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  • Ageo (Japan)
    city, Saitama ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. Ageo lies on the terrace between the Ara River (west) and the Ayase River (east). A former post town between Tokyo and Maebashi, it was connected to Tokyo (25 miles [40 km] southeast) in 1883. Ageo remained the market centre of the neighbouring agricultural region until 1955, when machinery, rubber, and metallurgy industries ...
  • Ager Bruttius (region, Italy)
    regione, southern Italy, composed of the province of Catanzaro, Cosenza, Crotone, Reggio di Calabria, and Vibo Valentia. Sometimes referred to as the “toe” of the Italian “boot,” Calabria is a peninsula of irregular shape, jutting out in a northeast-southwest direction from the main body of Italy and separating the Tyrrhenian and Ionian ...
  • ager Campanus (Roman law)
    ...land came to be concentrated in fewer hands. One of the punishments meted out to disloyal allies after the Second Punic War was confiscation of all or part of their territories. Most of the ager Campanus and part of the Tarentines’ lands—perhaps two million acres in total—became Roman ager publicus (public land), subject to rent. Some of this property remained...
  • ager publicus (Roman law)
    ...Punic War was confiscation of all or part of their territories. Most of the ager Campanus and part of the Tarentines’ lands—perhaps two million acres in total—became Roman ager publicus (public land), subject to rent. Some of this property remained in the hands of local peoples, but large tracts in excess of the 500-iugera limit were occupied by wealthy...
  • Ager, Shana (American journalist and author)
    American journalist and author (b. Oct. 6, 1925, New York, N.Y.—d. June 23, 2005, Hermosa Beach, Calif.), battled conservative columnist James Kilpatrick in “Point-Counterpoint,” a political debate segment featured during the 1970s on the television program 60 Minutes. Alexander’s parents were prominent members of Manhattan’s arts community but were emotio...
  • Ageratum (plant)
    any of about 45 species of annual herbs making up the genus Ageratum (family Asteraceae), and native to tropical South America. They have toothed, oval leaves that are opposite each other on the stem; compact clusters of blue, pink, lilac, or white flowers; and small, dry fruits....
  • ageratum (plant)
    any of about 45 species of annual herbs making up the genus Ageratum (family Asteraceae), and native to tropical South America. They have toothed, oval leaves that are opposite each other on the stem; compact clusters of blue, pink, lilac, or white flowers; and small, dry fruits....
  • Ageratum houstonianum (plant)
    Dwarf varieties of the common garden ageratum (A. houstonianum) are used as edging plants. Some ageratums are variously known as flossflower and pussy-foot....
  • Ageröd (Sweden)
    ...dates of the thaw. The first traces of human life in Sweden, dating from about 9000 bc, were found at Segebro outside Malmö in the extreme southern reaches of Sweden. Finds from the peat at Ageröd in Skåne dated to 6500 bc reveal a typical food-gathering culture with tools of flint and primitive hunting and fishing equipment, such as the bow and ...
  • Ageronia (insect genus)
    ...and the pupae of many gossamer-winged butterflies make squeaking or grating sounds when disturbed. The adult death’s head moth (Acherontia atropos) makes a loud chirping sound. Ageronia butterflies, when startled into flight, make a loud clicking sound by means of a structure on the wings. These sounds may have a startling and therefore delaying effect on a....
  • Ages of the World, The (work by Schelling)
    ...forms the basis of Schelling’s later philosophy, covering the time from 1810 until his death, which is known only through a draft of the unpublished work Die Weltalter (written in 1811; The Ages of the World) and through the manuscripts of his later lectures. In Die Weltalter Schelling wanted to relate the history of God. God, who originally is absorbed in a quiet......
  • Agesander (Greek sculptor)
    Greek sculptor who is credited by the 1st-century-ad Roman writer Pliny as the creator, with Polydorus and Athenodorus, of the group “Laocoön.” Nothing further is known of him except that inscriptions found at Lindus in Rhodes indicate that he was alive between 42 and 21 bc....
