A-Z Browse

  • Larivey, Pierre de (French dramatist)
    chief French comic dramatist of the 16th century, whose free translations of Italian comedy provided material for Molière and others....
  • Larix (tree)
    any of about 10 to 12 species of coniferous trees constituting the genus Larix of the family Pinaceae, native to cool temperate and sub-Arctic parts of the Northern Hemisphere. One species, Larix griffithii, is found only in the Himalayas. A larch has the pyramidal growth habit typical of conifers; but the leaves are shed in autumn, like deciduous trees. The short, needlelike leaves ...
  • Larix decidua (tree)
    The European larch (L. decidua), native to mountainous areas of northern and central Europe and Siberia, usually is 24 to 42 metres (about 80 to 140 feet) tall. It has reddish-gray bark and produces a clear oleoresin known as Venetian turpentine....
  • Larix decidua ‘Pendula’ (tree)
    Several species of Larix are grown as ornamentals, especially the Japanese larch (L. leptolepis) and L. decidua ‘Pendula,’ a cultivar of the European larch. Larch wood is coarse-grained, strong, hard, and heavy; it is used in ship construction and for telephone poles, mine timbers, and railroad ties....
  • Larix europaea (tree)
    The European larch (L. decidua), native to mountainous areas of northern and central Europe and Siberia, usually is 24 to 42 metres (about 80 to 140 feet) tall. It has reddish-gray bark and produces a clear oleoresin known as Venetian turpentine....
  • Larix gmelinii (tree)
    ...winter cold. The northernmost trees in North America are white spruce that grow along the Mackenzie River delta in Canada, near the shore of the Arctic Ocean. The northernmost trees in the world are Gmelin larch (Larix gmelinii) found at latitude 72°40′ N on the Taymyr Peninsula in the central Arctic region of Russia....
  • Larix griffithii (tree)
    ...of about 10 to 12 species of coniferous trees constituting the genus Larix of the family Pinaceae, native to cool temperate and sub-Arctic parts of the Northern Hemisphere. One species, Larix griffithii, is found only in the Himalayas. A larch has the pyramidal growth habit typical of conifers; but the leaves are shed in autumn, like deciduous trees. The short, needlelike leaves.....
  • Larix laricina (tree)
    The most widely distributed North American larch is tamarack, hackmatack, or eastern larch (L. laricina). The bracts on its small cones are hidden by the scales. Eastern larch trees mature in 100 to 200 years. This species may grow 12 to 20 metres (about 40 to 65 feet) tall and have gray to reddish-brown bark. A taller species, the western larch (L. occidentalis) of the Pacific......
  • Larix leptolepis (tree)
    Several species of Larix are grown as ornamentals, especially the Japanese larch (L. leptolepis) and L. decidua ‘Pendula,’ a cultivar of the European larch. Larch wood is coarse-grained, strong, hard, and heavy; it is used in ship construction and for telephone poles, mine timbers, and railroad ties....
  • Larix occidentalis (tree)
    ...are hidden by the scales. Eastern larch trees mature in 100 to 200 years. This species may grow 12 to 20 metres (about 40 to 65 feet) tall and have gray to reddish-brown bark. A taller species, the western larch (L. occidentalis) of the Pacific Northwest, has bracts that protrude beyond the cone scales....
  • lark (bird)
    family name Alaudidae, any of about 75 species of a songbird family (order Passeriformes). Larks occur throughout the continental Old World; only the horned, or shore, lark (Eremophila alpestris) is native to the New World. The bill is quite variable: it may be small and narrowly conical or long and downward-curving; and the hind claw is long and sometimes straight. Plumage i...
  • lark plover (bird)
    any of four species of South American birds comprising the family Thinocoridae (order Charadriiformes). The seedsnipe, related to such shorebirds as the gulls and terns, is adapted to a diet of seeds and greens. Seedsnipes are streaked birds with short, rounded tail and long wings. They are the only charadriiform birds with covered nostrils and the only ones that eat predominantly vegetable matter...
