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  • lamprey larva
    any of about 43 species of primitive, fishlike, jawless vertebrates placed with hagfishes in the class Agnatha. Lampreys belong to the family Petromyzonidae. They live in coastal and freshwaters and are found in temperate regions around the world, except Africa. Eel-like, scaleless animals, they range from about 15 to 100 centimetres (6 to 40 inches) long. They have well-developed eyes, one or two...
  • Lampridiformes (fish order)
    ...that includes the guppies, mollies, swordtails, and many other aquarium fishes. In addition to the Atheriniformes, this article treats the three smaller related orders Beryciformes, Zeiformes, and Lampridiformes, the most primitive groups of the superorder Acanthopterygii, or spiny-finned fishes....
  • Lampris (fish genus)
    ...that includes the guppies, mollies, swordtails, and many other aquarium fishes. In addition to the Atheriniformes, this article treats the three smaller related orders Beryciformes, Zeiformes, and Lampridiformes, the most primitive groups of the superorder Acanthopterygii, or spiny-finned fishes.......
  • Lampris regius (fish)
    large marine fish of the family Lampridae (order Lampridiformes), widely distributed in the mid-waters of warm oceans. A deep-bodied fish with a small, toothless mouth, the opah grows to a length of about 2 m (7 feet) and a weight of 140 kg (300 pounds), although larger specimens have been reported. It is distinctively coloured, blue above and rosy below, with scarlet fins and jaws and round white...
  • Lampropeltis (reptile)
    any of seven species of moderate- to large-sized terrestrial snakes found from southeastern Canada to Ecuador. Adults generally range in length from 1 to 1.5 metres (3.3 to 5 feet), but some have grown to 2.1 metres. They are nonvenomous constrictors and have a cosmopolitan diet that includes small mammals, birds, snakes, lizards, amphibians, and bird eggs. As a sign of nervousn...
  • Lampropeltis doliata (snake)
    The other six king snake species have a tricoloured pattern of red, black, and yellow rings. The common milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulatum, with 25 mostly tricoloured subspecies) has one of the largest distributions of any snake, occurring from 48° N to 4° S latitude. Its average length is 1 metre (maximum 1.9 metres). The scarlet king snake (......
  • Lampropeltis getula (snake)
    The common king snake (Lampropeltis getula, with seven subspecies) is found throughout the United States and northern Mexico. It is variable in pattern and may be black or dark brown, with yellow or white stripes, rings, crossbars, or spots. The California king snake (Lampropeltis getula californiae) exhibits two pattern types, the......
  • Lampropeltis getula californiae (snake)
    ...seven subspecies) is found throughout the United States and northern Mexico. It is variable in pattern and may be black or dark brown, with yellow or white stripes, rings, crossbars, or spots. The California king snake (Lampropeltis getula californiae) exhibits two pattern types, the common ringed pattern and a rarer striped form; both patterns can appear from a......
  • Lampropeltis triangulatum (snake)
    The other six king snake species have a tricoloured pattern of red, black, and yellow rings. The common milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulatum, with 25 mostly tricoloured subspecies) has one of the largest distributions of any snake, occurring from 48° N to 4° S latitude. Its average length is 1 metre (maximum 1.9 metres). The scarlet king snake (......
  • Lampropeltis triangulum elapsoides (snake)
    ...with 25 mostly tricoloured subspecies) has one of the largest distributions of any snake, occurring from 48° N to 4° S latitude. Its average length is 1 metre (maximum 1.9 metres). The scarlet king snake (L. triangulum elapsoides; considered by some to be the same species as the milk snake) is a small species from the southeastern United States that......
  • lamprophyre (rock)
    any of a group of dark gray to black intrusive igneous rocks that generally occur as dikes (tabular bodies inserted in fissures). Such rocks are characterized by a porphyritic texture in which large crystals (phenocrysts) of dark, iron-magnesium (mafic) minerals are enclosed in a fine-grained to dense matrix (groundmass). The abundance, large size, well-formed crystal outline, and brilliantly refl...
