Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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wassail bowl ... Waterbury

wassail bowl: vessel generally made of wood and often mounted in silver, used on ceremonial occasions for drinking toasts. The word wassail derives from Old Norse ves heill, meaning "be well, and in good health." The name has come to be generally ...
Wassermann, August von: German bacteriologist whose discovery of a universal blood-serum test for syphilis helped extend the basic tenets of immunology to diagnosis. "The Wassermann reaction," in combination with other diagnostic procedures, is still employed as a reliable indicator for the disease.
Wassermann,Jakob: German novelist who is frequently compared to Fyodor Dostoyevsky in both his moral fervour and his tendency toward sensationalism; his popularity was greatest in the 1920s and '30s.
Wasserstein, Wendy: American playwright whose work probes, with humour and sensibility, the predicament facing educated women who came of age in the second half of the 20th century. Her drama The Heidi Chronicles (1988) was awarded both a Pulitzer ...
Wassukkani: capital of the Mitannian empire (c. 1500-c. 1340 BC), possibly located near the head of the Khabur River in northern Mesopotamia. Wassukkani was for many years the centre of a powerful threat to the Hittite empire, but it was finally ...
Wast, Hugo: Argentine novelist and short-story writer, probably his country's most popular and most widely translated novelist.
waste disposal: the collection, processing, and recycling or deposition of the waste materials of human society. The term "waste" covers both solid wastes (refuse, or garbage) and sewage (wastewater). See materials salvage; refuse disposal system; sewage system.
Watanabe Kazan: original name Watanabe Sadayasu Japanese scholar and painter noted for his character-revealing portraits and his pioneering efforts in adapting Western perspective to Japanese art.
Watanabe Osamu: Japanese freestyle featherweight wrestler who was the undefeated world champion in 1962 and 1963 and an Olympic gold medalist in 1964. He competed in more than 300 matches and never lost a bout in his career.
watch: portable timepiece that has a movement driven in any of several ways and is designed to be worn (as on the wrist) or carried in the pocket. There can be little doubt that the first watches appeared shortly after 1500, ...
watch fob: short ribbon or chain attached to a watch and hanging out of the pocket in which the watch is kept; the term can also refer to ornaments hung at the end of such a ribbon or chain. Until World War ...
water: a substance composed of the chemical elements hydrogen and oxygen and existing in gaseous, liquid, and solid states. Water is one of the most plentiful and essential of compounds. It is vital to life, participating in virtually every process that ...
water beetle: any of several thousand species of aquatic beetles (order Coleoptera), including members of the families Haliplidae (crawling water beetles), Amphizoidae (trout-stream beetles), Hygrobiidae (screech beetles), Gyrinidae (whirligig beetles), Noteridae (burrowing water beetles), Hydrophilidae (water scavenger beetles), Dryopidae (long-toed water beetles), ...
water bloom: dense aquatic population of microscopic organisms produced by an abundance of nutrient salts in surface water, coupled with adequate sunlight for photosynthesis. The microorganisms or the toxic substances that they release may discolour the water, deplete its oxygen content, poison ...
water boatman: any insect of the family Corixidae (order Heteroptera), with over 300 species. The water boatman has a flat, boat-shaped body and long, fringed, oarlike hindlegs. Members of this cosmopolitan family, usually less than 13 mm (0.5 inch) long, occur as ...
water buffalo: either of two forms, wild and domestic, of Asian mammal similar to the ox. There are 74 breeds of domestic water buffalo numbering some 150 million animals, but only small numbers of wild water buffalo remain. Both forms are gray ...
water chestnut: any of several perennial water plants of the genus Trapa (family Trapaceae, order Myrtales), native to Europe, Asia, and Africa. The name is also applied to their edible, nutlike fruit.
water cock: (Gallicrex cinerea), marsh bird of the rail family, Rallidae (order Gruiformes). It occurs from India to Japan and throughout Southeast Asia to the Philippines. The male is blue-black with red legs, a strongly conical red bill, and a protruding red ...
water flea: any member of the crustacean order Anomopoda (class Branchiopoda), a large group containing about 450 species distributed worldwide. Most forms are found in freshwater habitats, but a few occur in marine environments. The best known genus is Daphnia, ubiquitous in ...
water glass: crystal-like lumps that range from colourless to white or grayish white and resemble glass but can be dissolved in water to form a syrupy liquid. Some forms are slightly soluble, and some are almost insoluble; they are best dissolved by ...
water hemlock: any of about 10 species of poisonous plants of the genus Cicuta, in the parsley family (Apiaceae), common throughout the North Temperate Zone. In Europe, Cicuta virosa is the commonly known species. It is a tall perennial herb that grows ...
water hen: bird species also called common gallinule. See gallinule.
water hyacinth: any aquatic plant of the genus Eichhornia of the pickerelweed family (Pontederiaceae), consisting of about five species, native primarily to tropical America. Some species float in shallow water; others are rooted in muddy stream banks and lakeshores. All have slender ...
water lily: any of the freshwater plants of the family Nymphaeaceae, comprising eight genera native to the temperate and tropical parts of the world. All members of the family are perennial except for the genus Euryale, an annual or short-lived perennial found ...
water mass: body of ocean water with a distinctive narrow range of temperature and salinity and a particular density resulting from these two parameters. Water masses are formed as the result of climatic effects in specific regions. Antarctic bottom water is an ...