  • lark quail (bird)
    Another bird of the button-quail family is the lark quail (Ortyxelos meiffrenii), of arid African plains. It looks more like a lark than a quail; having longer wings than other button quails, it is a stronger flier. It is about 13 cm (5 in.) long. ...
  • Lark, The (play by Anouilh)
    ...Anouilh’s plays became more sombre. His aging couples seem to perform a dance of death in La Valse des toréadors (1952; The Waltz of the Toreadors). L’Alouette (1953; The Lark) is the spiritual adventure of Joan of Arc, who, like Antigone and Thérèse Tarde (La Sauvage), is another of Anouilh’s rebels who rejects the wo...
  • Larka Kol (people)
    tribal people of the state of Bihār in India, concentrated in the area of Kolhān on the lower Chota Nāgpur Plateau. They numbered about 1,150,000 in the late 20th century, mostly in Bihār and Orissa states of northeastern India. They speak a language of the Munda family and appear to have moved gradually into their territory from farther north. Their ...
  • Lārkāna (district, Pakistan)
    Lārkāna district (area 2,866 sq mi [7,423 sq km]), formed in 1901, occupies a fertile plain known as the “Garden of Sind,” except for its mountainous western portion (Kīrthar Range). Irrigated by canals, the plain yields sugarcane, wheat, rice, gram, rape, and fruit (mango, date, guava). Camel breeding is widespread, and there are numerous rice-husking, flour, an...
  • Lārkāna (Pakistan)
    town and district, Sukkur division, Sindh province, Pakistan. The town, the district headquarters, lies on the Ghar Canal just west of the Indus River; it derives its name from the neighbouring Lārak tribe. A railway junction, it is divided into two parts by the rail lines: the old city to the east, and Lahori village and the Civil Lines (mostly official residences) to th...
  • Larkin Company building (Buffalo, New York, United States)
    By now Wright’s practice encompassed apartment houses, group dwellings, and recreation centres. Most remarkable were his works for business and church. The administrative block for the Larkin Company, a mail-order firm in Buffalo, New York, was erected in 1904 (demolished in 1950). Abutting the railways, it was sealed and fireproof, with filtered, conditioned, mechanical ventilation; metal....
  • Larkin, James (Irish politician)
    The forerunner of the Labour Party, the Irish Labour Party and Trades Union Congress, was organized in 1912 by union leaders James Connolly and James Larkin and formally established as an independent party in March 1930, when it was renamed the Labour Party. In 1922 it won more than 20 percent of the vote in elections to the Dáil (lower house of Parliament) in the newly established Irish......
  • Larkin, Philip (British poet)
    most representative and highly regarded of the poets who gave expression to a clipped, antiromantic sensibility prevalent in English verse in the 1950s....
  • Larkin, Philip Arthur (British poet)
    most representative and highly regarded of the poets who gave expression to a clipped, antiromantic sensibility prevalent in English verse in the 1950s....
  • larkspur (plant)
    any of about 365 species of herbaceous plants constituting the genus Delphinium of the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae), many of which are grown for their showy flower stalks....
  • Larmor precession (physics)
    ...into alignment, but this torque also interacts with the angular momentum vector; the effect of this interaction is to cause the spin axis (and the magnetic-moment vector) to undergo the so-called Larmor precession, that is, to describe a cone about the direction of the magnetic field. According to classical electrodynamics, the frequency (ωL) of the Larmor......
  • Larmor, Sir Joseph (Irish physicist)
    Irish physicist, the first to calculate the rate at which energy is radiated by an accelerated electron, and the first to explain the splitting of spectrum lines by a magnetic field. His theories were based on the belief that matter consists entirely of electric particles moving in the ether....
  • Larnaca (Cyprus)
    port town, southeastern Republic of Cyprus. The modern town, on the bay between Capes Kiti and Pyla, overlays much of ancient Citium, founded by the Mycenaeans in the 13th century bc; it was rebuilt by the Byzantines. Citium was the birthplace of the Greek philosopher Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism. Its modern name (me...
