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Lacoste, Robert (French colonial minister)
...to prepare the way for the new governor-general, Europeans bombarded him with tomatoes. Yielding to this pressure, he allowed Catroux to withdraw and named in his place the pugnacious socialist Robert Lacoste as resident minister. Lacoste’s policy was to rule Algeria through decree, and he gave the military exceptional powers. At the same time, he wanted to give the country a decentraliz...
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LaCour, P. (scientist)
The development of the electric generator aroused some interest in the wind as a “free” power source. The first windmill to drive a generator was built in 1890 by P. LaCour in Denmark, using patent sails and twin fantails on a steel tower....
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Lacplesis (epic by Pumpurs)
...Dainas, which are generally no more than four lines long, tend to be stories of family or love or are related to myths. Andrejs Pumpurs’s literary epic Lacplesis (1888; Bearslayer) was inspired by the genre, as was the work of Rainis (pseudonym of Jānis Pliekšāns; 1865–1929), who is considered one of...
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Lacq (France)
village, centre of an industrial complex in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département, Béarn région, southwestern France, northwest of Pau. The industrial complex was built after the discovery at Lacq of petroleum and, in 1951, of one of the greatest natural-gas field...
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lacquer (varnish)
Lacquer has been a traditional Chinese medium for more than 2,000 years. It combines painting with intaglio relief. Linen-covered wood panels are coated with chalk or clay, followed by many thin layers of black or red lacquer-tree resin. The surface is polished and a design engraved, which is then coloured and gilded or inset with mother-of-pearl. Layers of compressed paper or molded......
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lacquer tree (tree group)
any of various trees whose milky juice is used to make a varnish or lacquer. The term is applied particularly to an Asian tree (Rhus verniciflua), related to poison ivy, that is highly irritating to the skin. On being tapped, the tree exudes a thick, milky emulsion that was possibly used as the first drying oil; it has the peculiar property of drying only in a moist atmos...
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lacquerwork (art)
certain metallic and wood objects to which coloured and frequently opaque varnishes called lacquer are applied. The word lacquer is derived from lac, which is the basis of some lacquers. The lacquer of East Asia, China, Japan, and Korea should not be confused with other substances to which the term is generally applied; for instance, the lac of Burma, which is...
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Lacretelle, Jacques de (French novelist)
French novelist, the third member of his family to be elected to the French Academy (1936)....
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Lacretelle, Jean-Charles-Dominique de, the Younger (French historian)
French historian and journalist, a pioneer in the historical study of the French Revolution....
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lacrimal duct (anatomy)
structures that produce and distribute the watery component of the tear film. Tears consist of a complex and usually clear fluid that is diffused between the eye and the eyelid. Further components of the tear film include an inner mucous layer produced by specialized conjunctival cells and an outer lipid layer produced by ...
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lacrimal gland (anatomy)
The lacrimal glands, the small glands that secrete the watery component of tears and are located behind the outer part of each upper lid, are rarely inflamed but may become so as a complication of viral infection, such as in mumps or mononucleosis (caused by Epstein-Barr virus). Inflammations of the lacrimal sac are much more common. The lacrimal, or tear, sac lies in a hollow at the inner......
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lacrimal nerve (anatomy)
The ophthalmic nerve passes through the wall of the cavernous sinus and enters the orbit via the superior orbital fissure. Branches in the orbit are (1) the lacrimal nerve, serving the lacrimal gland, part of the upper eyelid, and the conjunctiva, (2) the nasociliary nerve, serving the mucosal lining of part of the nasal cavity, the tentorium cerebelli and some of the dura mater of the anterior......
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lacrimal reflex
...pupillary musculature by autonomic nerves that supply the eye. Another reflex involving the eye is known as the lacrimal reflex. When something irritates the conjunctiva or cornea of the eye, the lacrimal reflex causes nerve impulses to pass along the fifth cranial nerve (trigeminal) and reach the midbrain. The efferent limb of this reflex arc is autonomic and mainly parasympathetic. These......