  • Lampsacus (ancient Greek settlement, Turkey)
    ancient Greek city on the Asiatic shore of the Hellespont, best known for its wines, and the chief seat of the worship of Priapus, a god of procreation and fertility. Colonized in 654 bc by Ionian Phocaea, the city had a fine harbour. It took part in the Ionian revolt against Persia (499) and later joined the Delian League. Upon the fall of Athens in 405, Lampsacus came under Persia...
  • lampuka (fish)
    either species of fish belonging to the genus Coryphaena. The food and game fish called the common dolphin (C. hippuras) is known in Hawaiian as mahimahi and sometimes in Spanish as the dorado. Reaching a length of about 1.5 metres (5 feet) and a weight of about 30 kg (66 pounds), the common dolphin has a blunt head, a tapered body, and a slender, forked tail. The......
  • Lampung (province, Indonesia)
    provinsi (province), southern Sumatra, Indonesia, bounded by the Java Sea to the east, the Sunda Strait to the south, the Indian Ocean to the west, and Sumatera Selatan (South Sumatra) province to the north and northwest. It includes the islands of Sebuku, Sebesi, Sertung, and Rakata in Sunda Strait. The area formed part of the kingdom of Kantoli in southern...
  • Lampyridae (insect)
    any of some 2,000 species of beetles (insect order Coleoptera) found in most tropical and temperate regions that have special light-producing organs on the underside of the abdomen. Most fireflies are nocturnal, although some species are diurnal. They are soft-bodied beetles that range from 5 to 25 mm (up to 1 inch) in length. The flattened, dark brown or black body is often marked with orange or ...
  • Lampyris noctiluca (insect)
    ...on the ground and feed on snails and slugs by injecting a fluid into their prey and then withdrawing the partly digested matter through hollow mouthparts. The common glowworm (Lampyris noctiluca) is a member of this family (see glowworm)....
  • Lamsdorff, Matthew (general)
    In 1802–03 men replaced women in Nicholas’ entourage, and his regular education began. As directed by Gen. Matthew Lamsdorff, it emphasized severe discipline and formalism. The growing grand duke studied French and German as well as Russian, world history, and general geography in French, together with the history and geography of Russia. Religion, drawing, arithmetic, geometry, alge...
  • Lamṭah (ancient city, Tunisia)
    small Carthaginian city located 10 miles (16 km) from modern Al-Munastīr (Ruspinum), Tunisia. In Roman times it was the centre of a prosperous olive-growing district, and its exports included olive oil and pottery. It was Julius Caesar’s base before the Battle of Thapsus in 46 bc...
  • Lamtunah (Berber tribe)
    ...was killed in 1059 in an attack on the Barghawāṭah tribal confederation on the Moroccan coast, the military and religious leadership of the Almoravids passed to the chief of the Lamtūnah tribe, Abū Bakr ibn ʿUmar. He returned to Mauretania in 1060 to fight against rebels challenging his authority. Command of the Almoravids in southern Morocco was then assumed....
  • Lamu (Kenya)
    town, port, and island in the Indian Ocean off the East African coast, 150 miles (241 km) north-northeast of Mombasa. It is administered as part of Kenya. The port lies on the southeastern shore of the island. A former Persian, then Zanzibari, colony, Lamu Island rivaled Mombasa until the late 19th century as an entrepôt for gold, spi...
  • Lamu Old Town (Kenya)
    town, port, and island in the Indian Ocean off the East African coast, 150 miles (241 km) north-northeast of Mombasa. It is administered as part of Kenya. The port lies on the southeastern shore of the island. A former Persian, then Zanzibari, colony, Lamu Island rivaled Mombasa until the late 19th century as an entrepôt for gold, spi...
  • Lamut (people)
    northern Siberian people (12,000 according to the 1979 Soviet census) closely related to the Evenk in origin, language, and culture. They inhabit the territory to the north and northeast of the Evenki Autonomous Okrug, where they have influenced and have in turn been influenced by their neighbours. The Even who settled on Kamchatka learned and practiced Chukchi...
  • lamwong (dance)
    The lamwong (“circle dance”) is the most popular form of dance at rural temple festivals and other celebrations. It is typically performed to mawlam or luk thung music. In the cities, however, Western forms of dance predominate, especially in the nightclubs....