  • Lârnaka (Cyprus)
    port town, southeastern Republic of Cyprus. The modern town, on the bay between Capes Kiti and Pyla, overlays much of ancient Citium, founded by the Mycenaeans in the 13th century bc; it was rebuilt by the Byzantines. Citium was the birthplace of the Greek philosopher Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism. Its modern name (me...
  • Lárnax (Cyprus)
    port town, southeastern Republic of Cyprus. The modern town, on the bay between Capes Kiti and Pyla, overlays much of ancient Citium, founded by the Mycenaeans in the 13th century bc; it was rebuilt by the Byzantines. Citium was the birthplace of the Greek philosopher Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism. Its modern name (me...
  • Larne (district, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom)
    ...numbers of German-made rifles in Larne harbour. Contemporary Larne town is an important port equipped with modern loading facilities. Passenger and commercial services operated regularly between Larne and Stranraer until 1995, when the route was discontinued. Such services continue to operate between Larne and Cairnryan in Scotland, and commercial ships also transit to ports in England.......
  • Larne (Northern Ireland, United Kingdom)
    town, seat, and district (established 1973), formerly in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, bordering the Irish Sea north of Belfast. The Scot Edward Bruce landed near the present town site in 1315 when he attempted to free Ireland from English rule. His death three years later ended all hopes of an independent Scots-Irish k...
  • Larne River (river, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom)
    river, in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, rising in the low watershed (400 ft [122 m]) between its own valley and that of the Six-Mile-Water and flowing northeastward to the important Irish Sea port of Larne, where it swings east and enters Larne Lough (inlet of the sea) after a course of about 9 mi (14.5 km). The valleys of the Larne and Six-Mile-Water cut across the Antrim plateau to form a th...
  • Larner, Jeremy (American writer, poet, and screenwriter)
    Original Screenplay: Jeremy Larner for The CandidateAdapted Screenplay: Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola for The GodfatherCinematography: Geoffrey Unsworth for CabaretArt Direction: Jurgen Kiebach and......
  • Larnian industry (ancient culture)
    ...Ireland were Mesolithic hunter-fisher people, represented largely by flintwork found mainly in ancient beaches in the historic counties of Antrim, Down, Louth, and Dublin. These artifacts were named Larnian, after Larne, Northern Ireland, the site where they were first found; dates from 6000 bc onward were assigned to them. Archaeological work since World War II, however, casts co...
  • Laroche, Emmanuel (French scholar)
    ...by linguists Piero Meriggi (1936) and Holger Pedersen (1945) proved that Lycian is an Indo-European language closely related to Hittite and Luwian. In another series of studies (1958–67), Emmanuel Laroche showed that Lycian shares several specific innovations with Luwian. A trilingual text (Lycian-Greek-Aramaic) describing the establishment of a cult shrine for the goddess Leto was......
  • Laroche, Guy (French couturier)
    French couturier known for designing elegant fashions at moderate prices....
  • Laromiguière, Pierre (French philosopher)
    French philosopher who became famous for his thesis on the rights of property in connection with taxation, which he held to be arbitrary and therefore illegal. For the thesis he was censured by the French Parlement....
  • Laron dwarfism
    A rare form of short stature is caused by an inherited insensitivity to the action of growth hormone. This disorder is known as Laron dwarfism and is characterized by abnormal growth hormone receptors, resulting in decreased growth hormone-stimulated production of IGF-1 and poor growth. Serum growth hormone concentrations are high because of the absence of the inhibitory action of IGF-1 on......
  • Laroque (French actor)
    ...to accommodate the complex theatre machinery that had been growing increasingly popular in France. Floridor left the company in 1647 to join the Hôtel de Bourgogne troupe, and the actor Laroque assumed leadership. In an attempt to compete with the Bourgogne and Molière troupes, Laroque promoted spectacular productions, but little money was made, and in 1673 Louis XIV ordered......