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lacrimal sac (anatomy)
inflammation and infection of the lacrimal sac, usually stemming from obstruction of the flow of tears into the nose. Tears leave the eye through small openings called puncta in the inner corner of the eye and flow into the lacrimal, or tear, sac, from which they drain through a duct—the nasolacrimal duct—into the nasal cavity. Obstruction of the duct creates a stagnant collection......
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lacrimator (chemistry)
any of a group of substances that irritate the mucous membranes of the eyes, causing a stinging sensation and tears. They may also irritate the upper respiratory tract, causing coughing, choking, and general debility. Tear gas was first used in World War I in chemical warfare, but since its effects are short-lasting and rarely disabling, it came into use by law-enforcement agencies as a means of d...
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Lacroix, Alfred (French mineralogist)
French mineralogist whose Minéraux des roches (1888; “The Minerals of Rocks”), written with the geologist Albert Michel-Lévy, was a pioneer study of the optical properties of rock-forming minerals....
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Lacroix, François-Antoine-Alfred (French mineralogist)
French mineralogist whose Minéraux des roches (1888; “The Minerals of Rocks”), written with the geologist Albert Michel-Lévy, was a pioneer study of the optical properties of rock-forming minerals....
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Lacroix Peak (mountain, Martinique)
...of Martinique takes the form of three principal massifs. These are an active volcano, Mount Pelée, which rises to 4,583 feet (1,397 metres), to the north; the Carbet Mountains, of which Lacroix Peak reaches 3,923 feet (1,195 metres), in the centre; and Mount Vauclin, rising to 1,654 feet (504 metres), in the south....
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lacrosse (sport)
(French: “the crosier”), competitive sport, modern version of the North American Indian game of baggataway, in which two teams of players use long-handled, racketlike implements (crosses) to catch, carry, or throw a ball down the field or into the opponents’ goal. The goal is defined by uprights and a crossbar framing a loose net....
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lactam (chemical compound)
Cyclic amides are called lactams. Their common names are derived in a manner similar to those of lactones, with the difference that the suffix -olactone is replaced by -olactam. Caprolactam is the starting material for the synthesis of nylon-6....
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Lactantius (Christian apologist)
Christian apologist and one of the most reprinted of the Latin Church Fathers, whose Divinae institutiones (“Divine Precepts”), a classically styled philosophical refutation of early-4th-century anti-Christian tracts, was the first systematic Latin account of the Christian attitude toward life. Lactantius was referred to as the “Christian Cicero...
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Lactarius (fungus genus)
...the chanterelle; the similarity emphasizes the need for careful identification by the mushroom gatherer. Russula has about 750 species, many with caps of red, orange, yellow, or green. Lactarius has milky (hence the name) or bluish juice; the genus contains the edible L. deliciosus as well as several poisonous species. Coprinus, the ink caps, characteristically......
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Lactarius deliciosus (fungus species)
...gatherer. Russula has about 750 species, many with caps of red, orange, yellow, or green. Lactarius has milky (hence the name) or bluish juice; the genus contains the edible L. deliciosus as well as several poisonous species. Coprinus, the ink caps, characteristically grow in clumps at the sides of roads and at the base of old stumps. They are characterized by......
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lactase (enzyme)
any of a group of enzymes found in the small intestine, liver, and kidney of mammals that catalyze the breakdown of lactose (milk sugar) into the simple sugars glucose and galactose. Lactase is particularly abundant during infancy. The enzyme is thought to be produced by the mucous membrane cells that line the intestinal walls; granules localize in the brush border...
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lactase deficiency (pathology)
Diarrhea is common in those who are deficient in lactase, the enzyme that splits lactose (milk sugar) into its component parts, glucose and galactose. Shortly after drinking milk, such persons usually have severe intestinal cramping, followed later by watery diarrhea. The lactose in the milk is not broken down, and it stays in the lumen of the small intestine, drawing water to it. The increased......
