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  • Majiayao culture (anthropology)
    ...produced burnished bowls and basins of fine red pottery, some 15 percent of which were painted, generally in black, with dots, spirals, and sinuous lines. It was succeeded by a variety of Majiayao cultures (late 4th to early 3rd millennium) in eastern Gansu, eastern Qinghai, and northern Sichuan. About one-third of Majiayao vessels were decorated on the upper two-thirds of the body......
  • Majid (crab genus)
    Majids, a widely distributed marine group, are fished commercially in temperate waters, such as in the North Pacific. Some are quite small; for example, the long-beaked spider crab (Macropodia rostrata) of European coastal waters has a body about 1 cm (less than 0.5 inch) in diameter. The largest spider crab, and perhaps the largest known arthropod, is the......
  • Majīd ibn Saʿid (sultan of Zanzibar)
    ...made vice-consul of Zanzibar in 1866, became assistant political agent in 1868, and was raised to the rank of consul general and agent in 1873. He strove to uphold the interests of Zanzibar’s Sultan Mājid and his successor, Barghash, with whom he concluded an antislavery treaty in 1873. Although he induced the British government to discourage Egyptian expansion along the East Afri...
  • Majidae (crustacean)
    any species of the decapod family Majidae (or Maiidae; class Crustacea). Spider crabs, which have thick, rather rounded bodies and long, spindly legs, are generally slow-moving and sluggish. Most are scavengers, especially of dead flesh....
  • Majin (ancient kingdom, Korea)
    Largely as a result of these trends, two provincial leaders, Kyŏnhwŏn and Kungye, established, respectively, the Later Paekche (892) and Later Koguryŏ (also called Majin or T’aebong; 901) kingdoms. Together with Silla, they are commonly referred to as the Later Three Kingdoms. In this period Sŏn (Zen) Buddhism was most popular, with its emphasis on the importance...
  • Majjhima Nikaya (Buddhist literature)
    2. Majjhima Nikaya (“Medium [Length] Collection”; Sanskrit Madhyamagama), 152 suttas, some of them attributed to disciples, covering nearly all aspects of Buddhism. Included are texts dealing with monastic life, the excesses of asceticism, the evils of caste, Buddha’s debates with the Jains, and meditation, together with basic doctrinal and ethical......
  • majjhima-patipada (Buddhism)
    in Buddhism, complement of general and specific ethical practices and philosophical views that are said to facilitate enlightenment by avoiding the extremes of self-gratification on one hand and self-mortification on the other. See Eightfold Path....
  • majjistral (meteorology)
    ...being 64° F (18° C) and the monthly averages ranging from 54° F (12° C) to 88° F (31° C). Winds are strong and frequent; the most common are the cool northwesterly (the majjistral), the dry northeasterly (the grigal, or gregale), and the hot humid southeasterly (the xlokk, or sirocco). The relative humidity is consistently high and ...
  • Majles (Iranian government)
    The unicameral legislature is the 290-member Islamic Consultative Assembly (Majles-e Shūrā-ye Eslāmī), known simply as the Majles. Deputies are elected directly for four-year terms by universal adult suffrage, and recognized religious and ethnic minorities have token representation in the legislature. The Majles enacts all legislation and, under extraordinary......
  • Majles-e Shūrā-ye Eslāmī (Iranian government)
    The unicameral legislature is the 290-member Islamic Consultative Assembly (Majles-e Shūrā-ye Eslāmī), known simply as the Majles. Deputies are elected directly for four-year terms by universal adult suffrage, and recognized religious and ethnic minorities have token representation in the legislature. The Majles enacts all legislation and, under extraordinary......
  • Majlis (Maldivian government)
    The unicameral legislature, called the People’s Majlis, meets at least three times per year. Its members are elected to five-year terms from Male island and from each of the 20 atoll groups into which the country is divided for administrative purposes. The number of representatives from each administrative division is determined on the basis of population, with a minimum of two per division...