  • Larosterna inca (bird)
    ...terns, or noddies, belonging to the genus Anous. Noddies, named for their nodding displays, are tropical birds with wedge-shaped or only slightly forked tails. A distinct type of tern, the Inca tern (Larosterna inca), of Peru and northern Chile, bears distinctive white plumes on the side of the head....
  • Larousse (French publishing company)
    Parisian publishing house specializing in encyclopaedias and dictionaries, founded in 1852 by Augustin Boyer and Pierre Larousse, editor of the Grand Dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle (15 vol., 1866–76; 2 supplements, 1878 and 1890). The many reference works later published by descendants of the founders derived from Larousse’s Grand Dictionnaire....
  • Larousse, Pierre-Athanase (French encyclopaedist)
    grammarian, lexicographer, and encyclopaedist who published many of the outstanding educational and reference works of 19th-century France, including the Grand Dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle (15 vol., 1866–76; supplements 1878 and 1890), a comprehensive encyclopaedia of lasting value....
  • Larra y Sánchez de Castro, Mariano José de (Spanish writer)
    Spanish journalist and satirist who attacked contemporary society for its social habits, literary tastes, and political ineptitude....
  • Larrea tridentata (plant)
    ...during intervals of drier climate that have occurred in the past two million years. This migration is reflected in close floristic similarities currently observed in these places. For example, the creosote bush (Larrea tridentata), although now widespread and common in North American hot deserts, was probably a natural immigrant from South America as recently as the end of the last Ice.....
  • Larreta, Enrique (Argentine author)
    Argentine novelist famous for La gloria de Don Ramiro: Una vida en tiempos de Felipe II (1908; The Glory of Don Ramiro: A Life in the Times of Philip II), one of the finest historical novels in Spanish American literature. Don Ramiro, embodying the Christian conflict between the flesh and the spirit, attempts to choose between a soldierly life and a monkish life....
  • Larreta, Enrique Rodríguez (Argentine author)
    Argentine novelist famous for La gloria de Don Ramiro: Una vida en tiempos de Felipe II (1908; The Glory of Don Ramiro: A Life in the Times of Philip II), one of the finest historical novels in Spanish American literature. Don Ramiro, embodying the Christian conflict between the flesh and the spirit, attempts to choose between a soldierly life and a monkish life....
  • Larrey, Dominique-Jean, Baron (French military surgeon)
    French military surgeon in the service of Napoleon; he introduced field hospitals, ambulance service, and first-aid practices to the battlefield....
  • Lars Porsena (king of Clusium)
    legendary Roman hero who is said to have saved Rome (c. 509 bc) from conquest by the Etruscan king Lars Porsena. According to the legend, Mucius volunteered to assassinate Porsena, who was besieging Rome, but killed his victim’s attendant by mistake. Brought before the Etruscan royal tribunal, he declared that he was one of 300 noble youths who had sworn to take the kin...
  • Larsa (ancient city, Iraq)
    one of the ancient capital cities of Babylonia, located about 20 miles (32 km) southeast of Uruk (Erech; Arabic Tall al-Warkāʾ), in southern Iraq. Larsa was probably founded in prehistoric times, but the most prosperous period of the city coincided with an independent dynasty inaugurated by a king named Naplanum (c. 2025–c. 2005 bc); he was a contem...
  • Larsen Ice Shelf (Antarctica)
    ice shelf in the northwestern Weddell Sea, adjoining the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula and named for Captain Carl A. Larsen, who sailed along the ice front in 1893. It originally covered an area of 33,000 square miles (86,000 square km), excluding the numerous small islands within the ice shelf. The shelf was narrow in its southern half but gradually widened toward the Antarctic Circle to ...
  • Larsen, Nella (American author)
    novelist and short-story writer of the Harlem Renaissance....
