Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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wagtail ... Wake Island

wagtail: any of the 7 to 10 species of the bird genus Motacilla, of the family Motacillidae, together with the forest wagtail (Dendronanthus indicus) of Asia. Wagtails are strongly patterned birds of beaches, meadows, and streamsides; they usually nest on the ...
Wah: town, Punjab province, northern Pakistan. It is connected by road with Peshawar and Rawalpindi and is a growing industrial centre. Wah's industries include one of the largest cement factories in the Indian subcontinent, ordnance and tractor plants, and agricultural implements ...
Wahat al-Kharijah, Al-: oasis in the Libyan (Western) Desert, part of Al-Wadi al-Jadid ("New Valley") muhafazah (governorate), in south-central Egypt. It is situated about 110 miles (180 km) west-southwest of Naj' Hammadi, to which it is linked by railroad. The name Wahat al-Kharijah ...
Wahhab, Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-: theologian and founder of the Wahhabi movement, which attempted a return to the "true" principles of Islam.
Wahhabi: any member of the Muslim puritan movement founded by Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab in the 18th century in Najd, central Arabia, and adopted in 1744 by the Sa'udi family.
Wahiawa: city, Honolulu county, central Oahu island, Hawaii, U.S. Lying 22 miles (35 km) northwest of Honolulu, it is situated on the 1,000-foot- (300-metre-) high Leilehua Plateau between the two forks of the Kaukonahua Stream. The area was once used as ...
wahoo: (Acanthocybium solanderi), swift-moving, powerful, predacious food and game fish of the family Scombridae (order Perciformes) found worldwide, especially in the tropics. The wahoo is a slim, streamlined fish with sharp-toothed, beaklike jaws and a tapered body ending in a slender ...
Wahpeton: city, seat (1873) of Richland county, southeastern North Dakota, U.S. It lies on the Minnesota border across from Breckenridge, Minnesota, at the point where the Bois de Sioux and Otter Tail rivers merge to become the Red River of the ...
Waialeale, Mount: peak, central Kauai island, Hawaii, U.S. Waialeale (Hawaiian: "Rippling Water"), with an elevation of 5,148 feet (1,569 metres), is a dissected (eroded) dome. It is part of a central mountain mass that includes Kawaikini (5,243 feet [1,598 metres]), the island's ...
Waianae Range: mountain range forming the western coast of Oahu island, Hawaii, U.S. The range is the oldest area of volcanic activity on the island. It is 22 miles (35 km) long and 9 miles (14 km) wide and is composed of ...
Waiau River: river in southwestern South Island, New Zealand. It rises in Lake Manapouri and flows south through the Southland district for 135 miles (217 km) to enter Te Waewae Bay of the Tasman Sea. Its drainage basin includes the Mararoa River, ...
Waiau River: river in eastern South Island, New Zealand. It rises in the Spenser Mountains and flows south and east for 105 miles (169 km) to enter the Pacific Ocean, 6 miles (10 km) northeast of Cheviot. Its generally hilly drainage basin, ...
Waigeo Island: largest island of the Raja Ampat group in the Dampier Strait, Irian Jaya provinsi ("province"), Indonesia. Waigeo Island lies about 40 miles (64 km) northwest of the Doberai (Vogelkop) Peninsula and across the strait from Irian Jaya. It is 70 ...
Waiheke Island: island, a volcanic formation in southern Hauraki Gulf, off the east coast of North Island, Auckland local government region, New Zealand. It is the fifth largest island of New Zealand, having a total land area of 37 square miles (96 ...
Waihi: town, Waikato local government region, northern North Island, New Zealand, on the Ohinemuri River (tributary of the Waihou). Situated at the base of the Coromandel Peninsula on the northern end of the Waihi Plains, Waihi, whose name is Maori for ...
Waikaremoana, Lake: lake in eastern North Island, New Zealand. Created by a landslide damming the Waikare Taheke River, the 21-square-mile (54-square-kilometre) lake, measuring 12 miles (19 km) by 6 miles (10 km), drains a 165-square-mile (427-square-kilometre) basin and empties via the same ...
