-
Ṭavālesh, Kūhhā-ye (mountains, Azerbaijan-Iran)
mountain chain, northwestern Iran, in the northwest section of the Elburz Mountains, extending southeastward from the Azerbaijan border to the lower part of the Safīd Rūd (Safid River). Few peaks rise above 10,000 ft (3,000 m). The humid subtropical coastal lowlands along the Caspian Sea lie at the eastern base of the mountains....
-
Tavanasa Bridge (bridge, Tavanasa, Switzerland)
...the bottom, and all of the load to the abutments is carried at these thick points. The walls near the abutments, therefore, are technically superfluous. For his 1905 bridge over the Vorderrhein at Tavanasa, with a span of 50 metres (167 feet), Maillart cut out the spandrel walls to achieve a technically superior form that was also visually new. As at Zuoz, the concrete arches of the Tavanasa......
-
Tavares, Antonio Raposo (Portuguese explorer)
...by enslaving both weakened belligerents. The mission villages established by the Jesuits for the Indians were prime targets for bandeira slave raids. The first bandeira, organized by Antonio Raposo Tavares in 1628, raided 21 such villages in the upper Paraná valley and captured about 2,500 Indians. The Jesuit missionaries were the chief opponents of the bandeirantes....
-
Tavares, Eugénio de Paulo (Cape Verdean poet)
Cape Verdean poet who was one of the first Cape Verdeans to be published in the islands’ vernacular, Crioulo, a creolized Portuguese with African-language influences....
-
Tavastehus (Finland)
city, southwestern Finland. It lies on the shore of Lake Vanaja, northwest of Helsinki. The city’s name is derived from the castle of Häme, parts of which date from about 1250. The town, originally chartered in 1639, was first located north of the castle but moved to its present site, a little to the south, in 1779. In 1862 Hämeenlinna became the northern te...
-
Tavastehus Län (province, Finland)
historic region, southwestern Finland. It lies north of Helsinki and includes part of Lake Päijänne, which serves as much of its eastern boundary. The region produces lumber, rye, oats, barley, and potatoes; livestock and dairy cows are also important. It is the home of the Hämäläiset (Tavastians, or Tavast...
-
Tavastian (people)
...of Uralic (specifically Finno-Ugric) stock dominated two settlement areas. Those who entered southwestern Finland across the Gulf of Finland were the ancestors of the Hämäläiset (Tavastians, or Tavastlanders), the people of southern and western Finland (especially the historic region of Häme); those who entered from the southeast were the Karelians. Scandinavian peop...
-
Tavastlander (people)
...of Uralic (specifically Finno-Ugric) stock dominated two settlement areas. Those who entered southwestern Finland across the Gulf of Finland were the ancestors of the Hämäläiset (Tavastians, or Tavastlanders), the people of southern and western Finland (especially the historic region of Häme); those who entered from the southeast were the Karelians. Scandinavian peop...
-
Tavau (Switzerland)
town, Graubünden canton, eastern Switzerland, consisting of two villages, Davos-Platz and Davos-Dorf, in the Davos Valley, on the Landwasser River, 5,118 feet (1,560 metres) above sea level. The town is mentioned in historical documents of 1160 and 1213; it was then inhabited by Romansh-speaking people, but later in the 13th century it was settled by German-speaking peopl...
-
Tavda (Russia)
city and port, Sverdlovsk oblast (province), western Russia, on the Tavda River. Its main industries are locomotive repair, sawmilling, and woodworking. The city’s timber complex produces prefabricated houses, veneers, and plywood. There is a technical institute devoted to the woodworking industry. Pop. (1991 est.) 46,200....
-
Taveloudis, P. (Greek writer)
...War I; Argo (2 vol., 1933 and 1936) by Yórgas Theotokás, about a group of students attempting to find their way through life in the turbulent 1920s; and Eroica (1937) by Kosmás Polítis, about the first encounter of a group of well-to-do schoolboys with love and death....
