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Zuider Zee

(Encyclopedia)Zuider Zee zīˈdər zē, zā, Du. zoiˈdər zā [key], former shallow inlet of the North Sea, c.80 mi (130 km) long, indenting NE Netherlands. In ancient times Lake Flevo, it was joined to the North ...

Asia Minor

(Encyclopedia)Asia Minor, great peninsula, c.250,000 sq mi (647,500 sq km), extreme W Asia, generally coterminous with Asian Turkey, also called Anatolia. It is washed by the Black Sea in the north, the Mediterrane...

seas, freedom of the

(Encyclopedia)seas, freedom of the, in international law, the principle that outside its territorial waters (see waters, territorial) a state may not claim sovereignty over the seas, except with respect to its own ...

symmetry, biological

(Encyclopedia)symmetry, biological, similarity or balance between parts of an organism so that when a straight cut is made through a point or along a line, equal, mirror-image halves are formed. Symmetry in body sh...

Muir, Edwin

(Encyclopedia)Muir, Edwin, 1887–1959, British author, b. Orkney Islands, Scotland. He moved with his family to Glasgow in 1901, where he remained for 18 years. In 1919 he went to London and joined the staff on th...

Korngold, Erich Wolfgang

(Encyclopedia)Korngold, Erich Wolfgang, 1897–1957, American composer of film and concert music and opera, b. Brünn, Austria-Hungary (now Brno, Czech Republic). He began composing ballet music and operas in his t...

Toland, Gregg Wesley

(Encyclopedia)Toland, Gregg Wesley, 1904–48, American cinematographer, b. Charleston, Ill. One of Hollywood's most accomplished and influential cinematographers, Toland worked for Samuel Goldwyn from 1929, first ...

Barthelme, Donald

(Encyclopedia)Barthelme, Donald bärtˈəlmē [key], 1931–89, American writer, b. Philadelphia. The son of an architect, he grew up in Texas, moved (1962) to New York City, worked as a curator and an editor, and ...

Tate, Allen

(Encyclopedia)Tate, Allen (John Orley Allen Tate), 1899–1979, American poet and critic, b. Winchester, Ky., grad. Vanderbilt Univ., 1922. He was one of the founders and editors of the Fugitive (1922–25), a maga...

decay of organic matter

(Encyclopedia)decay of organic matter or putrefaction, process whereby heterotrophic organisms, including some bacteria, fungi, saprophytic plants, and lower animals, utilize the remains of once-living tissue as a ...