Skip this Advertisement

A-Z Browse

  • tail (astronomy)
    The tails of comets are generally directed away from the Sun. They rarely appear beyond 1.5 or 2 AU but develop rapidly with shorter heliocentric distance. The onset of the tail near the nucleus is first directed toward the Sun and shows jets curving backward like a fountain, as if they were pushed by a force emanating from the Sun. The German astronomer Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel began to study......
  • tail (zoology)
    in zoology, prolongation of the backbone beyond the trunk of the body, or any slender projection resembling such a structure. The tail of a vertebrate is composed of flesh and bone but contains no viscera. In fishes and many larval amphibians, the tail is of major importance in locomotion. In most land-dwelling quadrupeds it is not an important locomotory device, although in animals such as croco...
  • tail current (atmospheric science)
    Radially outward near local midnight rather than at local noon, there is an entirely different current system. Beginning at approximately 10 Re and extending well beyond 200 Re is the tail current system. This current is from dawn to dusk in the same direction as the ring current on the nightside of the Earth. In fact, it is produced by the same mechanism except that, in......
  • tail fan (anatomy)
    ...unsegmented. The pleopods are typically reduced, or even lost, in many burrowers. The swimming crabs use paddlelike fifth thoracic legs for propulsion. Abrupt swimming propulsion is provided by the tail fan. In amphipods the tail fan (consisting of three pairs of uropods and telson) provides a sudden forward thrust. In eucaridans (especially decapods) the tail fan (paired uropods and telson)......
  • tail feather (ornithology)
    ...the surface of the bird, streamlining it for flight and often waterproofing it. The basal portion may be downy and thus act as insulation. The major contour feathers of the wing (remiges) and tail (rectrices) and their coverts function in flight. Contour feathers grow in tracts (pterylae) separated by bare areas (apteria) and develop from follicles in the skin....
  • tail of a comet (astronomy)
    The tails of comets are generally directed away from the Sun. They rarely appear beyond 1.5 or 2 AU but develop rapidly with shorter heliocentric distance. The onset of the tail near the nucleus is first directed toward the Sun and shows jets curving backward like a fountain, as if they were pushed by a force emanating from the Sun. The German astronomer Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel began to study......
  • tail pulse (physics)
    ...when all the charge has been collected, and then exponentially decays back to zero with a characteristic time set by the time constant of the measuring circuit. This type of signal pulse is called a tail pulse, and it is observed from the preamplifier used with many kinds of common radiation detectors....
  • tail rhyme (poetry)
    a verse form in which rhymed lines such as couplets or triplets are followed by a tail—a line of different (usually shorter) length that does not rhyme with the couplet or triplet. In a tail-rhyme stanza (also called a tail-rhymed stanza), the tails rhyme with each other. ...
  • tail rotor (helicopter part)
    ...in the construction of a fixed-wing aircraft and a helicopter is of course the latter’s use of a rotor instead of a wing. There are many other critical additions, however, including the use of a tail rotor to offset torque. (Some helicopters use a “no tail rotor” system, in which low-pressure air is circulated through a tail boom to control the torque of the spinning main r...
  • Tail-Piece (engraving by Hogarth)
    Obsessive to the last, a few months before his death he executed an engraving sardonically titled Tail-Piece, or The Bathos, in which he sombrely depicted the demise of his own artistic world. In a sense it was prophetic, for, as the 19th-century English painter John Constable rightly remarked, “Hogarth has no school, nor has he ever been imitated with......
  • tail-to-tail coupling (chemistry)
    The structures of most triterpenes and tetraterpenes show that they were formed by establishment of a tail-to-tail bond (carbon 4 to carbon 4) between two smaller units: in the structural formula of the important triterpene hydrocarbon squalene, for example, the arrow indicates the bond uniting two sesquiterpene portions....
  • tail-tube buoy (flotation device)
    ...which need to be replaced every year or two. In order to increase the service interval and also to accommodate more powerful lights, rechargeable batteries with onboard generators are used. Some tail-tube buoys, which tend to oscillate vertically with the motion of the sea, generate power from the oscillating water column in the tube. The water column produces an oscillating air column,......
  • Taila II (Indian king)
    Taila II (reigned 973–997), who traced his ancestry to the earlier Calukyas of Vatapi, ruled a small part of Bijapur. Upon the weakening of Rashtrakuta power, he defeated the king, declared his independence, and founded what has come to be called the Later Calukya dynasty. The kingdom included much of Karnataka, Konkan, and the territory as......