  • lan (blue-green algae)
    ...and molded into small loaves with a nutlike flavour and high in protein. This food is extracted from Lake Chad in tropical Africa, and the Aztecs made a similar product. In China a scum called lan, collected from ponds and freshwater lakes, provides sustenance for large numbers of people. A related scum, keklap, found in Java, is used chiefly as fish feed. Another species is......
  • län (Swedish political division)
    administrative subdivision (county) of Sweden; see landskap....
  • LAN
    any communication network for connecting computers within a building or small group of buildings. A LAN may be configured as (1) a bus, a main channel to which nodes or secondary channels are connected in a branching structure, (2) a ring, in which each computer is connected to two neighbouring computers to form a closed circuit, or (3) a star, in which each computer is linked d...
  • Lan Caihe (Taoist deity)
    in Chinese mythology, one of the Pa Hsien, the Eight Immortals of Taoism, whose true identity is much disputed. Artists depict Lan as a young man—or girl—carrying a flute or a pair of clappers and occasionally wearing only one shoe. Sometimes a basket of fruit is added. In Chinese theatre, Lan is dressed in female clothes but speaks with a male voice. Lan traveled the streets singing...
  • Lan Chang (historical kingdom, Laos)
    Laotian kingdom that flourished from the 14th century until it was split into two separate kingdoms, Vien Chang and Luang Prabang, in the 18th century. Conflict with its Myanmar (Burmese) and Thai (Siamese) neighbours forced the kingdom’s rulers to transfer the capital from Luang Prabang to Vientiane (1563), but the kingdom maintained its power and was at the height of its glory when the Du...
  • Lan Chiang (river, China)
    The southeastern region is drained by the Lan River. At Lanxi the Lan is formed by the junction of two rivers, the Jinhua River system, flowing from central Zhejiang to the east, and the Qu River, which drains the mountains of the Zhejiang-Jiangxi and Zhejiang-Fujian border areas....
  • Lan Na (historical kingdom, Thailand)
    ...Mangrai (reigned c. 1259–1317; from 1292 to 1317 in Chiang Mai), conquered the ancient Mon kingdom of Haripunjaya and built a new capital at Chiang Mai. Under Mangrai and his successors, Lan Na—with Chiang Mai as its capital—became not only powerful but also a centre for the spread of Theravada Buddhism to Tai peoples in what are now northeastern Myanmar, southern Ch...
  • Lan Na Thai (region, Thailand)
    The mountainous provinces located in the upper part of the northern region are often referred to collectively as Lan Na Thai, from the name for the loosely structured federation of principalities, with its capital at Chiang Mai, that existed in the area until the end of the 19th century. The people of Lan Na Thai speak the Kammüang (Northern Thai) dialect and follow Buddhist traditions......
  • Lan Ping (Chinese politician)
    third wife of Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong and the most influential woman in the People’s Republic of China for a while until her downfall in 1976, after Mao’s death. As a member of the Gang of Four she was convicted in 1981 of “counter-revolutionary crimes” and imprisoned....
  • Lan Tao Island (island, Hong Kong, China)
    island located about 6 miles (10 km) west of Hong Kong Island, part of the New Territories of Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China. About 17 miles (27 km) long and 6 miles (9.5 km) wide, it has an area of 58 square miles (150 square km). Consisting of mountains rising to 3,064 feet (934 m) at Lantau Peak, the island is covered by grass and scrub with pockets of arable land along its...
  • Lan Tau Island (island, Hong Kong, China)
    island located about 6 miles (10 km) west of Hong Kong Island, part of the New Territories of Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China. About 17 miles (27 km) long and 6 miles (9.5 km) wide, it has an area of 58 square miles (150 square km). Consisting of mountains rising to 3,064 feet (934 m) at Lantau Peak, the island is covered by grass and scrub with pockets of arable land along its...
  • Lan Ts’ai-ho (Taoist deity)
    in Chinese mythology, one of the Pa Hsien, the Eight Immortals of Taoism, whose true identity is much disputed. Artists depict Lan as a young man—or girl—carrying a flute or a pair of clappers and occasionally wearing only one shoe. Sometimes a basket of fruit is added. In Chinese theatre, Lan is dressed in female clothes but speaks with a male voice. Lan traveled the streets singing...
