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Latvia: Year In Review 1998
Area: 64,610 sq km (24,946 sq mi)...
Latvia: Year In Review 1999
In 1999 Latvia advanced toward its principal foreign policy goals: membership in the European Union and membership in NATO. After the European Commission positively assessed Latvia’s progress on meeting the EU membership criteria, in December La...
Latvia: Year In Review 2000
The 10th anniversary of the May 4, 1990, declaration on restoring the Republic of Latvia, originally proclaimed in 1918, encouraged both retrospection and contemplation of the future in 2000. The nation continued to examine the period of occupation by the U.S.S.R. and Nazi Germany. International conferences on the Holocaust ...
Latvia: Year In Review 2001
Latvians and foreign visitors joined to celebrate Riga’s 800th anniversary in 2001; commemorative cultural events took place throughout the summer. Latvians were buoyant with optimism as the country neared membership in the European Union (EU) and NATO and generally enjoyed fine ...
Latvia: Year In Review 2002
If the first half of the year 2002 was characterized by stability and preparations for change, then the second half saw those changes, both in Latvia’s international status and in its domestic political life, come about. The parliamentary elections in October altered the composition of the Saeima (parliament) and led to the formation of a four-party centre-right coalition government. In Nov...
Latvia: Year In Review 2003
In March 2003 the protocol for Latvia’s admission into NATO was signed, as was, a month later, the treaty of accession to the European Union. Latvia was set to become a full-fledged member of both in 2004. Despite an upsurge of “Euroskepticism” earlier in 2003, in the referendum in September 67% o...
Latvia: Year In Review 2004
Having joined NATO on March 29 and the European Union on May 1, Latvia in 2004 achieved its main foreign-policy goals since regaining independence. Riga contributed to international missions in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans, and Georgia and generally maintained good relations with the rest of the world....
Latvia: Year In Review 2005
As a full-fledged member of the EU, NATO, and a number of other international organizations, Latvia participated actively in their work in 2005. The Latvian Parliament endorsed the EU constitutional treaty on June 2. On an invitation from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Latvia’s Pres. Vaira Vike-Freiberga served as a special envoy for UN reforms. As EU...
Latvia: Year In Review 2006
Latvia confirmed its status as a donor country in February 2006 when it launched a Development Cooperation Policy Program. Assistance was initially directed toward Moldova and Georgia, but there were plans to expand in 2007. Working with the EU, Estonia, and Lithuania, the Latvian government also promote...
Latvia: Year In Review 2007
Latvia’s foreign relations in 2007 developed along the anticipated lines. The EU extended the Schengen passport-free travel zone to Latvia, and Canada permitted Latvians visa-free travel. Given the unpopularity of the war in Iraq from the outset, the calls to withdraw Latvian peacekeepers swelled in January when two soldiers (killed i...
Latvia: Year In Review 2008
Domestically 2008 was a year of discontent in Latvia, as evidenced by demonstrations, referenda, and strikes, especially in the autumn. Dissatisfied with the performance of the parliament, the public demanded that the constitution be amended to facilitate the holding of early elections....
Latvia: Year In Review 2009
The economic recession and its consequences at home and abroad were Latvia’s principal concern in 2009. Though the Ministry of Finance estimated that GDP could fall by about 18% for the year and unemployment climbed to nearly 20%, there were signs that the decline was leveling off during the second half of the year....
Latvia: Year In Review 2010
The major issues in Latvia in 2010 were the October 2 parliamentary elections and the ongoing economic recession. Despite the country’s gradual economic recovery and the fact that some experts regarded Latvia’s handling of it as a model of a disciplined approach to overcoming financial crises, the populace still faced falling incomes and continui...
Latvian (people)
...the Baltic Sea. (The name Balt, coined in the 19th century, is derived from the sea; Aestii was the name given these peoples by the Roman historian Tacitus.) In addition to the Lithuanians and the Latvians (Letts), several groups now extinct were included: the Yotvingians (Jatvians, or Jatvingians; assimilated among the Lithuanians and Slavs in the 16th–17th century); the Prussians......
