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  • bibliophylax (Seleucid official)

    ...the Achaemenian period, but it continued in religious texts until the 1st century of the Common era. The archives were managed both in the capital and in provincial cities by an official called a bibliophylax. There were many financial officials (oikonomoi); some of them oversaw royal possessions, and others managed local taxes and other economic matters. The legal system in the.....

  • Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (library, Vatican City, Europe)

    official library of the Vatican, located inside the Vatican palace. It is especially notable as one of the world’s richest manuscript depositories. The library is the direct heir of the first library of the Roman pontiffs. Very little is known of this library up to the 13th century, but it appears to have remained only a modest collection of works until Pope Nicholas V...

  • Biblioteca de autores españoles (work edited by Aribau and Rivadeneyra)

    ...vernacular of Catalan, which attempted to unite contemporary intellectual trends with native tradition. Aribau also edited, along with Manuel de Rivadeneyra, the first four volumes of the famous Biblioteca de autores españoles (“Library of Spanish Authors”), a monumental attempt to bring together all the important literature of Spain. (It filled 71 volumes upon......

  • Biblioteca Hertziana (building, Rome, Italy)

    ...in L’idea de’ scultori, pittori e architetti (1607; “The Idea of Sculptors, Painters, and Architects”) and in a series of frescoes in his own house in Rome (Palazzo Zuccaro). After Taddeo’s death in 1566, Federico completed some of his brother’s unfinished commissions, including in the Villa Farnese at Caprarola; in the Sala Regia, where he painted ......

  • Biblioteca Laurenziana (library, Florence, Italy)

    ...grandson of Cosimo and an even greater patron of learning and the arts, also became a public library. It was opened in 1571 in a fine building designed by Michelangelo and still exists as the Biblioteca Laurenziana (though in 1808 it was amalgamated with the Marciana to form the Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana [Medicean-Laurentian Library]). Many other princely libraries were formed at......

  • Biblioteca Marciana (library, Florence, Italy)

    On the basis of Niccoli’s library, Cosimo de’ Medici set up the Biblioteca Marciana in Florence in the convent of San Marco. The rich library of Lorenzo the Magnificent, grandson of Cosimo and an even greater patron of learning and the arts, also became a public library. It was opened in 1571 in a fine building designed by Michelangelo and still exists as the Biblioteca Laurenziana (though in......

  • Biblioteca Mediceo-Laurenziana (library, Florence, Italy)

    collection of books and manuscripts gathered during the 15th century in Florence by Cosimo the Elder and Lorenzo the Magnificent, both members of the Medici family. Part of the collection was open to the public before 1494, but in that year the Medici were overthrown and their palace was sacked. What remained of the library was taken to Rome...

  • Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale (library, Florence, Italy)

    Florence has numerous museums, mostly devoted to painting and sculpture. The National Central Library (Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale) has been the Italian library of deposit since 1870, receiving a copy of every book published in the country. It houses millions of autographs, manuscripts, letters, incunabula, and books, including many rare editions. The Riccardiana and Moreniana libraries......

  • Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Vittorio Emanuele II (library, Rome, Italy)

    ...loan system. Because the unification of Italy in the 19th century brought together many city-states that had major libraries, the country has a number of national libraries, the chief being the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Vittorio Emanuele II in Rome, founded in 1875, and the historically richer Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale at Florence, founded in 1747. Other Italian national libraries......

  • “Bibliotheca” (work by Photius)

    ...Christian prose literature, including medical and scientific works. On the basis of notes taken at these readings, which continued after he left the schools for the civil service, he composed his Myriobiblon or Bibliotheca (Bibliothēkē), a digest of Greek prose literature, with more than 270 articles. This work was begun on a diplomatic mission in the Muslim......

  • Bibliotheca Alexandrina (research institution, Alexandria, Egypt)

    research institution in Alexandria, Egypt, that took its inspiration from the Library of Alexandria of Classical times....