  • Agesilaus (regent of Sparta)
    Agis was supported by his wealthy mother and grandmother, who surrendered their property; by his uncle Agesilaus; and by Lysander, who was an ephor (magistrate with the duty of limiting the power of the king) in 243. When the rich, led by the other king, Leonidas II, defeated these proposals, Leonidas was deposed. The ephors of 242 tried to restore him to his throne, but they were replaced by a......
  • Agesilaus II (king of Sparta)
    king of Sparta from 399 to 360 who commanded the Spartan army throughout most of the period of Spartan supremacy (404–371) in Greece. An excellent military tactician, he is usually cited as the embodiment of the aggressive Spartan spirit that sought to further Spartan interests at the expense of Hellenic unity....
  • Agew (people)
    an ancient people that settled in the northern and central Ethiopian Plateau; they are associated with the development of agriculture and animal husbandry in the area. The term Agau also refers to any of several contemporaneous groups that are either culturally similar or linked by a Cushitic language base. The Jewish Falasha (or “Black Jews”) are believed to have ...
  • Agfa-Gevaert NV (German-Belgian corporation)
    Belgian corporate group established in 1964 in the merger of Agfa AG of Leverkusen, West Germany, and Gevaert Photo-Producten NV of Mortsel, Belgium. The merger established twin operating companies, one German (Agfa-Gevaert AG) and one Belgian (Gevaert-Agfa NV, which in 1971 became Agfa-Gevaert NV). Long known for its development and production of photographic film and photofinishing equipment, Ag...
  • Agfacolor (photography)
    In 1936 Germany produced Agfacolor, a single-strip, three-layer negative film and accompanying print stock. After World War II Agfacolor appeared as Sovcolor in the Eastern bloc and as Anscocolor in the United States, where it was initially used for amateur filmmaking. The first serious rival to Technicolor was the single-strip Eastmancolor negative, which was introduced in 1952 by the......
  • Agga (king of Kish)
    ...own time, as well as from later traditions. He was the next-to-last ruler of the first dynasty of Kish. He “despoiled the weapons of the land of Elam,” one inscription asserts. His son, Agga, was the last king of the dynasty, owing to his defeat by Gilgamesh, according to the Sumerian epic Gilgamesh and Agga of Kish....
  • Aggada (non-legal literature)
    in Judaism, those parts of rabbinical, or Talmudic, literature that do not deal directly with the laws incumbent upon Jews in the conduct of their daily life. The contents of Haggada can be broken down into several classes: (1) interpretations and expositions of Biblical stories and chronicles; (2) ethical teachings in the form of homilies, maxims, parables, similes, fables, riddles, and witticism...
  • Aggadot (non-legal literature)
    in Judaism, those parts of rabbinical, or Talmudic, literature that do not deal directly with the laws incumbent upon Jews in the conduct of their daily life. The contents of Haggada can be broken down into several classes: (1) interpretations and expositions of Biblical stories and chronicles; (2) ethical teachings in the form of homilies, maxims, parables, similes, fables, riddles, and witticism...
  • Agganna Sutta (Buddhist text)
    ...strata of the cosmos are restored after the eschatological cataclysms that periodically destroy them. According to an influential version of the primary creation myth, found in the Agganna Sutta, certain brahma deities whose abode was above the destruction begin—as the waters that are left from the old cataclysm start to coagulate below them—to savour the....
  • Aggarsel Nepte (Tunisia)
    oasis town situated in southwestern Tunisia. It lies on the northwest shore of Chott El-Jarid (Shaṭṭ Al-Jarīd), a saline lake that is an important source of phosphates. It was known to the Romans as Aggarsel Nepte. Nefta has many small mosques and is an important Sufi centre, where shrines and the tombs of many local hol...
  • Aggeus (Hebrew author)
    According to dates mentioned in chapters 1–8, Zechariah was active from 520 to 518 bc. A contemporary of the prophet Haggai in the early years of the Persian period, Zechariah shared Haggai’s concern that the Temple of Jerusalem be rebuilt. Unlike Haggai, however, Zechariah thought that the rebuilding of the Temple was the necessary prelude to the eschatological age, th...
