drop cut: A briolette is an elongated pear-shaped stone covered with bands of triangular or rectangular facets, usually with a pointed end and lacking a girdle (the band separating the top or crown of the diamond from the bottom or pavilion).

Philippe de Chabot, seigneur de Brion was the grand admiral of France under Francis I, whose favour raised him from the petty nobility of Poitou to glory and the vicissitudes of power. As well as the seigniory of Brion, he held the titles of comte de Charny and comte de Buzançois. A companion of

Philippe de Chabot, seigneur de Brion was the grand admiral of France under Francis I, whose favour raised him from the petty nobility of Poitou to glory and the vicissitudes of power. As well as the seigniory of Brion, he held the titles of comte de Charny and comte de Buzançois. A companion of

Philippe de Chabot, seigneur de Brion was the grand admiral of France under Francis I, whose favour raised him from the petty nobility of Poitou to glory and the vicissitudes of power. As well as the seigniory of Brion, he held the titles of comte de Charny and comte de Buzançois. A companion of

Andrea Riccio was a Renaissance sculptor and goldsmith best known for his miniature sculptures in bronze. Riccio was trained in the workshop of Bartolomeo Bellano and was active principally as a bronze sculptor. He executed the great paschal candlestick and two bronze reliefs for S. Antonio at

Bernard Palissy: …of the 16th century as François Briot.

coin: France: …the subject of experiments by Nicolas Briot; both he and Jean Warin were famous for their technique and style under Louis XIII. The late 17th and 18th centuries, though their coinage was of considerable external magnificence, were not devoid of monetary difficulty. Louis XV suppressed independent local minting, Strasbourg being…

Saint-Lô, town, capital of Manche département, Normandy région, northwestern France. It lies on a promontory dominating the Vire River valley. Called Briovera in Gallo-Roman times, it was renamed for Saint Lô, the 6th-century bishop of Coutances. In the Middle Ages it was a major fortress and was

mental disorder: Somatization disorder: This type of somatoform disorder, formerly known as Briquet syndrome (after French physician Paul Briquet), is characterized by multiple, recurrent physical complaints involving a wide range of bodily functions. The complaints, which usually extend over the course of many years, cannot be explained…

chromium processing: Low-carbon ferrochromium: The briquetted mixture is placed in a large vacuum furnace, which is heated by graphite resistors to 1,400 °C (2,550 °F) at a reduced pressure of 30 pascals. The carbon is removed from the alloy (going off as carbon monoxide) to a level as low as…

chromium processing: Low-carbon ferrochromium: The briquetted mixture is placed in a large vacuum furnace, which is heated by graphite resistors to 1,400 °C (2,550 °F) at a reduced pressure of 30 pascals. The carbon is removed from the alloy (going off as carbon monoxide) to a level as low as…

Brisbane, port, capital of Queensland, Australia, and the country’s third largest city. It lies astride the Brisbane River on the southern slopes of the Taylor Range, 12 miles (19 km) above the river’s mouth at Moreton Bay. The site, first explored in 1823 by John Oxley, was occupied in 1824 by a

Brisbane box, (Tristania conferta), evergreen tree, of the family Myrtaceae, native to Australia and commonly cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions of North America as a shade tree. It grows to more than 45 metres (about 150 feet) tall, and it has oval or lance-shaped leaves 7–15

Brisbane River, river in southeastern Queensland, Australia. It rises in the Brisbane-Cooyar ranges and flows some 215 miles (345 km) southeasterly and northeasterly through a farming and dairying region, then through the city of Brisbane to Moreton Bay. Its chief tributaries are the Stanley and

Brisbane Water, northern arm of Broken Bay, an inlet on the coast of New South Wales, Australia. It was explored by Capt. Arthur Phillip, first governor of New South Wales, in 1788–89 and named North-East Arm; the name subsequently was altered to Brisbane Water to honour Sir Thomas Brisbane, sixth

Albert Brisbane was a social reformer who introduced and popularized Fourierism in the United States. Brisbane, the son of wealthy landowners, received his education primarily at the hands of private tutors. At the age of eighteen, he went to Europe in order to study social reform with the great

