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Servile Wars

(Encyclopedia)Servile Wars, name given in Roman history to three slave uprisings. The agricultural slaves were exploited by their owners, who had extreme powers and were never averse to using them. The first of the...

Sailendra

(Encyclopedia)Sailendra sīlĕnˈdrä [key], name of a dynasty in Indonesia and SE Asia. The dynasty appeared in central Java in the 7th cent. and had consolidated its position by the mid-8th cent. The Sailendras, ...

Roosebeke, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Roosebeke, battle of rōˈzəbāˌkə [key], 1382, in the modern-day village of Westrozebeke, Staden commune, West Flanders prov., W Belgium. The French under Olivier de Clisson defeated Flemish weave...

Carey, Hugh Leo

(Encyclopedia)Carey, Hugh Leo, 1919–2011, American politician, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. St. John's Univ. (1942), St. John's Univ. School of Law (1951). A liberal Democrat, Carey was elected to Congress in 1960 an...

psittacosis

(Encyclopedia)psittacosis sĭtəkōˈsĭs [key] or parrot fever, infectious disease caused by the species of Chlamydia psittaci and transmitted to people by birds, particularly parrots, parakeets, and lovebirds. In...

Polycrates

(Encyclopedia)Polycrates pōlĭkˈrətēz [key], d. c.522 b.c., tyrant of Samos. He established Samian naval supremacy in the Aegean Sea and tried to control the archipelago and mainland towns of Ionia. He dominate...

elephantiasis

(Encyclopedia)elephantiasis ĕlˈəfăntīˈəsĭs [key], abnormal enlargement of any part of the body due to obstruction of the lymphatic channels in the area (see lymphatic system), usually affecting the arms, le...

computer program

(Encyclopedia)computer program, a series of instructions that a computer can interpret and execute; programs are also called software to distinguish them from hardware, the physical equipment used in data processin...

hysteresis

(Encyclopedia)hysteresis hĭsˌtərēˈsĭs [key], phenomenon in which the response of a physical system to an external influence depends not only on the present magnitude of that influence but also on the previous...

Lhasa

(Encyclopedia)Lhasa or Lasa lä-sŭ [key], city (1994 est. pop. 118,000), capital of Tibet Autonomous Region, SW China. It is on a tributary of the Yarlung Zangbo (Brahmaputra) at an altitude of c.11,800 ft (3,600 ...