Latvian language
East Baltic language spoken primarily in Latvia, where it has been the official language since 1918. It belongs to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European family of languages. (See Baltic languages.) In the late 20th century Latvian was spoken by about 1.5 million people....
Latvian literature
body of writings in the Latvian language. Latvia’s loss of political independence in the 13th century prevented a natural evolution of its literature out of folk poetry. Much of Latvian literature is an attempt to reestablish this connection. Written literature came late, fostered by German clergymen. Latvian secular...
Latvian State University (university, Riga, Latvia)
body of writings in the Latvian language. Latvia’s loss of political independence in the 13th century prevented a natural evolution of its literature out of folk poetry. Much of Latvian literature is an attempt to reestablish this connection. Written literature came late, fostered by German clergymen. Latvian secular...
Latviesu Valoda
East Baltic language spoken primarily in Latvia, where it has been the official language since 1918. It belongs to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European family of languages. (See Baltic languages.) In the late 20th century Latvian was spoken by about 1.5 million people....
Latvija
country of northeastern Europe and one of the Baltic states. Latvia, which was occupied and annexed by the U.S.S.R. in June 1940, declared its independence on Aug. 21, 1991. The U.S.S.R. recognized its sovereignty on September 6, and United Nations membership followed shortly thereafter. Latvia was admitted to the ...
Latvijas Republika
country of northeastern Europe and one of the Baltic states. Latvia, which was occupied and annexed by the U.S.S.R. in June 1940, declared its independence on Aug. 21, 1991. The U.S.S.R. recognized its sovereignty on September 6, and United Nations membership followed shortly thereafter. Latvia was admitted to the ...
Latynina, Larisa Semyonovna (Soviet athlete)
Soviet gymnast who was the first woman athlete to win nine Olympic gold medals....
Latzarus, Marie-Thérèse (French author)
...have given, but they have assimilated, adapted, transformed. The two are not the same thing, for one must love childhood in general if one is to please children other than one’s own.” In 1923 Marie-Thérèse Latzarus tolled the passing bell in La littérature enfantine en France dans la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle (Paris...
Lau Group (islands, Fiji)
island cluster of Fiji in the South Pacific Ocean, east of the Koro Sea. Mainly composed of limestone, the 57 islands and islets cover a land area of 188 square miles (487 square km) and are scattered over 44,000 square miles (114,000 square km) of the South Pacific. The chief island is Vanua Balavu, site ...
Lau Islands (islands, Fiji)
island cluster of Fiji in the South Pacific Ocean, east of the Koro Sea. Mainly composed of limestone, the 57 islands and islets cover a land area of 188 square miles (487 square km) and are scattered over 44,000 square miles (114,000 square km) of the South Pacific. The chief island is Vanua Balavu, site ...
Lauaki Namulau’ulu (Samoan chief)
In Western Samoa the drive for political independence began in 1908 with the Mau a Pule, a movement led by the orator chief Lauaki Namulau’ulu. The matai were dissatisfied with the German governor’s attempts to change the fa’a Samoa and centralize all authority in his hands. After the governor called in warships, Lauaki and nine of his leading s...
Laub-und-Bandelwerk (art)
The wares of Bayreuth are particularly interesting. Early products were painted with a misty blue, but overglaze colours were speedily adopted. “Leaf and strapwork” (Laub-und-Bandelwerk) was a much used type of motif, and excellent work was done by A.F. von Löwenfinck (who is known particularly for his work on porcelain) and Joseph Philipp Danhofer. Perhaps the finest.....
Laubeuf, Maxime (French engineer)
...development, and Zédé collaborated in a number of designs sponsored by the French navy. A most successful French undersea craft of the period was the Narval, designed by Maxime Laubeuf, a marine engineer in the navy. Launched in 1899, the Narval was a double-hulled craft, 111.5 feet long, propelled on the surface by a steam engine and by electric motors when......