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lactate (ester)
...in reaction [10]. In certain bacteria (e.g., so-called lactic acid bacteria) or in muscle cells functioning vigorously in the absence of adequate supplies of oxygen, pyruvate is reduced to lactate via a reaction catalyzed by lactate dehydrogenase (reaction [11a]); i.e., NADH gives up its hydrogen...
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lactate dehydrogenase (chemical compound)
...(e.g., so-called lactic acid bacteria) or in muscle cells functioning vigorously in the absence of adequate supplies of oxygen, pyruvate is reduced to lactate via a reaction catalyzed by lactate dehydrogenase (reaction [11a]); i.e., NADH gives up its hydrogen...
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lactation (biology)
secretion and yielding of milk by females after giving birth. The milk is produced by the mammary glands, which are contained within the breasts. (See also mammary gland.)...
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lacteal (anatomy)
Italian physician who contributed to the knowledge of the circulation of body fluids by discovering the lacteal vessels....
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lacteal tooth (biology)
...the opposite side. The upper teeth differ from the lower and are complementary to them. Humans normally have two sets of teeth during their lifetime. The first set, known as the deciduous, milk, or primary dentition, is acquired gradually between the ages of six months and two years. As the jaws grow and expand, these teeth are replaced one by one by the teeth of the secondary set. There are......
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lactic acid (chemical compound)
an organic compound belonging to the family of carboxylic acids, present in certain plant juices, in the blood and muscles of animals, and in the soil. It is the commonest acidic constituent of fermented milk products such as sour milk, cheese, and buttermilk....
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lactic-acid bacterium (microorganism)
any member of several genera of gram-positive, rod- or sphere-shaped bacteria that produce lactic acid as the principal or sole end product of carbohydrate fermentation. Lactic-acid bacteria are aerotolerant anaerobes that are chiefly responsible for the pickling conditions necessary for the manufacture of pickles, sauerkraut, green olives, some varieties of sausage, and certain...
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lactide (chemical compound)
...acids all lose water upon heating, although the products are not the same. The 2-hydroxy acids form cyclic dimeric esters (formed by the esterification of two molecules of the acid) called lactides, whereas the 3- and 4-hydroxy acids undergo intramolecular esterification to give cyclic esters called lactones. These reactions take place so readily, even without heating, that in most......
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Lactobacillus (bacteria)
a genus of rod-shaped, gram-positive, non-spore-forming bacteria of the family Lactobacillaceae, widely distributed in animal feeds, silage, manure, and milk and milk products. Lactobacillus delbrueckii, a typical species, is 0.5 to 0.8 micrometre (μm; 1 μm = 10-6 metre) across by 2 to 9 μm long and occurs singly or in...
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Lactobacillus acidophilus (bacteria)
Many yogurt manufacturers have added Lactobacillus acidophilus to their bacterial cultures. L. acidophilus has possible health benefits in easing yeast infections and restoring normal bacterial balance to the intestinal tract of humans after antibiotic treatment....
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Lactobacillus casei (bacteria)
...of amino acid antagonism, in which inhibition of growth by one amino acid is counteracted by another amino acid, are best explained by this mechanism. For example, under some conditions Lactobacillus casei requires both D- and L-alanine, which differ from each other only in the position of the amino, or NH2, group in the molecule, and the two forms of this amino acid....
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lactogenic hormone (physiology)
a protein hormone produced by the pituitary gland of mammals that acts with other hormones to initiate secretion of milk by the mammary glands. It also acts to maintain the corpus luteum of the ovary, which is the source of the female sex hormone progesterone. Its function in males is not known. In humans prolactin is similar to human growth hormone....
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lactone (chemical compound)
any of a class of cyclic organic esters, usually formed by reaction of a carboxylic acid group with a hydroxyl group or halogen atom present in the same molecule. Commercially important lactones include diketene and β-propanolactone used in the synthesis of acetoacetic acid derivatives and β-substituted propanoic (propionic) ac...