  • Bibliotheca antiquaria (work by Fabricius)

    ...contains in its appendixes some works there printed for the first time; these include the grammar of Dionysius Thrax, Porphyry’s life of Plotinus, and speeches by Libanius. He also produced a Bibliotheca antiquaria (1713), which surveys writings on Hebrew, classical, and Christian antiquities; the Centifolium Lutheranum (1728–30), an account of 200 writers on the......

  • Bibliotheca Graeca (work by Fabricius)

    ...works, editions, and translations. The fourth book deals with early Christian writings, minor historians, and treatises on language, rhetoric, law, and medicine. But Fabricius’ masterpiece is his Bibliotheca Graeca (1705–28; revised by G.C. Harles, 1790–1812), which extends from pre-Homeric times to 1453. Individual authors receive fuller treatment than in the Latin work.......

  • Bibliotheca Hispana (work by Antonio)

    first systematic historian of Spanish literature. His Bibliotheca Hispana appeared in two parts (Nova, 1672; Vetus, 1696). The first is a vast bibliography of Peninsular and Spanish colonial writers after 1500, with critical evaluations. The second, a history of Peninsular literature from the reign of Augustus to 1500,......

  • “Bibliotheca historica” (work by Diodorus)

    Greek historian, the author of a universal history, Bibliothēkē (“Library”; known in Latin as Bibliotheca historica), that ranged from the age of mythology to 60 bc....

  • Bibliotheca Latina (work by Fabricius)

    ...by his son-in-law, H.S. Reimar, 1750–52) and Sextus Empiricus (1718) and a collection of biblical apocrypha, Fabricius is remembered primarily as a bibliographer. He began by compiling a Bibliotheca Latina (1697; revised by J.A. Ernesti, 1773–74), of which the first three books discuss the principal classical authors from Plautus to Jordanes. Brief biographies are followed......

  • Bibliotheca Latina mediae et infimae aetatis (work by Fabricius)

    ...which surveys writings on Hebrew, classical, and Christian antiquities; the Centifolium Lutheranum (1728–30), an account of 200 writers on the Reformation; and finally the Bibliotheca Latina mediae et infimae aetatis (1734–36; supplementary volume by C. Schottgen, 1746, ed. by J.D. Mansi, 1754), which provided a foundation for the new study of medieval......

  • Bibliotheca mexicana (work by Eguiara y Eguren)

    ...throughout the Americas and Europe in several languages. Another Jesuit, Juan José de Eguiara y Eguren, put together a literary history of New Spain. His incomplete Bibliotheca mexicana (1755; “Mexicana Library”) brings together the manuscripts and published works of authors there. Six decades later the counterrevolutionary Mexican Mariano......

  • Bibliotheca Palatina (library, Heidelberg, Germany)

    Libraries in Germany suffered severely in the Thirty Years’ War. The Bibliotheca Palatina at the University of Heidelberg (founded 1386), for example, was taken as the spoil of war by Maximilian I of Bavaria, who offered it to Pope Gregory XV in 1623; and Gustavus Adolphus sent whole libraries to Sweden, most of them to swell the library of the University of Uppsala, which he had founded in......

  • Bibliotheca Ulpia (ancient library, Rome, Italy)

    ...ingenia hominum rem publicam fecit (“He made men’s talents a public possession”). Libraries were also set up by Tiberius, Vespasian, Trajan, and many of the later emperors; the Bibliotheca Ulpia, which was established by Trajan about ad 100 and continued until the 5th century, was also the Public Record Office of Rome....

  • Bibliotheca universalis (work by Gesner)

    In 1545 Gesner published his Bibliotheca universalis, the first bibliography of its kind, listing about 1,800 authors alphabetically with the titles of their works, annotations, evaluations, and comments on the nature and merit of each entry. This monumental reference was followed in 1548 by the encyclopaedic work Pandectarum sive Partitionum universalium Conradi Gesneri…libri......

  • bibliothecarius (papal librarian)

    ...the secundicerius notariorum (first and second of notaries) and included the especially important notaries of Rome’s seven ecclesiastical regions. But, during the 9th century, the bibliothecarius, the papal librarian, became the most important chancery official; a little later, various important bishops and dignitaries seem to have acted occasionally as datarius......

  • Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften (German periodical)

    ...critics Johann Jakob Bodmer and Johann Breitinger. Nicolai’s enthusiasm for English literature gained him the friendship of Lessing and Mendelssohn. He cofounded, with Mendelssohn, the periodical Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften (1757–60; “Library of Fine Arts”) and, with both Lessing and Mendelssohn, Briefe, die neueste Litteratur betreffend......

  • Bibliothēkē (work by Diodorus)

    Greek historian, the author of a universal history, Bibliothēkē (“Library”; known in Latin as Bibliotheca historica), that ranged from the age of mythology to 60 bc....

  • “Bibliotheke” (work by Photius)

    ...Christian prose literature, including medical and scientific works. On the basis of notes taken at these readings, which continued after he left the schools for the civil service, he composed his Myriobiblon or Bibliotheca (Bibliothēkē), a digest of Greek prose literature, with more than 270 articles. This work was begun on a diplomatic mission in the Muslim......

  • Bibliothèque ancienne et moderne (encyclopaedia edited by Leclerc)

    ...biblical studies as editor of three encyclopaedias: Bibliothèque universelle et historique (26 vol., 1686–93), Bibliothèque choisie (28 vol., 1703–13), and Bibliothèque ancienne et moderne (29 vol., 1714–30). His views on the Scriptures included the denial of Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch as well as of the divine inspiration of......

  • Bibliothèque choisie (encyclopaedia edited by Leclerc)

    ...Seminary faculty at Amsterdam. He made a lasting contribution to biblical studies as editor of three encyclopaedias: Bibliothèque universelle et historique (26 vol., 1686–93), Bibliothèque choisie (28 vol., 1703–13), and Bibliothèque ancienne et moderne (29 vol., 1714–30). His views on the Scriptures included the denial of Mosaic......

  • Bibliothèque du Roi (library, Paris, France)

    France’s first royal library, the Bibliothèque du Roi (“King’s Library”), dated from the reign of Charles V (1364–80), who installed 1,200 manuscripts in the Louvre. This library was dispersed, but under Louis XI (reigned 1461–83) another was created. In 1544 Francis I moved the library to Fontainebleau, and from 1537 it received a copy of every French......

  • Bibliothèque Nationale de France (library, Paris, France)

    (French: “National Library of France”), most important library in France and one of the oldest in the world, located in Paris....

  • Bibliothèque Royale Albert I (library, Brussels, Belgium)

    There are many other national libraries with important collections and very long histories. The Bibliothèque Royale Albert I in Brussels, founded in 1837 and centred on the 15th-century collection of the dukes of Burgundy, is the national library of Belgium and the centre of the country’s library network; it maintains a regular lending service with the university libraries and with the......

  • Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève (library, Paris, France)

    Labrouste is primarily remembered for the two Parisian libraries he designed. The Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, built between 1843 and 1850, is still admired for the attractiveness and restraint of its decoration and for the sensitive use of exposed iron structural elements (columns and arches). Labrouste is also remembered for his second library project, the reading room......

  • Bibliothèque universelle et historique (encyclopaedia edited by Leclerc)

    ...broke with scholastic Calvinism. In 1684 he was appointed to the Remonstrant Seminary faculty at Amsterdam. He made a lasting contribution to biblical studies as editor of three encyclopaedias: Bibliothèque universelle et historique (26 vol., 1686–93), Bibliothèque choisie (28 vol., 1703–13), and Bibliothèque ancienne et moderne (29 vol.,......

  • Biblische Theologie (work by Bertholet)

    His Apokryphen und Pseudepigraphen (1906; “Apocrypha and Pseudepigraphia”) was an important contribution to Jewish literary history, and the second volume of Biblische Theologie (1911; “Biblical Theology”), conceived as a history of Old Testament religion, broke new ground. His works on the history of religion, such as Dynamismus und Personalismus in der......

