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  • Weaver, John (British dancer)
    dancer, ballet master, choreographer, and theorist known as the father of English pantomime....
  • Weaver Navigation Canal (canal, England, United Kingdom)
    On small canals gates may be manually operated by a lever arm extending over the lock side; on large canals hydraulic, mechanical, or electrical power is used. On the Weaver Navigations Canal in England the hydraulic power for operating the lock gates has been derived for 100 years from the 10-foot head difference between the pounds....
  • Weaver, Pat (American television programmer)
    American television executive (b. Dec. 21, 1908, Los Angeles, Calif.—d. March 15, 2002, Santa Barbara, Calif.), revolutionized television programming by shifting the production of shows from the sponsors to the networks, with commercial time then sold to sponsors. He served as president of NBC from 1949 to 1955, during which time he created the Today and Tonight...
  • Weaver, River (river, England, United Kingdom)
    river rising on the boundary between the counties of Shropshire and Cheshire, England, and then flowing 45 miles (72 km) north to reach the Irish Sea estuary of the River Mersey to the west of Runcorn. In its upper reaches it passes through dairy farming country, but major industrial development is found near its confluence with the Mersey. The Trent and Mersey Canal runs parallel to the River Wea...
  • Weaver, Robert C. (United States government official)
    noted economist who was the first African American to serve in the U.S. cabinet....
  • Weaver, Robert Clifton (United States government official)
    noted economist who was the first African American to serve in the U.S. cabinet....
  • Weaver, Sylvester Laflin, Jr. (American television programmer)
    American television executive (b. Dec. 21, 1908, Los Angeles, Calif.—d. March 15, 2002, Santa Barbara, Calif.), revolutionized television programming by shifting the production of shows from the sponsors to the networks, with commercial time then sold to sponsors. He served as president of NBC from 1949 to 1955, during which time he created the Today and Tonight...
  • Weaver, Warren (American mathematician)
    ...of a communications system that has been proposed as an answer to Lasswell’s question emerged in the late 1940s, largely from the speculations of two American mathematicians, Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver. The simplicity of their model, its clarity, and its surface generality proved attractive to many students of communication in a number of disciplines, although it is neither the onl...
  • Weaver, William Dennis (American actor)
    American actor (b. June 4, 1924, Joplin, Mo.—d. Feb. 24, 2006, Ridgway, Colo.), first became famous for his portrayal from 1955 to 1964 of the limping deputy Chester Goode, Marshal Matt Dillon’s sidekick, in the long-running television series Gunsmoke, for which he won an Emmy Award in 1959. Among the other eight TV series in which he starred were Gentle Ben (1967...
  • weaver-finch (bird)
    any of numerous songbirds belonging to the family Estrildidae (order Passeriformes), individually called grass finch, mannikin, and waxbill. They are finchlike Old World birds. Most of the 107 species are small or tiny seed-eaters with short conical bills. They occur in flocks in open country and woodland borders in warm regions. Some are f...
  • weaverbird (bird)
    any of a number of small finchlike birds of the Old World, or any of several related birds that are noted for their nest-building techniques using grass stems and other plant fibres. They are particularly well-known for their roofed nests, which in some African species form complex, hanging woven chambers. Many species of weavers are highly gregarious....
  • weaver’s knot (knot)
    The sheet bend (I), or weaver’s knot, is widely used by sailors for uniting two ropes of different sizes. The end of one rope is passed through a loop of the other, is passed around the loop, and under its own standing part. An ordinary fishnet is a series of sheet bends. The fisherman’s, or anchor, bend (J) is an especially strong and simple knot that will not jam or slip under stra...
  • Weavers, The (play by Hauptmann)
    ...reproduced social reality and common speech. Most gripping and humane, as well as most objectionable to the political authorities at the time of its publication, is Die Weber (1892; The Weavers), a compassionate dramatization of the Silesian weavers’ revolt of 1844. Das Friedensfest (1890; “The Peace Festival”) is an analysis of the troubled relations.....
  • Weavers, the (American singing group)
    seminal American folksinging group of the late 1940s and ’50s. The original members were Lee Hays (b. 1914Little Rock, Ark., U.S.—d. Aug. 26, 1981Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.), Ronnie Gilbert...
