rhythm and blues: …charts at the trade journal Billboard and found that the record companies issuing Black popular music considered the chart names then in use (Harlem Hit Parade, Sepia, Race) to be demeaning. The magazine changed the chart’s name in its June 17, 1949, issue, having used the term rhythm and blues…

billbug, (subfamily Rhynchophorinae), any stout-bodied beetle of the family Curculionidae (insect order Coleoptera) that has a short snout and body length up to 5 cm (2 inches). Some (e.g., Rhynchophorus) are found mainly in the tropics, boring through the new growth of palm trees. The larvae of R.

capital: …an oblong block called a billet, set with its greatest dimensions parallel to the beam above. Shaping the ends of such blocks produces a laterally spreading form of capital, which can be elaborated upon by multiplication of parts, addition of moldings, and ornamentation with floral, zoomorphic, or abstract forms.

heraldry: Ordinaries: Billets are oblong figures. If their number exceeds 10 and they are irregularly placed, the field is described as billetté. The pall, or shakefork, is the upper half of a saltire (St. Andrew’s cross) with the lower half of a pale, forming a Y-shape. The…

steel: Long products: …made of either blooms or billets, which are, like slabs, considered a semifinished product and are cast by a continuous caster or rolled at a blooming mill. Billets have a cross section 50 to 125 millimetres square, and blooms are 125 to 400 millimetres square. In practice, they are not…

steel: Billet, bloom, beam, and slab: Billet casters solidify 80- to 175-millimetre squares or rounds, bloom casters solidify sections of 300 by 400 millimetres, and beam blank casters produce large, dog-bone-like sections that are directly fed into an I-beam or H-beam rolling mill. Huge slab casters solidify sections up to 250…

François Billetdoux was a French playwright whose works, linked with the avant-garde theatre, examined human relationships and found them doomed to failure. As a youth, Billetdoux studied at the Charles Dullin School of Dramatic Art and the Institute of Higher Cinematographic Studies. From 1949 to

Mississippi Bubble: …for state-issued public securities, or billets d’état, which consequently also rose sharply in value. A frenzy of wild speculation ensued that led to a general stock-market boom across Europe. The French government took advantage of this situation by printing increased amounts of paper money, which was readily accepted by the…

Unigenitus: …1754 over the issue of billets de confession. The billets were papers affirming submission to the bull that suspected Jansenists were ordered to sign by the archbishop of Paris, Christophe de Beaumont. If they refused, the last sacraments and burial in consecrated ground would be denied them. The Parlement of…

heraldry: Ordinaries: Billets are oblong figures. If their number exceeds 10 and they are irregularly placed, the field is described as billetté. The pall, or shakefork, is the upper half of a saltire (St. Andrew’s cross) with the lower half of a pale, forming a Y-shape. The…

ebony: …and hard heartwood known as black ebony, as billetwood, or as Gabon, Lagos, Calabar, or Niger ebony.

gar: …long and forcepslike in the longnose gar, or billfish (Lepisosteus osseus), but broad and relatively short in the alligator gar (A. spatula) of the southern United States. The alligator gar, reaching a length of about 3 metres (10 feet), is one of the largest of all freshwater fishes. Gars are…

billfish, any of a group of long-jawed fishes (usually swordfish, marlin, and allies) that sometimes includes the marine gar

billiards: The billiard balls, formerly made of ivory or Belgian clay, are now usually plastic; they each measure from about 214 to 238 inches (5.7 to 6 cm) in diameter, the larger balls being used in carom billiards.

billiards: Governing bodies: …form of snooker, is the Billiard Congress of America, which has been the ruling body since 1948. It maintains the rules of the games and sanctions championship tournaments including the U.S. Open Pocket Billiards Championship, regarded as the world championship.

billiards, any of various games played on a rectangular table with a designated number of small balls and a long stick called a cue. The table and the cushioned rail bordering the table are topped with a feltlike tight-fitting cloth. Carom, or French, billiards is played with three balls on a table

English billiards, game that is a type of billiards

billiards, any of various games played on a rectangular table with a designated number of small balls and a long stick called a cue. The table and the cushioned rail bordering the table are topped with a feltlike tight-fitting cloth. Carom, or French, billiards is played with three balls on a table