  • tailbone (anatomy)
    curved, semiflexible lower end of the backbone (vertebral column) in apes and humans, representing a vestigial tail. It is composed of three to five successively smaller caudal (coccygeal) vertebrae. The first is a relatively well-defined vertebra and connects with the sacrum; the last is represented by a small nodule of bone. The spinal cord ends above the coccyx. In early adulthood the coccygeal...
  • tailcoat (clothing)
    ...dress slowly became stereotyped, etiquette having laid down detailed regulations for the attire to be worn for different occasions, for different times of day, and by the various social classes. The tailcoat, waisted and padded on the chest, was de rigueur, accompanied by a waistcoat and close-fitting trousers called pantaloons, which were first buckled at the ankle and later, after 1820,......
  • tailed frog (frog)
    (Ascaphus truei), the single species of the frog family Ascaphidae (order Anura). It is restricted to cold, clear forest streams of the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and Canada. It is one of many species that disappears when old-growth forests are cut....
  • tailed rhyme (poetry)
    a verse form in which rhymed lines such as couplets or triplets are followed by a tail—a line of different (usually shorter) length that does not rhyme with the couplet or triplet. In a tail-rhyme stanza (also called a tail-rhymed stanza), the tails rhyme with each other. ...
  • tailings (mining)
    ...Such a suspension can simulate a fluid with a higher density than water. When ground ores are fed into the suspension, the gangue particles, having a lower density, tend to float and are removed as tailings, whereas the particles of valuable minerals, having higher density, sink and are also removed. The magnetite or ferrosilicon can be removed from the tailings by magnetic separation and......
  • taille (French history)
    the most important direct tax of the pre-Revolutionary monarchy in France. Its unequal distribution, with clergy and nobles exempt, made it one of the hated institutions of the ancien régime....
  • Taille, Jean de La (French author)
    poet and dramatist who, through his plays and his influential treatise on the art of tragedy, helped to effect the transition from native French drama to classical tragedy....
  • Tailleferre, Germaine (French composer)
    ...and Richard Strauss, as well as against the chromaticism and lush orchestration of Claude Debussy. Les Six were Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, Arthur Honegger, Georges Auric, Louis Durey, and Germaine Tailleferre. The French critic Henri Collet originated the label Les Six in his article “The Russian Five, the French Six, and M. Erik Satie” (Comoedia, January 1920).......
  • tailless tenrec (mammal)
    ...etruscus), however, weighs less than 2.5 grams (0.09 ounce) and is perhaps the smallest living mammal. Other insectivores, such as the moonrat (Echinosorex gymnura) and the tailless tenrec (Tenrec ecaudatus), attain the size of a small rabbit. Most insectivores are either ground dwellers or burrowers, but several are amphibious, and a few have adapte...
  • tailless whip scorpion (arachnid)
    any of 70 species of the arthropod class Arachnida that are similar in appearance to whip scorpions (order Uropygi) but lack a telson, or tail. They occur in hot parts of both North and South America, Asia, and Africa, where, by day, they hide under bark or stones. They often enter houses. An example is the 11-mm (0.4-inch) Tarantula marginemaculata of Florida....
  • tailor
    Toward 1350 a great change occurred in costume. Clothes increasingly were tailored to fit and display the human figure. The ability to tailor garments improved. More and better fabrics were now reaching the West from Italy and farther east. But perhaps the most important reason for sartorial change was the spread of the Renaissance movement from Italy. A movement both spiritual and secular, the......
  • tailor (fish)
    (Pomatomus saltatrix), swift-moving marine food and game fish, the only member of the family Pomatomidae (order Perciformes). The bluefish ranges through warm and tropical regions of the Atlantic and Indian oceans, living in schools and preying with voracity on other, smaller animals, especially fishes. Elongated in form, it has two dorsal fins, a forked tail, and a large mouth with strong...
  • Tailor, The (work by Moroni)
    ...portraits were mostly of the petty aristocracy and bourgeoisie of Bergamo. He also worked in Brescia and Trento, where he painted mostly religious works. One of his best-known works is “The Tailor” (c. 1571; National Gallery, London). Moroni emphasized a sitter’s dignity and nobility by means of natural, unforced poses and masterful compositions and infused his portr...