-
Tavener, Sir John (British composer)
British composer who was strongly influenced by sacred and spiritual texts. Although some critics dismissed his work as lightweight, Tavener drew praise for making classical music accessible to the masses....
-
Tavera, Cardinal (Spanish humanist)
In 1539 the great Spanish humanist and art patron Juan Pardo Cardinal Tavera asked Berruguete to Toledo to execute the choir stalls on the epistle side of the Toledo Cathedral (1539–43), as well as the alabaster “Transfiguration” at the west end of the choir (1543–48). These carvings are somewhat more moderate and classical in feeling than his earlier works. At the time...
-
tavern (drinking establishment)
an establishment where alcoholic beverages are sold for consumption on the premises. Tavern keeping has paralleled the growth of trade, travel, and industry throughout history and virtually worldwide. The Code of Hammurabi of ancient Babylonia (c. 1750 bc) provided that the death penalty could be imposed upon a proprietor for diluting beer. In ancient Greece...
-
Tavern, B. (German author)
The mysterious German-language writer known as B. Traven, author of The Cotton Pickers (1926) and many other novels, may well be the most widely read anarchist storyteller of the 20th century. His tales excoriate statist intrusions upon individual existence, from passports and other bureaucratic paperwork to mass mobilization for war. The Good Soldier......
-
Tavern Bilkers, The (ballet)
...Shrewsbury, Weaver began his career as a dance master in the town. In 1700 he went to London, where he became a specialist in comic roles. In his initial choreographic effort, The Tavern Bilkers (1702), a burlesque and the first English pantomime ballet, he used Italian commedia dell’arte characters such as Harlequin and Scaramouche. At the time, dance was gen...
-
tavern clock
weight-driven wall clock with a large wooden, painted or lacquered dial. More correctly, it is called a tavern clock. Clocks of this type were displayed by innkeepers and got their name from the passage of a five-shilling duty on clocks in Great Britain, introduced in 1797 by the English prime minister William Pitt the Younger. (Many clocks were disposed of by their owners, who ...
-
Taverner, John (British composer)
English composer known primarily for his sacred works. His music represents the culmination of early 16th-century English polyphony....
-
Taveuni Island (island, Fiji)
third largest island of Fiji, South Pacific Ocean. The island has an area of 168 square miles (435 square km). It lies off the southeast coast of Vanua Levu and was sighted by the Dutch navigator Abel Janszoon Tasman in 1643. Volcanic in origin, it has a central mountain ridge that culminates in Uluinggalau (4,072 feet [1,241 metres]). The chief village is Somosomo on the wester...
-
Tavgi (people)
an indigenous Arctic people who traditionally resided in the lower half of the Taymyr Peninsula of Russia. They numbered about 800 in the early 21st century....
-
Tavgi language
...There are five Samoyedic languages, which are divided into two subgroups—North Samoyedic and South Samoyedic. The North Samoyedic subgroup consists of Nenets (Yurak), Enets (Yenisey), and Nganasan (Tavgi). The South Samoyedic subgroup comprises Selkup and the practically extinct Kamas language. None of these languages was written before 1930, and they are currently used only......
-
Tavgi Samoyed (people)
an indigenous Arctic people who traditionally resided in the lower half of the Taymyr Peninsula of Russia. They numbered about 800 in the early 21st century....
-
Tavgy language
...There are five Samoyedic languages, which are divided into two subgroups—North Samoyedic and South Samoyedic. The North Samoyedic subgroup consists of Nenets (Yurak), Enets (Yenisey), and Nganasan (Tavgi). The South Samoyedic subgroup comprises Selkup and the practically extinct Kamas language. None of these languages was written before 1930, and they are currently used only......
-
Taviani brothers (Italian filmmakers)
Italian brothers and filmmakers who combined the social concerns and documentary effects of Neorealism with modernist concerns for outstanding, often poetic, visual and aural effects. The notable films of Paolo Taviani (b. Nov. 8, 1931San Miniato, near Pisa, Italy)...