Billiards at Half-Past Nine, novel by Heinrich Böll, first published in German as Billard um halbzehn in 1959. In its searing examination of the moral crises of postwar Germany, the novel resembles Böll’s other fiction; its interior monologues and flashbacks, however, make it his most complex work.

billiards: The traditional mahogany billiards table is still in use, but tables are now generally made of other woods and synthetic materials. The large rectangular table typically is twice as long as it is wide. It has a bed usually of polished slate covered by a woven woolen cloth,…

Michael Jackson: The King of Pop: The follow-up single, “Billie Jean,” an electrifying dance track and the vehicle for Jackson’s trademark “moonwalk” dance, topped the pop charts, as did “Beat It,” which featured a raucous solo from famed guitarist Eddie Van Halen. Moreover, “Beat It” helped break down the artificial barriers between Black and…

Billie Jean King Cup, trophy representing the women’s amateur team-tennis championship of the world, inaugurated in 1963 by the International Lawn Tennis Federation in observance of its 50th anniversary. The first competition, an elimination tournament involving teams of three players from 16

euro sign: Design: …claimant was Belgian graphic designer Alain Billiet, who created the image used for the EU during the 1992 World Exhibition in Sevilla and the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games.

Billings, city, seat (1883) of Yellowstone county, south-central Montana, U.S., on the Yellowstone River 3,119 feet (951 metres) above sea level. Billings lies at the base of the Rimrock Mountains in the Clark’s Fork Bottom at a point equidistant from Seattle, Washington, and St. Paul, Minnesota.

John Shaw Billings was an American surgeon and librarian whose organization of U.S. medical institutions played a central role in the modernization of hospital care and the maintenance of public health. Billings graduated from Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) in 1857 and from the Medical College of

Josh Billings was an American humorist whose philosophical comments in plain language were widely popular after the American Civil War through his newspaper pieces, books, and comic lectures. He employed the misspellings, fractured grammar, and hopeless logic then current among comic writers who

William Billings was the foremost composer of the early American primitive style, whose works have become an integral part of the American folk tradition. A tanner by trade, he was self-taught in music. Among his friends were many prominent figures of the American Revolution, including Samuel Adams

Billingsgate, former London market (closed 1982). It was situated in the City of London at the north end of London Bridge beside The Monument, which commemorates the outbreak of the Great Fire of September 1666. In the Middle Ages the wharf at Billingsgate was a principal unloading point for fish,

Pinxton porcelain: …Saxony, with the help of William Billingsley, who had worked as a painter at Derby. Billingsley remained at Pinxton until 1799, concentrating on the production of the porcelain rather than its decoration. He made a ware that contained bone ash, was granular yet transparent, and had a brilliant glaze. He…

Library of Congress: …in 2005 Librarian of Congress James H. Billington proposed a project called the World Digital Library. Its goal was to make available to anyone with access to the Internet digitized texts and images of “unique and rare materials from libraries and other cultural institutions around the world.” It was designed…

Alice Cooper: …that include Killer (1971) and Billion Dollar Babies (1973), all explorations of decadence, perversion, and psychosis. Best remembered for its shocking stage show, Alice Cooper blended the gore and grotesquerie of horror films with the camp of 1930s Berlin cabaret. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall…

Len Deighton: In Funeral in Berlin (1964), The Billion Dollar Brain (1966), and An Expensive Place to Die (1967), he continued his blend of espionage and suspense. Like The Ipcress File, these novels centre on an unnamed hero and show Deighton’s craftsmanship, crisp prose style, and mastery of plot. In Only When…

Kevin Spacey: Sexual assault allegations: Billionaire Boys Club, one of the last movies Spacey filmed before the scandal broke, was released in 2018. That year authorities announced that Spacey would be charged with indecent assault and battery for allegedly groping an 18-year-old busboy at a Nantucket, Massachusetts, bar in 2016.…

Paul Giamatti: …cast of the television series Billions (2016–23), a financial crime drama in which he was featured as a dogged district attorney. He also continued to appear in movies, including The Catcher Was a Spy, the real-life story of an MLB player who worked for the Office of Strategic Services during…