Arthur Brisbane was a U.S. newspaper editor and writer, known as the master of the big, blaring headline and of the atrocity story. He was the son of Albert Brisbane (1809–90), a social reformer whose ideas he early supported but later repudiated. Returning to the U.S. in 1883 from studies in

Battle of Brisbane, (November 26–27, 1942), two nights of rioting in Brisbane, the capital and chief city of Queensland, Australia, between Australians and American servicemen stationed there during World War II. Within days of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, U.S. military planners began

Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, Baronet was a British soldier and astronomical observer for whom the city of Brisbane, Australia, is named. Mainly remembered as a patron of science, he built an astronomical observatory at Parramatta, Australia, and a combined observatory and magnetic station at

Florence Griffith Joyner: Flash and Dash: …quarter-second behind former high-school rival Valerie Brisco-Hooks. She went into semiretirement, but she returned to racing in 1987, the year she married champion triple jumper Al Joyner. Her three-year hiatus necessitated a rigorous training regimen to become competitive again.

Lily Briscoe, fictional character, a painter and one of the central characters in the novel To the Lighthouse (1927) by Virginia Woolf. Lily represents Woolf’s ideal artist, who mingles “masculine” rationality with “feminine” sympathy. At the beginning of the book, Lily is one of the guests at the

brisé, (French: “broken step”), in classical ballet, a small, battu (“beaten”) step. The quality of a brisé should be sharp and brisk. The basic brisé is a travelled assemblé that is done with a beat. The dancer brushes the working leg, as in an assemblé, to the side and into the air while

fan: …the folding fan is the brisé (French: “broken”) fan, in which the sticks are wider and bladelike and connected at the top by a ribbon or thread, so that they will overlap when the fan is opened to form the equivalent of a leaf.

brise-soleil, sun baffle outside the windows or extending over the entire surface of a building’s facade. Many traditional methods exist for reducing the effects of the sun’s glare, such as lattices (shīsh, or mushrabīyah), pierced screens (qamarīyah) as used at the Tāj Mahal, or blinds of split

Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban: Early career: …1662 and in fortifying Alt-Breisach, a French outpost on the right bank of the Rhine, from 1664 to 1666. In 1663 he was given a company in the king’s Picardy regiment. His services in the capture of Tournai, Douai, and Lille in the French invasion of the Spanish Netherlands…

Freyja: …possessed a famous necklace called Brísinga men, which the trickster god Loki stole and Heimdall, the gods’ watchman, recovered. Greedy and lascivious, Freyja was also credited with the evil act of teaching witchcraft to the Aesir (a tribe of gods). Like the Egyptian goddess Isis and the Greek Aphrodite, Freyja…

Freyja: …possessed a famous necklace called Brísinga men, which the trickster god Loki stole and Heimdall, the gods’ watchman, recovered. Greedy and lascivious, Freyja was also credited with the evil act of teaching witchcraft to the Aesir (a tribe of gods). Like the Egyptian goddess Isis and the Greek Aphrodite, Freyja…

corned beef: …North America, corned beef is brisket, taken from the lower chest of a cow or steer, that has been brined in salt and spices. (In general British usage, fresh corned beef is called “salt beef,” while the canned version retains the “corned” designation.) Because brisket is a tough cut of…

bristling, (Sprattus sprattus), edible fish of the herring family Clupeidae (order Clupeiformes). Bristlings are silver-coloured marine fishes that form enormous schools in western European waters. They contribute to the worldwide fishing industry. They are smaller than Atlantic herrings (Clupea

Henri Brisson was a French statesman who twice served as premier of France (1885, 1898) and was noted for his staunch republicanism and strongly anticlerical views. After receiving his law degree in Paris, Brisson joined the ranks of the opposition to the emperor Napoleon III (reigned 1852–70). He

Henri Brisson was a French statesman who twice served as premier of France (1885, 1898) and was noted for his staunch republicanism and strongly anticlerical views. After receiving his law degree in Paris, Brisson joined the ranks of the opposition to the emperor Napoleon III (reigned 1852–70). He

Le Figaro: …and under the editorship of Pierre Brisson Le Figaro quickly moved back into a position of leadership among French newspapers.