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Lactoris fernandeziana (plant)
...family, includes both woody vines and herbaceous species. Compared to other Piperales, the flowers are usually large, and some trap pollinating flies that are lured by unpleasant smells. Lactoris fernandeziana, the only species in Lactoris, is found on one island of the Juan Fernández Archipelago off the coast of Chile. The leaves have a sheathing base, and the......
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lactose (chemical compound)
carbohydrate containing one molecule of glucose and one of galactose linked together. Composing about 2 to 8 percent of the milk of all mammals, lactose is sometimes called milk sugar. It is the only common sugar of animal origin. Lactose can be prepared from whey, a by-product of the cheese-making process. Fermentation of lactose by microorganisms such as Lactobacillus acidophilus is part...
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lactose intolerance (pathology)
...by the enzyme lactase. The glucose and galactose can then be absorbed from the digestive tract for use by the body. Individuals deficient in lactase cannot metabolize lactose, a condition called lactose intolerance. The unmetabolized lactose cannot be absorbed from the digestive tract and therefore builds up, leading to intestinal distress....
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lactose-reduced milk
Many specialty milks are now available (even in remote areas) as a result of the 45-day refrigerated shelf life of ultrapasteurized milk. One of the most useful products, lactose-reduced milk, is available in both nonfat and low-fat composition as well as in many flavoured versions. The lactose (milk sugar) is reduced by 70 to 100 percent, making it possible for lactose-intolerant individuals......
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lactosuria (pathology)
...In some healthy persons, however, there may also be an abnormal amount of glucose in the urine because of a low threshold for tubular reabsorption, without any disturbance of glucose metabolism. Lactosuria (abnormal amount of lactose in the urine) may occur in nursing mothers. Ketone bodies (acetone, acetoacetic acid) are present in traces in normal urine but in quantity in severe untreated......
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lactotroph (anatomy)
...serving multiple roles in mediating the care of progeny (sometimes called the “parenting” hormone). Prolactin is a large protein molecule that is synthesized in and secreted from the lactotrophs, which comprise about 20 percent of the anterior pituitary gland and are located largely in the lateral regions of the gland. Unlike other anterior pituitary cells whose activity is......
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lactovegetarianism (dietary practice)
...Vegetarians who exclude animal products altogether (and likewise avoid animal-derived products such as leather, silk, and wool) are known as vegans. Those who use milk products are sometimes called lacto-vegetarians, and those who use eggs as well are called lacto-ovo vegetarians. Among some agricultural peoples, flesh eating has been infrequent except among the privileged classes; such people....
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Lactuca sativa (plant)
(Lactuca sativa), cultivated annual salad plant, probably derived from the prickly lettuce (L. scariola) of the family Asteraceae. Four botanical varieties of lettuce are cultivated: (1) asparagus lettuce (variety asparagina), with narrow leaves and a thick, succulent, edible stem; (2) head, or cabbage, lettuce (variety capitata), with the leaves folded into a c...
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Lactuceae (plant tribe)
Radiate, discoid, and disciform heads occur in various tribes of Asteraceae. The ligulate head, on the contrary, is almost entirely restricted to one tribe, Lactuceae (Cichorieae), and is found in all members of that tribe. Ligulate heads consist entirely of one kind of flower, the ligulate flower. The dandelion is a familiar plant with ligulate heads. Ligulate flowers superficially resemble......
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lacuna (plant anatomy)
...the base of the leaf as leaf traces, connecting the vascular system of the stem with that of the leaf. The point at which the stem bundle diverges from the vascular cylinder toward the leaf is a leaf gap, called a lacuna. The number of lacunae varies among angiosperm groups and remains a characteristic for classifying the various species....
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lacunar ceiling (architecture)
in architecture, a square or polygonal ornamental sunken panel used in a series as decoration for a ceiling or vault. The sunken panels were sometimes also called caissons, or lacunaria, and a coffered ceiling might be referred to as lacunar....
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lacunaria (architectural decoration)
in architecture, a square or polygonal ornamental sunken panel used in a series as decoration for a ceiling or vault. The sunken panels were sometimes also called caissons, or lacunaria, and a coffered ceiling might be referred to as lacunar....