  • Biblos chronike (work by Glycas)

    Glycas’s Biblos chronike (“World Chronicle”), from the Creation to the death of Emperor Alexius I (1118), was written for his son; for popular consumption, it is very critical of Alexius I. In addition he wrote a competent and learned commentary on the problems of Holy Scripture, as well as other theological works, a poem, and some letters. His writings are notable for......

  • Bibó, István (Hungarian political scientist and sociologist)

    Hungarian political scientist, sociologist, and expert on the philosophy of law. Bibó became a role model for dissident intellectuals in the late communist era....

  • Bibracte (France)

    ancient Gallic town (modern Mont Beuvray, in Saône-et-Loire, France), capital of the Aedui in the time of Julius Caesar and the site of his defeat of the Helvetii tribe, the climax of his first campaign in Gaul (58 bc). To destroy native traditions, Augustus moved the inhabitants to his new town Augustodunum (Autun) in 12 bc....

  • BibTeX (computer language)

    ...used package. TeX contains numerous standard “style sheets” for different types of documents, and these may be further adapted by each user. There are also related programs such as BibTeX, which manages bibliographies and has style sheets for all of the common bibliography styles, and versions of TeX for languages with various alphabets....

  • Bibulus, Marcus Calpurnius (Roman consul)

    Roman politician who, as consul with Julius Caesar in 59 bc, worked with the senatorial conservatives against Caesar’s agrarian legislation. He was married to Porcia, a daughter of Cato the Younger....

  • bicameral system (political science)

    a system of government in which the legislature comprises two houses. The modern bicameral system dates back to the beginnings of constitutional government in 17th-century England and to the later 18th century on the continent of Europe and in the United States....

  • bicarbonate (chemical compound)

    These salts can be prepared by the reaction of carbon dioxide with metal oxides and metal hydroxides, respectively.CO2 + O2 → CO32− CO2 + OH− → HCO3− For example, when an aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) is saturated with carbon dioxide,......

  • bicarbonate of soda (chemical compound)

    ...using carbon dioxide gas under moderate pressure in a different type of tower. These two processes yield ammonium bicarbonate and sodium chloride, the double decomposition of which gives the desired sodium bicarbonate as well as ammonium chloride. The sodium bicarbonate is then heated to decompose it to the desired sodium carbonate. The ammonia involved in the process is almost completely......

  • bicarbonate threshold (physiology)

    ...per litre. When the plasma concentration falls below this level, no bicarbonate is excreted and all filtered bicarbonate is reabsorbed into the blood. This level is often referred to as the bicarbonate threshold. When the plasma bicarbonate rises above 27 millimoles per litre, bicarbonate appears in the urine in increasing amounts....

  • Bicaz (Romania)

    town, Neamţ judeţ (county), northeastern Romania. It lies at the confluence of the Bicaz and Bistriţa rivers. The town is situated at the southern end of Lake Bicaz, which is formed by a dam on the Bistriţa....

  • Bicci, Giovanni di (Florentine statesman)

    ...strong power, able to preserve its republican constitution unimpaired. In both these matters, it contrasted with Florence under the Medici. The foundation of the family’s fortune was laid by Giovanni di Bicci (1360–1429), who founded the Medici bank and in 1422 was appointed as banker to the papacy. His son Cosimo, who dominated the reggimento......

  • biceps brachii (anatomy)

    any muscle with two heads, or points of origin (from Latin bis, “two,” and caput, “head”). In human beings, there are the biceps brachii and biceps femoris....

  • biceps femoris (anatomy)

    The biceps femoris is one of the hamstring muscles at the back of the thigh. It originates in two places: the ischium (lower, rear portion of the pelvis, or hipbone) and the back of the femur (thighbone). The fibres of these two origins join and are attached at the head of the fibula and tibia, the bones of the lower leg. This muscle extends the thigh, rotates it outward, and flexes the leg at......

  • biceps muscle (anatomy)

    any muscle with two heads, or points of origin (from Latin bis, “two,” and caput, “head”). In human beings, there are the biceps brachii and biceps femoris....

  • Bicester (England, United Kingdom)

    town (parish), Cherwell district, administrative and historic county of Oxfordshire, southeastern England. It lies in farming country on the northern edge of the reclaimed marsh of Ot Moor....