-
Taviani, Paolo (Italian filmmaker)
Italian brothers and filmmakers who combined the social concerns and documentary effects of Neorealism with modernist concerns for outstanding, often poetic, visual and aural effects. The notable films of Paolo Taviani (b. Nov. 8, 1931San Miniato, near Pisa, Italy) and......
-
Taviani, Vittorio (Italian filmmaker)
Italian brothers and filmmakers who combined the social concerns and documentary effects of Neorealism with modernist concerns for outstanding, often poetic, visual and aural effects. The notable films of Paolo Taviani (b. Nov. 8, 1931San Miniato, near Pisa, Italy) and......
-
Tavole Paladine (temple, Metapontum, Italy)
...are the remains of two temples, both dating from 570 to 480 bc. Of the first, probably dedicated to Apollo Lyceius, only the foundations remain; 15 columns still stand of the second temple, Tavole Paladine, which lies outside the area of the ancient city....
-
Tavor, Har (mountain, Lower Galilee, Israel)
historic elevation of northern Israel, in Lower Galilee near the edge of the Plain of Esdraelon (ʿEmeq Yizreʿel). Though comparatively low (1,929 feet [588 m]), it dominates the level landscape around it, leading to the biblical expression “like Tabor among the mountains” (Jeremiah 46:18). It is first mentioned in the 13th century bc in Egyptian inscriptio...
-
Távora, Juárez (Brazilian politician)
...de Oliveira, popularly regarded as Vargas’s political heir; former São Paulo state governor Ademar de Barros, who had broad backing from financial and commercial groups; and Marshal Juárez Távora, considered to be the representative of conservative military and civilian groups. Kubitschek won the election with slightly more than one-third of the total vote.......
-
Tavora, Orlando (Angolan poet)
white Angolan poet, short-story writer, and cabinet minister in his country’s first postwar government....
-
Távoras, Conspiracy of the (Portuguese history)
(1758–59), event in Portuguese history that enabled the Marquis de Pombal, chief minister to King Joseph I, to crush the higher nobility and the Jesuits, who had opposed him....
-
Tavoularis, Dean (American art director and production designer)
...Screenplay: Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo for The Godfather, Part IICinematography: Joseph Biroc and Fred Koenekamp for The Towering InfernoArt Direction: Angelo Graham and Dean Tavoularis for The Godfather, Part IIOriginal Dramatic Score: Carmine Coppola and Nino Rota for The Godfather, Part IIScoring—Original Song Score and Adaptation or Scoring:......
-
Tavoy (Myanmar)
town, southern Myanmar (Burma). It lies at the head of the Tavoy River estuary on the Andaman Sea. Tavoy is a weaving centre and is engaged in coastal trade with northern Myanmar and the Malay Peninsula. It is served by an airport. A hunting reserve and Mamagan, a popular beach area, are nearby....
-
taw (game)
The names and rules of marble games are as varied as the localities and countries where they are played, but a few may be mentioned. In taw, ringtaw, or ringer, players attempt to shoot marbles, sometimes arranged in a cross, out of a ring as much as 6 to 10 feet (about 2 to 3 metres) in diameter. In hit and span, players try to shoot or roll marbles either against an opponent’s marbles or ...
-
ṭawāf (Islam)
...the ihram garments, consisting of two white seamless sheets that are wrapped around the body. The pilgrim cuts neither his hair nor his nails until the pilgrimage rite is over. He enters Mecca and walks seven times around the sacred shrine called the Kaʿbah, in the Great Mosque, kisses or touches the Black Stone (Ḥajar al-Aswad) in the Kaʿbah, prays twice in the direction o...
-
Tawagalawas Letter (Hittite history)
...of Konya, with equal status to the ruler of Carchemish; the city would have served as a base for operations farther west. This may be connected with events referred to in a document known as the Tawagalawas Letter that describes a Hittite campaign in the Lukka lands and the activities there of a certain Piyamaradus. Piyamaradus used Millawanda (possibly Miletus) as his base; that city was a......