  • tailorbird (bird)
    any of the nine species of the genus Orthotomus, of the Old World warbler family Sylviidae, that sew together the edges of one or more leaves to contain the nest. A tailorbird makes a series of holes with its long slender bill and then draws plant fibre, insect silk, or even stolen household thread through the holes to form separate loops, which are knotted on the outer side....
  • tailpiece (musical instrument)
    ...outward and downward from the waist to the lower corners. A line joining the crosses of the fs marks the approximate position of the bridge. The lower ends of the strings are held by the long tailpiece below the bridge, whose function is to reduce the length of unused string behind the bridge and to keep the strings pulling radially inward on its top edge. The lower end of the tailpiece....
  • tailslide (surfing maneuver)
    ...riders to move their craft freely around the wave and have transformed surfing into a gymnastic dance. Today the wave is the apparatus upon which surfers perform spectacular maneuvers such as “tailslides” (withdrawing the fins from the wave and allowing the board to slip down the face of the wave), “floaters” (“floating” the board along the top of a bre...
  • tailwind
    ...be considered up to about 15 km (10 miles) from the runways. Runway configurations must also ensure that, for 95 percent of the time, aircraft can approach and take off without either crosswinds or tailwinds that would inhibit operations. At the smallest airports, light aircraft are unable to operate in crosswinds greater than 10 knots; at all airports, operation in tailwinds in excess of 10......
  • Taimaʾ (oasis, Saudi Arabia)
    The oasis of Taymāʾ in the northern Hejaz emerged briefly into the limelight when the Neo-Babylonian king Nabu-naʾid (Nabonidus, reigned c. 556–539 bc) took up his residence there for 10 years and extended his power as far as Yathrib. A few important monuments of this time are known....
  • taima (Shintō)
    ...a household or a shop. The kamidana usually consists of a small cupboard or shelf on which are displayed articles of veneration and daily offerings. At the centre of the shrine stands the taima, an inscribed board from the main Shintō shrine at Ise, which represents a universal kami (deity, or sacred power). On either side are various paper amulets (o-fuda) associate...
  • Taima-dera (temple, Nara, Japan)
    ...vines, ducks, lions, etc., and were found in relatively remote areas of Central Asia along the silk-trade route. In comparison is the more sophisticated 8th-century k’o-ssu that hangs in the Taima-dera, a temple near Nara, Japan. Based on the story of the T’ang dynasty priest Shan-tao, this 43-square-foot (four-square-metre) weaving is the oldest known complete Chinese wall...
  • Taimuri (people)
    ...include those dwelling in the northern foothills of the Safīd Kūh Selseleh-ye (Paropamisus Mountains); and a group on the border of Iran known as Ḥazāra in Iran and as Taimuri, or Timuri, in Afghanistan....
  • Taimyr (district, Russia)
    former autonomous okrug (district), northeastern central Russia. In 2007 Taymyr was subsumed under Krasnoyarsk kray (territory). It lies on the hilly Taymyr Peninsula, the most northerly part of the Eurasian continent, and extends south to the northern edge of the Central Siberian Plateau. The area includes the Severnaya Zemlya...
  • Taimyr Peninsula (peninsula, Russia)
    northernmost extension of the Eurasian landmass, in north-central Siberia in Krasnoyarsk kray (region), northeastern central Russia. The northernmost point of the peninsula is Cape Chelyuskin, north of which lie Vilkitsky Strait and Severnaya Zemlya. To the west of the peninsula lie the Kara Sea and the Gulf of Yenisey; to the east lie the Laptev Sea and the Gulf of Khatanga. The peninsula ...
  • Taimyr Samoyed (people)
    ...is considered female—Shams of some Arabs, Shaph of ancient Ugarit in Palestine, Sun of Arinna of the Hittites, as well as the female Sun of the Germanic peoples. Siberian people such as the Taymyr Samoyed (whose women pray in spring to the sun goddess in order to receive fertility or a rich calving of the reindeer) or the Tungus worship sun goddesses. They make sacrifices to the sun......
  • “Táin bó Cuailnge” (Gaelic literature)
    Old Irish epiclike tale that is the longest of the Ulster cycle of hero tales and deals with the conflict between Ulster and Connaught over possession of the brown bull of Cooley. The tale was composed in prose with verse passages in the 7th and 8th centuries. It is partially preserved in The Book of the Dun Cow (c. 1100) and is also found in ...