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lacune, cerebral (anatomy)
...arteries penetrating deep into the brain become blocked by atherosclerosis, causing areas of surrounding tissue to lose their blood supply. The tissue may then wither, creating minute holes, called lacunes. A succession of transient ischemic attacks over the years can riddle the brain, causing dementia....
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Lacus Avernus (lake, Italy)
crater lake in Napoli province, Campania region, southern Italy, in the Campi Flegrei volcanic region, west of Naples. It is 7 ft (2 m) above sea level, 118 ft deep, and nearly 2 mi (more than 3 km) in circumference, with no natural outlet. Its Greek name, Aornos, was interpreted as meaning “without birds,” giving rise to the legend that no bird could fly across it and live because o...
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Lacus Fucinus (former lake bed, Italy)
former lake bed in L’Aquila province, Abruzzi region, central Italy, just east of Avezzano. The lake was once 37 mi (59 km) in circumference and about 100 ft (30 m) deep, although its level was subject to great variations because of the lack of an outlet. As early as ad 52 the emperor Claudius had a tunnel constructed, 3 12 mi (5 1...
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lacustrine ecosystem
any pond or lake viewed as an ecosystem. A riverine, or lotic, ecosystem, by contrast, has flowing water—e.g., a river or a stream....
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Lacy, Franz Moritz, Graf von (Austrian field marshal)
field marshal who served under the empress Maria Theresa and her successors and who reorganized the Austrian army....
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Lacy, Henry de, 3rd Earl of Lincoln (Anglo-Norman lord)
market town, historic and present county of Denbighshire (Sir Ddinbych), Wales. After the English king Edward I conquered Wales, Henry de Lacy, 3rd earl of Lincoln, founded a borough there in 1283 and built a castle, which withstood attack in 1402 by the rebel Owen Glendower, though the town itself was razed. In the 15th and 16th centuries Denbigh was one of the most important towns in Wales.......
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Lacy, Hugh de, 1st lord of Meath (Anglo-Norman justiciar)
one of the Anglo-Norman justiciars of Ireland who went to Ireland with England’s King Henry II in 1171....
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Lacy, Hugh de, earl of Ulster (Anglo-Norman lord)
one of the most powerful Anglo-Norman lords in Ulster (in Ireland) in the first half of the 13th century....
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lacy period (glassmaking)
The first 25 years of pressed glass, 1825 to 1850, are referred to by collectors as the “lacy period.” A milestone within this brief span occurred in 1830 with the development of the cap ring, a device that ensured uniform thickness at the edge of each piece regardless of the amount of glass forced into the mold. Before this date most impressed designs were inspired by Anglo-Irish......
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Lacy, Sam (American journalist)
American sportswriter (b. Oct. 23, 1903, Mystic, Conn.—d. May 8, 2003, Washington, D.C.), was an editor and columnist for the Afro-American Newspapers in Baltimore, Md., from 1943 until shortly before his death and in that position was an influential crusader for racial integration in the major leagues. He was (1948) the first black to be accepted as a member of the Baseball Writers Associa...
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Lacy, Samuel Harold (American journalist)
American sportswriter (b. Oct. 23, 1903, Mystic, Conn.—d. May 8, 2003, Washington, D.C.), was an editor and columnist for the Afro-American Newspapers in Baltimore, Md., from 1943 until shortly before his death and in that position was an influential crusader for racial integration in the major leagues. He was (1948) the first black to be accepted as a member of the Baseball Writers Associa...
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Lacy, Steve (American musician and composer)
American musician and composer (b. July 23, 1934, New York, N.Y.—d. June 4, 2004, Boston, Mass.), helped introduce a neglected instrument, the soprano saxophone, into modern jazz in the mid-1950s, creating simple, lyric melodies with an individualistic concept of solo form and giving the traditionally high, piping horn a personal warmth and range of expression. While many modal and free-jaz...