Lauchen, Georg Joachim Von (Austrian astronomer)
Austrian-born astronomer and mathematician who was among the first to adopt and spread the heliocentric theory of Nicolaus Copernicus....
Laud, William (archbishop of Canterbury)
archbishop of Canterbury (1633–45) and religious adviser to King Charles I of Great Britain. His persecution of Puritans and other religious dissidents resulted in his trial and execution by the House of Commons....
lauda (Italian poetry)
a type of Italian poetry or a nonliturgical devotional song in praise of the Virgin Mary, Christ, or the saints....
“Laudabiliter” (papal bull)
Adrian then marched to Benevento, during which time he received John of Salisbury, secretary to the archbishop of Canterbury, and granted him the Donation of Ireland (known as the bull Laudabiliter), which supposedly gave Ireland to Henry II of England. Attacked for false representation, the bull was subsequently refuted. (Even if Laudabiliter is authentic, which is doubtful, it......
Laudan, Larry (American philosopher)
A different antirealist argument, presented by Laudan, attacks directly the “ultimate argument” for realism. Laudan reflected on the history of science and considered all the past theories that were once counted as outstandingly successful. He offered a list of outmoded theories, claiming that all enjoyed successes and noting that not only is each now viewed as false, but each also.....
laudanum (drug)
Opium was for many centuries the principal painkiller known to medicine and was used in various forms and under various names. Laudanum, for example, was an alcoholic tincture (dilute solution) of opium that was used in European medical practice as an analgesic and sedative. Physicians relied on paregoric, a camphorated solution of opium, to treat diarrhea by relaxing the gastrointestinal......
laude (Italian poetry)
a type of Italian poetry or a nonliturgical devotional song in praise of the Virgin Mary, Christ, or the saints....
Laudenbach, Pierre-Jules-Louis (French actor)
versatile French actor who abandoned a career with the Comédie-Française for the challenge of the cinema. Groomed for the stage by his uncle, the actor Claude Garry, Fresnay made his first stage appearance in 1912 before entering the Paris Conservatory....
Lauder, Estée (American businesswoman and philanthropist)
American cofounder of Estée Lauder, Inc., a large fragrance and cosmetics company....
Lauder, Joseph (American businessman)
She married Joseph Lauter (last name later changed to Lauder), whom she divorced in 1939 and remarried in 1942. Together they founded Estée Lauder, Inc., in 1946. Their first six beauty products included skin treatments, a rouge, and a makeup base. When no agency would handle their small $50,000 advertising budget, the Lauders spent the money on samples, which they gave away at fashion......
Lauder, Sir Harry (Scottish entertainer)
Scottish music-hall comedian who excited enthusiasm throughout the English-speaking world as singer and composer of simplehearted Scottish songs....
Lauder, Sir Harry MacLennan (Scottish entertainer)
Scottish music-hall comedian who excited enthusiasm throughout the English-speaking world as singer and composer of simplehearted Scottish songs....
Lauder, William (Scottish literary forger)
Scottish literary forger, known for his fraudulent attempt to prove Milton a plagiarist....
Lauderdale, James Maitland, 8th Earl of (Scottish politician)
Scottish politician and economic writer....
Lauderdale, John Maitland, Duke of (Scottish politician)
one of the chief ministers of King Charles II of England (reigned 1660–85); he earned notoriety for his repressive rule in Scotland during Charles II’s reign....
Lauderdale of Thirlestane, Baron (Scottish politician)
Scottish politician and economic writer....
Laudes creaturarum o Cantico del Sole (work by Saint Francis)
...Brother Sun,” “Sister Moon,” “Brother Wind,” “Sister Water,” “Brother Fire,” and “Mother Earth”—a work that has been called Laudes creaturarum o Cantico del Sole (“Praises of God’s Creatures or the Canticle of the Sun”). Another outstanding early master of the lauda was the gif...
laudi (Italian poetry)
a type of Italian poetry or a nonliturgical devotional song in praise of the Virgin Mary, Christ, or the saints....