  • Taine, Hippolyte-Adolphe (French critic and historian)
    French thinker, critic, and historian, one of the most esteemed exponents of 19th-century French Positivism. He attempted to apply the scientific method to the study of the humanities....
  • Taine, John (American mathematician)
    Scottish American mathematician, educator, and writer who made significant contributions to analytic number theory....
  • Taino (people)
    Arawakan-speaking people who at the time of Christopher Columbus’s exploration inhabited what are now Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Once the most numerous indigenous people of the Caribbean, the Taino may have numbered one or two million at the time of the Spanish conquest in the late 15th century. They ...
  • Taino language
    ...foothills of the Andes. A great many communities still speak Arawakan languages in Brazil, and other groups of speakers are found in Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana, and Suriname. Taino, a now-extinct Arawakan language, once predominated in the Antilles and was the first Indian language to be encountered by Europeans. Spoken languages of importance are Goajiro in Colombia,......
  • tainoya (Japanese architecture)
    ...their houses on the same Chinese models as had been used in designing the Imperial Palace. The complex centred on the shinden, which faced south on an open court. The eastern and western tainoya, or subsidiary living quarters, were attached by watadono, wide covered corridors, from which narrow corridors extended south, ending in tsuridono, small pavilions, creating....
  • Tainter, Charles Sumner (American inventor)
    American inventor who, with Chichester A. Bell (a cousin of Alexander Graham Bell), greatly improved the phonograph by devising a wax-coated cardboard cylinder and a flexible recording stylus, both superior to the tinfoil surface and rigid stylus then used by Thomas A. Edison. They patented these improvements in 1886 while working with the elder Bell at the Volta Laboratory, Was...
  • tainter gate (engineering)
    Several forms of gates have been developed. The simplest and oldest form is a vertical-lift gate that, sliding or rolling against guides, can be raised to allow water to flow underneath. Radial, or tainter, gates are similar in principle but are curved in vertical section to better resist water pressure. Tilting gates consist of flaps held by hinges along their lower edges that permit water to......
  • Taipa (island, Macau, China)
    ...eastern side of the estuary. Macau comprises a small, narrow peninsula projecting from the mainland sheng (province) of Kwangtung and includes the islands of Taipa and Coloane. Extending up a hillside and overlooking La-Pa Island is the city of Macau, which occupies almost the entire peninsula. The name is derived from the Chinese A-ma-gao, or “Bay....
  • taipan (snake)
    any of three species of highly venomous snakes (family Elapidae) found from Australia to the southern edge of New Guinea. Taipans range in colour from beige to gray and pale brown to dark brown. Some taipans also experience seasonal colour changes. The coastal taipan (O. scutellatus) is the largest Australian elapid. Its maximum le...
  • Taipei (Taiwan)
    province-level municipality and capital of Taiwan (Republic of China). It is situated on the Tan-shui River, almost at the northern tip of the island of Taiwan, about 15 miles (25 km) southwest of Chi-lung (Keelung), which is its port on the Pacific Ocean. Another coastal city, Tan-shui, is about 12 miles (20 km) northwest at the river...
  • Taipei 101 (building, Taipei, Taiwan)
    In 2003 the Taipei 101 (Taipei Financial Center) building in Taipei, Taiwan, exceeded the records for the first three categories, respectively, with the following heights: 1,667 feet (508 metres); 1,437 feet (438 metres); and 1,470 feet (448 metres). The record in the final category was surpassed in 2000 by the Sears Tower after that building’s west antenna was replaced by one that reached....
  • Taipei Financial Center (building, Taipei, Taiwan)
    In 2003 the Taipei 101 (Taipei Financial Center) building in Taipei, Taiwan, exceeded the records for the first three categories, respectively, with the following heights: 1,667 feet (508 metres); 1,437 feet (438 metres); and 1,470 feet (448 metres). The record in the final category was surpassed in 2000 by the Sears Tower after that building’s west antenna was replaced by one that reached....
  • Taiping (Malaysia)
    town, northwestern Peninsular (West) Malaysia. The town is situated on a coastal plain just west of the Bintang Range. It originated as a Chinese mining settlement in the Larut district, where large-scale tin mining developed in the 1840s. Its importance as a mining centre ended some time ago, and tin production in the area has largely ceased; agriculture and rubber, manufacturing, and tourism are...