  • Lan Xang (historical kingdom, Laos)
    Laotian kingdom that flourished from the 14th century until it was split into two separate kingdoms, Vien Chang and Luang Prabang, in the 18th century. Conflict with its Myanmar (Burmese) and Thai (Siamese) neighbours forced the kingdom’s rulers to transfer the capital from Luang Prabang to Vientiane (1563), but the kingdom maintained its power and was at the height of its glory when the Du...
  • Lan-chou (China)
    city, capital of Gansu sheng (province), west-central China. It is situated in the southeastern portion of the province on the upper course of the Huang He (Yellow River), where the river emerges from the mountains. Lanzhou has been a centre since early times, being at the southern end of the route leading via the Gansu (H...
  • Lan-t’ien man (anthropology)
    fossils of hominins (members of the human lineage) found in 1963 and 1964 by Chinese archaeologists at two sites in Lantian district, Shaanxi province, China. One specimen was found at each site: a cranium (skullcap) at Gongwangling (Kung-wang-ling) and a mandible (lower jaw) at Chenjiawo (Ch’en-chia-wo). Both appear to be female. Stone implements from a third site in Lantian may be contemp...
  • Lan-t’ien Pass (mountain pass, China)
    ...the Tsinling Mountains: the San-kuan Pass south of Pao-chi, which leads to the Chia-ling Valley and thus into Szechwan; the Kao-kuan Pass south of Sian, which leads to the Han-chung Basin; and the Lan-t’ien Pass southeast of Sian, which affords a route to Nan-yang in Honan and to northern Anhwei Province....
  • Lan-ts’ang Chiang (river, Southeast Asia)
    longest river in Southeast Asia, the 7th longest in Asia, and the 12th longest in the world. It has a length of about 2,700 miles (4,350 km). Rising in southeastern Qinghai province, China, it flows through the eastern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region and Yunnan province, after which it forms part of the international border between Myanmar...
  • Lana (chimpanzee)
    ...that communicate a more or less complex meaning to a listener. Can apes understand or use sentences? Undoubtedly they can put together several gestures or tokens in a row. A chimpanzee named Lana, who was trained to press symbols on a keyboard, could type out “Please machine give Lana drink”; Washoe and other chimpanzees trained in gestural sign language frequently produced......
  • Lana, Treaty of (European history)
    ...in December 1920, when the major political parties could produce no commonly acceptable candidate. He incurred the wrath of his Anschluss cosupporters for his part in the negotiation of the Treaty of Lana with Czechoslovakia (1922), an agreement primarily directed against the possibilities of a Habsburg restoration but that also was seen as a barrier to Austrian–German union.......
  • Lāna‘i (island, Hawaii, United States)
    island, Maui county, Hawaii, U.S. Situated across the Auau Channel from Maui island, it is formed by the extinct volcano Lanaihale (Palawai; 3,366 feet [1,026 metres]). The sixth largest of the Hawaiian Islands, Lanai has an area of 140 square miles (363 square km). Lanai is separated from the island of Kahoolawe (southeast) by the Kealaikah...
  • Lanai (island, Hawaii, United States)
    island, Maui county, Hawaii, U.S. Situated across the Auau Channel from Maui island, it is formed by the extinct volcano Lanaihale (Palawai; 3,366 feet [1,026 metres]). The sixth largest of the Hawaiian Islands, Lanai has an area of 140 square miles (363 square km). Lanai is separated from the island of Kahoolawe (southeast) by the Kealaikah...
  • Lanao, Lake (lake, Philippines)
    lake, west-central Mindanao, Philippines. It is situated just south of Marawi, northwest of the Butig Mountains. Lake Lanao is the second largest lake in the Philippines and has an area of 131 square miles (340 square km). Its outlet is the Agus River, which flows north, over Maria Cristina Falls, where there is a hydroelectric power plant, to Iligan Bay. There are numerous Muslim villages around ...