Laudi del cielo del mare della terra e degli eroi (work by D’Annunzio)
D’Annunzio continued his prodigious literary production until World War I. His major poetic work is the lyrical collection Laudi del cielo del mare della terra e degli eroi (1899; “In Praise of Sky, Sea, Earth, and Heroes”). The third book in this series, Alcyone (1904), a re-creation of the smells, tastes, sounds, and experiences of a Tuscan summer, is considere...
laudi spirituali (Italian poetry)
a type of Italian poetry or a nonliturgical devotional song in praise of the Virgin Mary, Christ, or the saints....
Laudin family (French enamellers)
...Suzanne de Court in particular turned from the soft harmonies of the earlier artists to the use of bright colours enhanced by an excess of metallic foil called paillons, for gaudy rich effects. The Laudin family dominated the production of the ware in the 17th century and were the last major enamellers at Limoges. See also Limosin, Léonard; Pénicaud family.......
Laudon, Gideon Ernest, Freiherr von (Austrian field marshal)
Austrian field marshal who was one of the most successful Habsburg commanders during the Seven Years’ War (1756–63) and the Austro-Turkish War of 1787–91....
Lauds (religion)
In the Roman Catholic Church, there are seven canonical hours. Matins, the lengthiest, originally said at a night hour, is now appropriately said at any hour of the day. Lauds and Vespers are the solemn morning and evening prayers of the church. Terce, Sext, and None correspond to the mid-morning, noon, and mid-afternoon hours. Compline, a night prayer, is of monastic origin, as was Prime,......
Laudunum (France)
town, capital of Aisne département, Picardy région, northern France. It lies northwest of Reims and northeast of Paris. The picturesque old town, situated on the summit of a scarped hill, stands high above the new town, which spreads out over the surrounding plain about 330 fee...
Laue diffraction pattern (physics)
in X rays, a regular array of spots on a photographic emulsion resulting from X rays scattered by certain groups of parallel atomic planes within a crystal. When a thin, pencil-like beam of X rays is allowed to impinge on a crystal, those of certain wavelengths will be oriented at just the proper angle to a group of atomic ...
Laue, Max Theodor Felix von (German physicist)
German recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1914 for his discovery of the diffraction of X rays in crystals. This enabled scientists to study the structure of crystals and hence marked the origin of solid-state physics, an imp...
Laue, Max von (German physicist)
German recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1914 for his discovery of the diffraction of X rays in crystals. This enabled scientists to study the structure of crystals and hence marked the origin of solid-state physics, an imp...
Laue method (physics)
in X rays, a regular array of spots on a photographic emulsion resulting from X rays scattered by certain groups of parallel atomic planes within a crystal. When a thin, pencil-like beam of X rays is allowed to impinge on a crystal, those of certain wavelengths will be oriented at just the proper angle to a group of atomic ...
Laue symmetry group (physics)
...actually has a centre of symmetry and that only 11 different types of crystal symmetry can be distinguished. This result is known as Friedel’s law, and the 11 possible types of symmetry are known as Friedel classes (or Laue symmetry groups)....
Lauenburg (former duchy, Germany)
former duchy of northern Germany, stretching from south of Lübeck to the Elbe and bounded on the west and east, respectively, by the former duchies of Holstein and Mecklenburg, an area that since 1946 has been part of the federal Land (state) of Schleswig-Holstein....
Lauenburg, Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince von Bismarck, Count von Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke von (German chancellor and prime minister)
prime minister of Prussia (1862–73, 1873–90) and founder and first chancellor (1871–90) of the German Empire. Once the empire was established, he actively and skillfully pursued pacific policies in foreign affairs, succeeding in p...