Belitung, island and kabupaten (regency), Bangka Belitung propinsi (or provinsi; province), Indonesia. With 135 associated smaller islands, it lies between the South China and Java seas, southwest of Borneo and east of Bangka island. Tanjungpandan on the west coast is the main town, port, and site

BHP Billiton, international natural resources company, formed in 2001 by the merger of BHP Ltd. and Billiton PLC. One of the world’s largest mining companies, it is involved in the production of iron, steel, copper, silver, aluminum, oil, and gas. The company also has interests in engineering and

Staten Island: The Billopp, or Conference, House in Tottenville was the scene (September 11, 1776) of talks between representatives of the Continental Congress and the British in an unsuccessful attempt at reconciliation during the American Revolution. In 1898 Staten Island, as Richmond, became one of New York City’s…

Theodor Billroth was a Viennese surgeon, generally considered to be the founder of modern abdominal surgery. Billroth’s family was of Swedish origin. He studied at the universities of Greifswald, Göttingen, and Berlin, Germany, and received his degree from the last in 1852. From 1853 to 1860 he was

Theodor Billroth was a Viennese surgeon, generally considered to be the founder of modern abdominal surgery. Billroth’s family was of Swedish origin. He studied at the universities of Greifswald, Göttingen, and Berlin, Germany, and received his degree from the last in 1852. From 1853 to 1860 he was

Billung dynasty, the primary ruling dynasty in Saxony in the 10th and 11th centuries. It was founded by Hermann Billung, who in 936 received from the German king (and future emperor) Otto I a march, or border territory, on the lower Elbe River to be held against the pagan Slavic Wends. Otto

Billung dynasty: It was founded by Hermann Billung, who in 936 received from the German king (and future emperor) Otto I a march, or border territory, on the lower Elbe River to be held against the pagan Slavic Wends. Otto repeatedly granted Hermann extensive authority in his absences (notably in Italy)…

Billung dynasty: …1106, with the death of Magnus Billung, the family died out.

Denver Nuggets: …team acquired veteran point guard Chauncey Billups early in 2008–09, and at the end of the season he helped Anthony guide the Nuggets to victories in both the first and second round of the Western Conference playoffs before losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in the conference finals. Following another…

goat: Male goats, called bucks or billys, usually have a beard. Females are called does or nannys, and immature goats are called kids. Wild goats include the ibex and markhor.

Robert Benton: The 1990s and beyond: Doctorow’s Billy Bathgate. The 1991 drama centres on a kid from the Bronx (Loren Dean) who becomes involved with notorious gangster Dutch Schultz (Hoffman) and the widowed moll (Nicole Kidman) of a rival (Bruce Willis). Despite a strong cast and a script by Tom Stoppard, the…

Billy Budd, British adventure film, released in 1962, that was an adaptation of a play based on Herman Melville’s unfinished novel Billy Budd, Foretopman. Billy Budd (played by Terence Stamp) is a young seaman impressed into service on the HMS Avenger of the British navy in 1797 during the war

Billy Budd, opera by Benjamin Britten that premiered in London on December 1, 1951. Based on the novel by Herman Melville, it is set in 1797 on a British naval vessel and is the only opera by a major composer to have an entirely male cast. The story of Billy Budd concerns a young merchant sailor

Billy Budd, Foretopman, novel by Herman Melville, written in 1891 and left unfinished at his death. It was first published in 1924, and the definitive edition was issued in 1962. Provoked by a false charge, the sailor Billy Budd accidentally kills John Claggart, the satanic master-at-arms. In a

Billy Budd, Foretopman, novel by Herman Melville, written in 1891 and left unfinished at his death. It was first published in 1924, and the definitive edition was issued in 1962. Provoked by a false charge, the sailor Billy Budd accidentally kills John Claggart, the satanic master-at-arms. In a

police: Nonlethal tactics and instruments: The nightstick carried by police officers was originally made of wood, but most now are made of composite materials.

