles (14 km) south of Port Louis, the national capital. Quatre Bornes (French: "Four Boundaries") was ...
Quattrocento: the totality of cultural and artistic events and movements that occurred in Italy during the 15th century, the major period of the Early Renaissance. Designations such as Quattrocento (1400s) and the earlier Trecento (1300s) and the later Cinquecento (1500s) are ...
Quayle, Dan: 44th vice president of the United States (1989-93) in the Republican administration of President George Bush.
Quayle, Sir Anthony: British actor and director who was well known for his roles in classic plays on the stage as well as for his motion-picture career.
Quba: city in northeastern Azerbaijan. It is situated on the eastern slopes of the Greater Caucasus, on the right bank of the Kudial River. In the 18th century a khanate was founded with Quba as the capital. The khanate was occupied ...
Quchan: town, northeastern Iran. Most of the inhabitants of Quchan are descended from a tribe of Za'faranlu Kurds resettled there by Shah 'Abbas I in the 17th century. In return for frontier military service, the resettled Kurds enjoyed a wide-ranging autonomy ...
Queanbeyan: city, southeastern New South Wales, Australia. It lies along the Queanbeyan River, just southeast of the Australian Capital Territory (Canberra). It originated in 1828 as a holding called Queen Bean, a name phonetically derived from an Aboriginal word meaning "clear ...
Quebec: eastern province of Canada. With a total area of 594,860 square miles (1,540,680 square kilometres), it is the largest Canadian province in size and is second only to Ontario in population. Its capital, Quebec city (see ), is the oldest ...
Quebec: city and port, seat of Quebec region and capital of Quebec province, Canada. It lies at the confluence of the St. Lawrence and Saint-Charles rivers, about 150 miles (240 km) northeast of Montreal. The first European to visit the area ...
Quebec Act: (1774), act of the British Parliament that vested the government of Quebec in a governor and council and preserved the French Civil Code and the Roman Catholic Church. The act was an attempt to deal with major questions that had ...
Quebec Conference: either of two Anglo-American conferences held in the city of Quebec during World War II. The first (August 11-24, 1943), code-named Quadrant, was held to discuss plans for the forthcoming Allied invasions of Italy and France and was attended by ...
Quebec, Battle of: (Sept. 13, 1759), in the French and Indian War, decisive defeat of the French under the Marquis de Montcalm by a British force led by Maj. Gen. James Wolfe.
Quebec, Battle of: (December 31, 1775), in the American Revolution, unsuccessful American attack on the British stronghold. In the winter of 1775-76, American Revolutionary leaders detached some of their forces from the Siege of Boston to mount an expedition through Maine with the ...
Quechua: South American Indians living in the Andean highlands from Ecuador to Bolivia. They speak many regional varieties of Quechua, which was the language of the Inca empire (though it predates the Inca) and which later became the lingua franca of ...
Quechuan languages: the languages of the former Inca Empire in South America and the principal native languages of the central Andes today. According to archaeological and historical evidence, the original languages were probably spoken in a small area in the southern Peruvian ...
Quedlinburg: city, Saxony-Anhalt Land (state), central Germany. It lies on the Bode River, in the northern foothills of the Lower Harz Mountains, southwest of Magdeburg. Founded in 922 as a fortress by Henry I (the Fowler), it became ...
Queen: British rock band whose fusion of heavy metal, glam rock, and camp theatrics made it one of the most popular groups of the 1970s. Although generally dismissed by critics, Queen crafted an elaborate blend of layered guitar work by virtuoso ...
Queen Alexandra Range: mountain range of Antarctica, located in Ross Dependency (New Zealand) along the western edge of the Ross Ice Shelf. The range reaches an elevation of 14,856 feet (4,528 m) in Mount Kirkpatrick. The mountain range rises between the Dry Valleys ...
Queen Anne style: the period of English decorative arts during the reign (1702-14) of Queen Anne. The term applies to the style that began to evolve during the rule of King William III of England, reached its primacy during the reign of Queen ...
Queen Anne's: county, eastern Maryland, U.S., bordered by the Chester River to the north, Delaware to the east, and Chesapeake Bay to the west. It consists of a coastal lowland and includes Kent Island, which is linked across the bay to Anne ...
Queen Anne's lace: (Daucus carota), biennial species of plant in the parsley family (Apiaceae). It is an ancestor of the cultivated carrot. It grows to 1.5 m (5 feet) tall. The bristly plant has divided leaves, umbels (flat-topped clusters) of white or pink ...
Queen Anne's Men: theatrical company in Jacobean England. Formed upon the accession of James I in 1603, it was an amalgamation of Oxford's Men and Worcester's Men. Christopher Beeston served as the troupe's manager, and the playwright Thomas Heywood wrote works exclusively for ...
Queen Anne's War: (1702-13), second in a series of wars fought between Great Britain and France in North America for control of the continent. It was contemporaneous with the War of the Spanish Succession in Europe. British military aid to the colonists was ...
Queen Charlotte Islands: archipelago of western British Columbia, Canada, south of the Alaskan Panhandle. Extending in a north-south direction for roughly 175 miles (280 km) and with a land area of 3,705 square miles (9,596 square km), the islands (about 150 in number) ...
Queen Charlotte Sound: broad, deep inlet of the eastern North Pacific indenting west-central British Columbia, Canada. Bounded on the north by the Queen Charlotte Islands and on the south by Vancouver Island, the sound feeds into a series of straits that once were ...
Queen Elizabeth: one of the largest passenger liners ever built. Launched in 1938 and used as a troopship during World War II, it entered the regular transatlantic service of the Cunard Line in 1946. The ship was 1,031 feet (314 m) long ...