Lauer, Matt (American journalist and television host)
American journalist and television host best known as the cohost of Today, a weekday morning news and talk show airing on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) television network....
Lauer, Matthew Todd (American journalist and television host)
American journalist and television host best known as the cohost of Today, a weekday morning news and talk show airing on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) television network....
Laufer, Berthold (American anthropologist)
U.S. scholar who, for 35 years, was virtually the only sinologist working in the United States....
Lauffer, Caspar Gottlieb (German artist)
Caspar Gottlieb Lauffer of Nürnberg from 1679 issued a large number of medals engraved by numerous artists and commemorating contemporary events. He eventually published a catalog, in 1742, entitled Das Laufferische Medaillen-Cabinet....
Laufmaschine (bicycle)
The first two-wheeled rider-propelled machine for which there is indisputable evidence was the draisienne, invented by Baron Karl von Drais de Sauerbrun of Germany. In 1817 he rode it for 14 km (9 miles), and the following year he exhibited it in Paris. Although von Drais called his device a Laufmaschine (“running.....
Laugerud García, Kjell Eugenio (president of Guatemala)
president of Guatemala (1974–78), minister of defense and chief of the armed forces (1970–74)....
“Laugh In” (American television program)
American television comedy and variety show that aired on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) network for six seasons (1968–73). The series won several Emmy and Golden Globe awards, including the 1969 Golden Globe for best television show, a...
laugh track (television device)
...The sitcom was a 30-minute format featuring a continuing cast of characters that appeared in the same setting week after week. Audience laughter (either live or by way of an added “laugh track”) usually featured prominently in these shows, most of which were built around families. The situation comedy had been an enormously popular program type on radio, but it had a......
Laughead, W. B. (American businessman)
...Within 15 years, through popularization by professional writers, Bunyan was transformed from an occupational folk figure into a national legend. Paul was first introduced to a general audience by W.B. Laughead, a Minnesota advertising man, in a series of pamphlets (1914–44) used to publicize the products of the Red River Lumber Company. These influenced Esther Shephard, who wrote of the....
Laughing Boy (work by La Farge)
...Indian Affairs (1937–42, 1946–63). La Farge rejected the popular sentimental image of the Indian in contemporary literature and countered it in his own writing. His first novel, Laughing Boy (1929; film version 1934), is a poetic but realistic story of the clash of two cultures; it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1929. La Farge’s novels have been called...
laughing dove (bird)
(Streptopelia senegalensis), bird of the pigeon family, Columbidae (order Columbiformes), a native of African and southwest Asian scrublands that has been successfully introduced into Australia. The reddish-brown bird has blue markings on its wings, a white edge on its long tail, purplish legs, and...
laughing falcon (bird)
...barred black-and-white breast, and reddish belly. It preys upon birds. The forest falcon (Micrastur semitorquatus) of tropical America hunts birds and reptiles in the jungles. The laughing falcon (Herpetotheres cachinnans) of the wooded lowlands of Central and South America is a noisy brown bird that eats snakes. The prairie falcon (F. mexicanus),......
laughing gas (chemical compound)
one of several oxides of nitrogen, a colourless gas with pleasant, sweetish odour and taste, which when inhaled produces insensibility to pain preceded by mild hysteria, sometimes laughter. Nitrous oxide was discovered by the English chemist Joseph Priestley in 1772; another English chemist, Humphry Davy, later named it nitr...
laughing goose (bird)
(species Anser albifrons), rather small, dark-bodied goose with white forehead, yellow bill, and irregular black patches on the belly; it is classified in the tribe Anserini of the family Anatidae (order Anseriformes). Breeding in the Arctic, the white-fronted goose, which exists in four or five races, is the most wi...
laughing gull (bird)
common name for the bird species Larus atricilla. See gull....
laughing hyena (mammal)
African species of hyena....
