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Blooming (mural by Murray)
...she constructed her canvases to extend a bit from the wall, giving them sculptural and spatial qualities. She designed two mosaic murals for the New York City subway system: Blooming (1996), at 59th Street and Lexington Avenue, Manhattan, and Stream (2001), at Queens’s 23rd Street–Ely Avenue station. She was a recipient of th...
Blooming Grove (Illinois, United States)
city, seat (1830) of McLean county, central Illinois, U.S. It is adjacent to Normal (north), about halfway between Chicago and St. Louis, Missouri. The site was settled in 1822 and was known as Keg Grove and later as Blooming Grove for the area...
Bloomingdale Papers, The (work by Carruth)
...controlled forms. His concern with sanity is a reflection of his own experiences. During hospitalization for psychiatric illness and alcoholism in 1953, he began a long poem later published as The Bloomingdale Papers (1975), which was viewed by some critics to be more valuable as a psychiatric document than as a literary one. In it, Carruth uses elements of psychiatric......
Bloomington (Indiana, United States)
city, seat (1818) of Monroe county, southern Indiana, U.S. It lies 48 miles (77 km) south-southwest of Indianapolis. Laid out in 1818, it is in the centre of the Indiana limestone belt, and extensive stone quarries and mills are nearby. Indiana University (1820), a major...
Bloomington (Minnesota, United States)
city, Hennepin county, southeastern Minnesota, U.S. It is a suburb of Minneapolis, located south of the city, and lies on the Minnesota River. Sioux Indians lived there when settlers first arrived. It was settled in 1843 by Peter and Louisa Quinn, who taught farming techniques to the local Native Americans. That year Gideo...
Bloomington (Illinois, United States)
city, seat (1830) of McLean county, central Illinois, U.S. It is adjacent to Normal (north), about halfway between Chicago and St. Louis, Missouri. The site was settled in 1822 and was known as Keg Grove and later as Blooming Grove for the area...
Bloomsburg (Pennsylvania, United States)
town, seat (1846) of Columbia county, east-central Pennsylvania, U.S., on the Susquehanna River and Fishing Creek, 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Wilkes-Barre....
Bloomsbury (neighbourhood, London, United Kingdom)
residential and academic area in the borough of Camden, London. Bloomsbury is the site of the main administrative buildings of the University of London (notably the imposing Senate House), as well as the British Museum and the British Medical Association. Also located t...
Bloomsbury group (English artists circle)
name given to a coterie of English writers, philosophers, and artists who frequently met between about 1907 and 1930 at the houses of Clive and Vanessa Bell and of Vanessa’s brother and sister Adrian and Virginia Stephen (later Virginia Woolf) in the Bloomsbury district of London, the area around the ...
Bloor, Ella Reeve (American political organizer and writer)
American political organizer and writer who was active as an American socialist and communist, both as a candidate for public office and in labour actions in several industries....
Bloor Street (street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
...Lake Iroquois. Streets are laid out in a grid, although the pattern is modified to some extent by diagonal roads roughly following the shoreline. The central business areas are located around Bloor and Yonge streets and Yonge and Queen streets. The central financial district, with its numerous insurance and banking offices and the Toronto Stock Exchange, is in the vicinity of King and Bay......
Blooteling, Abraham (Dutch artist)
Abraham Blooteling, a pupil of van Dalen II, was also a fine portrait engraver. His major contribution, however, was in the development of the new technique of mezzotint—specifically, the invention of the rocker, the tool used in the technique. He also introduced the mezzotint into England, where it was adopted with such success that it later became known as the “English......
Blore, Chuck (American broadcaster)
By the time Chuck Blore switched on “Color Radio” in Los Angeles, on KFWB in January 1958, Top 40 had been around for several years. It was Blore, however, who gave it a polish that elevated his stations—and those that imitated them—beyond the ultimately limited confines of a teenage audience. Originally a deejay and program director under Gordon McLendon—the fam...
Blore Heath, battle of (England [1459])
...The first battle of the wars, at St. Albans (May 22, 1455), resulted in a Yorkist victory and four years of uneasy truce. Civil war was resumed in 1459. The Yorkists were successful at Blore Heath (September 23) but were scattered after a skirmish at Ludford Bridge (October 12). In France Warwick regrouped the Yorkist forces and returned to England in June 1460, decisively......