Stephen Daldry: …then unexpectedly tapped to direct Billy Elliot. The film—about a boy who finds refuge in ballet—was nominated for several Academy Awards, including best director. Daldry then helmed The Hours (2002), Hare’s adaptation of Michael Cunningham’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. A series of three meditations on Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, the film…

Elton John: …John composed the score for Billy Elliot, a stage adaptation of the popular film. That musical premiered in London’s West End in 2005 and made its Broadway debut in 2008. The following year it won 10 Tony Awards, including best musical.

Chicago Cubs: …become known as the “Curse of the Billy Goat” (versions of the story vary). In the fourth game of the World Series, tavern owner Billy Sianis was forced to leave Wrigley Field after showing up with his goat, and upon his ejection Sianis cursed the franchise. The Cubs would…

Christology: Film: Other companies, such as the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, produced feature films in which the conversion of the lead character was the central motif. Those companies, however, refrained from attempts to depict the life of Jesus.

Sir Barton: Breeding and early years: …horse of the Ross stable, Billy Kelly, another two-year-old who soon found it tough to keep pace with his new stablemate. The renowned Earl Sande, then just a youngster, rode Sir Barton in the Futurity. Although there was little hope that he would finish in the money, the colt flashed…

Keith Waterhouse: …was followed by the best-selling Billy Liar (1959), its hero a young man who compensates for his mundane existence by a series of fantastic daydreams. Billy Liar was turned into a successful play in 1960, a film in 1963, and a musical in 1974. Together with Willis Hall, Waterhouse wrote…

John Schlesinger: British films: Even more accomplished was Billy Liar (1963), based on a novel and play by Keith Waterhouse. This often very funny film follows the fortune of a young Yorkshire funeral-home worker (played by Tom Courtenay) who relies on his elaborate fantasy life to escape from the drudgery of his job.…

Ang Lee: …next film was another adaptation, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (2016), about Iraq War veterans. In 2019 Lee directed Will Smith in the action drama Gemini Man, in which a hit man is hunted by his clone.

Steve Buscemi: Film career: Reservoir Dogs, Fargo, and The Big Lebowski: …of Sandler’s hit comedies, notably Billy Madison (1995), The Wedding Singer (1998), and Big Daddy (1999). While many of these roles were minor, Buscemi’s scenes were often among the films’ funniest moments.

William Kennedy: Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game (1978), also set in Albany, chronicles the life of a small-time streetwise hustler who sidesteps the powerful local political machine. Ironweed (1983), which brought Kennedy widespread acclaim and won him the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, recounts a few days in…

Busby Berkeley: Later films: …as Rose Marie (1954) and Billy Rose’s Jumbo (1962).

dance notation: Twentieth-century developments: …to record Loring’s signature ballet, Billy the Kid (1938).

Billy the Kid was an American outlaw who was one of the most notorious gunfighters of the American West. Although he claimed to have killed 21 men, the actual number is likely less than 10. At about age 21, Billy the Kid was gunned down by Sheriff Pat Garrett. Born on New York City’s East Side,

dress: The 19th century: …“billycock” and, in America, the derby, was introduced about 1850 by the hatter William Bowler. The straw boater, originally meant to be worn on the river, became popular for all summer activities. The homburg felt hat, introduced in the 1870s and popularized by the Prince of Wales (later King Edward…

Ténéré: Bilma oasis, near the centre of the Ténéré, has maximum and minimum July temperatures (summer average) of 108 °F (42 °C) and 75 °F (24 °C). Hot, dusty east or northeast winds (the harmattan) blow across the Ténéré generally year-round; irregular annual rainfall is about…

Thomas Cranmer: Early life: Tyndale, Robert Barnes, Thomas Bilney, and, above all, Cranmer, who by 1525 included among his prayers one for the abolition of papal power in England.

residence: …their household arrangements are called bilocal residence.

Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games: Notable Events from the Vancouver Winter Games: February 14:

African art: Lower Congo (Kongo) cultural area: These ingredients, called bilongo, are placed in a cavity, usually in the figure’s stomach but sometimes in the back or head. The opening of the cavity is covered by a shell or, in some modern fetishes, by a piece of mirror. The magical substances are believed to invest…

Paul Castellano: …and his newly appointed underboss, Thomas Bilotti, were gunned down in the street as they arrived at a steak house in Midtown Manhattan. The murders came only two weeks after the death from natural causes of Castellano’s previous underboss, Aniello Dellacroce, who had headed a rival Gambino faction that disregarded…

Biloxi, city, coseat (with nearby Gulfport) of Harrison county, southern Mississippi, U.S. The city lies on a narrow Gulf Coast peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico (south) and Back Bay of Biloxi (north). In 1699 the explorer Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville planted the French flag across Biloxi Bay at

Neil Simon: Beach Memoirs (1983; film 1986); Biloxi Blues (1985; film 1988), which was awarded the Tony for best play; and Broadway Bound (1986; television movie 1992). Subsequent plays included Rumors (1988); Lost in Yonkers (1991; film 1993), which won both a Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award for best

Mike Nichols: Middle years: Silkwood, Working Girl, and The Birdcage: Biloxi Blues (1988) was Nichols’s first filming of a play by his longtime stage collaborator Simon, who adapted his popular comedy into a more naturalistic period piece about a young man (Matthew Broderick) who comes of age while undergoing army basic training in the 1940s.…

Dmitri Bilozerchev is a Russian athlete who is considered to be one of the greatest male gymnasts of all time. Bilozerchev earned his first all-around gymnastics world championship in 1983 at age 16, when he scored an impressive total of 59.85 points out of a possible 60. He was a favourite to win

Queen of Sheba was, according to Jewish and Islamic traditions, the ruler of the kingdom of Sabaʾ (or Sheba) in southwestern Arabia. In the biblical account of the reign of King Solomon, she visited his court at the head of a camel caravan bearing gold, jewels, and spices. The story provides

Takht-e Soleymān: Kūh-e Belqeys is located about 5 miles (8 km) northeast of Takht-e Soleymān. The highest point on the mountain’s dual peak rises to about 11,000 feet (3,300 metres) above sea level. A fortress located there dates to the Sāsānian period.

sweet gum: The American sweet gum, or bilsted (Liquidambar styraciflua), which sometimes reaches 45 metres (150 feet) in moist lowlands but is usually half that height at maturity, is grown for its handsome foliage, shade, and scarlet autumnal colour. It is also valued for its heartwood, called red…

Bilston enamelware, enameled products made in Bilston, Eng., which was one of the most prolific centres of enameling in the 18th century. A large number of enamelers worked in Bilston decorating small objects primarily by the transfer printing process. Bilston enamelware is often technically

Biltmore Estate, estate in Asheville, North Carolina, that was built in the late 1800s as the summer home of George W. Vanderbilt. Its most notable feature is a French Renaissance mansion that is considered the largest private residence in the United States. In the 1880s Vanderbilt, who belonged to

South Asian arts: Parsi theatre: …an incident from the Ramayana; Bilwa Mangal, a social play on the life of a poet, whose blind passion for a prostitute results in remorse; and Aankh ka Nasha (“The Witchery of the Eyes”), about the treachery of a prostitute’s love, with realistic dialogue of a brothel. Many of Hashr’s…

Iowa: Cultural institutions: A nonconventional attraction is the Bily Clocks Museum in Spillville, which displays a collection of antique hand-carved wooden clocks made by the Bily brothers. On the second floor of what is now this museum was where Czech composer Antonín Dvořák spent the summer of 1893, and artifacts and memorabilia about…

bimah, (from Arabic al-minbar, “platform”), in Jewish synagogues, a raised platform with a reading desk from which, in the Ashkenazi (German) ritual, the Torah and Hafṭarah (a reading from the prophets) are read on the Sabbath and festivals. In the Sephardic (Spanish) rite, the entire service is

bimah, (from Arabic al-minbar, “platform”), in Jewish synagogues, a raised platform with a reading desk from which, in the Ashkenazi (German) ritual, the Torah and Hafṭarah (a reading from the prophets) are read on the Sabbath and festivals. In the Sephardic (Spanish) rite, the entire service is

Marca: …interior were controlled by the Bimal, a subgroup of one of the four major Somali clans, who traded extensively in ivory, slaves, cattle, and hides. Offshore coral reefs make it necessary to carry goods by lighters between the port and oceangoing vessels, and they limit expansion of the port. The…

Nile River: Study and exploration: …expeditions under a Turkish officer, Selim Bimbashi, were made between 1839 and 1842, and two got to the point about 20 miles (32 km) beyond the present port of Juba, where the country rises and rapids make navigation very difficult. After these expeditions, traders and missionaries penetrated the country and…

Australian Capital Territory: Relief: …6,279 feet (1,914 metres) at Bimberi Peak. In the northeastern section there are broad valleys between rounded hills. While much of the generally rugged topography of the Australian Capital Territory allows small-scale farming, forestry, and grazing, only about one-third of the territory is suitable for urban development.