Laughing in the Jungle (work by Adamic)
Adamic immigrated to the United States from Yugoslavia at age 14 and was naturalized in 1918. He wrote about what he called the failure of the American melting pot in Laughing in the Jungle (1932). He returned to Yugoslavia on a Guggenheim Fellowship and wrote about the experience in The Native’s Return (1934), the story of a man who finds he cannot slip comfortably into his.....
laughing jackass (bird)
(species Dacelo novaeguineae), eastern Australian bird of the kingfisher family (Alcedinidae), whose call sounds like fiendish laughter. This gray-brown, woodland-dwelling bird reaches a length of 43 cm (17 inches), with an 8- to 10-cm (3.2- to 4-inch) beak. In its native habitat it eats invertebrates and small vertebrates, including venomous snakes. In western Australia and ...
laughing kookaburra (bird)
(species Dacelo novaeguineae), eastern Australian bird of the kingfisher family (Alcedinidae), whose call sounds like fiendish laughter. This gray-brown, woodland-dwelling bird reaches a length of 43 cm (17 inches), with an 8- to 10-cm (3.2- to 4-inch) beak. In its native habitat it eats invertebrates and small vertebrates, including venomous snakes. In western Australia and ...
Laughing Matter, The (novel by Saroyan)
...stories are based on his childhood and family, notably the collection My Name Is Aram (1940) and the novel The Human Comedy (1943). His novels, such as Rock Wagram (1951) and The Laughing Matter (1953), were inspired by his own experiences of marriage, fatherhood, and divorce....
laughing owl (extinct bird)
an extinct bird of the family Strigidae (order Strigiformes) that was native to New Zealand. It was last seen in the early 1900s. Laughing owls nested on the ground, where they fell prey to cats, rats, goats, and weasels. About 40 cm (1.3 feet) long and brownish in colour, they ate rodents, lizards, and insects....
Laughing Stalks (poetry by Dudek)
...influential editor and critic. His poetic output includes East of the City (1946); The Transparent Sea (1956), love poems; and Laughing Stalks (1958), a social satire that includes parodies of Canadian poets and critics. Dudek’s poems reflect his power of observation of people, places, and objects. The influence o...
Laughing Truths (work by Spitteler)
...between a visionary creative gift and middle-class values that it influenced the development of psychoanalysis. He published a volume of stimulating essays, Lachende Wahrheiten (1898; Laughing Truths), and biographical works of charm, including Meine frühesten Erlebnisse (1914; “My Earliest Experiences”). In 1914 he published a politically......
Laughlin, Harry H. (American professor)
...by Charles B. Davenport, director of the Station for Experimental Study of Evolution (one of the biology research stations at Cold Spring Harbor), ERO activities were directly superintended by Harry H. Laughlin, a professor from Kirksville, Mo. The ERO was organized around a series of missions. These missions included serving as the national repository and clearinghouse for eugenics......
Laughlin, James (American publisher and poet)
American publisher and poet, founder of the New Directions press....
Laughlin, Robert B. (American physicist)
American physicist who, with Daniel C. Tsui and Horst Störmer, received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1998 for the discovery that electrons in an extremely powerful magnetic field can form a ...
Laughter (work by Bergson)
The French philosopher Henri Bergson (1859–1941) analyzed the dialectic of comedy in his essay Laughter, which deals directly with the spirit of contradiction that is basic both to comedy and to life. Bergson’s central concern is with the opposition of the mechanical and the living; stated in its most general terms, his thesis holds that the comic consists ...
laughter
...of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Ger., and Michael Owren of Georgia State University, who tested a hypothesis that human emotional expressions began in ancestral nonhuman primate behaviours, laughter is not unique to humans. As reported in one of the most widely publicized studies of 2009, the researchers examined the acoustics of tickle-induced vocalizations from infant and juvenile......