  • Aggeus, The Prophecy of (biblical literature)
    the 10th of 12 Old Testament books that bear the names of the Minor Prophets. Haggai (fl. 6th century bc) helped mobilize the Jewish community for the rebuilding of the Temple of Jerusalem (516 bc) after the Babylonian Exile and prophesied the glorious future of the messianic age....
  • agglomerate (rock)
    large, coarse, rock fragments associated with lava flow that are ejected during explosive volcanic eruptions. Although they closely resemble sedimentary conglomerates, agglomerates are pyroclastic igneous rocks that consist almost wholly of angular or rounded lava fragments of varying size and shape. Fragments are usually poorly sorted in a tuffaceous matrix, or appear in lithified volcanic dust ...
  • agglomeration (food processing)
    Spray-dried milk is also difficult to reconstitute or mix with water. Therefore, a process called agglomeration was developed to “instantize” the powder, or make it more soluble. This process involves rewetting the fine, spray-dried powder with water to approximately 8 to 15 percent moisture and following up with a second drying cycle. The powder is now granular and dissolves very......
  • agglomeration (metallurgy)
    ...from the fines (less than 7 millimetres). If the lump ore is of the appropriate quality, it can be charged to the blast furnace without any further processing. Fines, however, must first be agglomerated, which means reforming them into lumps of suitable size by a process called sintering....
  • agglutinate (geology)
    pyroclastic igneous rock formed from partly fused volcanic bombs. See bomb (volcanology)....
  • agglutination (grammar)
    a grammatical process in which words are composed of a sequence of morphemes (word elements), each of which represents not more than a single grammatical category. This term is traditionally employed in the typological classification of languages. Turkish, Finnish, and Japanese are among the languages that form words by agglutination. The Turkish term ev-ler-den “...
  • agglutination (physiology)
    ...the serum that identify and combine with the antigen sites on the surfaces of red cells of another type. The reaction between red cells and corresponding antibodies usually results in clumping—agglutination—of the red cells; therefore, antigens on the surfaces of these red cells are often referred to as agglutinogens....
  • agglutination test (medicine)
    The basic technique in identification of the antigens and antibodies of blood groups is the agglutination test. Agglutination of red cells results from antibody cross-linkages established when different specific combining sites of one antibody react with antigen on two different red cells. By mixing red cells (antigen) and serum (antibody), either the type of antigen or the type of antibody can......
  • agglutinin (biochemistry)
    substance that causes particles to congeal in a group or mass, particularly a typical antibody that occurs in the blood serums of immunized and normal human beings and animals. When an agglutinin is added to a uniform suspension of particles (such as bacteria, protozoa, or red cells) that contains the specific surface structure (antigen) with which the agglutinin reacts, the suspended objects adh...
  • agglutinogen (medicine)
    ...between red cells and corresponding antibodies usually results in clumping—agglutination—of the red cells; therefore, antigens on the surfaces of these red cells are often referred to as agglutinogens....
  • Āggonāfir, Innānu (Ethiopian author)
    ...examines the dilemma of a woman faced with the challenge of survival is Setiññā Āẖārī (1963; “Fallen Woman”) by Innānu Āggonāfir (pseudonym of Nagāsh Gabra Māryām). Hāddis Ālamāyyahu’s novel Wanjalaññāḳ......
  • aggregate (Buddhism)
    according to Buddhist thought, the five elements that sum up the whole of an individual’s mental and physical existence. The self (or soul) cannot be identified with any one of the parts, nor is it the total of the parts. They are: (1) matter, or body (rūpa), the manifest form of the four elements—earth, air, fire, and water; (2) sensations, or feelin...
  • aggregate (building material)
    in building and construction, material used for mixing with cement, bitumen, lime, gypsum, or other adhesive to form concrete or mortar. The aggregate gives volume, stability, resistance to wear or erosion, and other desired physical properties to the finished product. Commonly used aggregates include sand, crushed or broken stone, gravel (pebbles), broken blast-furnace slag, boiler ashes (clinke...