Jacques-Pierre Brissot was a leader of the Girondins (often called Brissotins), a moderate bourgeois faction that opposed the radical-democratic Jacobins during the French Revolution. The son of an eating-house keeper, Brissot began to work as a clerk in lawyers’ offices, first at Chartres, then in

Jacques-Pierre Brissot was a leader of the Girondins (often called Brissotins), a moderate bourgeois faction that opposed the radical-democratic Jacobins during the French Revolution. The son of an eating-house keeper, Brissot began to work as a clerk in lawyers’ offices, first at Chartres, then in

Girondin, a label applied to a loose grouping of republican politicians, some of them originally from the département of the Gironde, who played a leading role in the Legislative Assembly from October 1791 to September 1792 during the French Revolution. Lawyers, intellectuals and journalists, the

gundi: …by its comblike rows of bristles on the inner two toes of each hindfoot. Gundis have a large head, blunt nose, big eyes, and short, rounded ears. The body is 16 to 24 cm (6.3 to 9.4 inches) long, and there is a short, furry tail (1 to 5 cm).…

foxtail: …genus Setaria, also known as bristlegrass, includes nearly 125 species of annual and perennial grasses, mostly of tropical Africa but found in warm areas of all the continents. The plants are taller than those of Alopecurus, with bristly flower clusters and flat, thin leaf blades. More than 40 species are…

rag worm, any of a group of mostly marine or shore worms of the class Polychaeta (phylum Annelida). A few species live in fresh water. Other common names include mussel worm, pileworm, and sandworm. Rag worms vary in length from 2.5 to 90 cm (1 inch to 3 feet); they are commonly brown, bright red,

curlew: The bristle-thighed curlew (Numenius tahitiensis) breeds in the mountains of Alaska and migrates some 6,000 miles (9,650 km) to winter on islands in the South Pacific.

bristlecone pine, (species Pinus longaeva and P. aristata), either of two species of small pine trees that belong to the family Pinaceae and include some of the oldest individual organisms known to science. The species are native to the Rocky Mountains and other ranges of the southwestern United

foxtail: …genus Setaria, also known as bristlegrass, includes nearly 125 species of annual and perennial grasses, mostly of tropical Africa but found in warm areas of all the continents. The plants are taller than those of Alopecurus, with bristly flower clusters and flat, thin leaf blades. More than 40 species are…

bristlehead, (species Psittrichas fulgidus), parrot of the forested slopes of northern New Guinea, the sole species constituting the subfamily Psittrichasinae (order Psittaciformes). A short-tailed, crow-sized parrot, nearly 50 cm (20 inches) in length, it is black with red underparts and gray

bristlemouth, (family Gonostomatidae), any of the approximately 33 species of oceanic fishes (order Stomiiformes), occurring in tropical regions of the major oceans and characterized by luminescent organs on the undersides of their bodies. They inhabit moderate depths and are often referred to as

bristletail, (order Archaeognatha), any of approximately 350 species of primitive wingless insects that measure from 5 to 20 mm (0.2 to 0.8 inch) in length when they are fully grown and have three slender bristlelike appendages at the tip of the abdomen. Bristletails have small compound eyes and

bristling, (Sprattus sprattus), edible fish of the herring family Clupeidae (order Clupeiformes). Bristlings are silver-coloured marine fishes that form enormous schools in western European waters. They contribute to the worldwide fishing industry. They are smaller than Atlantic herrings (Clupea

foxtail: Bristly foxtail (S. verticillata), whose barbed bristles stick to animals and clothing, is also found in those places; the flower clusters from different plants may stick together, forming dense tangles. The name giant foxtail is applied to two weedy annuals: S. faberi and S. magna.

Bristol, city and unitary authority, southwestern England. The historic centre of Bristol and the sections of the city north of the River Avon (Lower, or Bristol, Avon) were part of the historic county of Gloucestershire, while the areas south of the Avon lay within the historic county of Somerset

Bristol, county, southeastern Massachusetts, U.S., bordered to the south by Buzzards Bay and to the west by Rhode Island. It consists of a rolling coastal lowland and includes a few islands in the bay. The main watercourses are the Taunton, Achushnet, Ten Mile, Westport, and Warren rivers, while

Bristol, county, eastern Rhode Island, U.S. It is located on a peninsula bordered by Massachusetts to the northeast, Mount Hope Bay to the southeast, and Narragansett Bay to the southwest. The county was formed in 1746 and named for Bristol, Eng. There is no county seat, but the main towns are