  • Lanark (former county, Scotland, United Kingdom)
    historic county of south-central Scotland, roughly coinciding with the basin of the River Clyde. It is bounded to the south by the historic county of Dumfriesshire, to the east by Peeblesshire, Midlothian, and West Lothian, to the north by Stirlingshire and Dunbartonshire, and to the west by Renfrewshire and Ayrshire. It encompasses all of the council areas of South Lanarkshire ...
  • Lanark (Scotland, United Kingdom)
    royal burgh (town), South Lanarkshire council area, historic county of Lanarkshire, south-central Scotland, situated by the right bank of the River Clyde, southeast of the Glasgow metropolitan area. The town developed around a castle built by David I of Scotland (reigned 1124–53), who made the tow...
  • Lanark (novel by Gray)
    Scottish novelist, playwright, and artist best known for his novel Lanark (1981)....
  • Lanark, Earl of (Scottish Royalist)
    Scottish Royalist during the English Civil Wars, who succeeded to the dukedom on the execution of his brother, the 1st duke, in 1649....
  • Lanarkshire (former county, Scotland, United Kingdom)
    historic county of south-central Scotland, roughly coinciding with the basin of the River Clyde. It is bounded to the south by the historic county of Dumfriesshire, to the east by Peeblesshire, Midlothian, and West Lothian, to the north by Stirlingshire and Dunbartonshire, and to the west by Renfrewshire and Ayrshire. It encompasses all of the council areas of South Lanarkshire ...
  • Lancang Jiang (river, Southeast Asia)
    longest river in Southeast Asia, the 7th longest in Asia, and the 12th longest in the world. It has a length of about 2,700 miles (4,350 km). Rising in southeastern Qinghai province, China, it flows through the eastern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region and Yunnan province, after which it forms part of the international border between Myanmar...
  • Lancashire (county, England, United Kingdom)
    administrative, geographic, and historic county in northwestern England, bounded on the north by Cumberland and Westmorland (in the present administrative county of Cumbria), on the east by Yorkshire, on the south by Cheshire, and on the west by the Irish Sea....
  • Lancashire boiler (mechanical engineering)
    ...a millwright at Manchester, in partnership with James Lillie. In 1835 he established a shipbuilding yard at Millwall, London, where he constructed several hundred vessels. In 1844 he introduced the Lancashire boiler with twin flues. He was the first to use wrought iron for ship hulls, bridges, mill shafting, and structural beams. He also experimented with the strength of iron and the relative.....
  • Lancashire sol-fa (music)
    In England and America in the 18th century, a four-syllable system was common, in which the major scale was sung fa-sol-la-fa-sol-la-mi-(fa). Often called fasola, it survives in some areas of the United States. See shape-note hymnal....
  • Lancashire style wrestling (sport)
    basic wrestling style in which nearly all holds and tactics are permitted in both upright and ground wrestling. Rules usually forbid only actions that may injure an opponent, such as strangling, kicking, gouging, and hitting with a closed fist. The object is to force the opponent into a position in which both shoulders touch the ground at the same time. Formerly known as the Lancashire style in E...
  • Lancaster (district, England, United Kingdom)
    urban area and city (district), administrative and historic county of Lancashire, England, at the head of the estuary of the River Lune, 7 miles (11 km) from the Irish Sea....
  • Lancaster (Ohio, United States)
    city, seat (1800) of Fairfield county, south-central Ohio, U.S., on the Hocking River, about 30 miles (50 km) southeast of Columbus. It was founded (1800) by Ebenezer Zane on land granted to him in payment for blazing Zane’s Trace, a 266-mile (428-km) wilderness road from Wheeling, W.Va. (then a part of Virginia), to Limestone (now Maysville), Ky. The f...
  • Lancaster (Pennsylvania, United States)
    city, seat of Lancaster county, southeastern Pennsylvania, U.S., and the centre of a metropolitan area comprising a number of small towns and boroughs, 71 miles (114 km) west of Philadelphia. The original site on Conestoga Creek, known as Gibson’s Pasture, or Hickory Town, was made the county seat in 1729, the year after Lancaster county (named for the ...
  • Lancaster (England, United Kingdom)
    urban area and city (district), administrative and historic county of Lancashire, England, at the head of the estuary of the River Lune, 7 miles (11 km) from the Irish Sea....