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Lacy, Walter de (Anglo-Norman noble)
...to Ireland with quasi-viceregal authority. In 1207 war broke out between the Earl of Ulster and the justiciar. This brought King John in person to Ireland, where he expelled the earl’s brother, Walter de Lacy, from Meath, and compelled the earl himself to flee to Scotland....
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Łączyńska, Maria (Polish countess)
Polish countess and mistress of Napoleon Bonaparte, whom she met in Poland (1806) and followed to Paris and finally Elba....
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Lad, a Dog (novel by Terhune)
In 1919 appeared the first of his popular dog stories, Lad, a Dog, written at his farm near Pompton Lakes, where for the rest of his life he wrote, bred prize collies, fished, and hunted. He wrote more than 25 books after 1919, nearly all of them novels in which dogs played conspicuous parts, including Bruce (1920), The Heart of a Dog (1924), Lad of Sunnybank (1928),......
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Lad and Lass (work by Thorodssen)
Thoroddsen’s Piltur og stúlka (1850; Lad and Lass), finished just before he went back to Iceland to become a district judge, is an unpretentious love story that reveals his gift for concise satirical sketches of people and places. (In it he included one of his best lyrics.) Lad and Lass was the first full-scale Icelandic novel. Thoroddsen...
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Ład serca (work by Andrzejewski)
...nieuniknione (1936; “Unavoidable Ways”), originally appeared in a right-wing periodical, with whom he soon severed relations. That volume was followed by the novel Ład serca (1938; “Heart’s Harmony”), in which Andrzejewski tried to find in Roman Catholic teachings solutions to the problems of contemporary life. During the Germa...
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Ladakh (region, Kashmir region, Indian subcontinent)
large area of the northern and eastern Kashmir region, northwestern Indian subcontinent. Administratively, Ladakh is divided between Pakistan (northwest), as part of the Northern Areas, and India (southeast), as part of Jammu and Kashmir state (that area is sometimes called “Ladakh proper”); in addition, Chin...
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Ladākh Range (mountains, Asia)
segment of the Karakoram Range, extending southeastward for 230 miles (370 km) from the mouth of the Shyok River in northern Pakistan across northern India to the Tibetan (China) border. With a crest line of about 20,000 feet (6,100 m), the range parallels the northeast bank of the Indus River. The Deosai Mountains, located southeast of the Indus River in northern Pakistan, are...
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Ladākhī (people)
The Champā, Ladākhī, Bāltī, and Dard peoples live to the north of the Great Himalayan Range in the Kashmir Himalayas. The Dard are Indo-European, while the others are Tibeto-Burman. The Champā lead a nomadic pastoral life in the upper Indus valley. The Ladākhī have settled on terraces and alluvial fans flanking the......
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Ladby-skibet (Danish relics)
...support agriculture (grains and sugar beets), gardening, dairy farming, and cattle breeding. Stone Age burial chambers remain on the island, as well as numerous Viking relics, including the famous Ladby-skibet (12 miles [19 km] east of Odense), the burial ship of a Viking chieftain (c. 950), and a “ship monument” (grave enclosed by standing stones in the form of a ship) wes...
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Ladd, Alan (American actor)
American motion picture actor most noted for roles in which he portrayed detectives, cowboys, and war heroes....
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Ladd, Alan, Jr. (American movie executive and producer)
Other Nominees...
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Ladd, Alan Walbridge (American actor)
American motion picture actor most noted for roles in which he portrayed detectives, cowboys, and war heroes....
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Ladd, Christine (American scientist)
American scientist and logician known for contributions to the theory of colour vision....
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Ladd, George Trumbull (American psychologist and philosopher)
philosopher and psychologist whose textbooks were influential in establishing experimental psychology in the United States. He called for a scientific psychology, but he viewed psychology as ancillary to philosophy....
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Ladd-Franklin, Christine (American scientist)
American scientist and logician known for contributions to the theory of colour vision....
