Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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undertow ... Unisys Corporation

undertow: a strong seaward bottom current returning the water of broken waves back out to sea. There is in fact no such current in a gross sense, for the overall flow of surface water toward the shore in a surf zone ...
underwater diving: swimming done underwater either with a minimum of equipment, as in skin diving (free diving) or with a scuba (abbreviation of self-contained underwater-breathing apparatus) or an Aqua-Lung. Competitive underwater diving sports include spearfishing and underwater hockey, sometimes called "octopush."
Underwood, Francis Henry: American author and lawyer who became a founder of The Atlantic Monthly in order to further the antislavery cause.
Underwood, Oscar W: U.S. congressman from Alabama (1895-1927) who drafted the Underwood Tariff Act of 1913.
undine: mythological figure of European tradition, a water nymph who becomes human when she falls in love with a man but is doomed to die if he is unfaithful to her. Derived from the Greek figures known as Nereids, attendants of ...
Undset, Sigrid: Norwegian novelist who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928.
unemployment: the condition of one who is capable of working, actively seeking work, but unable to find any work. It is important to note that to be considered unemployed a person must be an active member of the labour force and ...
unemployment insurance: a form of social insurance (q.v.) designed to compensate certain categories of workers for unemployment that is involuntary and short-term. Unemployment insurance programs were created primarily to provide financial assistance to laid-off workers during a period deemed long enough to ...
Unequal Treaty: in Chinese history, any of a series of treaties in which China was forced to concede many of its territorial and sovereignty rights. They were negotiated during the 19th and early 20th centuries between China and foreign imperialist powers, especially ...
UNESCO: specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that was created in 1946 to promote international collaboration in education, science, and culture. Its permanent headquarters are in Paris, France.
uneven parallel bars: gymnastics apparatus developed in the 1930s and used in women's competition. The length and construction are the same as for the parallel bars used in men's gymnastics. The top bar is 2.4 metres (7.8 feet) above the floor, while the ...
Ungaretti, Giuseppe: Italian poet, founder of the Hermetic movement (see Hermeticism) that brought about a reorientation in modern Italian poetry.
Ungava: peninsular section of northern Quebec province, Canada, bounded by the Hudson Strait (north), Ungava Bay and Labrador (east), the Eastmain River (south), and the Hudson Bay (west). Physically, Ungava is a part of the Canadian Shield, a rocky, glacial-scoured plateau ...
Ungava Bay: inlet off the Hudson Strait, on the northeast coast of Nord-du-Quebec region, northern Quebec province, Canada. The bay is approximately 200 miles (320 km) long, 160 miles (260 km) wide at the mouth, and has a maximum depth of 978 ...
Ungava-Quebec Crater: geologically young crater of meteoritic origin located in the northwestern part of the Ungava Peninsula, northern Quebec province, Canada. First recognized as an impact structure in 1950, the crater is 3.4 km (2.1 miles) in diameter and has a rim ...
Unggi: city, extreme northeastern North Korea. It lies 16 miles (26 km) southwest of the estuary of the Tumen River, which forms North Korea's boundary with Russia. Until Unggi's port was opened in 1921, it was a poor village, but it ...
ungulate: formerly, any hoofed mammal. Although the term is now used more broadly in formal classification as the grandorder Ungulata, in common usage it was widely applied to a diverse group of placental mammals that were characterized as hoofed herbivorous quadrupeds. ...
UNICEF: special program of the United Nations (UN), devoted to aiding national efforts to improve the health, nutrition, education, and general welfare of children.
unicorn: mythological animal resembling a horse or a kid with a single horn on its forehead. The unicorn appeared in early Mesopotamian artworks, and it also was referred to in the ancient myths of India and China. The earliest description in ...
unicorn beetle: (Dynastes tityus), a large, easily recognized insect of the Dynastinae subfamily of the beetle family Scarabaeidae (order Coleoptera). The unicorn beetle is closely related to the rhinoceros and elephant beetles. Hornlike structures on the thorax (region behind the head) and ...
unicorn fish: any of certain exclusively marine fishes belonging to the genus Naso, in the family Acanthuridae (order Perciformes), occurring in the tropical Indo-Pacific region. The 17 species are herbivorous algae eaters. Unicorn fishes have a pair of sharp forward-pointing spines that ...
unicorn plant: any North American herb of the family Martyniaceae of the flowering plant order Scrophulariales, and particularly Proboseidea louisianica. There are nine species of unicorn plants, most having large purple or creamy white flowers.
unidentified flying object: any aerial object or optical phenomenon not readily explainable to the observer. UFO's became a major subject of interest with the developments in aeronautics and astronautics following World War II.
Unification Church: religious movement founded in Pusan, South Korea, by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon in 1954. Known for its mass weddings, the church teaches a unique Christian theology. It has generated much controversy, and its members are commonly derided as "Moonies."
unified field theory: in particle physics, an attempt to describe all fundamental forces and the relationships between elementary particles in terms of a single theoretical framework. In physics, forces can be described by fields that mediate interactions between separate objects. In the mid-19th ...
unified science: in the philosophy of logical positivism, a doctrine holding that all sciences share the same language, laws, and method or at least one or two of these features. A unity-of-science movement arose in the Vienna Circle, a group of scientists ...