  • aggregate consumption (economics)
    The study of consumption behaviour plays a central role in both macroeconomics and microeconomics. Macroeconomists are interested in aggregate consumption for two distinct reasons. First, aggregate consumption determines aggregate saving, because saving is defined as the portion of income that is not consumed. Because aggregate saving feeds through the financial system to create the national......
  • aggregate demand (economics)
    The fundamental cause of the Great Depression in the United States was a decline in spending (sometimes referred to as aggregate demand), which led to a decline in production as manufacturers and merchandisers noticed an unintended rise in inventories. The sources of the contraction in spending in the United States varied over the course of the Depression, but they cumulated in a monumental......
  • aggregate fruit (botany)
    ...pericarp becomes dry at maturity. Fleshy fruits include (1) the berries, such as tomatoes, oranges, and cherries, in which the entire pericarp and the accessory parts are succulent tissue; (2) aggregate fruits, such as blackberries and strawberries, which form from a single flower with many pistils, each of which develops into fruitlets; and (3) multiple fruits, such as pineapples and......
  • aggregated nodule (anatomy)
    any of the nodules of lymphatic cells that aggregate to form bundles or patches and occur usually only in the lowest portion (ileum) of the small intestine; they are named for the 17th-century Swiss anatomist Hans Conrad Peyer....
  • aggregation (cosmology)
    The Earth is thought to have accreted from a cloud of ionized particles around the Sun. This gaseous matter condensed into small particles that coalesced to form a protoplanet, which in turn grew by the gravitational attraction of more particulates. Some of these particles had compositions similar to that of carbonaceous chondrite meteorites, which may contain up to 20 percent water. Heating of......
  • aggregation (population distribution)
    in zoology, a group of organisms of one species that live and interact closely with each other. A colony differs from an aggregation, which is a group whose members have no interaction. Small, functionally specialized, attached organisms called polyps in cnidarians and zooids in bryozoans form colonies and may be modified for capturing prey, feeding, or reproduction. Colonies of social insects......
  • aggregation pheromone
    ...annually by the bacteria that live in termites and in the digestive systems of plant-eating animals. Smaller quantities of alkanes also can be found in a variety of natural materials. The so-called aggregation pheromone whereby Blaberus craniifer cockroaches attract others of the same species is a 1:1 mixture of the volatile but relatively high-boiling liquid alkanes undecane,......
  • aggression (international law)
    in international relations, an act or policy of expansion carried out by one state at the expense of another by means of an unprovoked military attack. For purposes of reparation or punishment after hostilities, aggression has been defined in international law as any use of armed force in international relations not justified by defensive necessity, international authority, or consent of the stat...
  • aggression (psychology)
    animal behaviour that involves actual or potential harm to another animal. Biologists commonly distinguish between two types of aggressive behaviour: predatory or antipredatory aggression, in which animals prey upon or defend themselves from other animals of different species, and intraspecific aggression, in which animals attack members of their own species. ...
  • aggressive behaviour (psychology)
    animal behaviour that involves actual or potential harm to another animal. Biologists commonly distinguish between two types of aggressive behaviour: predatory or antipredatory aggression, in which animals prey upon or defend themselves from other animals of different species, and intraspecific aggression, in which animals attack members of their own species. ...
  • aggressive mimicry (biology)
    a form of similarity in which a predator or parasite gains an advantage by its resemblance to a third party. This model may be the prey (or host) species itself, or it may be a species that the prey does not regard as threatening. An example in which the prey itself serves as the model can be seen in the mimicry used by female fireflies of the genus Photuris...
  • aggressive roller-skating (sport)
    ...In-line roller hockey uses a puck, sticks, and many of the rules of ice hockey. In-line skaters also embraced competitions commonly associated with skateboarding. These sports, sometimes called aggressive roller-skating, include street style, which involves riding through urban environments and performing tricks off stairs, rails, and other structures, and vertical style, which involves......