  • Larsen, Tambi (American art director and designer)
    ...Chayefsky for MartyCinematography, Black-and-White: James Wong Howe for The Rose TattooCinematography, Color: Robert Burks for To Catch a ThiefArt Direction, Black-and-White: Tambi Larsen and Hal Pereira for The Rose TattooArt Direction, Color: William Flannery and Jo Mielziner for PicnicMusic Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture:......
  • Larson, Jonathan (American composer)
    U.S. composer and author of the Tony award-winning pop-rock musical Rent, which he based on Giacomo Puccini’s tragic opera La Bohème and for which he was awarded posthumously the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (b. Feb. 4, 1960--d. Jan. 25, 1996)....
  • Lartet, Édouard Armand Isidore Hippolyte (French geologist and archaeologist)
    French geologist, archaeologist, and a principal founder of paleontology, who is chiefly credited with discovering man’s earliest art and with establishing a date for the Upper Paleolithic Period of the Stone Age....
  • Lartet, Louis (French geologist)
    ...near the town of Les Eyzies-de-Tayac in the Dordogne region of southwestern France, a number of obviously ancient human skeletons were found. The cave was investigated by the French geologist Édouard Lartet, who uncovered five archaeological layers. The human bones found in the topmost layer proved to be between 10,000 and 35,000 years old. The prehistoric humans revealed by this......
  • Lartigue, Jacques-Henri (French photographer)
    French photographer and painter noted for the spontaneous, joyful photographs he took beginning in his boyhood and continuing throughout his life....
  • Lartigue, Jacques-Henri-Charles-Auguste (French photographer)
    French photographer and painter noted for the spontaneous, joyful photographs he took beginning in his boyhood and continuing throughout his life....
  • LaRue, Albert (American actor)
    ("LASH"), U.S. film actor who was best remembered for his portrayal of the black-clad hero who wielded a 4.5-m (15-ft) bullwhip in a series of B westerns in the 1940s (b. June 15, 1917--d. May 21, 1996)....
  • LaRue, Frederick Cheney (American businessman)
    American businessman and political figure (b. Oct. 11, 1928, Athens, Texas—d. July 24, 2004, Biloxi, Miss.), served as an aide to Pres. Richard M. Nixon and was a prominent figure in the cover-up of the Watergate break-in during the reelection campaign in 1972. Although he was the “bagman” who delivered the payoff money to the burglars to encourage their silence and served 136...
  • LaRue, Lash (American actor)
    ("LASH"), U.S. film actor who was best remembered for his portrayal of the black-clad hero who wielded a 4.5-m (15-ft) bullwhip in a series of B westerns in the 1940s (b. June 15, 1917--d. May 21, 1996)....
  • Larus argentatus (bird)
    The members of the suborder Lari are quite different in breeding behaviour from those of the Charadrii. The herring gull (Larus argentatus) is typical of many of the better-known gulls. It inhabits subarctic and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. It is not strongly migratory, but most birds shift southward after breeding, and some go as far as Panama, the Hawaiian Islands, the......
  • Larus atricilla (bird)
    common name for the bird species Larus atricilla. See gull....
  • Larus californicus (bird)
    ...has a black head and bill, a gray mantle, and pinkish to reddish legs. It builds a stick nest in trees and hunts for insects over ponds. In the winter, it may plunge into the sea for fish. The California gull (L. californicus) of North America breeds inland and winters on the Pacific coast. This species is credited with having saved the crops of early Mormon settlers in the Salt......
  • Larus delawarensis (bird)
    The Pacific gull (L. pacificus) breeds in the region of Tasmania and southern Australia. The ring-billed gull (L. delawarensis) is common on inland lakes in North America and often gathers in large flocks to feed on plowed fields. The sooty gull (L. hemprichi) of the western Indian Ocean has a dark brown hood and a grayish brown mantle. Ross’s gull (Rhodostethia......
  • Larus dominicanus (bird)
    The kelp gull (L. dominicanus) is a very wide-ranging black-backed species of the Southern Hemisphere, including Antarctica. The laughing gull (L. atricilla), a medium-sized bird with a black head, red bill, and red feet, often gives vent to a strident, laughing call. It breeds from Maine to northern South America and winters south in Brazil, often on fresh waters far inland. It......