Unified Silla Dynasty: (668-935), dynasty that unified the three kingdoms of the Korean peninsula-Silla, Paekche, and Koguryo. The old Silla kingdom had forged an alliance with T'ang China (618-907) and had conquered the kingdom of Paekche to the southeast in 660 and the ...
uniform circular motion: motion of a particle moving at a constant speed on a circle. In the , the velocity vector v of the particle is constant in magnitude, but it changes in direction by an amount Deltav while the particle moves from ...
uniformitarianism: in geology, the doctrine that existing processes acting in the same manner and with essentially the same intensity as at present are sufficient to account for all geologic change. Uniformitarianism posits that natural agents now at work on and within ...
Unigenitus: bull issued by Pope Clement XI on Sept. 8, 1713, condemning the doctrines of Jansenism, a dissident religious movement within France. The publication of the bull began a doctrinal controversy in France that lasted throughout much of the 18th century ...
Unilever: either of twin companies, Unilever PLC (based in London) and Unilever NV (based in Rotterdam), which are the holding companies for more than 500 companies worldwide engaged in the manufacture and sale of soaps, foods, and other products for household ...
Union: county, central Pennsylvania, U.S., bounded by the West Branch Susquehanna River to the east and Penns Creek Mountain to the south. The mountainous ridge-and-valley terrain includes Buffalo, Paddy, and Nittany mountains and is drained by Penns, Buffalo, and White Deer ...
Union: county, northern South Carolina, U.S. It is bordered by the Pacolet River to the north, the Broad River to the east, and the Enoree River to the south. The southern half of it is within Sumter National Forest, including Rose ...
Union: county, northeastern New Mexico, U.S., bordered on the north by Colorado and on the east by Oklahoma and Texas. It lies in the Great Plains. The eastern landscape is marked by black-capped mesas and the twin Rabbit Ear Mountains, ancient ...
Union: city, seat of Union county, northern South Carolina, U.S. It lies in hilly piedmont country near the Broad River, 68 miles (109 km) northwest of Columbia. Union was first settled in 1791 as Unionville around Union Church (1765), which was ...
Union: county, northeastern New Jersey, U.S., bounded by the Passaic River to the west, Newark Bay and Arthur Kill to the east, the Rahway River to the southeast, and Green Brook to the southwest. The land rises from coastal lowlands in ...
Union: township (town), Union county, northeastern New Jersey, U.S., on the Elizabeth River, 5 miles (8 km) northwest of the town of Elizabeth, New Jersey. Settled in 1749 as Connecticut Farms, Union was originally a part of Elizabeth but was incorporated ...
Union Bank of Switzerland: one of the largest commercial banks in Switzerland, with overseas representative offices and branches. Headquarters are in Zurich.
Union Carbide Corporation: major American manufacturer of chemicals, petrochemicals, and related products. Headquarters are in Danbury, Conn., U.S.
Union City: city, Hudson county, northeastern New Jersey, U.S., just north of Hoboken. It lies near the western end of the Lincoln Tunnel, on the Palisades overlooking the Hudson River and New York City. In an area originally settled by the Dutch ...
Union College: private, coeducational institution of higher education located in Schenectady, New York, U.S. Comprising about 20 academic departments, it offers a curriculum in liberal arts and engineering, with an emphasis on undergraduate education. Union College cooperates with Albany Medical College and ...
Union League: in U.S. history, any of the associations originally organized in the North to inspire loyalty to the Union cause during the American Civil War. During Reconstruction, they spread to the South to ensure Republicans of support among newly enfranchised blacks.
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: former northern Eurasian empire (1917/22-1991) stretching from the Baltic and Black seas to the Pacific Ocean and, in its final years, consisting of 15 Soviet Socialist Republics (S.S.R.'s)-Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belorussia (now Belarus), Estonia, Georgia, Kazakstan, Kirgiziya (now Kyrgyzstan), Latvia, Lithuania, ...
Union Pacific Railroad Company: company that extended the American railway system to the Pacific Coast; it was incorporated by an act of the U.S. Congress on July 1, 1862. The original rail line was built westward 1,006 miles (1,619 km) from Omaha, Nebraska, to ...
union shop: arrangement requiring workers to join a particular union and pay dues within a specified period of time after beginning employment-usually 30 to 90 days. Such an arrangement guarantees that workers will pay for the benefits of union representation. A union ...
Union, Act of: (May 1, 1707), treaty that effected the union of England and Scotland under the name of Great Britain.
Union, Act of: (Jan. 1, 1801), legislative agreement uniting Great Britain (England and Scotland) and Ireland under the name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Uniontown: city, seat (1784) of Fayette county, southwestern Pennsylvania, U.S. It lies along Redstone Creek, among the rugged foothills of the Allegheny Mountains, 45 miles (72 km) southeast of Pittsburgh. Settled in 1768 and laid out (1776) by Henry Beeson, a ...
unique-headed bug: any of the approximately 130 insect species of the family Enicocephalidae (order Heteroptera). The unique-headed bug, found throughout the world, is about 4 mm (0.2 inch) long and, as indicated by its common name, has an unusual elongated head that ...
unisexuality: in biology, the condition of an organism or species capable of producing only male or female gametes (sex cells) but never both. A unisexual organism of a bisexual species is one in which the male and female gonads are found ...
Unisys Corporation: American manufacturer of computer systems. The company was formed in 1986 from the merger of Sperry Corporation and Burroughs Corporation.