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Ladd-Franklin theory (optics)
She is probably best-known for her work on colour vision. While studying in Germany in 1891–92, she developed the Ladd-Franklin theory, which emphasized the evolutionary development of increased differentiation in colour vision and assumed a photochemical model for the visual system. Her theory, which criticized the views of Hermann von Helmholtz and Ewald Hering, was widely accepted for......
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ladder dredge (device)
...cables. In operation the bucket is dropped to the bottom, where it bites because of its weight and the action of the bucket-closing mechanism. A grab dredge can work at virtually unlimited depths. A ladder dredge employs a continuous chain of buckets rotating around a rigid adjustable frame called a ladder. When the ladder is lowered to the bottom at a slant, the empty buckets descend along the...
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“Ladder of Perfection, The” (work by Hilton)
Hilton studied at the University of Cambridge before becoming a hermit and later joined the Augustinians at Thurgarton Priory, where he remained for the rest of his life. His major work was The Scale [or Ladder] of Perfection, written separately in two books. The first teaches the means by which a soul may advance toward perfection by destroying the image of sin and forming......
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ladder shell (gastropod family)
any marine snail of the family Epitoniidae (subclass Prosobranchia of the class Gastropoda), in which the turreted shell—consisting of whorls that form a high, conical spiral—has deeply ribbed sculpturing. Most species are white, less than 5 cm (2 inches) long, and exude a pink or purplish dye. Wentletraps occur in all seas, usually near sea anemones, from which they suck nourishment...
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ladder truck
...feet, or 300 metres), and a water tank for use where a supply of water is not available. Specialized auxiliary vehicles were also soon developed, including water tank trucks for rural areas. The ladder truck (hook and ladder) mounts a ladder that may be capable of rapid extension to 150 ft, often with a large-capacity nozzle built into the top section. The older type of overlength ladder......
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ladder vein (geology)
Ladder veins are short, rather regularly spaced, roughly parallel fractures that traverse dikes (tabular bodies of igneous rocks) from wall to wall. Their width is restricted to the width of the dike, but they may extend great distances along it. Ladder veins are not as numerous or important as fissure veins....
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ladder-back chair (furniture)
chair with a tall back constructed of horizontal slats or spindles between two uprights. The type is utilitarian and often rustic; the seat is often of cane or rush....
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Lade, battle of (495 BC, Greco-Persian Wars)
...of the Greco-Persian Wars. Although the rebels found wide support in the Greek cities of the Propontis region, at the Bosporus, and in Caria, Lycia, and Cyprus, they lost the decisive sea battle at Lade in 495 bc. In the following year Miletus, the heart of the insurrection, was taken and destroyed. In the last administrative division of satrapies under Darius I, Karka (Caria) was...
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Ladefoged, Peter Nielsen (American linguist)
British-born American linguist and phonetician (b. Sept. 17, 1925, Sutton, Eng.—d. Jan. 24, 2006, London, Eng.), traveled to remote villages around the world in an effort to record and analyze some 60 endangered languages. He also played an integral role in advancing the field of forensic phonetics, used in police work and in courtrooms. Ladefoged taught phonetics in Nigeria and at the Univ...
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Laden zum Gutenberg, Johann Gensfleisch zur (German printer)
German craftsman and inventor who originated a method of printing from movable type that was used without important change until the 20th century. The unique elements of his invention consisted of a mold, with punch-stamped matrices (metal prisms used to mold the face of the type) with which type could be cast precisely and in large quantities; a type-metal alloy; a new press, d...
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Lādhiqīyah, Al- (Syria)
city and muḥāfaẓah (governorate), northwestern Syria. The city, capital of the governorate, is situated on the low-lying Raʿs Ziyārah promontory that projects into the Mediterranean Sea. It was known to the Phoenicians as Ramitha and to the Greeks as Leuke Akte. Its present name is a corruption of Laodicea, for the mother of Seleucus II ...
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Ladhon (river, Greece)
...enclose a series of plains drained only by underground channels. The western plateau is more open, with isolated mountains through which wind the Alpheus River and its tributaries. One of those, the Ládhon, provides hydroelectric power at a dam and reservoir. A region of erratic rainfall, Arcadia has a few vineyards but no olive trees. There are patches of oak forest, but the eastern......