  • aggressiveness (psychology)
    animal behaviour that involves actual or potential harm to another animal. Biologists commonly distinguish between two types of aggressive behaviour: predatory or antipredatory aggression, in which animals prey upon or defend themselves from other animals of different species, and intraspecific aggression, in which animals attack members of their own species. ...
  • Aggtelek Caves (caves, Hungary)
    limestone cave system on the Hungarian-Slovakian border, about 30 miles (50 km) northwest of Miskolc, Hungary, and 40 miles (65 km) southwest of Košice, Slovakia. It is the largest stalactite cave system in Europe, and its stalactite and stalagmite formations are spectacular. The caverns and their surroundings have been designated a national park by both Hungary and Slova...
  • agha (Turkish class)
    in Turkey, person of high rank or social position, especially during the era of the Ottoman Empire. Combined with the names of military units or administrative departments, it formed the official titles borne by the chief officers of the Janissaries and of the cavalry, by the principal members of the imperial household, and by the eunuchs who controlled the sultan’s harem. Later it was app...
  • Agha Khān (Muslim title)
    ...and Bohra merchant communities of India and easternAfrica. The Khojas, who are descended from the Nizārī branch of the Ismāʿīlīs, continue to follow the aga khans, a lineage of Muslim spiritual leaders who claim direct descent from ʿAlī. Another Ismāʿīlī dynasty, the Qarmatians, was active...
  • Āghā Mīrak (Persian painter)
    Persian painter, an admired portraitist and an excellent colourist, who painted in a sumptuous style....
  • Āghā Moḥammad Khān (shah of Iran)
    founder and first ruler of the Qājār dynasty of Iran. Following the disintegration of the Ṣafavid empire in 1722, Qājār tribal chieftains became prominent in Iranian affairs....
  • Agheila (Libya)
    ...it remained for the British to take the port of Benghazi. On Feb. 3, 1941, however, O’Connor learned that the Italians were about to abandon Benghazi and to retreat westward down the coast road to Agheila (al-ʿUqaylah). Thereupon he boldly ordered the 7th Armoured Division to cross the desert hinterland and intercept the Italian retreat by cutting the coast road well to the east o...
  • Aghlab, Banu al- (North African dynasty)
    Arab Muslim dynasty that ruled Ifrīqīyah (Tunisia and eastern Algeria) from ad 800 to 909. The Aghlabids were nominally subject to the ʿAbbāsid caliphs of Baghdad but were in fact independent. Their capital city was Kairouan (al-Qayrawān), in Tunisia. The most interesting of the 11 Aghlabid emirs were the energetic and cultured ...
  • Aghlabid dynasty (North African dynasty)
    Arab Muslim dynasty that ruled Ifrīqīyah (Tunisia and eastern Algeria) from ad 800 to 909. The Aghlabids were nominally subject to the ʿAbbāsid caliphs of Baghdad but were in fact independent. Their capital city was Kairouan (al-Qayrawān), in Tunisia. The most interesting of the 11 Aghlabid emirs were the energetic and cultured ...
  • Aghora (Hindu deity)
    ...and master. His “doubles” or partial manifestations, however, were active among humankind: as Pashupati (“Lord of Cattle”), he took over the fetters of the Vedic Varuna; as Aghora (“To Whom Nothing Is Horrible”), he showed the uncanny traits of his nature (evil, death, punishment) and also their opposites....
  • Aghrim, Godard van Feede, Baron of (Dutch soldier)
    Dutch soldier in English service who completed the conquest of Ireland for King William III of England (William of Orange, stadholder of the United Provinces) against the forces of the deposed King James II after the Glorious Revolution (1688–89)....
  • Aghstev (river, Armenia)
    ...(130 miles), the Hrazdan (90 miles), the Arpa (80 miles), and the Vorotan (Bargyushad; 111 miles), serve to irrigate most of Armenia. The tributaries of the Kura—the Debed (109 miles), the Aghstev (80 miles), and others—pass through Armenia’s northeastern regions. Lake Sevan, with a capacity in excess of 9 cubic miles (39 cubic kilometres) of water, is fed by dozens of rive...