  • majlis (government)
    ...unrest and political agitation the assembly was dissolved by the emir in 1975. Public representation thereupon reverted to the traditional Arab and Islamic system of a majlis (council), through which citizens and other residents presented petitions directly to the emir. In 1993 the emir created the Consultative Council, to which the first women were......
  • Majlis al-Itiḥād (Iraqi government)
    The constitution is very brief on the issue of the Council of Union, the structure, duties, and powers of which apparently will be left to later legislation. The constitution only notes that this body will include representatives of the regions and governorates, suggesting that it will likely take the form of an upper house....
  • Majlis al-Nawwāb (Iraqi government)
    ...in many ways the framework for a fairly typical parliamentary democracy. The president is the head of state, the prime minister is the head of government, and there are two deliberative bodies, the Council of Representatives (Majlis al-Nawwāb) and the Council of Union (Majlis al-Itiḥād). The judiciary is free and independent of the executive and the legislature....
  • Majlis al-Shūrā (Omani government)
    The Consultative Assembly, formed by the sultan in 1981, was replaced in 1991 by a Consultative Council (Majlis al-Shūrā), members of which were at first appointed and later elected from several dozen districts (wilāyāt); women from a few consitituencies were given the right to serve on the council. In 1996 the sultan announced the...
  • Majlis al-Wuzarā (Qatar government)
    ...municipal elections to take place in 1999, with an electorate that included both female and male Qataris. Under a provisional constitution enacted in 1972, the emir ruled in consultation with a Council of Ministers (Majlis al-Wuzarāʾ) and an appointed Advisory Council (Majlis al-Shūrā). However, a new constitution was approved by referendum in 2003 and enacted in......
  • Majlis Movement (Kuwaiti history)
    ...ruled Kuwait, Iraq asserted a vague historical title. That year it also offered some rhetorical support to a merchant uprising against the emir. Following the failure of the uprising, called the Majlis Movement, Iraq continued to put forth a claim to at least part of Kuwait, notably the strategic islands of Būbiyān and Al-Warbah....
  • Majmaʿ al-baḥrayn (work by Dārā Shikōh)
    ...such as the Bhagavadgītā and the Upaniṣads, into Persian and in his translation of the latter closely followed Śaṅkara’s commentaries. In his Majmaʿ al-baḥrayn he worked out correlations between Ṣūfī and Upaniṣadic cosmologies, beliefs, and practices. During this time, the Muslim elite of In...
  • Majmaʿ al-tavārīkh (work by Ḥāfiẓ-i Abrū)
    ...by Shāh Rokh; it is mainly a collection of three older well-known historical works with continuations and an introduction and index by Ḥāfiẓ-i Abrū. His Majmaʿ al-tavārīkh (“The Compendium of History”) is a world history divided into four volumes (arbāʿ, “quarters”) that cover ...
  • Majmaʿ multaqā al-zuhūr bī rawḍah min al-manẓūm wa al manthūr (compilation by al-Ḥanafī)
    ...al-jalāliyyah (“Treatise on the Refutation of Jalāl [al-Dīn Dawānī’s] Unmūdhaj al-ʿulūm”). The Majmaʿ multaqā al-zuhūr bī rawḍah min al-manẓūm wa al manthūr (1524; “Collection of Tangled Flowers in the Gard...
  • Majmūʿa (work by Ḥāfiẓ-i Abrū)
    Among his major works is the Majmūʿa (“Collected Work”), which was commissioned by Shāh Rokh; it is mainly a collection of three older well-known historical works with continuations and an introduction and index by Ḥāfiẓ-i Abrū. His Majmaʿ al-tavārīkh (“The Compendium of History”)...
  • Majnūn and Laylā (Islamic literature)
    ...were preserved and eventually became proverbial expressions of the tremendous force of true love. Such was Qays, who went mad because of his passion for Laylā and was afterward known as Majnūn (the “Demented One”). His story is cherished by later Persian, Turkish, and Urdu poets; as a symbol of complete surrender to the force of love, he is dear both to religious......
