one of the most successful of the early American film stars, who gained international fame for her work in "chapter stories"-long-running melodramatic serials, such as The Perils of Pauline.
English novelist, social historian, and satirist who was best known for his brilliant adaptation of Sir Thomas Malory's 15th-century romance, Morte Darthur, into a quartet of novels called The Once and Future King.
foremost spokesman for African Americans for almost a quarter of a century and executive secretary (1931-55) of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He waged a long and ultimately successful campaign against the lynching of blacks ...
American journalist known as the "Sage of Emporia," whose mixture of tolerance, optimism, liberal Republicanism, and provincialism made him the epitome of the thoughtful small-town American. His editorial writing made his own small-town newspaper, the Emporia Gazette, internationally known, and ...
crime committed by persons of relatively high social or economic status in connection with their regular occupations. White-collar crimes fall broadly into two categories: those illegal actions undertaken by perpetrators to make money for themselves; and those illegal actions undertaken ...
any of the 80 to 85 species of birds of the Old World family Zosteropidae (order Passeriformes). They are so much alike that about 60 of them are often lumped in a single genus, Zosterops. White-eyes occur chiefly from Africa ...
(species Anser albifrons), rather small, dark-bodied goose with white forehead, yellow bill, and irregular black patches on the belly; it is classified in the tribe Anserini of the family Anatidae (order Anseriformes). Breeding in the Arctic, the white-fronted goose, which ...
(Odocoileus virginianus), common woodland deer, family Cervidae (order Artiodactyla), ranging from southern Canada to South America. "White-tailed deer" refers to the white underside of the tail, which is held aloft like a signaling flag when the animal is alarmed or ...
any of 164 species of mouse-sized African and Eurasian insectivores making up nearly half of the more than 325 species of true shrews (family Soricidae). No other genus of mammals contains as many species. Seven were named during the last ...
Church of England evangelist who by his popular preaching stimulated the 18th-century Protestant revival throughout Britain and the British-American colonies.
any of several valuable, silvery food fishes (family Salmonidae, or in some classifications, Coregonidae), generally found in cold northern lakes of Europe, Asia, and North America, often in deep water. Whitefish are like trout in having an adipose (fleshy) fin ...
southeastern arm of Lake Superior, the centre of which forms the border of Ontario (Can.) and Michigan (U.S.). The bay, 30 miles (48 km) long (northwest to southeast) and 15 to 34 miles (24 to 55 km) wide, is fed ...
any sap-sucking member of the insect family Aleyrodidae (order Homoptera). The nymphs, resembling scale insects, are flat, oval, and usually covered with a cottony substance; the adults, 2-3 mm (0.08-0.12 inch) long, are covered with a white opaque powder and ...
private London playhouse located in the priory of the Whitefriars monastery on the north side of the River Thames. Michael Drayton and Thomas Woodford converted the refectory hall to a private theatre in 1606, perhaps inspired by the conversion of ...
street and locality in the City of Westminster, London. The street runs between Charing Cross and the Houses of Parliament. The name Whitehall also applies to the cluster of short streets, squares, and governmental buildings adjoining the street. Whitehall has ...
former English royal residence located in Westminster, London, on a site between the Thames River and the present-day St. James's Park. York Place, the London residence of the archbishops of York since 1245, originally occupied the site.
Irish Sea port, Copeland district, administrative county of Cumbria, historic county of Cumberland, England. The Lowther family created a new port there in the 17th century as an outlet for shipping coal, especially to Dublin, from their local mines, and ...
English mathematician and philosopher, who collaborated with Bertrand Russell on Principia Mathematica (1910-13) and, from the mid-1920s, taught at Harvard University and developed a comprehensive metaphysical theory.
city and capital (since 1952) of the Yukon Territory, Canada, on the Yukon (Lewes) River just below Miles Canyon and the former Whitehorse Rapids (now submerged beneath Schwatka Lake, created after 1958 by a hydropower dam). It is the Yukon ...
American bandleader, called the "King of Jazz" for popularizing a musical style that helped to introduce jazz to mainstream audiences during the 1920s and 1930s.
(Sylvia communis), typical Old World warbler of the family Sylviidae (order Passeriformes); it breeds in western Eurasia and northwestern Africa and winters in Africa and India. It is 14 cm (5 12 inches) long, with red-brown wing patches and longish ...
any of a broad class of ceramic products that are white to off-white in appearance and frequently contain a significant vitreous, or glassy, component. Including products as diverse as fine china dinnerware, lavatory sinks and toilets, dental implants, and spark-plug ...
embroidery worked in white thread on white material, originated in India and China and popular in the West since the Middle Ages as decoration for personal, table, and various church linens. Especially favoured in the 15th century as embellishment for ...
American middle-distance runner, world-record holder for the 880-yard race (1950-54), for the 1,000-metre race (1953), and as a member of the U.S. team for the 4 × 440-yard relay race (1952-56) and the 4 × 880-yard relay race (1952).
archbishop of Canterbury who did much to strengthen the Anglican church during the last years of Elizabeth I and to secure its acceptance by her successor, James I. He was the first bishop to be appointed to the Privy Council ...
royal burgh (town) in Dumfries and Galloway region, historic county of Wigtownshire, southwestern Scotland. It lies on the peninsula between Luce and Wigtown bays. One of the oldest Christian centres in Britain, it was founded about AD 397 by St. ...
city, Lake county, northwestern Indiana, U.S. It lies along Lake Michigan, in the Calumet industrial region, immediately southeast of Chicago. It originated in 1889, when the Standard Oil Company, unable to find a site in Chicago, constructed "the world's largest ...
(species Gadus, or Merlangius, merlangus), common marine food fish of the cod family, Gadidae. The whiting is found in European waters and is especially abundant in the North Sea. It is carnivorous and feeds on invertebrates and small fishes. It ...
in Great Britain, any of the bodies made up of representatives of labour and management for the promotion of better industrial relations. An original series of councils, named for J.H. Whitley, chairman of the investigatory committee (1916-19) who recommended their ...
any plant belonging to either of two genera (Erophila and Draba), of the mustard family (Brassicaceae); some authorities believe that all these plants belong to one genus, Draba. The genus Erophila contains 10 European species, the genus Draba about 300 ...
town (township), Plymouth county, eastern Massachusetts, U.S., just east of Brockton. The site was settled about 1670, and the town of South Abington (or Little Comfort) was formed and incorporated in 1875 from parts of Abington and East Bridgewater. The ...
American physician, Congregational missionary to the Indians in the territories of present-day Washington and Oregon, and a pioneer who helped open the Pacific Northwest to settlement.
American poet and essayist, noted for her literary criticism and perhaps best remembered for her alliance with and scholarly defense of Edgar Allan Poe.
collection in New York City of predominantly 20th-century American art, including painting, sculpture, and graphics. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, a sculptor and promoter of American art. The museum opened at a Greenwich Village location in ...
American inventor, mechanical engineer, and manufacturer, best remembered as the inventor of the cotton gin but most important for developing the concept of mass production of interchangeable parts.