  • Bicêtre (asylum, Paris, France)

    So-called madhouses such as Bedlam (founded in London in 1247) and the Bicêtre (the Paris asylum for men) were typical of 18th-century mental institutions in which the sufferers were routinely shackled. Inmates of these places often were believed to be devoid of human feeling, and their management was indifferent if not brutal; the primary consideration was to isolate the mentally......

  • Bichat, Marie-François-Xavier (French anatomist and physiologist)

    French anatomist and physiologist whose systematic study of human tissues helped found the science of histology....

  • Bicheroux process (industry)

    ...waviness and variations in thickness. For a higher degree of flatness, glass had to be cast (generally on a steel table) and rolled. The cast plates were subsequently ground and polished. In the Bicheroux process, introduced in Germany in the 1920s, about a ton of glass was melted in a pot and carried to the table, where it was poured through a pair of rollers. Rolling the sheet reduced the......

  • bichir (fish)

    any of about 10 species of tropical African fishes of the genus Polypterus. Bichirs and the eel-like reedfish, Calamoichthys (sometimes called Erpetoichthys calabaricus), are of the family Polypteridae, order Polypteriformes. Like the sturgeons and paddlefishes, they are thought to be members of the subclass Chondrostei, although some authorities ques...

  • Bichitr (Indian painter)

    Mughal court painter active during the reigns of the emperors Jahāngīr, Shah Jahān, and (probably) Aurangzeb....

  • bichon (breed of dog)

    breed of small dog noted for its fluffy coat and cheerful disposition. For many centuries it was known as the “bichon” or “Tenerife.” Descended from the water spaniel, it is about 9 to 12 inches (23 to 30 cm) tall and features a short blunt muzzle, silky ears that drop, and a puffy, silky, curled coat and an undercoat. Its colour is for the most part pure white, though some have...

  • bichon frise (breed of dog)

    breed of small dog noted for its fluffy coat and cheerful disposition. For many centuries it was known as the “bichon” or “Tenerife.” Descended from the water spaniel, it is about 9 to 12 inches (23 to 30 cm) tall and features a short blunt muzzle, silky ears that drop, and a puffy, silky, curled coat and an undercoat. Its colour is for the most part pure white, though some have...

  • Bichsel, Peter (Swiss author)

    Swiss short-story writer, journalist, and novelist known for his simple, self-conscious writing style and his emphasis on language and conjecture....

  • Bickel, Conrad (German scholar)

    German scholar known as Der Erzhumanist (“The Archhumanist”). He was also a Latin lyric poet who stimulated interest in Germany in both classical learning and German antiquities....

  • Bickel, Frederick Ernest McIntyre (American actor)

    versatile American stage and film actor, adept at both romantic leads and complex character roles....

  • Bickerdyke, Mary Ann (American medical worker)

    organizer and chief of nursing, hospital, and welfare services for the western armies under the command of General Ulysses S. Grant during the American Civil War....

  • Bickerstaff, Isaac (British author and politician)

    English essayist, dramatist, journalist, and politician, best known as principal author (with Joseph Addison) of the periodicals The Tatler and The Spectator....

  • Bickerstaff, Isaac (Anglo-Irish author and clergyman)

    Anglo-Irish author, who was the foremost prose satirist in the English language. Besides the celebrated novel Gulliver’s Travels (1726), he wrote such shorter works as A Tale of a Tub (1704) and A Modest Proposal (1729)....

  • Bickerstaff, Isaac (Scottish poet)

    Scottish poet and literary antiquary who maintained national poetic traditions by writing Scots poetry and by preserving the work of earlier Scottish poets at a time when most Scottish writers had been Anglicized. He was admired by Robert Burns as a pioneer in the use of Scots in contemporary poetry....

  • “Bickerstaff” pamphlets (work by Swift)

    ...tyranny. In London he became increasingly well known through several works: his religious and political essays; A Tale of a Tub; and certain impish works, including the “Bickerstaff” pamphlets of 1708–09, which put an end to the career of John Partridge, a popular astrologer, by first prophesying his death and then describing it in circumstantial......