  • Majnūn Laylā (Arab poet)
    ...the historical existence of several poets remains unverified) elaborate traditions of narrative developed, as, for example, with the pre-Islamic cavalier-poet ʿAntarah and the hapless love poet Majnūn Laylā (literally, “He Who Was Driven Crazy by Love for Laylā”). Such was the status of the poet as spokesman for the virtues of the tribal community that ...
  • Majōl
    country of the central Pacific Ocean. It consists of some of the easternmost islands of Micronesia. The Marshalls are composed of more than 1,200 islands and islets in two parallel chains of coral atolls—the Ratak, or Sunrise, to the east, and the Ralik, or Sunset, to the west. The chains lie about 125 miles (200 kilometres) apart and extend some 800 miles northwest to southeast. Dalap-Ulig...
  • majolica (pottery)
    tin-glazed earthenware produced from the 15th century at such Italian centres as Faenza, Deruta, Urbino, Orvieto, Gubbio, Florence, and Savona. Tin-glazed earthenware—also made in other countries, where it is called faience, or delft—was introduced into Italy from Moorish Spain by way of the island of Majorca, or Maiolica, whence it derived the name by which it was...
  • major (military rank)
    ...(q.v.), which has 20 to 50 soldiers and is commanded by a lieutenant. Two or more platoons make up a company (q.v.), which has 100 to 250 soldiers and is commanded by a captain or a major. The function of administration is introduced at this level, in the form of a headquarters platoon administered by a sergeant and containing supply, maintenance, or other sections....
  • Major, André (Canadian author)
    ...the provincial government in 1976. Intellectuals became vocal, and literary production more than tripled during the decade. A group of writers, including André Brochu, Paul Chamberland, and André Major, founded the magazine Parti pris (1963–68; “Position Taken”) and a publishing house of the same name to press their demands for a...
  • Major Arcana (cards)
    The standard modern tarot deck is based on the Venetian or the Piedmontese tarot. It consists of 78 cards divided into two groups: the major arcana, which has 22 cards, also known as trumps, and the minor arcana, which has 56 cards....
  • major axis (geometry)
    A straight line drawn through the foci and extended to the curve in either direction is the major diameter (or major axis) of the ellipse. Perpendicular to the major axis through the centre, at the point on the major axis equidistant from the foci, is the minor axis. A line drawn through either focus parallel to the minor axis is a latus rectum (literally, “straight side”)....
  • Major Barbara (work by Shaw)
    Shaw continued, through high comedy, to explore religious consciousness and to point out society’s complicity in its own evils. In Major Barbara (performed 1905), Shaw has his heroine, a major in the Salvation Army, discover that her estranged father, a munitions manufacturer, may be a dealer in death but that his principles and practice, however unorthodox, are......
  • Major Bowes Capitol Family (radio show)
    ...owning theatres in New York and Boston, and then entered another to construct the Capitol Theatre in New York City. There in 1926, as a promotional device for the theatre, he launched the “Major Bowes Capitol Family,” a forerunner of the famous and long-running “Amateur Hour.” Artists introduced on the Major’s radio show included the comedian Bob Hope and the....
  • major calices (anatomy)
    ...the renal pelvis, a funnel-shaped expansion of the upper end of the ureter, and, reaching into the kidney substances from the wide end of the funnel, two or three extensions of the cavity called the major calyxes. The major calyxes are divided in turn into four to 12 smaller cuplike cavities, the minor calyxes, into which the renal papillae project. The renal pelvis serves as the initial......
  • major calyces (anatomy)
    ...the renal pelvis, a funnel-shaped expansion of the upper end of the ureter, and, reaching into the kidney substances from the wide end of the funnel, two or three extensions of the cavity called the major calyxes. The major calyxes are divided in turn into four to 12 smaller cuplike cavities, the minor calyxes, into which the renal papillae project. The renal pelvis serves as the initial......
  • major calyx (anatomy)
    ...the renal pelvis, a funnel-shaped expansion of the upper end of the ureter, and, reaching into the kidney substances from the wide end of the funnel, two or three extensions of the cavity called the major calyxes. The major calyxes are divided in turn into four to 12 smaller cuplike cavities, the minor calyxes, into which the renal papillae project. The renal pelvis serves as the initial......