-
ṭawā’if (Spanish Muslim kingdom)
a faction or party, as applied to the followers of any of the petty kings who appeared in Muslim Spain in a period of great political fragmentation early in the 11th century after the dissolution of the central authority of the Umayyad caliphate of Córdoba. After the dictatorship of al-Muẓaffar (reigned 1002–08), civil war reduced the caliphate to a puppet i...
-
tawakkul (Ṣūfism)
...his independence of worldly possessions and his need of God alone; (5) the maqām of ṣabr (patience), the art of steadfastness; (6) the maqām of tawakkul (trust, or surrender), in which the Sufi knows that he cannot be discouraged by hardships and pain, for he is in total submission to God’s will and finds joy even in his sorrows; (7...
-
Tawana (people)
...of Kanye. Meanwhile, other Kwena had settled around Molepolole, and a group of those Kwena thenceforth called Ngwato settled farther north at Shoshong. By about 1795 a group of Ngwato, called the Tawana, had even founded a state as far northwest as Lake Ngami....
-
Tawannannas (Hittite queen)
...it appears that the Hittites regarded their own history as beginning with a king called Labarnas (Labarnash); this inference is confirmed by the use in later times of his name and that of his wife Tawannannas as dynastic titles or throne names of subsequent rulers. Nothing else is known about this king, however, and it is not certain that he was the first of his line. The earliest contemporary....
-
Tawantinsuyu (ancient region, South America)
Cuzco, whose name derives from a Quechua word meaning “navel” or “centre,” dates from the 11th or 12th century and was the capital of Tawantinsuyu (“Realm of the Four Parts”), an empire that by the late 15th century extended to the northwest some 1,100 miles (1,800 km), reaching approximately to the northern border of present-day Ecuador, and to the south....
-
Tawaraya Sōtatsu (Japanese artist)
Japanese artist of the Tokugawa period (1603–1867) who combined the traditional themes of the indigenous school of Japanese narrative scroll painting, known as Yamato-e, with the bold, decorative designs of the great screen painters of the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1574–1600). He pioneered the use of such painting techniques as defining shapes and ...
-
Tawaret (Egyptian goddess)
goddess of ancient Egypt, the benevolent protectress of fertility and childbirth, associated also with the nursing of infants. She was depicted as having the head of a hippopotamus standing upright (sometimes with the breasts of a woman), the tail of a crocodile, and the claws of a lion. Her image often appeared in household shrines and on amulets. Another goddess, called Opet (...
-
Tawau (Malaysia)
port, northeastern Sabah state, East Malaysia. It lies on the northeastern shore of Cowie Harbour, which is an inlet of the Celebes Sea. Once notorious for smuggling with the Philippines and neighbouring Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo), the city is now the administrative and service centre for a developing agricultural district (coconuts, rubber, cocoa, oil palm, and abaca). The port exports timber...
-
tawbah (Ṣūfism)
The order and number of the māqams are not uniform among all Sufis. The majority, however, agree on seven major maqāms: (1) the maqām of tawbah (repentance), which does not mean remembrance of sins and atonement for them but rather forgetting them along with everything that distracts from the love of God; (2) the maqām of......
-
Tawfīq al-Ḥakīm (Egyptian author)
founder of contemporary Egyptian drama and a leading figure in modern Arabic literature....
-
“Tawfīq al-Ḥakīm’s The People of the Cave” (drama by al-Ḥakīm)
Al-Ḥakīm won fame as a dramatist with Ahl al-kahf (1933; “The People of the Cave”), which was ostensibly based on the story of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus but which was actually a study of the human struggle against time. This introduced his series of “dramas of ideas,” or of “symbolism.” They include Shahrazād (1934),....
-
Tawfīq Pasha, Muḥammad (khedive of Egypt)
khedive of Egypt (1879–92) during the first phase of the British occupation....
-
tawḥīd (Islam)
(“making one,” “asserting oneness”), in Islām, the oneness of God, in the sense that he is one and there is no god but he, as stated in the shahādah (“witness”) formula: “There is no god but God and Muḥammad is His prophet.” Tawhid further refers to the nature of that God—that he is a uni...