  • Bickerstaffe, Isaac (Irish dramatist)

    Irish playwright whose farces and comic operas were popular in the late 18th century. There is no apparent connection between his name and the pseudonym earlier adopted by Jonathan Swift and also used by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele for The Tatler....

  • Bickertonites (religious organization, United States)

    ...by Brigham Young, he was excommunicated. He then went to Pittsburgh and in 1845 was declared prophet and leader of a small group of Mormons who were formally organized as the Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonites) by William Bickerton in 1862. Some historians believe that Rigdon, rather than Smith, wrote the Book of Mormon, but proof is lacking....

  • Bickford, William (British inventor)

    A major contributor to progress in the use of explosives was William Bickford, a leather merchant who lived in the tin-mining district of Cornwall, England. Familiar with the frequency of accidents in the mines and the fact that many of them were caused by deficiencies inherent in the quill fuse, Bickford sought to devise an improvement. In 1831 he conceived the safety fuse: a core of black......

  • Bickle, Phyllis (British actress)

    Feb. 18, 1915London, Eng.Oct. 8, 2002LondonBritish actress who , brought grace and elegance to British melodramas of the 1940s. Originally a stage actress, she gained renown in such popular films as The Man in Grey (1943), Fanny by Gaslight (1944), and Madonna of the Seven ...

  • Bicol (language)

    Major Austronesian languages include Cebuano, Tagalog, Ilocano, Hiligaynon, Bicol, Waray-Waray, Kapampangan, and Pangasinan of the Philippines; Malay, Javanese, Sundanese, Madurese, Minangkabau, the Batak languages, Acehnese, Balinese, and Buginese of western Indonesia; and Malagasy of Madagascar. Each of these languages has more than one million speakers. Javanese alone accounts for about......

  • Bicol (people)

    fifth largest cultural-linguistic group in the Philippines, numbering about 4,070,000 in the late 20th century. Their indigenous region is commonly considered to be “Bicolandia,” a region composing part of the Bicol Peninsula and neighbouring islands of southeast Luzon....

  • Bicol Peninsula (peninsula, Philippines)

    peninsula, southeastern Luzon, Philippines. It is irregular in form, with several deep coastal bays, large subpeninsulas, and a lengthy coastline. The peninsula has an area of about 4,660 square miles (12,070 square km). It comprises the Bicol Plain, a large lowland area important in the production of rice, and volcanic highlands. A well-watered area, it is densely populated although largely rura...

  • Bicolano (people)

    fifth largest cultural-linguistic group in the Philippines, numbering about 4,070,000 in the late 20th century. Their indigenous region is commonly considered to be “Bicolandia,” a region composing part of the Bicol Peninsula and neighbouring islands of southeast Luzon....

  • bicollateral bundle (plant anatomy)

    ...primary xylem and phloem is called a collateral bundle; the outer portion of the procambium (adjacent to the cortex) becomes phloem, and the inner portion (adjacent to the pith) becomes xylem. In a bicollateral bundle, the phloem is both outside and inside the xylem, as in Solanaceae (the potato family) and Cucurbitaceae (the cucumber family). In the monocots, the phloem may surround the xylem,...

  • bicolour lespedeza (plant)

    ...system, its dense growth canopy, and its ability to grow on badly eroded soils, the sericea lespedeza is also extremely useful in soil conservation. Some shrublike lespedeza species, such as the bicolour lespedeza (L. bicolor), are grown as ornamentals....

  • bicomponent fibre (textile)

    A similar effect can be produced from bicomponent fibres. These are fibres spun from two different types of polymer, which are extruded through holes set side-by-side in such a way that the two filaments join as they coagulate. When the filament is drawn, the two polymers extend to different degrees, producing a helical crimp when the strain is relaxed....