Waikato: local government region, northern North Island, New Zealand. It includes the mountainous Coromandel Peninsula and adjacent Hauraki Plains in the northeast; the fertile Waikato River valley in the northwest; the hills, limestone crags, and canyons of King Country in the ...
Waikato River: river, the longest in New Zealand, in central North Island. Rising on the slopes of Mount Ruapehu in Tongariro National Park as the Tongariro River, it flows north through Lake Taupo and, issuing from the lake's northeastern corner, tumbles over ...
Waikiki: resort district, southeastern Honolulu (city), Hawaii, U.S. On the southern coast of Oahu island, Waikiki (Hawaiian: "Spurting Water") is situated on Mamala Bay between the Ala Wai Canal (north and west) and Diamond Head crater (southeast). In the 19th century ...
Wailua River: river, Kauai island, Hawaii, U.S. It flows from the slopes of Mount Waialeale about 10 miles (16 km) inland to the east-central coast. At the southern end of the river is Wailua Falls, which drops 200 feet (60 metres). The ...
Wailuku: city, seat of Maui county, northern Maui island, Hawaii, U.S. It is situated on an isthmus at the mouth of the Iao Valley and the base of Maui's western mountains. With Kahului (east) it forms a contiguous area that is ...
Waimakariri River: river in east-central South Island, New Zealand. It rises in the Southern Alps and flows 100 miles (160 km) southeast to Pegasus Bay of the Pacific Ocean, 8 miles (13 km) north of Christchurch. Fed by its principal tributaries-the Bealey, ...
Waimea: town, Kauai county, southwestern Kauai island, Hawaii, U.S. Waimea, whose name means "Reddish Water," is situated on Waimea Bay at the mouth of the Waimea River. The valleys of the Waimea River and its tributary, the Makaweli River, were once ...
Waimea: village, Hawaii county, north-central Hawaii island, Hawaii, U.S. It is situated on the Mauna Kea-Kohala Saddle (2,669 feet [814 metres]), northeast of Kailua-Kona. In the 1790s the English navigator George Vancouver presented a gift of five cattle to King Kamehameha ...
Wain, John: English novelist and poet whose early works caused him, by their radical tone, to be spoken of as one of the "Angry Young Men" of the 1950s. He was also a critic and playwright.
Wainganga River: river, tributary of the Godavari River, western India. It rises in the Mahadeo Hills in south-central Madhya Pradesh state and flows 360 miles (580 km) south to join the Wardha River (a headwater of the Godavari) northeast of Kagaznagar in ...
wainscot: interior paneling in general and, more specifically, paneling that covers only the lower portion of an interior wall or partition. It has a decorative or protective function and is usually of wood, although tile and marble have at times been ...
wainscot chair: a joined wooden chair, usually made of oak, hence the name wainscot, which was used to describe a fine grade of oak usually used for paneling. Like many terms used in reference to furniture, it has a general and a ...
Wainwright: town, east-central Alberta, Canada. It lies 129 miles (208 km) southeast of Edmonton. Founded as Denwood in about 1905, it was renamed to honour William Wainwright, a Grand Trunk Pacific Railway vice president, after the arrival of the railroad in ...
Wainwright, Jonathan M.: U.S. Army general who won distinction as the hero of Bataan and Corregidor in the defense of the Philippines against Japanese attack during World War II.
Waipio Valley: valley in the Kohala Mountains, northern Hawaii island, Hawaii, U.S. Enveloped on three sides by 2,500-foot- (750-metre-) high cliffs ribboned with spectacular waterfalls (including Hiilawe Falls, which drops more than 1,000 feet [300 metres]), the picturesque valley faces a heavy ...
wairakite: hydrated calcium aluminosilicate mineral present in hot-spring deposits, notably those at Wairakei, New Zealand, and Onikobe, Japan. Like analcite, wairakite has been assigned to two mineral families: it is regarded as a feldspathoid because of its chemical properties, molecular structure, ...