  • Major Cartwright (British politician)
    advocate of radical reform of the British Parliament and of various constitutional changes that were later incorporated into the People’s Charter (1838), the basic document of the working class movement known as Chartism. His younger brother Edmund was the inventor of the power loom....
  • Major, cathedral of la (building, Marseille, France)
    Other historic buildings are located around the Old Port. In the Place de la Major, the old cathedral of la Major, built on the ruins of a temple of Diana, dates from the 11th century; it was partially dismantled to make way for the eight-domed structure that in 1852 replaced it as the city’s cathedral. The dome and supporting arches of the old cathedral are fine examples of Provença...
  • major depression (psychology)
    Major depression and other mood disorders such as dysthymia, bipolar disorder, and cyclothymia are common and very treatable forms of psychiatric problems. Depression is one of the most common conditions encountered in medical practice and affects up to 25 percent of women and 12 percent of men. Untreated depression can persist for two years or longer. Sixty percent of patients who receive......
  • major domus (Roman supervisor)
    ...the Merovingian Franks from that of an officer of the household to that of regent or viceroy. The Merovingian kings adopted the system by which great landowners of the Roman Empire had employed a major domus (mayor, or supervisor, of the household) to superintend the administration of numerous, often scattered, estates. The Merovingians appointed a major palatii (mayor of the......
  • Major Gahagan (work by Thackeray)
    ...in Miscellanies, 4 vol. (1855–57). These include The Yellowplush Correspondence, the memoirs and diary of a young cockney footman written in his own vocabulary and style; Major Gahagan (1838–39), a fantasy of soldiering in India; Catherine (1839–40), a burlesque of the popular “Newgate novels” of romanticized crime and low life, and...
  • major general (military rank)
    Two or more brigades, along with various specialized battalions, make up a division (q.v.), which has 7,000 to 22,000 troops and is commanded by a major general. A division contains all the arms and services needed for the independent conduct of military operations. Two to seven divisions and various support units make up an army corps, or a corps, which has 50,000 to 300,000 troops and......
  • Major, Grant (New Zealand production designer and art director)
    ...and Peter Jackson for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the KingCinematography: Russell Boyd for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the WorldArt Direction: Grant Major (art direction) and Dan Hennah and Alan Lee (set decoration) for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the KingOriginal Score: Howard Shore for The Lord of the......
  • major histocompatibility antigen (biochemistry)
    any of the numerous antigens (substances capable of stimulating an immune response) involved in the major histocompatibility complex in humans....
  • major histocompatibility complex (genetics)
    group of genes that code for proteins found on the surfaces of cells that help the immune system recognize foreign substances. MHC proteins are found in all higher vertebrates. In human beings the complex is also called the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system....
  • major histocompatibility complex antigen (biochemistry)
    any of the numerous antigens (substances capable of stimulating an immune response) involved in the major histocompatibility complex in humans....
  • Major, John (prime minister of United Kingdom)
    British politician and public official who was prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1990 to 1997....
  • Major Jones’s Courtship (work by Thompson)
    ...his death. Influenced by jurist and sometime humorist Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, Thompson wrote amusing dialect letters from a Major Jones, a Georgia Cracker; these were collected in 1843 as Major Jones’s Courtship, which achieved nationwide popularity. Other volumes followed....
  • major league (American sports organization)
    Major League Baseball, as the combined National and American leagues in the United States are now called, faces new challenges—both external and internal—with the increase of baseball’s international appeal. External pressures include strong professional baseball leagues in Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea (see Japanese baseball leagues) that could hamper major league bas...
  • Major League Baseball (American sports organization)
    Major League Baseball, as the combined National and American leagues in the United States are now called, faces new challenges—both external and internal—with the increase of baseball’s international appeal. External pressures include strong professional baseball leagues in Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea (see Japanese baseball leagues) that could hamper major league bas...