  • bicompound leaf (plant anatomy)

    Caesalpinioideae is more variable than the other three groups. The leaves are usually divided into leaflets (compound), or else the leaflets are again divided into leaflets (bicompound). The flowers also vary in symmetric form, from nearly radial to bilateral to irregular (symmetric in no plane). The sepals are usually separate and imbricate (overlapping in the bud). There are generally five......

  • bicondylar joint (anatomy)

    The condylar joint is better called bicondylar, for in it two distinct surfaces on one bone articulate with corresponding distinct surfaces on another bone. The two male surfaces are on one and the same bone and are of the same type (ovoid or sellar). These joints have two types of movement: one is always a swing, and the other is either another swing or a spin. Bicondylar joints are quite......

  • bicontinuous function (mathematics)

    in mathematics, a correspondence between two figures or surfaces or other geometrical objects, defined by a one-to-one mapping that is continuous in both directions. The vertical projection shown in the sets up such a one-to-one correspondence between the straight segment x and the curved interval y. If x and y...

  • bicornate uterus (biology)

    ...completely separated and have separate cervices opening into the vagina. Carnivores have a bipartite uterus, in which the horns are largely separate but enter the vagina by a single cervix. In the bicornate uterus, typical of many ungulates, the horns are distinct for less than half their length; the lower part of the uterus is a common chamber, the body. Higher primates have a simplex uterus.....

  • Bicosoeca (algae genus)

    Annotated classification...

  • Bicosoecida (protist)

    Annotated classification...

  • Bicosoecophyceae (protist class)

    Annotated classification...

  • bicuspid (teeth)

    The trend in the evolution of the cheek teeth has been to increase the number of cusps and reduce the number of teeth. Both molars and premolars show this tendency. No living primate has four premolars; primitive primates, tarsiers, and New World monkeys have retained three on each side of each jaw, but in the apes and Old World monkeys, there are only two premolars. The primitive premolars are......

  • bicuspid valve (anatomy)

    ...congenital abnormality of the cardiac valves affects the aortic valve. The normal aortic valve usually has three cusps, or leaflets, but the valve is bicuspid in 1 to 2 percent of the population. A bicuspid aortic valve is not necessarily life-threatening, but in some persons it becomes thickened and obstructed (stenotic). With age the valve may also become incompetent or act as a nidus (focus....

  • bicycle (vehicle)

    two-wheeled steerable machine that is pedaled by the rider’s feet. On a standard bicycle the wheels are mounted in-line in a metal frame, with the front wheel held in a rotatable fork. The rider sits on a saddle and steers by leaning and turning handlebars that are attached to the fork. The feet turn pedals attached to cranks and a chainwheel. Power is transmitted by a loop of chain connecting the...

  • bicycle motocross (bicycle)

    BMX (bicycle motocross) bikes appeared in the early 1970s as an offshoot of motocross. They were designed for racing on dirt tracks replete with tight turns, berms, and jumps. BMX bikes are durable, with 20-inch- (51-cm-) diameter wheels mounted on a small frame. There is a single speed, the seat is low, and the handlebars are high. These traits make the BMX an extremely maneuverable bike, and......

  • bicycle motocross racing (sport)

    ...or pursuits characterized by high speeds and high risk. The sports most commonly placed in this group are skateboarding, snowboarding, freestyle skiing, in-line roller-skating, street lugeing, and BMX and mountain biking. Typically, extreme sports operate outside traditional mainstream sports and are celebrated for their adrenaline-pumping thrills. Racing and acrobatic competitions for......

  • bicycle racing (sport)

    use of a bicycle for sport, recreation, or transportation. The sport of cycling consists of professional and amateur races, which are held mostly in continental Europe, the United States, and Asia. The recreational use of the bicycle is widespread in Europe and the United States. Use of the bicycle as a mode of transportation is particularly important in non-W...

  • Bicycle Thief, The (film by De Sica [1948])

    ...of the genre: Sciuscià (1946; Shoeshine), an account of the tragic lives of two children during the American occupation of Italy; Ladri di biciclette (1948; The Bicycle Thief), an Oscar winner for best foreign film; Miracolo a Milano (1951; Miracle in Milan), a comic parable about the clash of rich and poor in Milan; and......