Wairau River: river in northern South Island, New Zealand. It rises in the Spenser Mountains and flows for 105 miles (169 km) between the St. Arnaud and Raglan ranges to enter Cloudy Bay of Cook Strait. Wairau Bar (Te Pokohiwi), a long ...
wait: an English town watchman or public musician who sounded the hours of the night. In the later Middle Ages the waits were night watchmen, who sounded horns or even played tunes to mark the hours. In the 15th and 16th ...
Waitaki River: river in central South Island, New Zealand. Streams issuing from Lakes Ohau, Pukaki, and Tekapo in the Southern Alps form the Waitaki (Maori: "Weeping Waters"), which, draining a 4,565-square-mile (11,823-square-kilometre) basin, flows southeast for 130 miles (209 km) to enter ...
Waitangi, Treaty of: (Feb. 6, 1840), historic pact between Great Britain and a number of New Zealand Maori tribes of North Island. It purported to protect Maori rights and was the immediate basis of the British annexation of New Zealand. Negotiated at the ...
Waite, Morrison Remick: seventh chief justice of the United States (1874-88), who frequently spoke for the Supreme Court in interpreting the post-Civil War constitutional amendments and in redefining governmental jurisdiction over commerce in view of the great expansion of American business. Reacting against ...
Waitemata Harbour: harbour in northern North Island, New Zealand. The focal point of the Auckland region, it opens into Hauraki Gulf (east) through Stanley Bay. Its shore has many lesser embayments, containing Island, Soldiers, and Onetaunga bays in the northwest, Herne Bay ...
Waitomo: limestone caves, north-central North Island, New Zealand. They lie about 50 miles (80 km) south of Hamilton. Located on a tributary of the Waipa River, the caves are easily accessible for tourists by road. The underground caves have elaborate stalactites, ...
Waits, Tom: American singer-songwriter whose gritty, sometimes romantic depictions of the lives of the urban underclass won him a loyal if limited following and the admiration of critics and prominent performers who performed and recorded his songs.
Waitz, Georg: German historian who was the founder of a renowned school of medievalists at the University of Gottingen. As the leading disciple of Leopold von Ranke's critical methods, he is regarded as the ablest of the German constitutional historians; many consider ...
Waiuku: town, Auckland local government region, northern North Island, New Zealand. It lies along the Waiuku estuary, which is the southern arm of Manukau Harbour. The settlement was founded in 1843 as a port on the route between Auckland and the ...
Wajda, Andrzej: leading director in the "Polish film school," a group of highly talented individuals whose films brought international recognition to the Polish cinema during the 1950s.
waka: Japanese poetry, specifically the court poetry of the 6th to the 14th century, including such forms as the choka and sedoka, in contrast to such later forms as renga, haikai, and haiku. The term waka also is used, however, as ...
wakan: among various American Indian groups, a great spiritual power of supernatural origin belonging to some natural objects. Wakan may be conceived of as a weak or strong power; the weak powers can be ignored, but the strong ones must be ...
Wakatipu Lake: lake in south-central South Island, New Zealand. The S-shaped lake measures 48 miles (77 km) by 3 miles (5 km) and has an area of 113 square miles (293 square km). It is the second largest of the Southern Lakes, ...
Wakayama: city, capital of Wakayama ken (prefecture), west-central Honshu, Japan. It is situated in the northwestern part of the prefecture at the mouth of the Kino River, on the Kii Peninsula, and lies along the Kii Strait, which ...
Wakayama: ken (prefecture), west-central Honshu, Japan. It occupies the Kii Peninsula, which faces the Kii Strait (west) and the Pacific Ocean (south). Most of its area is mountainous and broken by deep river valleys, such as the Toro ...
wake: watch or vigil held over the body of a dead person before burial and sometimes accompanied by festivity; also, in England, a vigil kept in commemoration of the dedication of the parish church. The latter type of wake consisted of ...
Wake Forest University: private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, U.S., affiliated with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. The university consists of Wake Forest College, the Wayne Calloway School of Business and Accountancy, the School of Law, Bowman ...
Wake Island: atoll in the central Pacific Ocean, 2,300 miles (3,700 km) west of Honolulu. An unincorporated territory of the United States, it comprises three low-lying coral islets (Wilkes, Peale, and Wake) that rise to 21 feet (6 metres) above sea level ...