  • Major League Baseball Players Association (American trade union)
    The recourse the court failed to provide was in substance achieved by the Major League Baseball Players Association—founded in 1953 but largely ineffectual until 1966, when it hired as executive director Marvin Miller, a former labour-union official who also had been active in government in labour-management relations. A skillful negotiator, he secured players’ rights and benefits......
  • Major League Soccer (sports organization)
    ...in 1994, the United States possessed some 16 million football players nationwide, up to 40 percent of whom were female. In 1996 a new attempt at establishing a professional outdoor league was made. Major League Soccer (MLS) was more modest in ambition than NASL, being played in only 10 U.S. cities, with greater emphasis on local players and a relatively tight salary cap. The United States......
  • major life zone (biology)
    the largest geographic biotic unit, a major community of plants and animals with similar life forms and environmental conditions. It includes various communities and is named for the dominant type of vegetation, such as grassland or coniferous forest. Several similar biomes constitute a biome type—for example, the temperate deciduous forest biome type includes the deciduo...
  • major medical insurance
    ...payments may be subsidized by their employer, with the money going into a special fund. Insurance of hospital costs is the most prevalent form of private health insurance coverage; another type is major medical expense protection, which provides protection against large medical costs but avoids the financial and administrative burdens involved in insuring small costs....
  • Major Mitchell’s cockatoo (bird)
    The 38-cm (15-inch) Major Mitchell’s cockatoo (C. leadbeateri), which inhabits much of interior Australia, is also awash in pink, with a yellow-and-red band crossing its forward-sweeping crest. It is among the most beautiful of the cockatoos and the hardest to train....
  • major palatii (European official)
    official of the western European kingdoms of the 6th–8th century, whose status developed under the Merovingian Franks from that of an officer of the household to that of regent or viceroy. The Merovingian kings adopted the system by which great landowners of the Roman Empire had employed a major domus (mayor, or supervisor, of the household) to s...
  • major premise (logic)
    ...and one categorical proposition as conclusion. When arguments of this type have exactly three terms occurring throughout the argument and when the predicate term of the conclusion occurs in the first premise and the subject term of the conclusion occurs in the second premise, the argument is called a categorical syllogism....
  • major premise, fallacy of illicit (logic)
    ...he had a social conscience; hence, Amos was a prophet”). Most of the traditionally considered formal fallacies, however, relate to the syllogism. One example may be cited, that of the fallacy of illicit major (or minor) premise, which violates the rules for “distribution.” (A term is said to be distributed when reference is made to all members of the class. For......
  • Major Rogation Days (Roman Catholicism)
    in the Roman Catholic church, festivals devoted to special prayers for the crops; they comprise the Major Rogation (Major Litany) on April 25 and the Minor Rogations (Minor Litany) on the three days before Ascension Day (40th day after Easter). The Major Rogation originated as a Christian festival to supplant a pagan Roman festival, Robigalia, which consisted of a procession from Rome to a......
  • major sacramental order (religion)
    ...and ecclesiastical institutions. They also sometimes caused trouble in secular society, since even they received benefit of clergy, or exemption from trial in secular courts. Ordination to the major orders—subdeacon (elevated to a major order by Pope Innocent III in 1215), deacon, and priest—entailed vows of chastity and conferred sacramental powers on the recipient....
  • major scale (music)
    in music, stepped arrangement of notes following the classical Greek Ionian mode (though mistaken nomenclature in the 16th century has since caused it to be referred to as the Lydian mode). In a major scale the intervals between successive notes after the first are tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone. Thus, the major scale of D is D–E...
  • Major, Sir John (prime minister of United Kingdom)
    British politician and public official who was prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1990 to 1997....
  • major term (logic)
    The predicate of the conclusion is called the major term, and the premise in which it occurs is called the major premise. The subject of the conclusion is called the minor term and the premise in which it occurs is called the minor premise. This way of describing major and minor terms conforms to Aristotle’s actual practice and was......
  • Major, The (British horse trainer)
    British racehorse trainer (b. Jan. 20, 1921, Holford, Somerset, Eng.—d. May 22, 2002, Oxford, Eng.), saddled the winners of 26 classic thoroughbred races in England and abroad. Hern was named Trainer of the Year four times (1962, 1972, 1980, and 1983) and was chief trainer for Queen Elizabeth II in the 1970s and ’80s. The Horse of the Year champions he trained included Brigadier Gera...