  • Larus hemprichi (bird)
    ...region of Tasmania and southern Australia. The ring-billed gull (L. delawarensis) is common on inland lakes in North America and often gathers in large flocks to feed on plowed fields. The sooty gull (L. hemprichi) of the western Indian Ocean has a dark brown hood and a grayish brown mantle. Ross’s gull (Rhodostethia rosea) is an attractive pinkish white bird that br...
  • Larus hyperboreus (bird)
    The glaucous gull (L. hyperboreus) is mostly white with pinkish legs and a yellow bill with a red spot. It inhabits northern seas, but sometimes it winters as far south as Hawaii and the Mediterranean. The great black-backed gull (L. marinus), with a wingspread of 1.6 metres (63 inches), is the largest gull. It occurs on the coasts of the North Atlantic....
  • Larus marinus (bird)
    ...(L. hyperboreus) is mostly white with pinkish legs and a yellow bill with a red spot. It inhabits northern seas, but sometimes it winters as far south as Hawaii and the Mediterranean. The great black-backed gull (L. marinus), with a wingspread of 1.6 metres (63 inches), is the largest gull. It occurs on the coasts of the North Atlantic....
  • Larus melanocephalus (bird)
    ...also preserve various types of steppe. The Black Sea Nature Reserve shelters many species of waterfowl and is the only Ukrainian breeding ground of the Mediterranean gull (Larus melanocephalus). Also located on the Black Sea, the Danube Water Meadows Reserve protects the Danube River’s tidewater biota. Other reserves in Ukraine preserve segments of the......
  • Larus minutus (bird)
    ...often on fresh waters far inland. It is the only gull that breeds both in the Caribbean area and in the North Atlantic Ocean. With a wingspread of about 60 cm (24 inches), the smallest gull is the little gull (L. minutus), a black-headed species of Europe and occasionally North America....
  • Larus pacificus (bird)
    The Pacific gull (L. pacificus) breeds in the region of Tasmania and southern Australia. The ring-billed gull (L. delawarensis) is common on inland lakes in North America and often gathers in large flocks to feed on plowed fields. The sooty gull (L. hemprichi) of the western Indian Ocean has a dark brown hood and a grayish brown......
  • Larus philadelphia (bird)
    ...ridibundus), a dark-headed bird with crimson legs, breeds in Eurasia and Iceland, winters south in India and the Philippines, and commonly feeds in fields, where its chief food is insects. Bonaparte’s gull (L. philadelphia), of North America, has a black head and bill, a gray mantle, and pinkish to reddish legs. It builds a stick nest in trees and hunts for insects over pon...
  • Larus pipixcan (bird)
    ...species is credited with having saved the crops of early Mormon settlers in the Salt Lake City region from destruction by the Mormon cricket, a long-horned grasshopper; it is the state bird of Utah. Franklin’s gull (L. pipixcan) breeds in large colonies on inland marshes of North America and winters on the Pacific coast of South America....
  • Larus ridibundus (bird)
    ...to do so. Thus, when, in a social encounter, a juvenile gorilla tries to flee but finds itself cornered, it adopts a special posture indicative of its frustrated escape. An eastern kingbird or a black-headed gull (Larus ridibundus) performs a very stylized and spectacular aerial display when it is strongly motivated to attack but lacks a suitable opponent—such as an intruder......
  • larva (zoology)
    stage in the development of many animals, occurring after birth or hatching and before the adult form is reached. These immature, active forms are structurally different from the adults and are adapted to a different environment....
  • larva migrans, visceral (pathology)
    stage in the development of many animals, occurring after birth or hatching and before the adult form is reached. These immature, active forms are structurally different from the adults and are adapted to a different environment.......