  • weaving (fabric production)
    production of fabric by interlacing two sets of yarns so that they cross each other, normally at right angles, usually accomplished with a hand- or power-operated loom....
  • web (zoology)
    ...especially insects. Some spiders are active hunters that chase and overpower their prey. These typically have a well-developed sense of touch or sight. Other spiders instead weave silk snares, or webs, to capture prey. Webs are instinctively constructed and effectively trap flying insects. Many spiders inject venom into their prey to kill it quickly, whereas others first use silk wrappings to.....
  • Web 2.0 (Internet)
    next envisioned iteration of the World Wide Web, in which the 2.0 appellation is used in analogy with common computer software naming conventions to indicate a new, improved version. The term had its origin in the name given to a series of Web conferences, first organized by publisher Tim O’Reilly in 2004....
  • Web and the Rock, The (work by Wolfe)
    ...as Look Homeward, Angel (1929) and Of Time and the River (1935) before his early death in 1938. These Whitmanesque books, as well as posthumously edited ones such as The Web and the Rock (1939) and You Can’t Go Home Again (1940), dealt with a figure much like Wolfe, echoing the author’s youth in the South, young manhood in the No...
  • Web browser (computer program)
    The other major approach to client-server communications is via the World Wide Web. Web servers may be accessed over the Internet from almost any hardware platform with client applications known as Web browsers. In this architecture, clients need few capabilities beyond Web browsing (the simplest such clients are known as network machines and are analogous to simple computer terminals). This is......
  • Web design (computer science)
    The other major approach to client-server communications is via the World Wide Web. Web servers may be accessed over the Internet from almost any hardware platform with client applications known as Web browsers. In this architecture, clients need few capabilities beyond Web browsing (the simplest such clients are known as network machines and are analogous to simple computer terminals). This is......
  • web frame (ship part)
    ...shell plating. This scheme of framing is strongly favoured in applications where weight saving is important. However, longitudinal frames require internal transverse support from bulkheads and web frames—the latter being, in effect, partial bulkheads that may extend only three to seven feet in from the shell. This requirement obviously reduces the weight advantage of longitudinal......
  • Web log (Internet)
    online journal where an individual, group, or corporation presents a record of activities, thoughts, or beliefs. Some blogs operate mainly as news filters, collecting various online sources and adding short comments and Internet links. Other blogs concentrate on presenting original material. In addition, many blogs provide a forum to allow visitors to leave comments and interact...
  • Web script (programming language)
    a computer programming language for adding dynamic capabilities to World Wide Web pages. Web pages marked up with HTML (hypertext markup language) or XML (extensible markup language) are largely static documents. Web scripting can add information to a page as a reader uses it or let the reader enter information that may, f...
  • Web server
    a computer programming language for adding dynamic capabilities to World Wide Web pages. Web pages marked up with HTML (hypertext markup language) or XML (extensible markup language) are largely static documents. Web scripting can add information to a page as a reader uses it or let the reader enter information that may, f...
  • Web site (computer science)
    ...new area of graphic-design activity mushroomed in the mid-1990s when Internet commerce became a growing sector of the global economy, causing organizations and businesses to scramble to establish Web sites. Designing a Web site involves the layout of screens of information rather than of pages, but approaches to the use of type, images, and colour are similar to those used for print. Web......
  • Web, The (information network)
    the leading information retrieval service of the Internet (the worldwide computer network). The Web gives users access to a vast array of documents that are connected to each other by means of hypertext or hypermedia links—i.e., hyperlinks, electronic connections that link related pieces of information in order to allow a user easy access to them...
  • Web-crawling program (software)
    Other common Internet software includes Web search engines and “Web-crawling” programs that traverse the Web to gather and classify information. Web-crawling programs are a kind of agent software, a term for programs that carry out routine tasks for a user. They stem from artificial intelligence research and carry out some of the tasks of librarians, but they are at a severe......
  • web-footed tenrec (mammal)
    ...Oryzorictes) are burrowers that will inhabit rice fields. They are similar to American short-tailed shrews and have dark velvety fur, small eyes and ears, and long front claws. The amphibious tenrec (Limnogale mergulus) is the only species in its genus. In addition to its webbed feet, keeled tail, and water-repellent fur, the amphibious tenrec also......