  • major tranquilizer
    The advent of antipsychotic, or neuroleptic, drugs such as Thorazine (trademark) enabled many patients to leave mental hospitals and function in society. The primary indication for the use of antipsychotics is schizophrenia, erroneously called split personality. This is a severe mental disorder characterized by delusions, hallucinations, and sometimes bizarre behaviour. One form, paranoid......
  • major triad (music)
    Triads are classified according to intervals formed above the root. If the factors of the triad are a major third and a perfect fifth above the root, the triad is a major triad; if a minor third and a perfect fifth, it is a minor triad. These are defined as consonant triads. If the third is major and the fifth is augmented, the triad is called an augmented triad; if the third is minor and the......
  • Majorca (island, Spain)
    island, Balearic Islands provincia (province) and comunidad autónoma (autonomous community), Spain. Majorca is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which lie in the western Mediterranean Sea. It contains two mountainous regions, each about 50 miles (80 km) in length and occu...
  • Majorelle, Louis (French cabinetmaker)
    French artist, cabinetmaker, furniture designer, and ironworker who was one of the leading exponents of the Art Nouveau style....
  • Majorian (Roman emperor)
    Western Roman emperor from 457 to 461, the only man to hold that office in the 5th century who had some claim to greatness....
  • Majorianus, Julius Valerius (Roman emperor)
    Western Roman emperor from 457 to 461, the only man to hold that office in the 5th century who had some claim to greatness....
  • Majorica (island, Spain)
    island, Balearic Islands provincia (province) and comunidad autónoma (autonomous community), Spain. Majorca is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which lie in the western Mediterranean Sea. It contains two mountainous regions, each about 50 miles (80 km) in length and occu...
  • Majorinius (bishop of Carthage)
    ...years the right of consecrating the bishop of Carthage, arrived in Carthage with 70 bishops and in solemn council declared Caecilian’s election invalid. The council then appointed a reader (lector), Majorinus, to replace Caecilian....
  • Majorino, Giancarlo (Italian author)
    ...humorist Giovanni Giudici had an impact, as did colloquialist Giovanni Raboni, who was also linked with the sobriety and moral concerns of the linea lombarda; Giancarlo Majorino, who progressed from Neorealism to Sperimentalismo (“Experimentalism”); Giampiero Neri (pseudonym of Giampiero Pontiggia), influenced in his descriptive narratives b...
  • majoritarian system (politics)
    Because of differences in electoral systems and other factors, democratic countries differ with respect to whether laws and policies can be enacted by a single, relatively cohesive party with a legislative majority, as is ordinarily the case in Britain and Japan, or instead require consensus among several parties with diverse views, as in Switzerland, The Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, and......
  • majority, age of (law)
    person below the legal age of majority or adulthood. The age of majority varies in different countries, and even in different jurisdictions within a country. It also differs with the type of activity concerned, such as marrying, purchasing alcohol, or driving an automobile. Twenty-one years is a common division between minors and adults....
  • majority carrier (electronics)
    ...occurs within a single crystal structure, a p-n junction is formed (see Figure 3B and 3C). On the p side, the holes constitute the dominant carriers and so are called majority carriers. A few thermally generated electrons will also exist in the p side; these are termed minority carriers. On the n side the electrons are the majority carriers, while......
  • majority floor leader (United States government)
    ...committees, and performs other important duties; he is second in the line of presidential succession (following the vice president). The parliamentary leaders of the two main parties are the majority floor leader and the minority floor leader. The floor leaders are assisted by party whips, who are responsible for maintaining contact between the leadership and the members of the House.......
  • majority rule (politics)
    electoral process in which the candidate who polls more votes than any other candidate is elected. It is distinguished from the majority system, in which, to win, a candidate must receive more votes than all other candidates combined. Election by a plurality is the most common method of selecting candidates for public office....