  • Taiping (Chinese princess)
    In 712 the ineffectual Ruizong abdicated in favour of his son (who took the temple name Xuanzong), but, at the urging of Ruizong’s ambitious sister (the princess Taiping), he remained “Supreme Emperor,” a sort of regent with control over appointments to high offices, which were filled with the princess’s supporters....
  • “Taiping leibian” (Chinese work)
    Originally this work, which was compiled between 977 and 983, was titled Taiping leibian (“Anthology of the Taiping Era”). After Emperor Taizong (reigned 976–997/998) read all 1,000 volumes of the anthology himself, however, this title was changed to Taiping yulan (“Imperially Inspected Anthology of the Taiping Era”). The Song dynasty......
  • Taiping Rebellion (China)
    (1850–64), radical political and religious upheaval that was probably the most important event in China in the 19th century. It ravaged 17 provinces, took an estimated 20,000,000 lives, and irrevocably altered the Qing dynasty (1644–1911/12)....
  • Taiping Tianguo (China)
    (1850–64), radical political and religious upheaval that was probably the most important event in China in the 19th century. It ravaged 17 provinces, took an estimated 20,000,000 lives, and irrevocably altered the Qing dynasty (1644–1911/12)....
  • Taiping yulan (Chinese work)
    Originally this work, which was compiled between 977 and 983, was titled Taiping leibian (“Anthology of the Taiping Era”). After Emperor Taizong (reigned 976–997/998) read all 1,000 volumes of the anthology himself, however, this title was changed to Taiping yulan (“Imperially Inspected Anthology of the Taiping Era”). The Song dynasty......
  • taira (mammal)
    weasellike mammal of tropical forests from southern Mexico through South America to northern Argentina. The tayra is short-legged, yet slender and agile, weighing from 2.7 to 7 kg (5.95 to 15.4 pounds). The body, measuring about 60–68 cm (24–27 inches), is covered with coarse but smooth, dark fur. The bushy tail is 39–47 cm (15–18.5 inches) long. The tayra’s dark...
  • Taira family (Japanese clan)
    Japanese samurai (warrior) clan of great power and influence in the 12th century. The genealogy and history of the family have been traced in detail from 825, when the name Taira was given to Prince Takamune, grandson of Kammu (the 50th emperor of Japan). From about 1156 to 1185, the Taira monopolized high positions at the Imperial court; in the latter year the clan was destroyed in the sea battle...
  • Taira Kiyomori (Japanese ruler)
    first of the Japanese soldier-dictators, whose victories in the Hōgen and Heiji disturbances marked the ascendancy of the provincial warrior class to positions of supreme power....
  • Taira Masakado (Japanese rebel)
    Japanese rebel leader descended from the emperor Kammu (reigned 781–806)....
  • Taira Masamori (Japanese warrior)
    warrior responsible for the rise to power of the Taira clan in Japan....
  • Taira Tadamori (Japanese warrior)
    warrior whose military and diplomatic skills made the Taira clan the most powerful family in Japan and laid the groundwork for his son Kiyomori’s assumption of virtual control over the country....
  • Taira Tadatsune (Japanese warrior)
    ...in the southern part of Kantō, styling himself shinnō (“new emperor”) in opposition to the Emperor in the capital at Kyōto, but was subdued in 940. In 1028, when Taira Tadatsune attempted to reestablish Taira domination over the Kantō, the court dispatched another warrior, Minamoto Yorinobu, to quell the rebellion, and three years later, Tadatsun...
  • Taira Takamochi (Japanese noble)
    ...sent out into the provinces. The name of “Taira” was given to Prince Takamune, the son of Prince Kuzuhara and grandson of Kammu, the 50th emperor. His descendants were accordingly called Taira of Kammu. Takamochi, a nephew of Takamune, arrived in the Hitachi district (about 40 miles [60 kilometres] northwest of present-day Tokyo) as a local official and settled there. His descenda...
  • Taira Takamune (Japanese prince)
    ...of the drain on the finances, collateral Imperial branches were given surnames (the Imperial family had none) and sent out into the provinces. The name of “Taira” was given to Prince Takamune, the son of Prince Kuzuhara and grandson of Kammu, the 50th emperor. His descendants were accordingly called Taira of Kammu. Takamochi, a nephew of Takamune, arrived in the Hitachi district.....