Blos, Peter (American psychoanalyst)
German-born American child psychoanalyst who was known as "Mr. Adolescence" as a result of his research into the problems of teenagers and his theories describing their struggles between wanting to break free of their parents and desiring to remain dependent (b. Feb. 2, 1904--d. June 12, 1997)....
Blosius, Franciscus Ludovicus (French monk)
Benedictine monastic reformer and mystical writer....
Blossfeldt, Karl (German photographer)
In Europe this approach of favouring extremely sharp definition was known as Neue Sachlichkeit (“New Objectivity”). Its outstanding proponents were the German photographers Karl Blossfeldt and Albert Renger-Patzsch. Blossfeldt made highly detailed and magnified images of plants, removed from their natural habitat. Renger-Patzsch, a professional photographer in Essen, was fascinated.....
blossom-end rot (plant pathology)
Blossom-end rot of tomato and pepper is prevalent when soil moisture and temperature levels fluctuate widely and calcium is low....
Blossoming Port, The (film by Kinoshita Keisuke)
...School. He became an assistant cameraman at the Shochiku Motion Picture Company in 1933, studied scenario writing, and in 1936 became an assistant director. Hanasaku minato (1943; The Blossoming Port), his first independently directed film, was a major success. Three years later, Osone-ke no asa (1946; A Morning with the Osone Family) established his......
Blossoms in the Dust (film by LeRoy [1941])
...and Ray Rennahan for Blood and SandArt Direction, Black-and-White: Richard Day and Nathan Juran for How Green Was My ValleyArt Direction, Color: Cedric Gibbons and Urie McCleary for Blossoms in the DustMusic Score of a Dramatic Picture: Bernard Herrmann for All That Money Can BuyScoring of a Musical Picture: Frank Churchill and Oliver Wallace for DumboSong:......
blot drawing
technique in the visual arts of using accidental blots or other aleatory stains on paper as the basis for a drawing. Leonardo da Vinci was one of the first to expound the value of such accidental marks (in his case he referred specifically to marks on walls) as a means of stimulating the artist’s i...
blotch (plant disease)
plant disease characterized by splotchy black stain or coating on leaves, stems, and fruit, composed of dark fungal threads (Capnodium, Fumago, and Scorias species) that grow in flowing sap or on honeydew excreted by aphids and other sucking insects. The condition is unsightly but usually n...
Bloteling, Abraham (Dutch artist)
Abraham Blooteling, a pupil of van Dalen II, was also a fine portrait engraver. His major contribution, however, was in the development of the new technique of mezzotint—specifically, the invention of the rocker, the tool used in the technique. He also introduced the mezzotint into England, where it was adopted with such success that it later became known as the “English......
Blount, Charles (English philosopher)
...upon Them, and Some Account of the Answers that Have Been Published Against Them. This work, which began with Lord Herbert of Cherbury and moved through the political philosopher Thomas Hobbes, Charles Blount, the earl of Shaftesbury (Cooper), Anthony Collins, Thomas Woolston, Matthew Tindal, Thomas Morgan, Thomas Chubb, and Viscount Bolingbroke, fixed the canon of who should be included...
Blount College (university system, Tennessee, United States)
state university system based in Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S. It is a comprehensive, land-grant institution of higher education. In addition to the main campus there are branch campuses at Chattanooga and Martin, as well as a health ...
Blount, Edward (English publisher)
publisher and translator who, with Isaac and William Jaggard, printed the First Folio of William Shakespeare’s plays (1623)....
Blount, Herman (American musician and composer)
black American jazz composer and keyboard player who led a free jazz big band known for its innovative instrumentation and the theatricality of its performances....
Blount, Martha (British aristocrat)
...him some lifelong friends, notably the wealthy squire John Caryll (who persuaded him to write The Rape of the Lock, on an incident involving Caryll’s relatives) and Martha Blount, to whom Pope addressed some of the most memorable of his poems and to whom he bequeathed most of his property. But his religion also precluded him from a formal course of education,...
Blount, Sonny (American musician and composer)
black American jazz composer and keyboard player who led a free jazz big band known for its innovative instrumentation and the theatricality of its performances....
Blount, Thomas (British lexicographer)
...else—adpugne, adstupiate, bulbitate, catillate, fraxate, nixious, prodigity, vitulate, and so on. Much fuller than its predecessors was Thomas Blount’s work of 1656, Glossographia; or, A Dictionary Interpreting All Such Hard Words…As Are Now Used in Our Refined English Tongue. He made an important forward ...