  • majority system (politics)
    electoral process in which the candidate who polls more votes than any other candidate is elected. It is distinguished from the majority system, in which, to win, a candidate must receive more votes than all other candidates combined. Election by a plurality is the most common method of selecting candidates for public office....
  • majority tyranny (politics)
    The fear of “majority tyranny” was a common theme in the 17th century and later, even among those who were sympathetic to democracy. Given the opportunity, it was argued, a majority would surely trample on the fundamental rights of minorities. Property rights were perceived as particularly vulnerable, since presumably any majority of citizens with little or no property would be......
  • Majuba Hill, Battle of (South African history)
    ...to force South Africa, including the Transvaal, into a general federation. In December he led his people into active opposition, and, after a series of military victories that culminated in the Battle of Majuba Hill (Feb. 27, 1881), with great diplomatic skill he succeeded in negotiating peace based on a limited independence. In 1883 he was elected president of the restored republic, and he......
  • Mājūj (Islamic mythology)
    in Islamic eschatology, two hostile forces who will ravage the earth before the end of the world. The Qurʾān relates that a certain people terrorized by Yājūj and Mājūj induced Dhū al-Qarnayn (commonly believed to be Alexander the Great) to construct a great wall between them. Yājūj and Mājūj, thus trapped between two mou...
  • Majumdar, Khaleda (prime minister of Bangladesh)
    politician who served as prime minister of Bangladesh in 1991–96 and 2001–06. The first woman to serve as prime minister of Bangladesh, she governed during a period of natural disasters, economic distress, and civil unrest....
  • Majunga (Madagascar)
    town and major port, northwestern Madagascar. It lies on the island’s northwest coast, at the mouth of the Betsiboka River, whose estuary widens there into Bombetoka Bay. The town was the capital of the 18th-century kingdom of Boina. The French occupied Mahajanga in 1895 at the beginning of their conquest of Madagascar. The town’s old sector is confined mainly to t...
  • Majuro (atoll, Marshall Islands)
    atoll in the Ratak (eastern) chain of the Marshall Islands and capital of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, in the western Pacific Ocean. The atoll comprises 64 islets on an elliptically shaped reef 25 miles (40 km) long and has a total land area of 4 square miles (10 square km). Majuro has the largest population of any atoll or island in the Marshall Islands. The atoll’s main settleme...
  • majuscule (calligraphy)
    in calligraphy, capital, uppercase, or large letter in most alphabets, in contrast to the minuscule, lowercase, or small letter. All the letters in a majuscule script are contained between a single pair of (real or theoretical) horizontal lines. The Latin, or Roman, alphabet uses both majuscule and minuscule letters....
  • Makah (people)
    ...be adapted for decorative purposes, with threads—often of different colours—to form a variety of motifs similar to embroidery. This kind of lattice construction appears mainly among the Makah Indians of the U.S. Pacific Northwest and in Central and East Africa....
  • Makaira (fish)
    any of several species of large, long-nosed marine fishes of the family Istiophoridae (order Perciformes) characterized by an elongated body, a long dorsal fin, and a rounded spear extending from the snout. They are wanderers, found worldwide near the surface of the sea, and are carnivorous, feeding largely on other fishes. They are consumed as food and are highly prized by sport fishermen....
  • Makaira albida (fish)
    ...force. The striped marlin (Tetrapterus audax), another Indo-Pacific fish, is bluish above and white below, with pale vertical bars; it normally does not exceed 125 kg (275 pounds). The white marlin (M. albida, or T. albidus) is limited to the Atlantic and is blue green with a paler belly and with pale vertical bars on its sides. Its maximum weight is about 45 kg (100......
  • Makaira indica (fish)
    ...found worldwide, is a very large fish, sometimes attaining a weight of 450 kg (1,000 pounds) or more. It is deep blue with a silvery belly and is often barred with lighter vertical stripes. The black marlin (M. indica) grows as large or larger than the blue. It is known to reach a weight of more than 700 kg (1,500 pounds). An Indo-Pacific species, it is blue or blue gray above and......