  • Larvacea (tunicate class)
    any member of the class Larvacea, of the subphylum Urochordata, or Tunicata, belonging to the phylum Chordata. Reaching lengths of 5 mm (0.2 inches), larvaceans are transparent, larva-like organisms that live in the open sea. The U-shaped body consists of a trunk and tail. The body secretes a structure larger than itself, within which the animal moves freely....
  • larvacean (tunicate class)
    any member of the class Larvacea, of the subphylum Urochordata, or Tunicata, belonging to the phylum Chordata. Reaching lengths of 5 mm (0.2 inches), larvaceans are transparent, larva-like organisms that live in the open sea. The U-shaped body consists of a trunk and tail. The body secretes a structure larger than itself, within which the animal moves freely....
  • Larvae (Roman religion)
    in Roman religion, wicked and fearsome spectres of the dead. Appearing in grotesque and terrifying forms, they were said to haunt their living relatives and cause them injury. To propitiate these ghosts and keep them from the household, ritual observances called Lemuria were held yearly on May 9, 11, and 13. These Lemuria, reputedly instituted by Romulus in expiation of his brother’s murder...
  • larvae (zoology)
    stage in the development of many animals, occurring after birth or hatching and before the adult form is reached. These immature, active forms are structurally different from the adults and are adapted to a different environment....
  • larval case (biology)
    Young larvae hatch within a few days. Depending on the species, larvae may be herbivorous, carnivorous, or omnivorous. In some species the larvae form webs of debris for protection, while others form a funnel-like web between stones in running water to catch food. Some protect their bodies with cases, whereas others spin protective lairs or are free-living. They produce silk from glands on the......
  • larval phase (zoology)
    stage in the development of many animals, occurring after birth or hatching and before the adult form is reached. These immature, active forms are structurally different from the adults and are adapted to a different environment....
  • larvas (zoology)
    stage in the development of many animals, occurring after birth or hatching and before the adult form is reached. These immature, active forms are structurally different from the adults and are adapted to a different environment....
  • Larvenformen der Dipteren (work by Hennig)
    ...larvae of Diptera (the insect order that includes flies, mosquitoes, and gnats) at the German Entomological Institute in East Berlin. He published the results of his work in a monograph entitled Larvenformen der Dipteren (1952; “Dipterous Larvae”), which became the standard work on the subject. He later extended his studies on dipterans to include those species of the order...
  • Larwood, Harold (British cricketer)
    British cricketer (b. Nov. 14, 1904, Nuncargate, Nottinghamshire, England--d. July 22, 1995, Sydney, Australia), pummeled the Australian side with his fast, short-pitched bowling in the infamous "bodyline" tour of 1932-33. Larwood worked in the coal mines from age 14, but four years later he quit to join the ground staff at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. He made his debut for Nottinghamshire in 1925 an...
  • laryngeal cancer
    malignant tumour of the larynx. There are two types of tumours found on the larynx that can be malignant. One is called a carcinoma; the other, called a papilloma, often is benign but occasionally becomes malignant....
  • laryngeal consonant (linguistics)
    ...languages is debatable. As first argued by linguist Jerzy Kuryłowicz in 1927, Hittite (as well as Palaic and Luwian) provides in the form of a consonant h(h) direct evidence for the “laryngeal” consonants reconstructed for Proto-Indo-European on purely internal grounds by linguist Ferdinand de Saussure in 1879. Study of the details of the development of these guttural (or.....
  • laryngeal diphtheria
    ...form, nasopharyngeal diphtheria, the tonsillar infection spreads to the nose and throat structures, sometimes completely covering them with the membrane and causing septicemia (blood poisoning). Laryngeal diphtheria usually results from the spread of the infection downward from the nasopharynx to the larynx; the airway may become blocked and must be restored by inserting a tube or cutting an......
  • laryngeal flap (anatomy)
    Croup is an inflammatory disease of the larynx (voice box) or epiglottis (the plate of cartilage that shuts off the entrance into the larynx during the process of swallowing), most often caused by viral infection; it is encountered in infants and small children. Inflammation and swelling of the vocal cords lead to respiratory obstruction, particularly in the inspiratory phase, and a croupy......