Bristol, city, coextensive with the town (township) of Bristol, Hartford county, central Connecticut, U.S., on the Pequabuck River. The area, part of Farmington or Tunxis Plantation, was settled in 1727 and became known as New Cambridge. Renamed for Bristol, England, it was organized as a town in

Bristol, borough (town), Bucks county, southeastern Pennsylvania, U.S., on the Delaware River, just northeast of Philadelphia. The settlement was laid out in 1697 as Buckingham near the site of William Penn’s home and was renamed in about 1700 for Bristol, England. It served as the Bucks county

Bristol, town (township) and seat of Bristol county, eastern Rhode Island, U.S., on a peninsula between Narragansett Bay and Mount Hope Bay 13 miles (21 km) southeast of Providence city. It is connected (south) to Rhode (Aquidneck) Island by Mount Hope Bridge and includes the villages of Beach

Bristol, city, on the border of Virginia (Washington county) and Tennessee (Sullivan county), U.S., in an extension of the Shenandoah Valley. Although physically, culturally, and economically unified, administratively it comprises two separate cities, each with its own government, public schools,

paper: …paper grades are bond, book, bristol, groundwood and newsprint, kraft, paperboard, and sanitary.

Dover, city, seat (1769) of Strafford county, southeastern New Hampshire, U.S. It is located at the falls (a 33-foot [10-metre] drop) of the Cocheco River, near its junction with the Piscataqua River, just northwest of Portsmouth. Originally settled in 1623 by fishermen and traders, it was known as

Until 1990 if a musician came from Bristol—the quiet West Country city whose wealth was built on the slave trade—there was little to be gained from admitting it. But the success of the trio Massive Attack, especially in Britain, so changed perceptions that by the end of the decade, in the eyes of

River Avon, river that rises on the southeastern slope of the Cotswolds, England, and flows through Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, and Somerset. The river shares the name Avon (derived from a Celtic word meaning “river”) with several other rivers in Great Britain, including the Avon of Warwickshire

Bristol Bay, arm of the Bering Sea, indenting for 200 mi (320 km) the southwest coast of Alaska, U.S.; its mouth extends for 270 mi between Cape Newenham (north) and the southwest end of the Alaska Peninsula (south). Its shoreline includes the individually named bays at the mouths of the Togiak,

military aircraft: Night fighters: …twin-engined bombers such as the Bristol Blenheim into night fighters by installing offensive ordnance and radar, but these had little success, since they were no faster than their prey. On the other hand, Messerschmitt’s Me 110, a disastrous failure as a twin-engined two-seat day fighter, became highly successful at night…

Bristol Channel, inlet of the Atlantic Ocean separating southwestern England from southern Wales. The northern shore borders the South Wales coalfield and is heavily industrialized; the southern shore in the counties of Somerset and Devon is mainly agricultural. At the eastern end of the channel is

road: McAdam: …McAdam took control of the Bristol Turnpike. There he showed that traffic could be supported by a relatively thin layer of small, single-sized, angular pieces of broken stone placed and compacted on a well-drained natural formation and covered by an impermeable surface of smaller stones. He had no use for…

Bristol ware, hard-paste porcelain products that were produced between 1770 and 1781 at the porcelain manufactory located in Bristol, England. The first factory to manufacture hard-paste porcelain in England was established in Plymouth in 1768 by William Cookworthy. Once the plant moved to Bristol

Bristol Zoo, zoological park opened in 1836 in the Clifton section of Bristol, England. Though occupying only 5 hectares (12 acres), the zoo maintains a wide variety of floral plantings and exhibits more than 900 animals representing about 200 species. Noted especially for its monkey exhibit and

George Digby, 2nd earl of Bristol was an English Royalist, an impetuous and erratic statesman who had a checkered career as an adviser to kings Charles I (ruled 1625–49) and Charles II (ruled 1660–85). The eldest son of John Digby, 1st earl of Bristol, he first became a royal adviser in 1641. In

John Digby, 1st earl of Bristol was an English diplomat and moderate Royalist, a leading advocate of conciliation and reform during the events leading to the Civil War (1642–51). He served as ambassador to Spain for King James I (ruled 1603–25) during most of the period from 1611 to 1624, and in