-
tawhid (Islam)
(“making one,” “asserting oneness”), in Islām, the oneness of God, in the sense that he is one and there is no god but he, as stated in the shahādah (“witness”) formula: “There is no god but God and Muḥammad is His prophet.” Tawhid further refers to the nature of that God—that he is a uni...
-
Tawḥīdī, Abū Ḥayyān at- (Arab author)
...lifetime the extent of his erudition and genius was widely recognized, and his achievements were deemed virtually unattainable. In later generations one prominent figure, Abū Ḥayyān al-Tawḥīdī, whose turbulent life is an apt reflection of the vicissitudes of court patronage during the 10th and 11th centuries, provides another......
-
taʾwīl (Islam)
...religiously and politically schismatic group. The Ismailis believed that beneath every obvious or literal meaning of a sacred text lay a secret, hidden meaning, which could be arrived at through taʾwīl (allegorical interpretations); thus, every statement, person, or object could be scrutinized in this manner to reveal its true intent. They further stated that......
-
Ṭawīlah, Jazīrat Aṭ- (island, Iran)
largest island in the Persian Gulf, belonging to Iran. The Arabic name means “long island.” It lies parallel to the Iranian coast, from which it is separated by Clarence Strait. With an area of 460 square miles (1,200 square km), it has an irregular outline and a generally rocky coast except for sandy bays and mud flats fringing the northwest. Ir...
-
tawing (tanning process)
...robes. Skins of various animals were utilized. These were sometimes simply raw hides, which have survived only rarely, but the Egyptians became skilled at curing the skins to become leather by the tawing method—that is, by the use of alum or salt. Tawing yields a white, stiff leather that may be dyed various colours. Later they adopted the tanning method, employing oak galls for the......
-
Tawitawi (island, Philippines)
island, southwestern Sulu archipelago, Philippines. It lies between the Celebes Sea (southeast) and the Sulu Sea (northwest). Tawitawi Island is of volcanic origin, is hilly and heavily wooded, and is about 34 miles (55 km) long and from 6 to 14 miles (10 to 23 km) wide. The inhabitants are Samals, a Muslim people speaking Samal, a language ...
-
Tawney, Lenore (American artist)
American artist whose compositions helped transform weaving from an underappreciated craft into a new form of visual art....
-
Tawney, Richard Henry (British economist)
English economic historian and one of the most influential social critics and reformers of his time. He was also noted for his scholarly contributions to the economic history of England from 1540 to 1640....
-
tawny frogmouth (bird)
...auritus), a 16-inch (40-cm) species of the Malay Peninsula and the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, lays a single egg on a pad of down covered with lichens and spiderwebs. The tawny frogmouth (Podargus strigoides), of the Australian mainland and Tasmania, is about 20 inches (50 cm) long. It lays two or three eggs on a flimsy nest of twigs in the crotch of a......
-
tawny owl (bird)
The tawny owl (S. aluco), of Europe, Asia, and Africa, is brown or tawny, spotted with white, and barred in dark brown. ...
-
“Ṭawq al-ḥamāmah” (work by Ibn Ḥazm)
...religion, and theology. His appreciation of the resources of the Arabic language and his skillful use of poetry and prose are evident in all his works. One delightful example is The Ring of the Dove (Ṭawq al-ḥamāmah), on the art of love. Probably best known for his work in jurisprudence and theology, for which the basic......
-
tawqī script (script)
Among the other scripts invented by Ibn Muqlah were the tawqī and the more elegant thuluth. In addition to his calligraphic work, Ibn Muqlah led a colourful political life. He was appointed vizier three times, and three times he lost that office for being involved in political intrigue. The third time, he was sentenced to life in prison, where he died in 940....
-
Tawzar (oasis, Tunisia)
oasis in west-central Tunisia. It is located to the south of Tunisia’s steppe region in the jarīd (palm) country, which displays a colourful landscape marked by numerous chott (or shaṭṭ, salty lake) depressions and palm ...