  • Lancaster (New Hampshire, United States)
    ...word meaning “crooked,” a reference to the course of the Connecticut River. The city of Berlin became an important logging and pulp- and paper-milling centre by the mid-19th century. Lancaster, the county seat, became the county’s central railroad link by the 1870s. Other towns are Gorham, Northumberland, and Colebrook. The northern half of the county, which is sparsely......
  • Lancaster (California, United States)
    city, Los Angeles county, southwestern California, U.S. Lying in Antelope Valley at the western edge of the Mojave Desert, it is 80 miles (130 km) north of the city of Los Angeles and separated from it by the San Gabriel Mountains. In 1876, when the Southern Pacific Railroad laid tracks through the area on its route betwee...
  • Lancaster (county, Pennsylvania, United States)
    county, southeastern Pennsylvania, U.S., consisting of a hilly piedmont region bounded by the Susquehanna River to the west, Conewago Creek to the northwest, and Octoraro Creek to the southeast. Impoundments of the Susquehanna River form Lakes Clarke and Aldred and Conowingo Reservoir. Susquehannock State Park is located near Muddy Run Reservoir. Other waterwa...
  • Lancaster (airplane)
    the most successful British heavy bomber of World War II. The Lancaster emerged from the response by A.V. Roe & Company, Ltd., to a 1936 Royal Air Force specification calling for a bomber powered by two 24-cylinder Rolls-Royce Vulture engines. The resultant aircraft, the Manchester, first flew in July 1939, entered production the following year, and was...
  • Lancaster (county, South Carolina, United States)
    county, northern South Carolina, U.S. It is bounded by the Catawba River and its Wateree Lake extension to the west, the Lynches River to the east, and North Carolina to the north. The county lies in hilly piedmont terrain, much of which is covered in hardwood and pine forests. Andrew Jackson State Park is in the narrow northern section, near North Carolina....
  • Lancaster (South Carolina, United States)
    city, seat of Lancaster county, northern South Carolina, U.S., near the Catawba River. It was founded in the 1750s by settlers from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The architect Robert Mills designed the jail (1823) and the courthouse (1828). In the early 19th century the community was identified with the Waxha...
  • Lancaster (Nebraska, United States)
    city, capital and second largest city of Nebraska, U.S., and seat (1869) of Lancaster county, in the southeastern part of the state, about 60 miles (95 km) southwest of Omaha. Oto and Pawnee Indians were early inhabitants in the area. Settlers were drawn in the 1850s by the salt flats located nearby. The site was named Lancaster (for the Pennsylvania city) by a salt company repr...
  • Lancaster, Burt (American actor and producer)
    American film actor who projected a unique combination of physical toughness and emotional sensitivity....
  • Lancaster, Burton Stephen (American actor and producer)
    American film actor who projected a unique combination of physical toughness and emotional sensitivity....
  • Lancaster Carmel Company (American company)
    ...in 1876 he set up his own candy shop in Philadelphia, but the venture failed six years later. After an attempt to manufacture candy in New York City also ended in failure, Hershey returned to Lancaster, where his innovative use of fresh milk in caramels proved enormously successful. He set up the Lancaster Caramel Company, which continued to make caramels in the 1890s while Hershey became......
  • Lancaster, Edmund, 1st Earl of (English noble)
    fourth (but second surviving) son of King Henry III of England and Eleanor of Provence, who founded the house of Lancaster....
  • Lancaster, Henry, 1st Duke and 4th Earl of, Earl of Leicester, Earl of Derby, Earl of Lincoln, Earl of Moray, Lord Lancaster (English soldier and diplomat [1300-1361])
    soldier and diplomatist, the most trusted adviser of King Edward III of England (reigned 1327–77). He was unquestionably the most powerful feudal lord in England at that time....
  • Lancaster, Henry, 3rd Earl of, Earl of Leicester, Lord Lancaster (English noble [1281-1345])
    second son of Edmund (“Crouchback”), 1st Earl of Lancaster, and the brother of Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster....
  • Lancaster House accord (African history)
    The black revolt against white rule in southern Africa was a timely consequence of the decolonization of Angola and Mozambique and of the Lancaster House accord under which white Southern Rhodesians accepted majority rule, resulting in 1980 in the full independence of Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe, who in 1984 declared his intention to create a one-party Marxist state. South Africa tried to......