  • Webb Alien Land Law (United States [1913])
    ...Francisco, affected domestic and international policies. The Gentlemen’s Agreement between Japan and the United States in 1907 halted further Japanese immigration to the United States. In 1913 the Webb Alien Land Law, designed to keep the Japanese from owning land, was the culmination of anti-Japanese lobbying....
  • Webb, Beatrice (British economist)
    Beatrice Potter was born in Gloucester, into a class which, to use her own words, “habitually gave orders.” She was the eighth daughter of Richard Potter, a businessman, at whose death she inherited a private income of £1,000 a year, and Laurencina Heyworth, daughter of a Liverpool merchant. She grew up a rather lonely and sickly girl, educating herself by extensive reading......
  • Webb, Catherine Merrial (New Zealand-born journalist)
    New Zealand-born journalist who in her role as a reporter (1967–71) and Phnom Penh bureau chief (1971–77) for United Press International (UPI), was one of the few women war correspondents to cover the Vietnam War. After studying philosophy at the University of Melbourne (B.A., 1964), she worked as a secretary and cub reporter for the Sydney Daily Mirror. In 1967, however, she ...
  • Webb, Chick (American musician)
    black American jazz drummer who led one of the dominant big bands of the swing era. Its swing, precision, and popularity made it the standard of excellence to which other big bands aspired....
  • Webb, Clement Charles Julian (British philosopher)
    English scholar and philosopher remembered for his contribution to the study of the societal aspects of religion....
  • Webb, Elven (art director)
    ...Direction, Black-and-White: Gene Callahan for America AmericaArt Direction, Color: Herman Blumenthal, Hilyard Brown, John DeCuir, Boris Juraga, Maurice Pelling, Jack Martin Smith, Elven Webb for CleopatraMusic Score (Substantially Original): John Addison for Tom JonesScoring of Music Adaptation or Treatment: André Previn for Irma La......
  • Webb, Harry Roger (British singer)
    British singer whose “Move It” (1958) was the first great British rock-and-roll record. Having played in skiffle bands during his youth in northern London, Richard, backed by a band that eventually became known as the Shadows, moved on to rock and roll. Dubbed the British Elvis Presley, he quickly found grea...
  • Webb, James Edwin (American space program administrator)
    American public servant and administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) during the Apollo program (1961–68)....
  • Webb, John (British architect)
    ...his estate restored. In the year of Charles I’s execution, 1649, he was doing work at Wilton for the earl of Pembroke, but the great double-cube room there is probably mostly the work of his pupil John Webb, who survived to reestablish something of the Jones tradition after the Restoration in 1660. Jones was buried with his parents in the church of St. Benet, Paul’s Wharf, in Lond...
  • Webb, Karrie (Australian golfer)
    While she was in no immediate danger of being mobbed by throngs of admirers, reporters, and photographers, Australian golfer Karrie Webb gained a reputation in 2000 as the women’s tour’s answer to Tiger Woods. She began the year with three straight tournament victories—one short of Nancy Lopez’s record of four wins in a row—and went on to win two majors, the Nabi...
  • Webb, Kate (New Zealand-born journalist)
    New Zealand-born journalist who in her role as a reporter (1967–71) and Phnom Penh bureau chief (1971–77) for United Press International (UPI), was one of the few women war correspondents to cover the Vietnam War. After studying philosophy at the University of Melbourne (B.A., 1964), she worked as a secretary and cub reporter for the Sydney Daily Mirror. In 1967, however, she ...
  • Webb, Lucy Ware (American first lady)
    American first lady (1877–81), the wife of Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th president of the United States, and the first presidential wife to graduate from college....
  • Webb, Martha Beatrice Potter (British economist)
    Beatrice Potter was born in Gloucester, into a class which, to use her own words, “habitually gave orders.” She was the eighth daughter of Richard Potter, a businessman, at whose death she inherited a private income of £1,000 a year, and Laurencina Heyworth, daughter of a Liverpool merchant. She grew up a rather lonely and sickly girl, educating herself by extensive reading......
  • Webb, Mary Gladys (British author)
    English novelist best known for her book Precious Bane (1924). Her lyrical style conveys a rich and intense impression of the Shropshire countryside and its people. Her love of nature and a sense of impending doom within her novels invite comparison with those qualities in the works of Thomas Hardy....