  • Bicycle Wheel (work by Duchamp)

    During this period a stroke of genius led him to a discovery of great importance in contemporary art, the so-called ready-made. In 1913 he produced the Bicycle Wheel, which was simply an ordinary bicycle wheel. In 1914, Pharmacy consisted of a commercial print of a winter landscape, to which he added two small figures reminiscent of......

  • bicycle-wheel roof (engineering)

    ...in bending is supported from above by steel cables radiating downward from masts that rise above roof level; spans of up to 72 metres (236 feet) have been built. Another funicular form is the bicycle-wheel roof, where two layers of radiating tension cables separated by small compression struts connect a small inner tension ring to the outer compression ring, which is in turn supported by......

  • bicycling (sport)

    use of a bicycle for sport, recreation, or transportation. The sport of cycling consists of professional and amateur races, which are held mostly in continental Europe, the United States, and Asia. The recreational use of the bicycle is widespread in Europe and the United States. Use of the bicycle as a mode of transportation is particularly important in non-W...

  • Bid (India)

    city, central Maharashtra state, western India, on a tributary of the Krishna River near a gap in a range of low hills....

  • Bid Me to Live (autobiography by Doolittle)

    ...in poetry) used the quest-romance in a series of autobiographical novels—including Paint It Today (written in 1921 but first published in 1992) and Bid Me to Live (1960)—to chart a way through the contemporary world for female characters in search of sustaining, often same-sex relationships. Following the posthumous publication of......

  • Bida (Nigeria)

    town and traditional emirate, Niger state, west-central Nigeria. The town is on the Bako River, a minor tributary of the Niger, and lies at the intersection of roads from Jebba, Zungeru, and Agaie. Originally a small settlement of the Beni (Bini) people, a subgroup of the Nupe, it was captured about 1531 by Tsoede (Edegi), the founder of the Nupe kingdom and the first etsu Nu...

  • Bida (district, Doha, Qatar)

    The original quarter of the city, Al-Bidaʿ, Bida in sailor’s parlance, is at the northwest; it was probably founded by members of the Sudan tribe who emigrated from the sheikhdom of Abu Dhabi. Long a centre of pirate activity in the Persian Gulf, Doha, then a small village, was destroyed in 1867 in the war between Bahrain (which was aided by Abu Dhabi) and Qatar. In the following year the......

  • Bidaʿ, Al- (district, Doha, Qatar)

    The original quarter of the city, Al-Bidaʿ, Bida in sailor’s parlance, is at the northwest; it was probably founded by members of the Sudan tribe who emigrated from the sheikhdom of Abu Dhabi. Long a centre of pirate activity in the Persian Gulf, Doha, then a small village, was destroyed in 1867 in the war between Bahrain (which was aided by Abu Dhabi) and Qatar. In the following year the......

  • bidʿah (Islam)

    in Islām, any innovation that has no roots in the traditional practice (sunna) of the Muslim community. The most fundamentalist legal school in Islām, the Ḥanābilah (and its modern survivor, the Wahhābīyah sect of Saudi Arabia) rejected bidʿah completely, arguing that the duty of a Muslim was to follow the example set by the Prophet (sunna) and not try to improve on it....

  • bīdān Moor (people)

    The Moors constitute almost three-fourths of the population; about one-third of them self-identify as Bīḍān (translated literally as “white”), which indicates individuals of Arab and Amazigh (Berber) descent. The remainder of the Moorish population has Sudanic African origins and is collectively known as Ḥarāṭīn. Sometimes referred to......

  • Bidar (India)

    city, northeastern Karnataka state, south-central India. It is situated about 2,300 feet (700 metres) above sea level and 68 miles (109 km) northwest of Hyderabad in Telangana state. The city contains some of the finest examples of Muslim architecture in the Deccan region....

  • Bidart, Frank (American poet)

    American poet whose introspective verse, notably dramatic monologues by troubled characters, deal with personal guilt, family life, and madness. His unconventional punctuation and typography give his colloquial and economical style an added emphasis....

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