Blount, William (American politician)
first territorial governor of (1790–96) and later one of the first two U.S. senators from Tennessee (1796–97)....
blow (mammalian reflex)
...such as flippers and tail flukes for living in water. Whales must surface regularly to breathe, evacuating their lungs more completely than most mammals in an almost explosive breath known as a blow. Blows are visible because water vapour in the whale’s hot breath condenses when the blow is released....
blow extrusion (materials technology)
...Orientation may be increased by drawing—that is, pulling on the extrudate in the direction of polymer flow or in some other direction either before or after partial solidification. In the blow extrusion process, polymer molecules are oriented around the circumference of the bag as well as along its length, resulting in a biaxially oriented structure that often has superior mechanical......
blow fly (insect)
any member in a family of insects in the fly order, Diptera, that are metallic blue, green, or black in colour and are noisy in flight. With an average size of 8–10 mm (0.3–0.4 inch), they are slightly larger than houseflies but resemble them in habits. Among the important members of this group are the screwworm, bluebottle fly, ...
blow harmony (music)
...as "Sincerely" (1954), "Most of All" (1955), "We Go Together" (1956), and "Ten Commandments of Love" (1958), the Moonglows perfected the distinctive rhythm-and-blues vocal harmony technique called "blow harmony," through which blown breath becomes part of harmonies that resonate as if they originated deep in the singers’ chests. Freed helped make the group one of the most significant ear...
Blow, Isabella (British fashion editor)
Nov. 19, 1958London, Eng.May 7, 2007 Gloucester, Gloucestershire, Eng.British fashion editor who discovered and promoted fashion designers (Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Jun Takahashi, and Hussein Chalayan) and models (Stella Tennant, Honor Fraser, and Sophie Dahl) while becoming memora...
Blow, John (English musician)
organist and composer, remembered for his church music and for Venus and Adonis, which is regarded as the earliest surviving English opera....
blow molding
in glass production, method of forming an article of glass by blowing molten glass into a mold. This operation is performed with the aid of a hollow metal tube that has a mouthpiece at one end. A gob of molten glass gathered onto the opposite end of the tube is enlarged by a bubble of air blown into it through the tube. This preliminary shape is then lowered into a mold and inflated by blowing un...
blow snake (reptile, Heterodon genus)
(genus Heterodon), any of three species of North American nonvenomous snakes belonging to the family Colubridae. They are named for the upturned snout, which is used for digging. These are the harmless but often-avoided puff adders, or blow snakes, of North America. When threatened, they flatten the head and neck, th...
Blow, Susan Elizabeth (American educator)
American education reformer who was an ardent advocate of German educational ideas and who launched the first public kindergarten in the United States....
Blow, Wind of Fruitfulness (work by Baxter)
Educated in New Zealand and England, he first published Beyond the Palisade (1944), which displayed youthful promise. Blow, Wind of Fruitfulness (1948), superficially a less attractive collection, was more profound. Recent Trends in New Zealand Poetry (1951) was his first critical work, its judgments revealing a maturity beyond his years. Later verse collections include......
Blow-Up (film by Antonioni [1966])
British-Italian thriller, released in 1966, that was the first full-length English-language film of Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni. It is one of the seminal films of the 1960s “mod” era....
blowback (weaponry)
...to fire as long as the trigger is depressed. Unlike automatic rifles and shotguns, automatic pistols are virtually never operated by combustion gases. In relatively low-powered pistols, the blowback mode of operation may be employed. In this system, the breechblock or bolt does not remain locked in firing position until the bullet has left the barrel but is free to be thrust backward by......
blowfish (fish)
any of about 90 species of fishes of the family Tetraodontidae, noted for their ability when disturbed to inflate themselves so greatly with air or water that they become globular in form. Puffers are found in warm and temperate regions around the world, primarily in the sea but also, in some instances, in brackish or fresh water. They have to...
blowfly (insect)
any member in a family of insects in the fly order, Diptera, that are metallic blue, green, or black in colour and are noisy in flight. With an average size of 8–10 mm (0.3–0.4 inch), they are slightly larger than houseflies but resemble them in habits. Among the important members of this group are the screwworm, bluebottle fly, ...