Laughter and Forgetting, The Book of (work by Kundera)
novel by Milan Kundera, written in Czech as Kniha smíchu a zapomnění but originally published in French as Le Livre du rire et de l’oubli (1979). The political situation in the former country of Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic and Slovakia...
Laughton, Charles (English actor)
gifted British actor and director who defied the Hollywood typecasting system to emerge as one of most versatile performers of his generation....
Laugier, Marc-Antoine (French scholar)
...had as one incentive the pursuit of primitive truth and thus of an inherent rationalism. This line of thought had been developed early in the 18th century and was popularized by a French Jesuit, Marc-Antoine Laugier, whose Essai sur l’architecture appeared in French in 1753 and in English in 1755. Advocating a return to rationalism and simplicity in building and taking the.....
Lauis (Switzerland)
largest town in Ticino canton, southern Switzerland. It lies along Lake Lugano, northwest of Como, Italy; to the south is Mount San Salvatore (2,992 feet [912 metres]), and to the east is Mount Brè (3,035 feet [925 metres]). First mentioned in the 6th century, it was occupied in 1499 by the F...
Laukika era (Indian history)
...assumption of a complete 100-year revolution of the Ursa Major, the Great Bear (saptarṣi), around the northern pole was the Saptarṣi, or Laukika, era (3076 bc), formerly used in Kashmir and the Punjab. The alleged movement of this constellation has been used in Purāṇa compilations and even by astronomers for indicat...
laulao (catfish)
...among the more spectacular are the scarlet ibis, the bellbird, the umbrella bird, and numerous parrots. The great variety of fish include the carnivorous piranha, the electric eel, and the laulao, a catfish that often attains a weight of more than 200 pounds. The Orinoco crocodile is one of the longest of its kind in the world, reaching a length of more than 20 feet; among other......
lauma (Baltic folklore)
in Baltic folklore, a fairy who appears as a beautiful naked maiden with long fair hair. Laumas dwell in the forest near water or stones. They yearn for children, but being unable to give birth, they often kidnap babies to raise as their own. Sometimes they marry young men and become excellent wives, perfectly skilled in all domestic work. They are noted as swift spinners...
laumė (Baltic folklore)
in Baltic folklore, a fairy who appears as a beautiful naked maiden with long fair hair. Laumas dwell in the forest near water or stones. They yearn for children, but being unable to give birth, they often kidnap babies to raise as their own. Sometimes they marry young men and become excellent wives, perfectly skilled in all domestic work. They are noted as swift spinners...
laumontite (mineral)
common hydrated calcium and sodium aluminosilicate mineral in the zeolite family, formulated CaAl2Si4O12·4H2O. Its white to yellow or gray prismatic crystals typically occur filling veins and vesicles in igneous rocks. ...
Launcelot (legendary knight)
one of the greatest knights in Arthurian romance; he was the lover of Arthur’s queen, Guinevere, and was the father of the pure knight Sir Galahad....
Launceston (England, United Kingdom)
town (“parish”), Cornwall unitary authority, England. Situated on the Devon county border, Launceston has sometimes been described as “the gateway to Cornwall.” The keep of the Norman castle of Dunheved still dominates the town, which grew up around it. A parish church, built in 1524, stands in th...
Launceston (Tasmania, Australia)
chief city and port of northern Tasmania, Australia, lying where the North and South Esk rivers meet to form the River Tamar, a navigable tidal estuary that winds 40 miles (65 km) to Bass Strait. In 1804 Lieutenant Colonel William Pat...
launch (boat)
largest of a ship’s boats, at one time sloop-rigged and often armed, such as those used in the Mediterranean Sea during the 18th and 19th centuries. Although present-day launches can travel under sail or by oar, most are power-driven. Because of their weight, they are seldom used by ...
launch vehicle (rocket system)
in spaceflight, a rocket-powered vehicle used to transport a spacecraft beyond Earth’s atmosphere, either into orbit around Earth or to some other destination in outer space. Practical launch vehicles have been used to send manned spacecraft, un...