Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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rapporteur ... Rathbone, Basil

rapporteur: in French civil law, a judge who furnishes a written report on the case at hand to other judges of the court, in which he sets forth the arguments of the parties, specifies the questions of fact and of law ...
raptor: in general, any bird of prey; the term raptor is sometimes restricted to birds of the order Falconiformes (hawks, eagles, falcons, and their allies). See bird of prey.
Raqqah ware: Islamic earthenware produced at Ar-Raqqah, Syria, between the 9th and 14th centuries. The body of the ware, which is white tending to buff, is coated with a siliceous glaze. Designs, sometimes in relief, tend to be bold. Decoration includes brown ...
Raqqah, Ar-: town, northern Syria, on the Euphrates River just west of its confluence with the Balikh River. Ar-Raqqah is on the site of an ancient Greek city, Nicephorium, and a later Roman fortress and market town, Callinicus. It flourished again in ...
rare-earth element: any of a large family of chemical elements consisting of scandium (atomic number 21), yttrium (atomic number 39), and 15 elements from lanthanum to lutetium (atomic numbers 57-71). They form a series of 17 chemically similar metals, all but one ...
rarefaction: in the physics of sound, segment of one cycle of a longitudinal wave during its travel or motion, the other segment being compression. If the prong of a tuning fork vibrates in the air, for example, the layer of air ...
Raritan River: largest stream lying wholly within New Jersey, U.S., formed by the confluence of the North Branch Raritan and the South Branch Raritan rivers in western Somerset county. It flows about 75 miles (120 km) generally southeast past Somerville, Bound Brook, ...
Rarotonga: largest of the lower Cook Islands, in the South Pacific Ocean, 2,100 miles (3,400 km) northeast of New Zealand. Its area is 26 square miles (67 square km). Volcanic in origin, it has a rugged interior rising to Mount Te ...
Ras Algethi: red supergiant star, whose diameter is probably larger than the orbit of the Earth. It lies in the constellation Hercules and is of about third magnitude, its brightness varying. The name comes from an Arabic phrase meaning "the kneeler's head," ...
Ras Tanura: port on the Persian Gulf, in eastern Saudi Arabia, at the tip of a small peninsula. Developed by the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco) after the discovery of nearby petroleum deposits in the 1930s, it is now a principal Persian ...
rasa: in Sanskrit literature, the concept of aesthetic flavour, or an essential element of any work of art that can only be suggested, not described. It is a kind of contemplative abstraction in which the inwardness of human feelings suffuses the ...
rasbora: (genus Rasbora), any of a group of about 45 species of schooling, freshwater tropical fishes in the carp family, Cyprinidae. Most species are found in Southeast Asia, but a few are native to Africa. The fishes are active, generally slender, ...
Rasch, Albertina: Austrian-born American dancer, choreographer, and teacher whose troupes became well known during the 1920s and '30s for their appearances in Broadway musicals and Hollywood films.
Rashi: renowned medieval French commentator on the Bible and Talmud (the authoritative Jewish compendium of law, lore, and commentary). Rashi combined the two basic methods of interpretation, literal and nonliteral, in his influential Bible commentary. His commentary on the Talmud was ...
Rashid ad-Din: leader of the Syrian branch of the Assassins (an Isma'ili Shi'i Muslim sect) at the time of the Third Crusade. He had his headquarters at a fortress in Masyaf, in northern Syria, and was known to Westerners as the Old ...
Rashid ad-Din: Persian statesman and historian who was the author of a universal history, Jami' at-tawarikh.
Rashid Rida: Syrian scholar who helped Muslims formulate an intellectual response to the problem of reconciling their Islamic heritage to the modern world.
Rashid, ar-: founder (1666) of the reigning 'Alawi (Filali) dynasty of Morocco. By force of arms he filled a power vacuum that, with the collapse of the Sa'di dynasty, had allowed half a century of provincial and religious warfare among rival Sufi ...
Rashidun: (Arabic: "Rightly Guided," or "Perfect"), the first four caliphs of the Islamic community, known in Muslim history as the orthodox or patriarchal caliphs: Abu Bakr (reigned 632-634), 'Umar (reigned 634-644), 'Uthman (reigned 644-656), and 'Ali (reigned 656-661).
Rashnu: in Zoroastrianism, the deity of justice, who with Mithra, the god of truth, and Sraosha, the god of religious obedience, determines the fates of the souls of the dead. Rashnu is praised in a yasht, or hymn, of the Avesta, ...
Rasht: city, north-central Iran. It lies about 15 miles (24 km) south of the Caspian Sea on a branch of the Safid River, where the higher ground merges into the marshlands fringing the Mordab, or Pahlavi, lagoon. Rasht's importance as the ...
Rasin, Alois: Czech statesman, one of the founders and first finance minister of the Republic of Czechoslovakia.
Rask, Rasmus: Danish language scholar and a principal founder of the science of comparative linguistics. In 1818 he first showed that, in their consonant sounds, words in the Germanic languages vary with a certain regularity from their equivalents in the other Indo-European ...
Raskob, John Jakob: American financier who played a major role in the early 20th-century expansion of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. and of General Motors Corporation.