John Hervey, 1st earl of Bristol was the first earl of Bristol in the Hervey line, son of Sir Thomas Hervey and nephew of John Hervey, treasurer to Catherine of Braganza, queen consort of Charles II. He was educated at Clare Hall, Cambridge, and became member of Parliament for Bury St. Edmunds

Bristol: The contemporary city: The University of Bristol, founded as University College in 1876, was established in 1909.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, American biopharmaceutical company resulting from a merger in 1989 and dating to companies founded in 1858 and 1887. It produces pharmaceuticals, vitamins, medical devices, and beauty and personal-care products. Headquarters are in New York City. The original firm,

Benjamin Helm Bristow was a lawyer and statesman who, as U.S. secretary of the treasury (1874–76), successfully prosecuted the Whiskey Ring, a group of Western distillers who had evaded payment of federal whiskey taxes. Bristow studied law in his father’s office and was admitted to the bar in 1853.

Kansas: Constitutional framework: …election, and a Kansas senator, Joseph Bristow, introduced the resolution in the U.S. Congress that put direct election of U.S. senators into the federal Constitution.

silversides, any of several species of small slim schooling fish of the family Atherinidae (order Atheriniformes), found in freshwater and along coasts around the world in warm and temperate regions. Silversides are named for the wide silvery stripe usually present on each side. They have two

United Kingdom: Ancient Britain: …late in the Mesolithic Period, Britain formed part of the continental landmass and was easily accessible to migrating hunters. The cutting of the land bridge, about 6000–5000 bce, had important effects: migration became more difficult and remained for long impossible to large numbers. Thus Britain developed insular characteristics, absorbing and…

Great Britain, island lying to the east of the island of Ireland and off the northwestern coast of Europe. It consists of England, Scotland, and Wales. Great Britain is part of the British Isles, together with the island of Ireland as well as smaller islands and island groups. The term Great

United Kingdom, island country located off the northwestern coast of mainland Europe. The United Kingdom comprises the whole of the island of Great Britain—which contains England, Wales, and Scotland—as well as the northern portion of the island of Ireland. The name Britain is sometimes used to

Simon Cowell: That year he also inaugurated Britain’s Got Talent, on which he served as a judge. In May 2010 Cowell left American Idol in order to work on a U.S. version of The X Factor (2011–13). Following the cancellation of that show, he returned to hosting the British version, which ended…

Battle of Britain, during World War II, the successful defense of Great Britain against unremitting and destructive air raids conducted by the German air force (Luftwaffe) from July through September 1940, after the fall of France. Victory for the Luftwaffe in the air battle would have exposed

Lyonnesse: William Camden’s Britannia (1586) called this land Lyonnesse, taking the name from a manuscript by the Cornish antiquary Richard Carew.

Britannia Bridge, railroad bridge in northern Wales spanning Menai Strait, between Bangor and the Isle of Anglesey. It was designed and built by Robert Stephenson, who, with his father, George Stephenson, built the first successful locomotive. Unable to use an arch design because the Admiralty

Lindsay Anderson: …Man! (1973), In Celebration (1974), Britannia Hospital (1982), and The Whales of August (1987). His later stage productions included Storey’s The March on Russia (1989).

United Kingdom: Administration: …legions and a few auxiliaries; Britannia Inferior, with its capital at York, was under a praetorian governor with one legion but many more auxiliaries.

britannia metal, alloy composed approximately of 93 percent tin, 5 percent antimony, and 2 percent copper, used for making various utensils, including teapots, jugs, drinking vessels, candlesticks, and urns, and for official maces. Similar in colour to pewter, britannia metal is harder, stronger,

midshipman: …midshipmen were students at the Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, Devon, England, while midshipmen of the U.S. Navy attended the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland.

United Kingdom: Administration: …Albinus had done in 196: Britannia Superior had its capital at London and a consular governor in control of two legions and a few auxiliaries; Britannia Inferior, with its capital at York, was under a praetorian governor with one legion but many more auxiliaries.

William Browne: …an English poet, author of Britannia’s Pastorals (1613–16) and other pastoral and miscellaneous verse.