-
tax
imposition of compulsory levies on individuals or entities by governments. Taxes are levied in almost every country of the world, primarily to raise revenue for government expenditures, although they serve other purposes as well....
-
tax accounting
The accounting system must also provide data for use in the completion of the company’s tax returns. This function is the concern of tax accounting. In some countries financial accounting must conform to tax accounting rules laid down by national tax laws and regulations, and tabulations prepared for tax purposes often diverge from those submitted to shareholders and others. “Taxable...
-
tax allowance (taxation)
...on a flat per capita basis or in accordance with a schedule. When income is taxed at graduated rates, exemptions are worth more to high-income than to low-income families. In order to provide equal tax allowances for dependents to families of the same size at different income levels, each exemption can be multiplied by the standard or basic rate of tax and so be converted into a uniform tax......
-
Tax Appeals, Board of (American law)
in the United States, a court that hears cases involving tax litigation. Originally, a Board of Tax Appeals was set up in 1924 to hear cases in which, for example, a taxpayer might challenge the findings of an Internal Revenue Service agent who had declared a tax deficiency. The board was to act as a body independent of (though cooperating with) the U.S. Department of Justice in the resolution of...
-
tax base (economics)
The breadth of the tax base affects tax incidence. The broader (narrower) the tax base—i.e., the more (less) inclusive the scope of the tax—the more difficult it is to escape the tax burden, since the range of nontaxed or less-taxed substitutes is narrower (wider). Thus, an excise tax on only a few alcoholic beverages allows the tax to be escaped through a change in the consumption.....
-
tax bracket
...several types of variations found in the income tax practices of different countries, mainly those relating to the determination of taxable income. Something should now be said about variations in rate structures. The important variants in these structures are (1) the starting point and levels of first-bracket rates, (2) the top bracket or maximum marginal rates, and (3) the income range......
-
Tax Court (American law)
in the United States, a court that hears cases involving tax litigation. Originally, a Board of Tax Appeals was set up in 1924 to hear cases in which, for example, a taxpayer might challenge the findings of an Internal Revenue Service agent who had declared a tax deficiency. The board was to act as a body independent of (though cooperating with) the U.S. Department of Justice in the resolution of...
-
tax credit (economics)
...percentage of the cost of eligible assets in addition to depreciation allowances. The total deductions thus may exceed the cost of an eligible asset over its lifetime. A related approach, the tax credit, reduces the income tax payable by a certain percentage of the cost of eligible forms of new investment. Alternatively, an investment grant, in the form of a payment from the government to......
-
tax expenditure (economics)
Preferential treatment can be extended to selected private activities in either of two ways: tax revenues can be collected and then spent to support the activities as part of the normal budget process, or preferential treatment of the activities can be built into the tax system, as with the deductions allowed for home mortgage interest. In either case the advantages granted can be seen as......
-
tax farmer (government official)
The actual collecting of taxes, moreover, was increasingly handed over to tax farmers. The more efficient methods of collection by tax farmers enabled the crown to gather a larger proportion of its revenue than previously but did not solve the problem of royal finance. Even the extraordinary taxes, now added to the crown’s ordinary revenue, notably the taille (a direct tax levied on all but...
-
tax haven (economics)
...do not or cannot tax such income when it is received by their residents, but this worsens problems of capital shortages. Investment and the related income sometimes are channeled through “tax haven” countries in order to take advantage of tax treaties. To illustrate how this approach can be used to avoid taxes, consider the case of a resident of country R who wishes to invest in.....
-
tax incidence
This simple example shows how complex the so-called “tax incidence” may be. The literature of public finance in the 19th century was devoted to such problems, but Keynesian economics replaced the older emphasis on tax incidence with the analysis of the impact of government expenditures on the level of income and employment. It was some time, however, before economists realized that.....
-
tax law
body of rules under which a public authority has a claim on taxpayers, requiring them to transfer to the authority part of their income or property. The power to impose taxes is generally recognized as a right of governments. The tax law of a nation is usually unique to it, although there are similarities and common elements in the laws of various countries. ...