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Ladhon Dam (dam, Greece)
...is known as the Elísson, the Alpheus turns abruptly northwest and eventually empties into the Ionian Sea. Its main tributaries are the Ládhon and Erímanthos. The hydroelectric Ládhon Dam near the village of Trópaia has created a lake 4 sq mi (10 sq km) in area....
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Ladies’ Delight (work by Zola)
...by a theatrical metaphor that extends throughout the novel, revealing the ceremonial falseness of the Second Empire. Au Bonheur des Dames (1883; Ladies’ Delight) depicts the mechanisms of a new economic entity, the department store, and its impact on smaller merchants. The sweeping descriptions of crowds and dry-goods displays justify......
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ladies’ fingers (plant)
perennial herb, of the pea family (Fabaceae), found in meadows, alpine pastures, and dry places of Europe and northern Africa. The low, hairy plant grows to a height of 15–40 cm (6–16 inches) and has narrow leaves 1.4–3.8 cm (0.5–1.5 inches) long and yellow, reddish, or white flowers. It was formerly used as a remedy for kidney disorders but is now frequently cultivated...
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Ladies’ Home Journal (American magazine)
American monthly magazine, one of the longest-running in the country and long the trendsetter among women’s magazines. It was founded in 1883 as a women’s supplement to the Tribune and Farmer (1879–85) of Cyrus H.K. Curtis and was edited by his wife, Louisa Knapp. The Journal began independent pub...
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Ladies’ Mercury (English periodical)
...and poetry. In 1693, after devoting some experimental numbers of the Athenian Mercury to “the Fair Sex,” Dunton brought out the first magazine specifically for women, the Ladies’ Mercury. Finally, another note, taken up time and again later, was struck by The London Spy (1698–1700), issued by a tavern keeper, Ned Ward, and containing a running......
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Ladies’ Professional Golf Association (sports organization)
Several professional tournaments for women were staged during the 1920s and ’30s; important players from this era include Glenna Collett from the United States and Joyce Wethered of Great Britain. It was not until the 1940s that efforts began in earnest to form a professional golf organization for women. The first, the Women’s Professional Golf Association (WPGA), was chartered in 19...
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ladies’ tobacco (plant)
...varieties of white, wooly appearance and with small clusters of white to rose flowers. In some species, including smaller pussy-toes (A. neodioica), male flowers are rare. The plantain-leaved pussy-toes (A. plantaginifolia), also called ladies’ tobacco, has longer and broader basal leaves....
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ladies’ tresses (plant)
any plant of the genus Spiranthes, family Orchidaceae, numbering as many as 30 species of orchids found in woods and grasslands throughout most of the world. Goodyera repens, an unrelated British species, is known as creeping ladies’ tresses....
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Lâdik (Turkey)
city, southwestern Turkey. It lies near a tributary of the Menderes River. Set among the gardens at the foot of Mount Gökbel (7,572 feet [2,308 metres]), Denizli inherited the economic position of ancient Laodicea ad Lycum, 4 miles (6 km) away, when that town was deserted during wars between the Byzantines and the Seljuq Turks in the 12th century. By th...
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Ladik carpet (prayer rug)
handwoven floor covering usually in a prayer design and made in or near Lâdik, a town in the Konya Plain of south-central Turkey. Ladik prayer rugs have either a high, stepped arch design or a triple arch with a dominating central portion. In a separate panel above or below the prayer-niche motif, a group of five or more flower stalks project upward from a band of crenell...
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Ladin (people)
...Series, representing those rocks deposited worldwide during Ladinian time (237 million to 228 million years ago) in the Triassic Period. The stage name is derived from the Ladini people of the Dolomites in northern Italy. The stratotypes for the Ladinian are the Buchenstein and Wengen beds of the Dolomites. The Ladinian is subdivided into two substages, which in......
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