  • Agi-ga-u-e (Native American leader)
    Native American leader who was an important intermediary in relations between early American settlers and her own Cherokee people....
  • Agiads (Spartan kings)
    ...
  • agile mangabey (primate)
    ...atys), a dark, uniformly gray species with a pale face, is found from the Nzo-Sassandra system westward to Senegal. Four paler, browner species live in Central and East Africa: the agile mangabey (C. agilis), a slender monkey that has a small whorl of hair on the front of the crown and lives in Congo (Kinshasa) north of the Congo River westward into.....
  • agile manufacturing
    Consistent with improving the economics of aerospace vehicles is the transition to a new paradigm for the entire industry, from concept development to operations. This approach involves all processes pertaining to the acquisition, design, development, and manufacturing of a product or system and has been variously called “lean,” “agile,” or “synchronous”.....
  • Agilolfing (people)
    ...this leadership could have real effect. When the Frankish realm was badly divided or embroiled in civil wars, however, local dukes enjoyed great autonomy. This was particularly true of the Bavarian Agilolfings, who were closely related to the Lombard royal family of Italy and who by the 8th century enjoyed virtual royal status. In the north the Frisians and Saxons remained independent of......
  • Agilulf (king of the Lombards)
    ...to divide the Lombard leadership and buy some of them into the Byzantine camp. For the rest of the century, even after the reestablishment of Lombard kingship under Authari (584–590) and then Agilulf (590–616), nearly as many Lombard leaders seem to have been fighting with the Byzantines as against them. In 584, in the face of Frankish invasions from beyond the Alps, the Lombard.....
  • Agin-Buriatiya (okrug, Russia)
    former autonomous okrug (district), southeastern Russia; in 2008 it merged with Chita oblast (region) to form Zabaykalsky kray (territory). The Agin-Buryat area is situated along the left bank of the lower Onon River, a headstream of the Amur. The district was formed in 1937 for an exclave group of the Buryat...
  • Agin-Buryat Autonomous Okrug (okrug, Russia)
    former autonomous okrug (district), southeastern Russia; in 2008 it merged with Chita oblast (region) to form Zabaykalsky kray (territory). The Agin-Buryat area is situated along the left bank of the lower Onon River, a headstream of the Amur. The district was formed in 1937 for an exclave group of the Buryat...
  • Agin-Buryatiya (okrug, Russia)
    former autonomous okrug (district), southeastern Russia; in 2008 it merged with Chita oblast (region) to form Zabaykalsky kray (territory). The Agin-Buryat area is situated along the left bank of the lower Onon River, a headstream of the Amur. The district was formed in 1937 for an exclave group of the Buryat...
  • Agincourt, Battle of (European history)
    (Oct. 25, 1415), decisive victory of the English over the French in the Hundred Years’ War....
  • Agincourt Carol (poem)
    ...of which a good deal was written in the 15th century. Much of it was avowedly and often crudely propagandist, especially during the Wars of the Roses, though a piece like the Agincourt Carol shows that it was already possible to strike the characteristically English note of insular patriotism soon after 1415. Of particular interest is the ......
  • aging (metallurgy)
    ...(e.g., 5 percent copper in aluminum at 540° C [1,000° F]), and then it is rapidly cooled to avoid precipitation. The next step is to form a fine precipitate throughout the sample by aging at an elevated temperature that is well below the temperature used for the initial dissolution....
  • aging (beverage production)
    ...from the wines or fermented mashes of other fruits are commonly identified by the specific fruit name. With the exception of certain fruit types, known as white types, brandies are usually aged. Aging in wooden containers deepens colour to amber, the use of paraffin-lined casks or earthenware maintains the original clear colour, and the addition of a caramel solution darkens colour. Beverage......
  • aging (life process)
    progressive physiological changes in an organism that lead to senescence, or a decline of biological functions and of the organism’s ability to adapt to metabolic stress....