-
tax rate
American economist who propounded the idea that lowering tax rates could result in higher revenues. His theory on taxes influenced U.S. economic policy in the 1980s....
-
tax shelter (economics)
...reflect economic reality can be “passed through” to the owners of a business, perhaps by the use of a partnership, the losses can offset income from other sources and therefore provide a tax shelter....
-
tax shifting
The incidence of a tax rests on the person(s) whose real net income is reduced by the tax. It is fundamental that the real burden of taxation does not necessarily rest upon the person who is legally responsible for payment of the tax. General sales taxes are paid by business firms, but most of the cost of the tax is actually passed on to those who buy the goods that are being taxed. In other......
-
Tax, Sol (American anthropologist)
American cultural anthropologist who founded the journal Current Anthropology. He was also known for the Fox Project, a study of the culture of the Fox and Sauk Indians....
-
tax warrant (law)
Other types of warrants include tax warrants, which provide the authority to collect taxes, and land warrants, transferable certificates issued by the government entitling the holder to a specific tract of public land....
-
taxa (biology)
any unit used in the science of biological classification, or taxonomy. Taxa are arranged in a hierarchy from kingdom to subspecies, a given taxon ordinarily including several taxa of lower rank. In the classification of protists, plants, and animals, certain taxonomic categories are universally recognized; in descending order, these are kingdom, phylum (in plants, division), class, order, family,...
-
Taxaceae (plant family)
the yew family, in the order Pinales, containing 6 genera and 30 species of evergreen trees and shrubs, distributed mainly in the Northern Hemisphere. The plants have many branches, covered with alternate, needlelike leaves. Pollen-bearing and ovule-bearing plants are usually separate; the pollen-bearing reproductive units are contained within conelike structures. The usually solitary seeds are co...
-
taxad (plant family)
the yew family, in the order Pinales, containing 6 genera and 30 species of evergreen trees and shrubs, distributed mainly in the Northern Hemisphere. The plants have many branches, covered with alternate, needlelike leaves. Pollen-bearing and ovule-bearing plants are usually separate; the pollen-bearing reproductive units are contained within conelike structures. The usually solitary seeds are co...
-
Taxandria (region, Belgium)
plateau region of northeastern Belgium occupying most of Antwerp province and northern Limburg province. It is a rather dry, infertile region of sandy soil and gravel, with pine woods interspersed among meadows of thin grass and heather. Poor drainage, especially in the lower, western part, has produced marshes where reeds and alder trees shelter abundant waterfowl. Although market towns and abbey...
-
Taxandrian Interglacial Stage (geology)
division of Pleistocene time and deposits in The Netherlands and northern Europe (the Pleistocene Epoch dates from 1,600,000 to 10,000 years ago). The Waal Interglacial follows the Eburon Glacial Stage and precedes the Menapian Glacial Stage, both times of relatively severe climatic conditions. The Waal is included in the earlier part of the Pleistocene. Studies of the animals and plants preserved...
-
taxation
imposition of compulsory levies on individuals or entities by governments. Taxes are levied in almost every country of the world, primarily to raise revenue for government expenditures, although they serve other purposes as well....
-
taxation, burden of
Various principles, political pressures, and goals can direct a government’s tax policy. What follows is a discussion of some of the leading principles that can shape decisions about taxation....
-
Taxation No Tyranny (work by Johnson)
...expressions of false patriotism and includes in that category justifications of “the ridiculous claims of American usurpation,” the subject of his longest tract, Taxation No Tyranny (1775). The title summarizes his position opposing the American Continental Congress, which in 1774 had passed resolutions against taxation by England, perceived as......
-
Taxco (Mexico)
city, northern Guerrero estado (state), south-central Mexico, on the slopes of Atache Hill, at 5,758 feet (1,755 m) above sea level, in the Sierra de Taxco. The place was a mining centre in pre-Columbian times. The Indian settlement (Tlacho), together with the settlement founded by the Spanish in 1528, became the city of Taxco and was one of the first early ...