Bimbisara was one of the early kings of the Indian kingdom of Magadha. His expansion of the kingdom, especially his annexation of the kingdom of Anga to the east, is considered to have laid the foundations for the later expansion of the Mauryan empire. He is also known for his cultural achievements

Fleischer brothers: The short Bimbo’s Initiation (1931) is a prime example of the Fleischers’ quirky perverseness. In it, Betty Boop’s dog, Bimbo, is trapped in an underground labyrinth by a character who looks suspiciously like a demonic Mickey Mouse (evil Mickeys were common in early Fleischer cartoons). While there,…

thermometer: The bimetallic strip constitutes one of the most trouble-free and durable thermometers. It is simply two strips of different metals bonded together and held at one end. When heated, the two strips expand at different rates, resulting in a bending effect that is used to measure…

bimetallism, monetary standard or system based upon the use of two metals, traditionally gold and silver, rather than one (monometallism). The typical 19th-century bimetallic system defined a nation’s monetary unit by law in terms of fixed quantities of gold and silver (thus automatically

Bimini Islands, string of islands, northwestern Bahamas, West Indies. They extend 40 miles (65 km) north to south and lie about 50 miles (80 km) east of the Florida coast of the United States and 110 miles (175 km) west of the Bahamian capital of Nassau. The main island, North Bimini, on the

Bimini Islands, string of islands, northwestern Bahamas, West Indies. They extend 40 miles (65 km) north to south and lie about 50 miles (80 km) east of the Florida coast of the United States and 110 miles (175 km) west of the Bahamian capital of Nassau. The main island, North Bimini, on the

ether: Bimolecular dehydration: In the presence of acid, two molecules of an alcohol may lose water to form an ether. In practice, however, this bimolecular dehydration to form an ether competes with unimolecular dehydration to give an alkene. Bimolecular dehydration produces useful yields of ethers only…

reaction mechanism: Bimolecular: In bimolecular nucleophilic substitution reactions in which the substrate is attacked at a saturated carbon atom, the starting material has a tetrahedral structure, and the transition state has a trigonal bipyramidal structure (both of which are shown below). Each individual act of substitution produces…

reaction mechanism: Bimolecular: In bimolecular nucleophilic substitution reactions in which the substrate is attacked at a saturated carbon atom, the starting material has a tetrahedral structure, and the transition state has a trigonal bipyramidal structure (both of which are shown below). Each individual act of substitution produces…

vina, any of several stringed musical instruments of India, including arched harps (before 1000 ce), stick zithers, and lutes. The North Indian version, the bin, is used in classical Hindustani music. Classified as a stick zither, it is about 4 feet (1.2 metres) in length, having a large resonating

Osama bin Laden: Early life: …more than 50 children of Muhammad bin Laden, a self-made billionaire who, after immigrating to Saudi Arabia from Yemen as a labourer, rose to direct major construction projects for the Saudi royal family. By the time of Muhammad’s death in an airplane accident in 1967, his company had become one…

Osama bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization al-Qaeda and mastermind of numerous terrorist attacks against the United States and other Western powers, including the 2000 suicide bombing of the U.S. warship Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden and the September 11, 2001, attacks

Osama bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization al-Qaeda and mastermind of numerous terrorist attacks against the United States and other Western powers, including the 2000 suicide bombing of the U.S. warship Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden and the September 11, 2001, attacks

Osama bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization al-Qaeda and mastermind of numerous terrorist attacks against the United States and other Western powers, including the 2000 suicide bombing of the U.S. warship Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden and the September 11, 2001, attacks