blowgun (weapon)
tubular weapon from which projectiles are forcefully propelled by human breath. Primarily for hunting, it is rarely used in warfare. Employed by Malaysians and other Southeast Asian aboriginals, in southern India and Sri Lanka, in Madagascar (Malagasy Republic...
blowhole (sea cave)
...caves. Zones of weakness in the cliff give way under the force of the waves and are eroded out; these cavities are enlarged by the hydraulic pressure built up by each wave. Holes, commonly known as blowholes, may eventually be forced through the roof of the cave to allow the pressure created by each wave to be released as a jet of spray....
blowhole (steel ingot)
...placed on top of the ingot, freezing a layer of liquid steel and trapping the gas bubbles inside the solidifying ingot, as shown in B in the figure. This ingot has no open cavity, but there are many blowholes in the centre that normally weld together during hot-rolling. Low-carbon steel, because of its higher dissolved oxygen content, is often cast this way and is called rimmed steel. Normally,...
Blowin’ in the Wind (song by Dylan)
...his quirky voice, which divided parents and children and established him as part of the burgeoning counterculture, “a rebel with a cause.” Moreover, his first major composition, “Blowin’ in the Wind,” served notice that this was no cookie-cutter recording artist. About this time, Dylan signed a seven-year management contract with Albert Grossman, who soon repl...
blowing agent (chemistry)
Foams with a closed-cell structure are produced by incorporating a blowing agent that decomposes at the fusion point of the plastic, releasing gas bubbles that are trapped during the gelling. Foams with an open-cell structure are produced by incorporating an inert gas into the resin under pressure and then releasing the mixture to the atmosphere and curing the resulting foam....
blowing engine (air pumping machine)
Machine for pumping air into a furnace. Bellows driven by a waterwheel were the earliest form of blowing engine, later replaced by reciprocating pumps driven by steam or gas engines and by turbo-blowers. A modern blast furnace requires an enormous blowing engine....
blowlamp (tool)
Machine for pumping air into a furnace. Bellows driven by a waterwheel were the earliest form of blowing engine, later replaced by reciprocating pumps driven by steam or gas engines and by turbo-blowers. A modern blast furnace requires an enormous blowing engine.......
blown three-mold
...before it was moved to Toledo, Ohio, in 1888. The New England Glass Company was also famous for its very fine free-blown and engraved glass. In addition, vessels were made there in the so-called blown three-mold technique, in which decorative designs adapted from cut-glass patterns of the period were impressed in the glass by blowing in molds hinged in two, three, or more sections. More than......
blowout (geology)
...particles are picked up by turbulent eddies in wind and may be carried for hundreds of kilometres; they later settle to form loess deposits. Local areas subjected to deflation may result in deflation hollows or blowouts. These may range from 3 m (10 feet) in diameter and less than a metre deep to several kilometres in diameter and several hundred metres in depth. The Big Hollow in......
blowout (excavation)
...water pressure at the crown (upper part). Since air tends to escape through the upper part of the tunnel, constant inspection and repair of leaks with straw and mud are required. Otherwise, a blowout could occur, depressurizing the tunnel and possibly losing the heading as soil enters. Compressed air greatly increases operating costs, partly because a large compressor plant is needed,......
blowout preventer (device)
The well’s blowout preventer (BOP), a device designed to cut off the flow of oil in the case of such an accident, failed, so BP proposed drilling a relief well to reduce pressure at the sites of the leaks. Meanwhile, the company brought in more than 30 spill-response vessels and several aircraft to spray chemical dispersants at oil that had reached the surface. BP also enlisted the help of....
Blowpipe (missile)
...the Vietnam War, with the Soviet SA-7 Grail playing a major role in neutralizing the South Vietnamese Air Force in the final communist offensive in 1975. Ten years later the U.S. Stinger and British Blowpipe proved effective against Soviet aircraft and helicopters in Afghanistan, as did the U.S. Redeye in Central America....
blowpipe (weapon)
tubular weapon from which projectiles are forcefully propelled by human breath. Primarily for hunting, it is rarely used in warfare. Employed by Malaysians and other Southeast Asian aboriginals, in southern India and Sri Lanka, in Madagascar (Malagasy Republic...
blowpipe (instrument)
a small tubular instrument for directing a jet of air or other gas into a flame in order to concentrate and increase the flame’s heat. A blowpipe is usually operated directly by mouth, but a small bellows may also be used....
blowtorch (tool)
a small tubular instrument for directing a jet of air or other gas into a flame in order to concentrate and increase the flame’s heat. A blowpipe is usually operated directly by mouth, but a small bellows may also be used.......