  • Lancaster, House of (English family)
    a cadet branch of the house of Plantagenet. In the 15th century, it provided three kings of England—Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI—and, defeated by the house of York, passed on its claims to the Tudor dynasty....
  • Lancaster, John of Gaunt, duke of (English prince)
    English prince, fourth but third surviving son of the English king Edward III and Philippa of Hainaut; he exercised a moderating influence in the political and constitutional struggles of the reign of his nephew Richard II. He was the immediate ancestor of the three 15th-century Lancastrian monarchs, Henry IV, V, and VI. The term Gaunt, a corruption of the name of his birthplace...
  • Lancaster, Joseph (British educator)
    British-born educator who developed the system of mass education known as the Lancasterian method, a monitorial, or “mutual,” approach in which brighter or more proficient children were used to teach other children under the direction of an adult. In the early 19th century the system, as developed by Lancaster, Andrew Bell, and Jean-Baptiste Girard, was widely used...
  • Lancaster, Sir James (English merchant)
    merchant who commanded the first English vessel to reach the East Indies and who established the first English trading post in Southeast Asia....
  • Lancaster, Sir Osbert (English cartoonist and author)
    English cartoonist, stage designer, and writer, best-known for his suave cartoons that appeared from 1939 in the Daily Express (London), which gently satirized the English upper class, especially its response to social change. He was also noted for his architectural writings and personal memoirs....
  • Lancaster Sound (sound, Canada)
    western arm of Baffin Bay (an inlet of the North Atlantic Ocean), in north-central Baffin region, Nunavut territory, Canada. The sound is 200 miles (320 km) long and 40 miles (64 km) wide. It extends between Devon Island (north) and Baffin Island (south) and joins the Barrow Strait northeast of Somerset Island. All feasibl...
  • Lancaster, Thomas, 2nd Earl of, Earl of Leicester, Earl of Derby (English noble)
    a grandson of King Henry III of England and the main figure in the baronial opposition to King Edward II. His opposition to royal power derived more from personal ambition than from a desire for reform....
  • Lancaster Turnpike (road, Pennsylvania, United States)
    The first engineered and planned road in the United States was the Lancaster Turnpike, a privately constructed toll road built between 1793 and 1795. Connecting Philadelphia and Lancaster in Pennsylvania, its 62-mile length had a maximum grade of 7 percent and was surfaced with broken stone and gravel in a manner initially uninfluenced by the work of Telford and McAdam. However, pavement......
  • Lancaster, University of (university, Lancaster, England, United Kingdom)
    The first engineered and planned road in the United States was the Lancaster Turnpike, a privately constructed toll road built between 1793 and 1795. Connecting Philadelphia and Lancaster in Pennsylvania, its 62-mile length had a maximum grade of 7 percent and was surfaced with broken stone and gravel in a manner initially uninfluenced by the work of Telford and McAdam. However, pavement.........
  • Lancasterian system (education)
    teaching method in which the older or better scholars teach the younger or weaker pupils. In the system, as formulated by the English educator Joseph Lancaster, the superior students learned their lessons from the adult teacher in charge of the school and then transmitted their knowledge to the inferior students. By 1806 Lancaster’s monitorial system for the education of ...
  • lance (weapon)
    spear used by cavalry for mounted combat. It usually consisted of a long wooden shaft with a sharp metal point. Its employment can be traced to the ancient Assyrians and Egyptians, and it was widely used by the Greeks and Romans, despite their lack of the stirrup, which did not appear until the 6th century ad....
  • Lance, Bert (United States official)
    Two scandals also damaged Carter’s credibility. In summer 1977 Bert Lance, the director of the Office of Management and Budget and one of Carter’s closest friends, was accused of financial improprieties as a Georgia banker. When Carter stood by Lance (whom he eventually asked to resign and who later was acquitted of all charges), many questioned the president’s vaunted scruple...