  • Webb, Matthew (British athlete)
    ...never achieved the status of competitive swimming as regulated by FINA except for English Channel swimming, which captured the popular imagination in the second half of the 19th century. Captain Matthew Webb of Great Britain was the first to make the crossing from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in 1875; his time was 21 hours 45 minutes. The map distance was 17.75 nautical miles (33 km),......
  • Webb, Philip Speakman (British architect)
    architect and designer especially known for his unconventional country houses, who was a pioneer figure in the English domestic revival movement....
  • Webb, Phyllis (Canadian author)
    ...(Winter Sun/The Dumbfounding, 1982), Anne Wilkinson (The Collected Poems of Anne Wilkinson, 1968), Gwendolyn MacEwen (The Poetry of Gwendolyn MacEwen, 1994), Phyllis Webb (Selected Poems: The Vision Tree, 1982), D.G. Jones (A Throw of Particles, 1983; Grounding Sight, 1999), E.D. Blodgett (Apostrophes series), and......
  • Webb, Sidney (British economist)
    English Socialist economists (husband and wife), early members of the Fabian Society, and co-founders of the London School of Economics and Political Science. Sidney Webb also helped reorganize the University of London into a federation of teaching institutions and served in the government as a Labour Party member. Pioneers in social and economic reforms as well as......
  • Webb, Sidney and Beatrice (British economists)
    English Socialist economists (husband and wife), early members of the Fabian Society, and co-founders of the London School of Economics and Political Science. Sidney Webb also helped reorganize the University of London into a federation of teaching institutions and served in the government as a Labour Party member. Pioneers in social and economic reforms as well as distinguished...
  • Webb, William Henry (American naval architect)
    American naval architect, one of the most versatile and successful shipbuilders of his day, who in 1889 established and endowed the Webb Institute of Naval Architecture at Glen Cove, N.Y. Webb began shipbuilding in 1836 and by 1869 had more tonnage to his credit than any other American builder. Innovative and varied in his designs, he constructed packets, clippers, side-wheelers, sailing vessels, ...
  • Webb, William Henry (American musician)
    black American jazz drummer who led one of the dominant big bands of the swing era. Its swing, precision, and popularity made it the standard of excellence to which other big bands aspired....
  • Webber, Andrew Lloyd (British composer)
    English composer, whose eclectic rock-based works helped revitalize British and American musical theatre in the late 20th century....
  • webbing clothes moth (insect)
    The pale larvae of the clothes moth infest woolens, furs, and other animal products. Well-known species include the webbing clothes moth (Tineola bisselliella), the casemaking clothes moth (Tinea pellionella), and the carpet, tapestry, or white-tip clothes moth (Trichophaga tapetzella). The larvae of the casemaking clothes moth use silk and fragments of food to construct a......
  • weber (unit of measurement)
    unit of magnetic flux in the International System of Units (SI), defined as the amount of flux that, linking an electrical circuit of one turn (one loop of wire), produces in it an electromotive force of one volt as the flux is reduced to zero at a uniform rate in one second. It was named in honour of the 19th-century German physicist Wilhelm Eduard Weber and equals 108...
  • Weber, Alfred (German economist and industrialist)
    In 1909 the German location economist Alfred Weber formulated a theory of industrial location in his book entitled Über den Standort der Industrien (Theory of the Location of Industries, 1929). Weber’s theory, called the location triangle, sought the optimum location for the production of a good based on the fixed locations of the market and two raw material sour...
  • Weber and Fields (American comedy team)
    American comedy team that was popular at the turn of the 20th century. Joe Weber (in full Joseph Weber; b. Aug. 11, 1867New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. May 10, 1942Hollywood, Calif.) and ...
  • Weber Basin (basin, Pacific Ocean)
    ...The North Banda Basin is 19,000 feet (5,800 metres) deep, while the South Banda Basin is 17,700 feet (5,400 metres) deep. A volcanic ridge further divides the southern South Banda Basin from the Weber Basin, the deepest in the sea, at some 24,409 feet (7,440 metres). The active volcano, Mount Api, rises from the floor of the southern basin at14,800 feet (4,500 metres) to 2,200 feet (670......
  • Weber, Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst, Freiherr von (German composer and musician)
    German composer and opera director during the transition from Classical to Romantic music, noted especially for his operas Der Freischütz (1821; “The Freeshooter”), Euryanthe (1823), and Oberon (1826). Der Freischütz, the most immediately and widely...