Raskol: (Russian: "Schism"), division in the Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th century over reforms in liturgy and forms of worship. Over the centuries, many features of Russian religious practice had been inadvertently altered by unlettered priests and laity, removing Russian ...
raslila: folk dance drama of northern India, mainly Uttar Pradesh, based on scenes from the life of Krishna. Solo and group dancing are combined with singing, chanted recitation, and instrumental accompaniment.
Rasmussen, Halfdan: Danish poet of social protest, as well as an excellent writer of nonsense verse.
Rasmussen, Knud Johan Victor: Danish-Eskimo explorer and ethnologist who, in the course of completing the longest dog-sledge journey to that time, across the American Arctic, made a scientific study of virtually every Eskimo tribe in that vast region.
raspberry: fruit-bearing bush of the genus Rubus (family Rosaceae), mentioned by Pliny the Elder as a wild fruit. John Parkinson (Paradisus [1629]) speaks of red, white, and thornless varieties of raspberries; their culture began about this time. Raspberry bushes bear juicy ...
Raspe, Rudolf Erich: German scholar and adventurer best remembered as the author of the popular tall tales The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.
Rasputin, Grigory Yefimovich: Siberian peasant and mystic whose ability to improve the condition of Aleksey Nikolayevich, the hemophiliac heir to the Russian throne, made him an influential favourite at the court of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra.
Rassam, Hormuzd: Assyriologist who excavated some of the finest Assyrian and Babylonian antiquities that are now in the possession of the British Museum and found vast numbers of cuneiform tablets at Nineveh (Ninawa, Iraq) and Sippar (Abu Habbah, Iraq), including the earliest ...
rasse: small Asiatic mammal, a species of civet (q.v.).
Rastafari: religious and political movement, begun in Jamaica in the 1930s and adopted by many groups around the globe, that combines Protestant Christianity, mysticism, and a pan-African political consciousness.
Rastatt and Baden, treaties of: (March 6 and Sept. 7, 1714), peace treaties between the Holy Roman emperor Charles VI and France that ended the emperor's attempt to continue the War of the Spanish Succession (1700-14) after the other states had made peace in the ...
Rastell, William: English printer, lawyer, and man of letters. He edited and published the works of his uncle, Thomas More. He also printed the only surviving plays of John Heywood, who married Rastell's sister, Eliza.
Rastrakuta Dynasty: Hindu dynasty that ruled the Deccan and neighbouring areas of India from c. 755 to 975.
Rasulid Dynasty: Muslim dynasty that ruled Yemen and Hadramawt (1229-1454) after the Ayyubids of Egypt abandoned the southern provinces of the Arabian Peninsula.
rat: the term generally and indiscriminately applied to numerous members of several rodent families having bodies longer than about 12 cm, or 5 inches. (Smaller thin-tailed rodents are just as often indiscriminately referred to as mice.) In scientific usage, rat applies ...
Rat Islands: uninhabited group of the Aleutian Islands, southwestern Alaska, U.S. They extend about 110 miles (175 km) southeast of the Near Islands and west of the Andreanof Islands. The largest of the islands are Amchitka, Kiska, and Semisopochnoi. Separated from the ...
rat kangaroo: any of the nine species of Australian and Tasmanian marsupials constituting a subfamily Potoroinae, of the kangaroo family, Macropodidae (see kangaroo). Some authorities recognize a separate family, Potoroidae. They differ from other kangaroos in skull and urogenital anatomy and in ...
rat opossum: any of several South American marsupial mammals of the family Caenolestidae. The seven species, together with opossums (Didelphidae), form the New World section of the superorder Marsupialia. Rat opossums, named for their general appearance and size, have 46 to 48 ...
rat snake: any of between 40 and 55 species of the genus Elaphe, of the family Colubridae and similar forms. They occur in North America, Europe, and Asia east to the Philippines. Most are found in woodlands and around farm buildings. They ...
rat-bite fever: relapsing type of infection caused by the bacterium Spirillum minus (also called Spirillum minor) and transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected rat. It is characterized by infection at the site of ...
Ratana church: 20th-century religious awakening among the New Zealand Maoris and a national political influence, especially during the period 1943-63, when its members held all four Maori parliamentary seats in the national capital.
Ratchaburi: town, western Thailand, west of Bangkok. Prehistoric relics, cave drawings, and old Buddhist temples indicate that the site of Ratchaburi town, on the Mae Klong River, has been inhabited from early times. The town is now a river port, a ...
ratchet: mechanical device that transmits intermittent rotary motion or permits a shaft to rotate in one direction but not in the opposite one. In the the arm A and the ratchet wheel B are both pivoted at O. The stem ...
ratel: (Mellivora capensis), badgerlike member of the weasel family (Mustelidae) noted for its fondness for honey. Ratels live in covered and forested regions of Africa and southern Asia. The adult stands 25-30 cm (10-12 inches) at the shoulder and has a ...
ratfish: any of certain sharks of the chimaera (q.v.) group.
Rathayatra: car festival of India, observed by taking an image of the deity in a procession through the streets, thus affording darshan (auspicious viewing) of the deity to worshipers who, because of caste or sectarian restrictions, are not admitted to the ...
Rathbone, Basil: British character actor whose portrayal of Sherlock Holmes highlighted a long and varied stage and screen career.