  • Aging in Western Societies (work by Burgess)
    ...in Marriage (1939; with Leonard Cottrell) and The Family: From Institution to Companionship (1945; with others; rev. ed. 1960). Burgess also studied the elderly, editing Aging in Western Societies (1960), a work that considered the effects of retirement and the efficacy of government programs for the aged. One of Burgess’s most important works was.....
  • Aginnum (France)
    town, capital of Lot-et-Garonne département, Aquitaine région, southwestern France. It lies along the Garonne River at the foot of Ermitage Hill (530 feet [162 metres]), northwest of Toulouse. Mentioned by Julius Caesar as Aginnum, capital of the Nitiobriges people, it wa...
  • Aginskoje (Russia)
    former administrative centre of Agin-Buryat autonomous okrug (district), Russia, in the Aga River valley. In 2008 Agin-Buryat merged with Chita oblast (region) to form Zabaykalsky kray (territory). The village was founded in 1811. It has small food-processing industries. Pop. (2002) 11,717....
  • Aginskoye (Russia)
    former administrative centre of Agin-Buryat autonomous okrug (district), Russia, in the Aga River valley. In 2008 Agin-Buryat merged with Chita oblast (region) to form Zabaykalsky kray (territory). The village was founded in 1811. It has small food-processing industries. Pop. (2002) 11,717....
  • AGIP (Italian corporation)
    ...Middle Eastern oil. The dynamic policies of Enrico Mattei, president of ENI (Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi, the state-owned energy group), were central to this development. The petroleum company AGIP (Azienda Generale Italiana Petroli), which became a division of ENI in 1953, discovered natural gas in the Po valley and sold it at low prices to industry. Labour was inexpensive, as rural migrants......
  • Agis I (king of Sparta)
    early Spartan king, traditionally held to be the son of Eurysthenes (in legend, one of the twins who founded Sparta). Because the Agiad line of kings was named after him, Agis was perhaps a historical figure. The 4th-century-bc Greek historian Ephorus attributes to Agis the capture of the city of Helos in Laconia and the reduction of its people to helot (serf) status....
  • Agis II (king of Sparta)
    king of Sparta after about 427 bc who commanded all operations of the regular army during most of the Peloponnesian War (431–404) against Athens....
  • Agis III (king of Sparta)
    Spartan king (338–331) who rebelled unsuccessfully against Alexander the Great....
  • Agis IV (king of Sparta)
    Spartan king (244–241) who failed in his attempt to reform Sparta’s economic and political structure....
  • agitation (politics)
    political strategy in which the techniques of agitation and propaganda are used to influence and mobilize public opinion. Although the strategy is common, both the label and an obsession with it were specific to the Marxism practiced by communists in the Soviet Union....
  • agitation propaganda (Soviet history)
    political strategy in which the techniques of agitation and propaganda are used to influence and mobilize public opinion. Although the strategy is common, both the label and an obsession with it were specific to the Marxism practiced by communists in the Soviet Union....
  • Agitator’s Notebook, The (Soviet publication)
    ...Economy), and a pocket-sized booklet issued weekly to suggest timely slogans and brief arguments to be used in speeches and conversations among the masses is called Bloknot agitatora (The Agitator’s Notebook)....
  • agitatsiya propaganda (Soviet history)
    political strategy in which the techniques of agitation and propaganda are used to influence and mobilize public opinion. Although the strategy is common, both the label and an obsession with it were specific to the Marxism practiced by communists in the Soviet Union....
  • agitka (Soviet film style)
    ...State Institute of Cinematography”) was the first such school in the world and is still among the most respected. Initially it trained people in the production of agitki, existing newsreels reedited for the purpose of agitation and propaganda (agitprop). The agitki were transported on specially equipped......
  • agitprop (Soviet history)
    political strategy in which the techniques of agitation and propaganda are used to influence and mobilize public opinion. Although the strategy is common, both the label and an obsession with it were specific to the Marxism practiced by communists in the Soviet Union....