  • Weber, Carl Maria von (German composer and musician)
    German composer and opera director during the transition from Classical to Romantic music, noted especially for his operas Der Freischütz (1821; “The Freeshooter”), Euryanthe (1823), and Oberon (1826). Der Freischütz, the most immediately and widely...
  • Weber College (university, Ogden, Utah, United States)
    public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Ogden, Utah, U.S. It is part of the Utah System of Higher Education. Its 400-acre (162-hectare) campus overlooks Ogden and the Great Salt Lake from a foothill of the Wasatch Range. The university comprises the John B. Goddard School of Business and Economics and colleges of Arts and Hum...
  • Weber, Dick (American bowler)
    American professional bowler, who was a charter member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) and a frequent finalist in bowling tournaments that were televised in the United States during the 1960s....
  • “Weber, Die” (play by Hauptmann)
    ...reproduced social reality and common speech. Most gripping and humane, as well as most objectionable to the political authorities at the time of its publication, is Die Weber (1892; The Weavers), a compassionate dramatization of the Silesian weavers’ revolt of 1844. Das Friedensfest (1890; “The Peace Festival”) is an analysis of the troubled relations.....
  • Weber, Ernst (American engineer)
    Austrian-born American engineer who was a pioneer in the development of microwave communications equipment and who oversaw the growth of the Polytechnic Institute in New York City....
  • Weber, Ernst Heinrich (German physiologist)
    German anatomist and physiologist whose fundamental studies of the sense of touch introduced a concept—that of the just-noticeable difference, the smallest difference perceivable between two similar stimuli—that is important to psychology and sensory physiology....
  • Weber, Eugen Joseph (American historian)
    Romanian-born American historian who was a noted authority on modern European—particularly French—history. Among his highly regarded works were Action Française: Royalism and Reaction in Twentieth-Century France (1962) and Peasants into Frenchmen: The Modernization of Rural France, 1870–1914 (1976). He was also known for his popular textbooks, which includ...
  • Weber, Florence Lois (American actress, producer, and director)
    American actress, producer, and director who is best remembered for her crusading films of social concern in the early days of the motion picture industry....
  • Weber, Heinrich (German mathematician)
    ...1770 in Joseph-Louis Lagrange’s studies of permutations of roots of equations; however, the word group was first attached to a system of permutations by Évariste Galois in 1831. It was Heinrich Weber, in 1882, who first gave a purely axiomatic description of a group independently of the nature of its elements. Today, groups are fundamental entities in abstract algebra and a...
  • Weber, Joe (American comedian)
    American comedy team that was popular at the turn of the 20th century. Joe Weber (in full Joseph Weber; b. Aug. 11, 1867New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. May 10, 1942Hollywood, Calif.) and Lew......
  • Weber, Joseph (American physicist)
    American physicist (b. May 17, 1919, Paterson, N.J.—d. Sept. 30, 2000, Pittsburgh, Pa.), pioneered research that led to the development of lasers and the detection of gravitational waves. Weber was the first to articulate the possibility of molecules, in an energetic state, amplifying coherent light—the basic principle behind the operation of a laser. He gave the first known public a...
  • Weber, Joseph (American comedian)
    American comedy team that was popular at the turn of the 20th century. Joe Weber (in full Joseph Weber; b. Aug. 11, 1867New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. May 10, 1942Hollywood, Calif.) and Lew......
  • Weber, Karl (Italian military engineer)
    ...hunters, and many of the theatre area’s artifacts were removed. Regular excavations were started in 1738 under the patronage of the king of Naples, and from 1750 to 1764 the military engineer Karl Weber served as director of excavations. Under Weber, diagrams and plans of the ruins were produced, and numerous artifacts were uncovered and documented. Magnificent paintings and a group of.....
  • Weber, Karl Maria von (German composer and musician)
    German composer and opera director during the transition from Classical to Romantic music, noted especially for his operas Der Freischütz (1821; “The Freeshooter”), Euryanthe (1823), and Oberon (1826). Der Freischütz, the most immediately and widely...
  • Weber, Lois (American actress, producer, and director)
    American actress, producer, and director who is best remembered for her crusading films of social concern in the early days of the motion picture industry....