Bloy, Léon (French author)
French novelist, critic, polemicist, a fervent Roman Catholic convert who preached spiritual revival through suffering and poverty....
BLP (political party, Barbados)
The opposition Democratic Labour Party (DLP), led by attorney David Thompson, achieved a decisive return to power in January 2008 when it defeated the incumbent Barbados Labour Party (BLP) in the Barbados general election; the DLP captured 20 seats in the House of Assembly to the BLP’s 10. Nine BLP ministers lost their seats, though party leader Owen Arthur retained his....
Blu-ray Disc (technology)
The opposition Democratic Labour Party (DLP), led by attorney David Thompson, achieved a decisive return to power in January 2008 when it defeated the incumbent Barbados Labour Party (BLP) in the Barbados general election; the DLP captured 20 seats in the House of Assembly to the BLP’s 10. Nine BLP ministers lost their seats, though party leader Owen Arthur retained his.......
blubber (whale anatomy)
...than air, whales, like other mammals, must regulate their body temperature. Hair, however, is restricted to the head, appearing mainly as isolated whiskers (vibrissae) near the mouth and blowhole. Blubber serves as an insulating layer to protect small whales from hypothermia. Large whales have the opposite problem in that they can produce too much heat; they possess elaborate thermoregulation.....
Blucher (engine)
...that created frequent breakdowns. Stephenson thought he could do better, and, after conferring with Lord Ravensworth, the principal owner of Killingworth, he built the Blucher, an engine that drew eight loaded wagons carrying 30 tons of coal at 4 miles (6 km) per hour. Not satisfied, he sought to improve his locomotive’s power and introduced the......
blücher (cards)
...than all preceding bids. From low to high, the bids are two tricks, three tricks, misère (lose every trick), four tricks, nap (five tricks), wellington (five tricks for doubled stakes), and blücher (five tricks for redoubled stakes). Wellington may only follow a bid of nap and blücher a bid of wellington....
Blücher (German military operation)
Ludendorff finally launched “Blücher” on May 27, on a front extending from Coucy, north of Soissons, eastward toward Reims. The Germans, with 15 divisions, suddenly attacked the seven French and British divisions opposing them, swarmed over the ridge of the Chemin des Dames and across the Aisne River, and, by May 30, were on the Marne, between Château-Thierry and Dorman...
Blücher, Gebhard Leberecht von, Prince von Wahlstatt (Prussian field marshal)
Prussian field marshal, a commander during the Napoleonic Wars, who was important in the victory of Waterloo....
Blücher, Vassili K. (Soviet general)
...in France. Chiang also demanded Comintern support of a northern military campaign and the return of Gen. V.K. Blücher as his chief military adviser. Blücher, who used the pseudonym Galen in China, was a commander in the Red Army who had worked with Chiang in 1924 and 1925 in developing the Whampoa Military Academy and forming the National Revolutionary Army. Blücher......
Bludenz (Austria)
town, western Austria. It lies along the Ill River about 60 miles (100 km) east-southeast of Zürich, Switz. First mentioned in 830, it was fortified in the 13th century and had received town rights by 1296. It passed to the Habsburgs in 1394. Notable landmarks include the St. Laurentius parish church (1514); the 15th-century Spitalskirche, with a fine Baroque altar; and t...
“Blue” (film by Kieślowski)
...Cowritten with Piesiewicz, the film stars Irene Jacob in the dual roles. Kieślowski’s next efforts, the “Three Colours” trilogy, represented the colours of the French flag: Bleu (1993; Blue), Rouge (1994; Red) and Blanc (1994; White); respectively, they explored the themes of liberty, fraternity, and equality. The films were....
blue (subatomic property)
...were published in 1973, colour has nothing to do with the colours of the everyday world but rather represents a property of quarks that is the source of the strong force. The colours red, green, and blue are ascribed to quarks, and their opposites, antired, antigreen, and antiblue, are ascribed to antiquarks. According to QCD, all combinations of quarks must contain mixtures of these imaginary....
blue and gold macaw (bird)
...the nutmeat with their blunt muscular tongues. The beak also serves as a third foot as the macaw climbs about in trees searching for seeds, as well as fruits, flowers, and leaves. One species, the blue-and-yellow macaw (Ara ararauna), has been recorded eating at least 20 species of plants, including many toxic to humans. In Manú National Park in Peru, the members of five macaw......