water milfoil: any member of the genus Myriophyllum (family Haloragaceae), about 45 widely distributed species of submerged freshwater plants with whorls of feathery leaves and emergent, wind-pollinated flowers. Some species are cultivated in pools and aquariums, especially the parrot's feather, or water ...
water mold: any of about 150 species of fungi belonging to the order Saprolegniales within the class Oomycetes. Many of them live in fresh or brackish water or wet soils. Most species are saprobic (i.e., they live on dead or decaying organic ...
water moss: (Fontinalis), genus of mosses belonging to the order Bryales, found in flowing freshwater streams and ponds in temperate regions. About 25 species are native to North America. A brook moss may have shoots 30 to 100 (rarely up to 200) ...
water net: any algae that is a member of the genus Hydrodictyon. A water net is a green algae found as a free-floating network of multinucleate cell masses arranged in hexagons or pentagons and up to 20 cm (7.9 ...
water parsnip: any of several aromatic herbs of the genus Sium, especially S. latifolium, belonging to the parsley family (Apiaceae), distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere and Africa. They grow in moist areas, and some species are even partially submerged. All are perennial ...
water plantain: any freshwater perennial herb of the genus Alisma, commonly found in lakes, ponds, and ditches. The three or four species are widely distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone and Australia. Water-plantain leaves float or extend out of the water. They ...
water polo: sport played in a swimming pool by teams of seven with a buoyant ball resembling an association football (soccer ball). The game was originally called "football-in-the-water," and indeed it is more like association football and basketball than polo, the name ...
water purification: treatment of water to make it safe and acceptable for human use. Such treatment has grown vastly in importance in the 20th century because of the growth of cities and development of industry and, consequently, of pollution.
water rail: (Rallus aquaticus), slender marsh bird of the family Rallidae (order Gruiformes), native to most of Europe and Asia. Its length is about 28 cm (11 inches), and it has a moderately long beak. The sides of the bird have black ...
water rat: any of 18 species of amphibious carnivorous rodents. They exhibit many adaptations associated with hunting in water for food and burrowing along streams, rivers, and lakes. The eyes are small, the nostrils can be closed to keep water out, and ...
water resource: any of the entire range of natural waters that occur on the Earth, regardless of their state (i.e., vapour, liquid, or solid) and that are of potential use to humans. Of these, the resources most available for use are the ...
water scavenger beetle: any of the approximately 2,000 species of the predominately aquatic insect family Hydrophilidae (order Coleoptera). These beetles are found swimming in marshy freshwater ponds throughout the world, especially in warm regions. Water scavenger beetles have smooth, oval, dark-brown or black ...
water scorpion: any of the approximately 150 species of aquatic invertebrates of the family Nepidae (order Hemiptera). The water scorpion resembles a land scorpion in certain ways: it has scythelike front legs adapted for seizing prey and a long, thin, whiplike structure ...
water shield: (Brasenia schreberi), small, purple-flowered aquatic plant of the fanwort family (Cabombaceae), found in northern ponds and still waters throughout the world, except in Europe. "Water shield" also refers to fanwort (q.v.; Cabomba), the only other genus in the family Cabombaceae.
water shrew: any of 12 species of amphibious shrews that have a broad, fleshy muzzle, large chest, and long hind legs and digits. Most water shrews live in montane habitats and forage in clear, cold streams and small rivers. They use all ...
water snake: any member of the genus Natrix, family Colubridae, and similar snakes. The 65 to 80 species of Natrix occur on all continents except South America. Some authorities place the New World species in several genera, the largest of which is ...
water softener: device for removing calcium and magnesium from water; water so treated will not form insoluble scale in pipes and tanks and will not form a precipitate with soaps or interfere with other cleaners. Water softeners usually consist of zeolite or ...
water strider: any insect of the family Gerridae (order Heteroptera), which numbers about 350 species. Water striders, often seen running or skating in groups over the surface of a pond or stream, are slender, dark coloured, and generally more than 5 millimetres ...
water supply: available water provided to fulfill a particular need; if the need is domestic, industrial, or agricultural, the water must fulfill both quality and quantity requirements. Water supplies can be obtained by numerous types of water resources projects, such as wells, ...
water table: upper level of an underground surface in which the soil or rocks are permanently saturated with water. The water table separates the groundwater zone that lies below it from the capillary fringe, or zone of aeration, that lies above it. ...
water treader: any insect of the approximately 30 species of the family Mesoveliidae (order Heteroptera). These small, slender insects are yellowish or greenish in colour and are 5 millimetres (0.2 inch) or less in length.
Water Witch incident: (1855), brief military skirmish near the Paraguayan Ft. Itapiru, involving the USS "Water Witch," commanded by Lt. Thomas J. Page, and Paraguayan troops who fired as the vessel was exploring the Parana River, in international waters.
water-supply system: arrangement for transporting water from areas of abundance to an area of shortage. This includes works for the collection, transmission, treatment, storage, and distribution of water for homes, commercial establishments, industry, and irrigation, as well as for such public needs ...
Waterberg Series: major division of rocks in southern Africa. The age of the Waterberg is in doubt; it is possible that the Waterberg is late Precambrian or Early Paleozoic (older or younger than 540 million years, respectively). Waterberg rocks consist of several ...
waterbuck: antelope species of the genus Kobus (q.v.).
Waterbury: city, coextensive with the town (township) of Waterbury, New Haven county, west-central Connecticut, U.S., on the Naugatuck River. Mattatuck Plantation, settled in 1674 as part of Farmington, was incorporated (1686) as the town of Waterbury, so named because of the ...