  • Weber, Max (American artist)
    Russian-born American painter, printmaker, and sculptor who, through his early abstract works, helped to introduce such avant-garde European art movements as Fauvism and Cubism to the United States....
  • Weber, Max (German sociologist)
    German sociologist and political economist best known for his thesis of the “Protestant ethic,” relating Protestantism to capitalism, and for his ideas on bureaucracy. Weber’s profound influence on sociological theory stems from his demand for objectivity in scholarship and from his analysis of the motives behind human a...
  • Weber, Richard Anthony (American bowler)
    American professional bowler, who was a charter member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) and a frequent finalist in bowling tournaments that were televised in the United States during the 1960s....
  • Weber Stake Academy (university, Ogden, Utah, United States)
    public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Ogden, Utah, U.S. It is part of the Utah System of Higher Education. Its 400-acre (162-hectare) campus overlooks Ogden and the Great Salt Lake from a foothill of the Wasatch Range. The university comprises the John B. Goddard School of Business and Economics and colleges of Arts and Hum...
  • Weber State University (university, Ogden, Utah, United States)
    public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Ogden, Utah, U.S. It is part of the Utah System of Higher Education. Its 400-acre (162-hectare) campus overlooks Ogden and the Great Salt Lake from a foothill of the Wasatch Range. The university comprises the John B. Goddard School of Business and Economics and colleges of Arts and Hum...
  • Weber test (audiometry)
    ...of vibrations through the three small bones in the middle ear is likely, while if the former sound is louder, any deafness is likely due to disease of the inner ear or of the cochlear nerve. The Weber test consists of placing the tuning fork on the forehead; the sound is better perceived either in the ear without nerve deafness or, paradoxically, in the ear affected by mild middle-ear......
  • Weber, Wilhelm Eduard (German physicist)
    German physicist who, with his friend Carl Friedrich Gauss, investigated terrestrial magnetism and in 1833 devised an electromagnetic telegraph. The magnetic unit, termed a weber, formerly the coulomb, is named after him....
  • Weber-Fechner law (psychology)
    historically important psychological law quantifying the perception of change in a given stimulus. The law states that the change in a stimulus that will be just noticeable is a constant ratio of the original stimulus. It has been shown not to hold for extremes of stimulation....
  • Weberian apparatus (fish anatomy)
    distinctive chain of small bones characteristic of fish of the superorder Ostariophysi (carps, characins, minnows, suckers, loaches, catfish, and others). The Weberian apparatus consists of four pairs of bones, called ossicles, derived from the vertebrae immediately following the skull. The bones link the swim bladder and inner ear and serve to enhance hearing by conducting pre...
  • Weberian ossicles (fish anatomy)
    distinctive chain of small bones characteristic of fish of the superorder Ostariophysi (carps, characins, minnows, suckers, loaches, catfish, and others). The Weberian apparatus consists of four pairs of bones, called ossicles, derived from the vertebrae immediately following the skull. The bones link the swim bladder and inner ear and serve to enhance hearing by conducting pre...
  • Webern, Anton (Austrian composer)
    Austrian composer of the 12-tone Viennese school. He is known especially for his passacaglia for orchestra, his chamber music, and various songs (Lieder)....
  • Webern, Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von (Austrian composer)
    Austrian composer of the 12-tone Viennese school. He is known especially for his passacaglia for orchestra, his chamber music, and various songs (Lieder)....
  • Weber’s law (psychology)
    historically important psychological law quantifying the perception of change in a given stimulus. The law states that the change in a stimulus that will be just noticeable is a constant ratio of the original stimulus. It has been shown not to hold for extremes of stimulation....
  • Webi Jubba (river, Africa)
    principal river of Somalia in northeastern Africa. Originating via its headwater streams in the Mendebo Mountains of southern Ethiopia, it flows about 545 miles (875 km) from Doolow on the Ethiopian frontier to the Indian Ocean just north of Kismaayo, one of Somalia’s three main ports....
  • Webi Shabeelle (river, Africa)
    river in eastern Africa, rising in the Ethiopian Highlands and flowing southeast through the arid Ogaden Plateau. The Shebeli River crosses into Somalia north of Beledweyne (Beletwene) and continues south to Balcad, about 20 miles (32 km) from the Indian Ocean, turning southwest there. During heavy-rain periods in Ethiopia, the Shebeli River joins the Jubba (Giuba), and the combined waters then fl...