  • AGK (astronomy)
    (AGK; “Astronomical Society Catalog”), compilation of the positions of all stars brighter than the ninth magnitude, compiled by the Astronomische Gesellschaft of Germany. Friedrich W.A. Argelander, founder of the society, proposed the star catalog in 1867, after completing the Bonner Durchmusterung (“Bonn Survey”). The massive project gave each participating obs...
  • Agkistrodon (snake)
    either of two venomous aquatic New World snakes of the viper family (Viperidae): the water moccasin (Agkistrodon piscivorus) or the Mexican moccasin (A. bilineatus). Both are pit vipers (subfamily Crotalinae), so named because of the characteristic sensory pit between each eye and nostril....
  • Agkistrodon bilineatus (snake)
    either of two venomous aquatic New World snakes of the viper family (Viperidae): the water moccasin (Agkistrodon piscivorus) or the Mexican moccasin (A. bilineatus). Both are pit vipers (subfamily Crotalinae), so named because of the characteristic sensory pit between each eye and nostril....
  • Agkistrodon contortrix (snake)
    any of several unrelated snakes named for their reddish head colour. The North American copperhead Agkistrodon (also spelled Ancistrodon) contortrix is a venomous species found in swampy, rocky, and wooded regions of the eastern and central United States. Also called highland moccasin, it is a member of the viper family (Viperidae) and is placed in the subfamily Crotalinae......
  • Agkistrodon piscivorus (snake)
    either of two venomous aquatic New World snakes of the viper family (Viperidae): the water moccasin (Agkistrodon piscivorus) or the Mexican moccasin (A. bilineatus). Both are pit vipers (subfamily Crotalinae), so named because of the characteristic sensory pit between each eye and nostril....
  • Aglaea emetica (plant)
    ...coyotes in poisoned baits (e.g., Rourea volubilis, R. glabra, and Cnestis polyphylla). Others have properties that make them useful as folk medicines—e.g., to induce vomiting (Aglaea emetica leaves, in Madagascar), as a dysentery treatment (A. villosa leaves, in West Africa), and as an agent against gonorrhea (A. lamarckii leaves, in Madagascar). The ba...
  • Aglaea lamarckii (plant)
    ...medicines—e.g., to induce vomiting (Aglaea emetica leaves, in Madagascar), as a dysentery treatment (A. villosa leaves, in West Africa), and as an agent against gonorrhea (A. lamarckii leaves, in Madagascar). The bark of R. glabra, when used in tanning, produces a bright purple colour in animal skins....
  • Aglaea villosa (plant)
    ...Cnestis polyphylla). Others have properties that make them useful as folk medicines—e.g., to induce vomiting (Aglaea emetica leaves, in Madagascar), as a dysentery treatment (A. villosa leaves, in West Africa), and as an agent against gonorrhea (A. lamarckii leaves, in Madagascar). The bark of R. glabra, when used in tanning, produces a bright purple......
  • Aglaia (plant genus)
    ...common or dominant trees in tropical and subtropical primary and secondary forests, with only a few species in temperate areas. About two-thirds of the species occur in the six largest genera: Aglaia (110 species) in Indo-Malaysia and tropical Australia; Trichilia (85 species), which occur commonly as understory trees in lowland forests from Mexico to the West Indies, tropical......
  • Aglaia (Greek goddess)
    ...The name refers to the “pleasing” or “charming” appearance of a fertile field or garden. The number of Graces varied in different legends, but usually there were three: Aglaia (Brightness), Euphrosyne (Joyfulness), and Thalia (Bloom). They are said to be daughters of Zeus and Hera (or Eurynome, daughter of Oceanus) or of Helios and Aegle, a daughter of Zeus.......
  • Aglaonema (plant)
    ...Dieffenbachia, appear in a number of attractive species. They are handsome tropical foliage plants usually with variegated leaves; they tolerate neglect and thrive even in dry rooms. The Chinese evergreens, of the genus Aglaonema, are fleshy tropical Asian herbs of slow growth, with leathery leaves often bearing silvery or colourful patterns; they are durable and are tolerant......

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