  • laryngeal hemiplegia (equine disease)
    in horses, partial or complete paralysis of muscles controlling the vocal fold and other components of the larynx as a result of degeneration of the recurrent laryngeal nerve. Laryngeal hemiplegia occurs in all breeds of horses, but mainly in large breeds, and it is probably heritable. Most cases involve paralysis of the left side only, possibly because the ne...
  • laryngeal pharynx (anatomy)
    ...beneficial in humans. It allows them to breathe through either the nose or the mouth and, when medically necessary, allows food to be passed to the esophagus by nasal tubes. The third region is the laryngeal pharynx, which begins at the epiglottis and leads down to the esophagus. Its function is to regulate the passage of air to the lungs and food to the esophagus....
  • laryngectomy (surgery)
    A growing number of middle-aged or older patients have had their larynx removed (laryngectomy) because of cancer. Laryngectomy requires the suturing of the remaining trachea into a hole above the sternum (breastbone), creating a permanent tracheal stoma (or aperture) through which the air enters and leaves the lungs. The oral cavity is reconnected directly to the esophagus. Having lost his......
  • laryngitis
    inflammation of the larynx or voice box, caused by chemical or mechanical irritation or bacterial infection. Laryngitis is classified as simple, diphtheritic, tuberculous, or syphilitic laryngitis. ...
  • laryngology (medicine)
    a branch of medicine dealing with the larynx, nose, and pharynx. See otolaryngology....
  • laryngoscope
    The use of fibre-optic nasopharyngolaryngoscopes permits visualization of structures inside the nasal passages such as the sinus openings, larynx, and vocal cords. A more thorough examination can be performed than is possible using indirect visualization with a mirror....
  • laryngostroboscope
    Studies of the visible laryngeal mechanism for the production of different registers began with the laryngoscope. Modern laryngostroboscopes employ the oscillating light of a high-power fluorescent light source that is monitored by the laryngeal vibrations through a throat microphone. Such devices, when they flash on and off at just the right rate, make the vocal cord movements appear much......
  • larynx (anatomy)
    a hollow, tubular structure connected to the top of the windpipe (trachea); air passes through the larynx on its way to the lungs. The larynx also produces vocal sounds and prevents the passage of food and other foreign particles into the lower respiratory tracts....
  • LAS
    regional organization of Arab states in the Middle East, formed in Cairo on March 22, 1945. The founding member states were Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Transjordan (now Jordan), Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. Other members are Libya (1953); The Sudan (1956); Tunisia and Morocco (1958); Kuwait (1961); Algeria (1962); Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (1971); Mauritania (1973); Somalia (...
  • Las Alpujarras (district, Spain)
    mountainous district spanning Granada and Almería provincias (provinces), in the Andalusia comunidad autónoma (autonomous community), southern Spain, stretching northward from the towns of Motril and Almería to the foothill...
  • Las Alpujarras Mountains (district, Spain)
    mountainous district spanning Granada and Almería provincias (provinces), in the Andalusia comunidad autónoma (autonomous community), southern Spain, stretching northward from the towns of Motril and Almería to the foothill...
  • Las Bela (district, Pakistan)
    district of Kalāt division, Balochistān province, Pakistan. A former princely state, it has an area of 7,048 sq mi (18,254 sq km) and is bounded north by Khuzdār district, east by the Kīrthar Range (separating it from Sind), south by the Arabian Sea, and west by the Hāla Range. An agriculturally underdeveloped zone with untapped water resources...
  • Las Casas, Bartolomé de (Spanish historian and missionary)
    early Spanish historian and Dominican missionary in the Americas, who was the first to expose the oppression of the Indian by the European and to call for the abolition of Indian slavery. His several works include Historia de las Indias (first printed in 1875). A prolific writer and in his later years an influential figure of the Spanish court, Las Casas...

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