  • Weblog (Internet)
    online journal where an individual, group, or corporation presents a record of activities, thoughts, or beliefs. Some blogs operate mainly as news filters, collecting various online sources and adding short comments and Internet links. Other blogs concentrate on presenting original material. In addition, many blogs provide a forum to allow visitors to leave comments and interact...
  • WebMuseum (computer science)
    ...several “pavilions”—including archaeological, architectural, historical, and paleontological exhibits—which have been donated by several organizations. Another pioneer is the WebMuseum, an exhibition of artworks by Western painters from medieval times to the present day that was begun in 1994 by a computer scientist at the École Polytechnique in Paris. The......
  • Website (computer science)
    ...new area of graphic-design activity mushroomed in the mid-1990s when Internet commerce became a growing sector of the global economy, causing organizations and businesses to scramble to establish Web sites. Designing a Web site involves the layout of screens of information rather than of pages, but approaches to the use of type, images, and colour are similar to those used for print. Web......
  • webspinner (insect)
    any of about 170 species of insects that are delicate, are yellow or brown in colour, have biting mouthparts, and feed on dead plant material. Most species are from 4 to 7 mm (about 0.2 inch) long. Most males have two pairs of narrow wings and are weak fliers, whereas all females are wingless. Webspinners have short, stout legs and run rapidly both forward and backward....
  • Webster (Massachusetts, United States)
    town (township), Worcester county, south-central Massachusetts, U.S., on the French River, 18 miles (29 km) south of Worcester city. Within the town limits is Lake Chaubunagungamaug (now also called Lake Webster), 3 miles (5 km) long and the focus of a recreational area. The lake’s full name, Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, reportedly is ...
  • Webster, Alice Jane Chandler (American writer)
    American writer who is best remembered for her fiction best-seller Daddy-Long-Legs, which was also successful in stage and motion picture adaptations....
  • Webster, Augusta (British poet)
    Robert Browning’s experiments with the dramatic monologue were further developed in the 1860s by Augusta Webster, who used the form in Dramatic Studies (1866), A Woman Sold and Other Poems (1867), and Portraits (1870) to produce penetrating accounts of female experience. Her posthumously published sonnet sequence......
  • Webster, Ben (American musician)
    American jazz musician, considered one of the most distinctive of his generation, noted for the beauty of his tenor saxophone tone and for his melodic inventiveness....
  • Webster, Benjamin Francis (American musician)
    American jazz musician, considered one of the most distinctive of his generation, noted for the beauty of his tenor saxophone tone and for his melodic inventiveness....
  • Webster City (Iowa, United States)
    city, seat (1856) of Hamilton county, central Iowa, U.S., on the Boone River, 17 miles (27 km) east of Fort Dodge. It was settled in 1850 by Wilson Brewer and was known as Newcastle until 1856, when it became the county seat and was renamed Webster City, possibly for Webster county (from which Hamilton county was created) or for the owner of a stagecoach line ...
  • Webster, Daniel (American politician)
    American orator and politician who practiced prominently as a lawyer before the U.S. Supreme Court and served as a U.S. congressman (1813–17, 1823–27), a U.S. senator (1827–41, 1845–50), and U.S. secretary of state (1841–43, 1850–52). He is best known as an enthusiastic nationalist and as an advocate of business interests during the period of the Jacksonia...
  • Webster, Ebenezer (American revolutionary)
    Born on the New Hampshire frontier in the town of Salisbury, Daniel was the ninth of 10 children of Ebenezer Webster, a veteran of the American Revolution, farmer and tavern-keeper, and leading townsman. Dark-complexioned “little Black Dan,” a rather frail boy, became the pet of his parents and older brothers and sisters, some of whom taught him to read at an early age. He often......
  • Webster, Hannah (American writer)
    American novelist whose single successful novel, though highly sentimental, broke with some of the conventions of its time and type....
  • Webster, Jack (Canadian broadcaster)
    Scottish-born Canadian broadcaster whose combative interview style made him a huge success on radio and television open-line shows; from the late 1970s to the late ’80s, his morning television show Webster! was must viewing for his audience of 200,000 to 300,000 British Columbians (b. April 15, 1918, Glasgow, Scot.—d. March 2, 1999, Vancouver, B.C.)....
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