  • Makaira nigricans (fish)
    A number of species of marlins have been named; four are generally accepted as valid: the blue, black, striped, and white marlins. The blue marlin (Makaira nigricans), found worldwide, is a very large fish, sometimes attaining a weight of 450 kg (1,000 pounds) or more. It is deep blue with a silvery belly and is often barred with lighter vertical stripes. The black marlin (M.......
  • Makalle (Ethiopia)
    town, northern Ethiopia. Situated 6,778 feet (2,066 m) above sea level overlooking the salt mines of the Danakil Plain, Mekele is the principal centre of Ethiopia’s inland salt trade. Newer industries include the production of incense and resin. An airport serves the town. Nearby are the ruins of prehistoric settlements. Pop. (1986 est.) 66,640....
  • Makālu (mountain, Asia)
    one of the world’s highest mountains (27,766 feet [8,463 m]), in the Himalayas on the Nepalese-Tibetan (Chinese) border. It lies 14 miles (23 km) east-southeast of Mount Everest. Makālu had been observed by climbers of Mount Everest, but attempts to ascend its steep, glacier-covered sides did not begin until 1954. On May 15, 1955, two members—Jean Couzy and Lionel Terray...
  • Mākān ibn Kākī (Daylamite mercenary)
    ...After the Ṭāhirid collapse, the lack of stability in northern Iran south of the Elburz Mountains attracted many Daylamite mercenaries into the area on military adventures. Among them Mākān ibn Kākī served the Sāmānids with his compatriots, the sons of Būyeh, and their allies the Ziyārids under Mardāvīj.......
  • Makanalua Peninsula (peninsula, Hawaii, United States)
    peninsula on the northern shore of Molokai island, Hawaii, U.S. Occupying a 5-square-mile (13-square-km) plateau unsuited to agriculture, the peninsula is isolated from the rest of the island by 2,000-foot (600-metre) cliffs. It was formed more than 200,000 years ago from the flows of lava from nearby Pu‘u‘uao. For some 900 years it was the site ...
  • Makapan Valley (anthropological and archaeological site, South Africa)
    site of paleoanthropological excavation, one of the oldest of the known cave sites in South Africa containing Australopithecus africanus fossils....
  • Makapansgat (anthropological and archaeological site, South Africa)
    site of paleoanthropological excavation, one of the oldest of the known cave sites in South Africa containing Australopithecus africanus fossils....
  • makar (Scottish literature)
    any of the Scottish courtly poets who flourished from about 1425 to 1550. The best known are Robert Henryson, William Dunbar, Gavin Douglas, and Sir David Lyndsay; the group is sometimes expanded to include James I of Scotland and Harry the Minstrel, or Blind Harry....
  • makara (Hindu water monster)
    ...mythical composition. On the more intimate level of daily life, sculpture takes the form of the many fountains that adorn watering places (pranali) of Nepal. Water spouts forth from makara (Hindu water monster with the body of a crocodile and the head of an elephant) snouts sheathed in gilt copper into reservoirs laid out with architectural dignity. As far as present......
  • Makarakomburu, Mount (mountain, Solomon Islands)
    ...of Solomon Islands, southwestern Pacific Ocean. The island has an area of 2,047 square miles (5,302 square km) and is of volcanic origin. It has a mountainous spine (Kavo Range) that culminates in Mount Popomanaseu (7,644 feet [2,330 metres]), the highest point in the country. Many short, rapid streams, including the Mataniko, Lungga, and Tenaru, tumble from the wooded mountains to the coast,.....
  • Makarenko, Anton Semyonovich (Soviet educator)
    teacher and social worker who was the most influential educational theorist in the Soviet Union....
  • Makarikari (region, Botswana)
    region of sandy alkaline clay depressions (pans) in northeastern Botswana. The pans form a broad inland basin that descends gradually from 3,150 feet (960 m) in the west to 2,975 feet (900 m) and then rise more steeply to between 3,500 and 4,000 feet (1,050 and 1,200 m) eastward. They make up the lowest part of the Kalahari (desert), the elevation of which is otherwise fairly un...
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