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plague

(Encyclopedia)plague, any contagious, malignant, epidemic disease, in particular the bubonic plague and the black plague (or Black Death), both forms of the same infection. These acute febrile diseases are caused b...

Zwingli, Huldreich

(Encyclopedia)Zwingli, Huldreich or Ulrich ho͝oldˈrīkh tsvĭngˈlē, o͝olˈrĭkh [key], 1484–1531, Swiss Protestant reformer. The real beginning of the Reformation in Switzerland was Zwingli's lectures on t...

Delacroix, Eugène

(Encyclopedia)Delacroix, Eugène (Ferdinand-Victor-Eugène Delacroix) fĕrdēnäNˈ-vēktôrˈ-özhĕnˈ dəläkrwäˈ [key], 1798–1863, French painter. Delacroix is considered the foremost painter of the romanti...

rabbit

(Encyclopedia)rabbit, name for herbivorous mammals of the family Leporidae, which also includes the hare and the pika. Rabbits and hares have large front teeth, short tails, and large hind legs and feet adapted for...

fungal infection

(Encyclopedia)fungal infection, infection caused by a fungus (see Fungi), some affecting animals, others plants. Serious damage is done to crops each year by fungal infections of plants such as smuts, rusts, ergo...

meningitis

(Encyclopedia)meningitis sĕrˌəbrōspīˈnəl [key], acute inflammation of the meninges, the membranes that cover and protect the brain and spinal cord. It can be caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, or other orga...

malaria

(Encyclopedia)malaria, infectious parasitic disease that can be either acute or chronic and is frequently recurrent. Malaria is common in Africa, Central and South America, the Mediterranean countries, Asia, and ma...

refraction

(Encyclopedia)refraction, in physics, deflection of a wave on passing obliquely from one transparent medium into a second medium in which its speed is different, as the passage of a light ray from air into glass. O...

Greek language

(Encyclopedia)Greek language, member of the Indo-European family of languages (see Indo-European). It is the language of one of the major civilizations of the world and of one of the greatest literatures of all tim...

solid waste

(Encyclopedia)solid waste, discarded materials other than fluids. In the United States in 1996, nearly 210 million tons—about 4.3 lb. (2 kg) per person daily (up from 2.7 lb./1.2 kg in 1960)—were collected and ...