Blue Angel, The (film by Sternberg [1930])
Sternberg’s best-known motion picture was Der blaue Engel (1930; The Blue Angel). Starring Marlene Dietrich as the symbol of sultry post-World War I decadence, the film combined sensual elegance, realistic detail of background, smooth transition between scenes, and the effective integration of music and song into an artistic whole. Sternberg brought Dietrich to the United Stat...
Blue Angels (United States Navy aircraft squadron)
U.S. Navy fighter aircraft squadron that stages aerobatic performances at air shows and other events throughout the United States and around the world. The squadron, whose performances benefit public relations and recruitment, includ...
blue arrow-poison frog (amphibian)
U.S. Navy fighter aircraft squadron that stages aerobatic performances at air shows and other events throughout the United States and around the world. The squadron, whose performances benefit public relations and recruitment, includ...
blue asbestos (mineral)
a gray-blue to leek-green, fibrous form of the amphibole mineral riebeckite. It has a greater tensile strength than chrysotile asbestos but is much less heat-resistant, fusing to black glass at relatively low temperatures. The major commercial source is South Africa...
blue ash (tree)
...sticks, paddles and oars, tennis and other racket frames, and the handles of shovels, spades, hoes, rakes, and other agricultural tools. The black ash (F. nigra) of eastern North America, the blue ash (F. quadrangulata) of the Midwest, and the Oregon ash (F. latifolia) of the Pacific Northwest furnish wood of comparable quality that is used for furniture, interior paneling,...
blue baby syndrome (congenital heart disease)
combination of congenital heart defects characterized by hypoxic spells (which include difficulty in breathing and alterations in consciousness), a change in the shape of the fingertips (digital clubbing), heart murmur, and cyanosis, a bluish discoloration of the skin that gives rise to “blue baby” syndrome....
Blue Basin Falls (waterfall, Trinidad and Tobago)
...to 3,084 feet (940 metres) at Mount Aripo (El Cerro del Aripo), the country’s highest peak. The Northern Range is the site of a large number of waterfalls, the most spectacular of which are the Blue Basin Falls and the Maracas Falls, both 298 feet (91 metres) high. On the southern side of the range, foothills with an elevation of approximately 500 feet (150 metres) descend to the Norther...
Blue Baths (spa, Rotorua, New Zealand)
...was formed by the eruption of Mount Tarawera southeast of the city in 1886; and Wai-O-Tapu, featuring the Lady Knox Geyser, which erupts daily. Those and other geothermal features—along with a spa that offers a selection of mineral-water pools—long have made Rotorua a popular tourist destination. Other attractions include the Rotorua Museum of Art and History in the former governm...
blue beech (plant)
The European hornbeam (C. betulus) has a twisted trunk that branches profusely; the tree may grow to 20 m (65 feet). One variety bears normal and oaklike leaves on the same tree. The American hornbeam (C. caroliniana) is also known as water beech and blue beech, the latter for its blue-gray bark. It seldom reaches 12 m, although some trees in the southern United States may grow to......
Blue Bird, The (work by Maeterlinck)
play for children by Maurice Maeterlinck, published as L’Oiseau bleu in 1908. In a fairy-tale-like setting, Tyltyl and Mytyl, the son and daughter of a poor woodcutter, are sent out by the Fairy Bérylune to search the world for the Blue Bird of Happiness. After many adventures, they find it in their own backyard....
blue blindness (physiology)
Colour-blind persons may be blind to one, two, or all of the colours red, green, and blue. (Blindness to red is called protanopia; to green, deuteranopia; and to blue, tritanopia.) Red-blind persons are ordinarily unable to distinguish between red and green, while blue-blind persons cannot distinguish between blue and yellow. Green-blind persons are unable to see the green part of the......
Blue Blouses (Soviet acting company)
...from poster art to poets reading their work. In a country where few could read the newspapers, actors acted out the news stories in a Living Newspaper. In 1921 a group of Moscow actors formed the Blue Blouses, a company named for the workers’ overalls its members wore as their basic costume. This group inspired the formation of other professional and amateur factory groups throughout the...