  • Lance Creek (region, Wyoming, United States)
    Another major historic site was the Lance Creek area of northeastern Wyoming, where J.B. Hatcher discovered and collected dozens of Late Cretaceous horned dinosaur remains for Marsh and for Yale College, among them the first specimens of Triceratops and Torosaurus. Marsh was aided in his work at these and other localities by the skills......
  • Lance Formation (geology)
    division of rocks in the western United States dating to the end of the Cretaceous Period approximately 66 million years ago and named for exposures studied near Lance Creek, Niobrara county, Wyoming (see Niobrara Limestone). Varying in thickness from about 90 metres (300 feet) in North Dakota to almost 600 metres (2,000 feet) in part...
  • Lance missile (ballistic weapon)
    U.S.-made short-range ballistic missile, adopted by the U.S. Army in 1972 and subsequently by the armies of West Germany, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Israel....
  • lance-head (snake group)
    The common French name fer-de-lance, or “lance head,” is sometimes applied collectively to all snakes of the Central and South American genus Bothrops and the Asian genus Trimeresurus. Among these snakes, all venomous, are the habus (Trimeresurus flavoviridis and related species); jararaca (Bothrops jararaca); wutu (B. alternatus); jumping viper,......
  • Lancefield classification (biology)
    Streptococci generally are classified by the type of carbohydrate contained in the cell wall, a system called the Lancefield classification....
  • lancelet (chordate subphylum)
    any of more than two dozen species belonging to the subphylum Cephalochordata of the phylum Chordata. Small, fishlike marine invertebrates, they probably are the closest living relatives of the vertebrates. Cephalochordates and vertebrates have a hollow, dorsal nerve cord, pharyngeal gill slits, and a notochord. In most vertebrates, the embryonic notochord is eventually replaced by bony vertebrae ...
  • Lancelot (legendary knight)
    one of the greatest knights in Arthurian romance; he was the lover of Arthur’s queen, Guinevere, and was the father of the pure knight Sir Galahad....
  • Lancelot (work by Chrétien de Troyes)
    ...(literally, “Summer Region”), to be rescued by Arthur and his army. In Chrétien de Troyes’s late 12th-century romance of Le Chevalier de la charette, she was rescued by Lancelot (a character whom Chrétien had earlier named as one of Arthur’s knights) from the land of Gorre, to which she had been taken by Meleagant (a version of the story that was...
  • Lancelot du Lac (legendary knight)
    one of the greatest knights in Arthurian romance; he was the lover of Arthur’s queen, Guinevere, and was the father of the pure knight Sir Galahad....
  • Lancelot of the Lake (legendary knight)
    one of the greatest knights in Arthurian romance; he was the lover of Arthur’s queen, Guinevere, and was the father of the pure knight Sir Galahad....
  • Lancelotti, Paul (Italian canonist)
    ...little that was new legislation. The 2,414 canons were divided into five books that no longer followed the system of the collections of decretals but did follow that of the Perugian canonist Paul Lancelotti’s Institutiones juris canonici (1563; “Institutions of Canon Law”), which in turn went back to the division of the 2nd-century Roman lawyer Gaius’s......
  • lanceolated monklet (bird)
    The smallest species is the lanceolated monklet (Micromonacha lanceolata) from deep forests of northern South America. This 14-cm species derives its name from its quiet habits and modest brown plumage....
  • lancer (military)
    ...1690 and 1740. Heavy cavalry would be held in reserve, ready to strike when a gap was created or a flank presented itself. During the second half of the 18th century another type of cavalry, the lancers, was added specifically to root out gunners hiding under their cannons’ barrels....
  • lancers (dance)
    ...each other by the right hand, and then each gave her left hand to the opposite man, who turned her into place beside himself. The quadrille was frequently danced to a medley of opera melodies. The lancers, a variation of the quadrille, became popular in the late 1800s and was still danced in the mid-20th century in folk-dance clubs. ...
  • lancet fish
    either of two species of widely distributed, deepwater marine fish of the genus Alepisaurus (family Alepisauridae). Lancet fish are elongated and slender, with a long, very tall dorsal fin and a large mouth that is equipped with formidable fanglike teeth. The fish grow to a large size, attaining a maximum length of about 1.8 m (6 feet). Voracious and carnivorous, they feed on a variety of f...
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