John Ogilby: His Britannia . . . a Geographical and Historical Description of the Principal Roads thereof . . ., published in 1675, was part of a projected world atlas and a landmark in accurate road description.

Britannic, British ocean liner that was a sister ship of the Olympic and the Titanic. Having never operated as a commercial vessel, it was refitted as a hospital ship during World War I and sank in 1916, reportedly after striking a mine. The Britannic was built by the Belfast firm of Harland and

Encyclopædia Britannica, the oldest English-language general encyclopaedia. The Encyclopædia Britannica was first published in 1768, when it began to appear in Edinburgh, Scotland. Since its founding, the Encyclopædia Britannica has relied upon both outside experts and its own editors with various

encyclopaedia: Content arrangement: …of such activities was the 15th edition of Encyclopædia Britannica (1974), which was designed in large part to enhance the role of an encyclopaedia in education and understanding without detracting from its role as a reference book. Its three parts (Propædia, or Outline of Knowledge; Micropædia, or Ready Reference and…

Encyclopædia Britannica: Corporate change: …were, however, reported in the Britannica Book of the Year), but the method of continuous revision provided a flexible means of handling new material in book form. It also had the advantage of requiring a full-time, permanent, and professional, rather than a temporary, editorial staff.

Encyclopædia Britannica: Britannica in the digital era: …Britannica Electronic Index and the Britannica CD (providing text and a dictionary, along with proprietary retrieval software, on a single disc). A two-disc CD was released in 1995, featuring illustrations and photos; multimedia, including videos, animations, and audio, was added in 1997. At first the cost of those electronic products…

Encyclopædia Britannica: Britannica in the digital era: …of CD-ROM-based products, including the Britannica Electronic Index and the Britannica CD (providing text and a dictionary, along with proprietary retrieval software, on a single disc). A two-disc CD was released in 1995, featuring illustrations and photos; multimedia, including videos, animations, and audio, was added in 1997. At first the…

Buritanika Kokusai Daihyakka-jiten, first major encyclopaedia of international scope written in the Japanese language. The first volumes of the 28-volume set were released in June 1972, and the last in 1975. The set is organized as follows: 20 volumes of comprehensive articles, 6 volumes that

encyclopaedia: Children’s encyclopaedias: It was based on Weedon’s Modern Encyclopedia, whose copyright had been bought by Britannica. Renamed Britannica Junior Encyclopædia in 1963 (and revised until 1983), it was specifically designed for children in elementary-school grades. One of its features was its ready-reference index volume, which combined short fact entries with indexing…

Deep in the 32nd, and last, volume of the 13th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica is a list of the articles in the first 28 volumes. And deep within that list is a section called “Crime and Punishment,” which reads as a collection of horrors: Beheading, Branding, Electrocution, Rack,

The article on drawing and quartering published in 1926 in the 13th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica provides a brief lurid history of those convicted of treason in England between the 13th and 19th centuries. The unknown author of this article, which has its roots in the 11th edition

This article was published in 1926 in the 13th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. HALLOWE’EN, or All Hallows Eve, the name given to the 31st of October as the vigil of Hallowmas or All Saints’ Day. Though now known as little else but the eve of the Christian festival, Hallowe’en and its

This article on the treadmill, published in 1926 in the 13th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica and originating in the 11th edition, gives a whole new meaning to a punishing workout. While gym goers might dread the monotony of contemporary treadmills, they at least can hit the stop button—or

Encyclopædia Britannica: Britannica in the digital era: …in chief, the company developed Britannica Online, an extended electronic reference service for delivery over the Internet. In 1994 Britannica debuted the first Internet-based encyclopaedia. Users paid a fee to access the information, which was located at http://www.eb.com.

Encyclopædia Britannica’s first biography of Nelson Mandela appeared in 1965, published in the Britannica Book of the Year prepared by Britannica’s London office: That Book of the Year, which described the events of 1964, also noted Mandela’s sentencing in its article on South Africa: In 1965

Are you a feminist film buff? Looking for a good movie to get you in the mood for Oscars night? Or something to celebrate women’s history? Whether you’re a fan of rom-coms, foreign-language films, or action-packed blockbusters, you’ll find 24 great films directed by women in our Female Directors