-
Taxco de Alarcón (Mexico)
city, northern Guerrero estado (state), south-central Mexico, on the slopes of Atache Hill, at 5,758 feet (1,755 m) above sea level, in the Sierra de Taxco. The place was a mining centre in pre-Columbian times. The Indian settlement (Tlacho), together with the settlement founded by the Spanish in 1528, became the city of Taxco and was one of the first early ...
-
taxi (vehicle)
chauffeur-driven automobile available for hire to carry passengers between any two points within a city or its suburbs for a fare determined by a meter or zone system or a flat rate. The taxicab is named after the taximeter, an instrument invented by Wilhelm Bruhn in 1891 that automatically recorded the distance traveled and/or the time consumed, thus enabling the fare to be accurately measured. ...
-
Taxi Driver (film by Scorsese)
Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976), a brutal, uncompromising film that starred De Niro as a lonely, psychopathic New York cabbie, was filled with some of the most violent sequences committed to film to that time; many rank it as Scorsese’s best work. De Niro costarred with Liza Minnelli in Scorsese’s next film, New York, New York......
-
taxicab (vehicle)
chauffeur-driven automobile available for hire to carry passengers between any two points within a city or its suburbs for a fare determined by a meter or zone system or a flat rate. The taxicab is named after the taximeter, an instrument invented by Wilhelm Bruhn in 1891 that automatically recorded the distance traveled and/or the time consumed, thus enabling the fare to be accurately measured. ...
-
taxicab metric (mathematics)
...to mathematicians. Given any set of points, the discrete metric specifies that the distance from a point to itself equal 0 while the distance between any two distinct points equal 1. The so-called taxicab metric on the Euclidean plane declares the distance from a point (x, y) to a point (z, w) to be |x − z| +......
-
Taxidea taxus (mammal)
The American badger, the only New World species, is usually found in open, dry country of western North America. Muscular, short-necked, and flat-bodied, it has a broad, flattened head and short legs and tail. The colour of the coat is grayish and grizzled, dark at the face and feet with a white stripe extending from the nose to the back. It is 23 cm (9 inches) tall and 42–76 cm long,......
-
taxidermy
the practice of creating lifelike representations of animals, most commonly birds and mammals, by the use of their prepared skins and various supporting structures. Taxidermy may be traced to the ancient custom of preserving trophies of the hunt, but the principal motive for its development into an art was the growth of interest, especially from the time of the Enlightenment, in natural history a...
-
Taxidiinae (mammal subfamily)
...Mellivora (ratel, or honey badger)1 species.Subfamily Taxidiinae Genus Taxidea(American badger)1......
-
Taxila (ancient city, Pakistan)
ancient city of northwestern Pakistan, the ruins of which are about 22 miles (35 km) northwest of Rawalpindi. Its prosperity in ancient times resulted from its position at the junction of three great trade routes: one from eastern India described by a Greek writer, Megasthenes, as the “Royal Highway,” the second from western Asia, and the third from Kashmir and Cen...
-
Taxiles (ruler of Taxila)
...modern Pir-Sar, a few miles west of the Indus and north of the Buner River, an impressive feat of siegecraft. In spring 326, crossing the Indus near Attock, Alexander entered Taxila, whose ruler, Taxiles, furnished elephants and troops in return for aid against his rival Porus, who ruled the lands between the Hydaspes (modern Jhelum) and the Acesines (modern Chenāb). In June Alexander......
-
taximeter (instrument)
...automobile available for hire to carry passengers between any two points within a city or its suburbs for a fare determined by a meter or zone system or a flat rate. The taxicab is named after the taximeter, an instrument invented by Wilhelm Bruhn in 1891 that automatically recorded the distance traveled and/or the time consumed, thus enabling the fare to be accurately measured. The term cab......
We welcome your comments. Any revisions or updates suggested for this article will be reviewed by our editorial staff. Contact us here.
Regular users of Britannica may notice that this comments feature is less robust than in the past. This is only temporary, while we make the transition to a dramatically new and richer site. The functionality of the system will be restored soon.