Blue Book of the John Birch Society, The (American publication)
...New American and the JBS Bulletin, a monthly newsletter for members. The Blue Book (1959; also published as The Blue Book of the John Birch Society), a transcript of Welch’s presentation at the organization’s founding meeting in 1958, outlines the nature and purposes of the society. Its h...
Blue Book, Project
The first well-known UFO sighting occurred in 1947, when businessman Kenneth Arnold claimed to see a group of nine high-speed objects near Mount Rainier in Washington while flying his small plane. Arnold estimated the speed of the crescent-shaped objects as several thousand miles per hour and said they moved “like saucers skipping on water.” In the newspaper report that followed, it....
Blue Book, The (publication)
annually revised publication listing notable persons in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States; those listed are considered leaders of the English-speaking world in the arts and sciences, business, government...
Blue Boy, The (painting by Gainsborough)
...it is easy to see the refining influence of Van Dyck in the dignified simplicity of the design and the subtle muted colouring. One of Gainsborough’s most famous pictures, The Blue Boy, was probably painted in 1770. In painting this subject in Van Dyck dress, he was following an 18th-century fashion in painting, as well as doing homage to his hero. The influen...
blue butterfly (insect)
any member of a group of insects in the widely distributed Lycaenidae family of common butterflies (order Lepidoptera). Adults are small and delicate, with a wingspan of 18 to 38 mm (0.75 inch to 1.5 inches). They are rapid fliers and are usually distinguished by iridescent blue wings. The male’s forelegs are reduced, but the female’s forelegs are fully developed....
blue cardinal (plant)
...cardinalis and L. splendens, considered to be one species by some authorities, are taller than L. fulgens, the Central American parent species of the garden cardinal flower. The blue cardinal (L. siphilitica) is smaller than the others and has blue or whitish flowers....
blue cheese
any of several cheeses marbled with bluish or greenish veins of mold; important trademarked varieties include English Stilton, French Roquefort, and Italian Gorgonzola. Most blue cheeses are made from cow’s milk, but Roquefort is made from the milk of the ewe. Spores of species Penicillium roqueforti are mixed with either the milk or the ...
blue chip (finance)
stock of a large, long-established, and well-financed company, regarded as a sound investment and usually selling at a high price relative to its earnings. Such companies are known for slow but stable growth in their earnings and dividends and are, therefore, favoured by conservative investors. The term (a reference to blue poker chips, which usually have the highest value) has become a general ex...
blue coat school (English elementary school)
type of English elementary school that emerged in the early 18th century to educate the children of the poor. They became the foundation of 19th-century English elementary education. Supported by private contributions and usually operated by a religious body, these schools clothed and taught their students free of charge. Th...
blue coral (order)
...fleshy mass; oral ends protrude. Internal skeleton of isolated calcareous spicules. Primarily tropical.Order Helioporacea (Coenothecalia)Blue coral. Massive lobed calcareous skeleton. Tropical; 1 Caribbean and 1 Indo-West Pacific species.Order PennatulaceaSea p...
blue crab (crustacean)
(genus Callinectes), any of a genus of crustaceans of the order Decapoda (phylum Arthropoda), particularly Callinectes sapidus and C. hastatus, common edible crabs of the western Atlantic coast that are prized as delicacies. Their usual habitat is muddy shores, bays, an...
Blue Cross–Blue Shield (American insurance organization)
Mention must also be made of nonprofit prepayment plans (e.g., the Blue Cross–Blue Shield plans and health maintenance organizations [HMOs] in the United States), which resemble the above plans in most respects but are not operated by insurance companies. These plans often indemnify the hospital or the physician, on the basis of services performed, rather than the patient. Health......
Blue Dahlia, The (film by Marshall [1946])
American film noir, released in 1946, that featured the popular pairing of actors Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake. The screenplay was written by novelist Raymond Chandler, who earned an Academy Award nomination....
blue damselfish (fish)
American film noir, released in 1946, that featured the popular pairing of actors Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake. The screenplay was written by novelist Raymond Chandler, who earned an Academy Award nomination.......
Blue Danube, The (composition by Strauss)
Strauss’s most famous single composition is An der schönen blauen Donau (1867; The Blue Danube), the main theme of which became one of the best-known tunes in 19th-century music. His many other melodious and successful waltzes include Morgenblätter (1864; Morning Papers), Künstlerleben (1867; Artist’s Life), Geschichte...