  • tairō (Japanese official)
    in Japanese history, office of senior minister or chief councillor, the highest administrative post in the shogunate during the Tokugawa period (1603–1867). The office of tairō stood above the other senior councillors (rōjū), and so resembled the position of prime minister. Its chief function was to advise on matters of high policy or to serve as shogunal regent...
  • Tairona (people)
    Indians of the northern Colombian Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, known only from occasional references in Spanish colonial writings and from archaeological study. The Tairona used stone to build houses, tombs, bridges, and terraced platforms. Their crafts are represented by ceramic ware; stone utensils such as metates (for grinding corn [maize]); bone and shell ornaments; and beads, buttons, and j...
  • Tairov, Aleksandr Yakovlevich (Russian director)
    founder and producer-director (1914–49) of the Kamerny (Chamber) Theatre in Moscow, which, during the era of the Revolution, rivaled the Moscow Art Theatre in professional competence....
  • Taisei sankei (Japanese mathematical work)
    ...easier to understand, and to defend it against detractors. They were the main craftsmen of Seki’s project (launched 1683) to record mathematical knowledge in an encyclopaedia. The Taisei sankei (“Comprehensive Classic of Mathematics”), in 20 volumes, was finally completed by Takebe Kataaki in 1710. It gives a good picture of Seki’s skill at r...
  • Taisei Yokusankai (Japanese history)
    ...(Democratic Party). With the rise of militarism in Japan, however, the political parties lost influence. In 1940 they disbanded, and many of their members joined the government-sponsored Imperial Rule Assistance Association (Taisei Yokusankai)....
  • Taishan Fujun (Chinese deity)
    ...people returned to Mount Tai for judgment. The name of the most important spirit, originally Taishan Fujun (“Lord of Mount Tai”), was, with the emergence of organized Daoism, changed to Taiyue Dadi (“Grand Emperor of Mount Tai”). In Ming times (1368–1644) the centre of the popular cult was transferred from the spirit himself to his daughter, Taishan Niangniang...
  • Taishan Niangniang (Chinese deity)
    ...Daoism, changed to Taiyue Dadi (“Grand Emperor of Mount Tai”). In Ming times (1368–1644) the centre of the popular cult was transferred from the spirit himself to his daughter, Taishan Niangniang (“The Lady of Mount Tai”)—also called Bixia Yunjun (“Goddess of the Colourful Clouds”)—whose cult had begun to grow from about 1000 and wh...
  • Taishō (emperor of Japan)
    the 123rd ruling descendant of the Japanese imperial family, the emperor who reigned from 1912 to 1926 during a period in which Japan continued the modernization of its economy....
  • Taishō period (Japanese history)
    ...intensified leftist movement and the terrible Kantō earthquake of 1923 caused uncertainty and confusion among the Japanese. Nevertheless, the period was one that earned the name of the “Taishō democracy” era, which featured the dissemination of democratic and liberal ideas. It was also a period that marked Japan’s real advancement on the world scene and the ex...
  • Taishō Tennō (emperor of Japan)
    the 123rd ruling descendant of the Japanese imperial family, the emperor who reigned from 1912 to 1926 during a period in which Japan continued the modernization of its economy....
  • Taishō Yoshihito (emperor of Japan)
    the 123rd ruling descendant of the Japanese imperial family, the emperor who reigned from 1912 to 1926 during a period in which Japan continued the modernization of its economy....
  • taishōgoto (musical instrument)
    The Japanese autoharp is based on the nichigenkin, a type of two-stringed koto, and is named taishōgoto after the Taishō period (1912–26), when it was invented. This instrument continues to appeal to amateurs in Japan, as well as in Hawaii, Argentina, and India....
  • Taiso (Buddhist priest)
    priest of the Sōtō sect of Zen Buddhism, who founded the Sōji Temple (now in Yokohama), one of the two head temples of the sect....
  • Tait, Archibald Campbell (archbishop of Canterbury)
    archbishop of Canterbury, remembered primarily for his efforts to moderate tension in the Church of England at the height of the Oxford Movement....
  • Tait, Peter Guthrie (Scottish mathematician and physicist)
    Scottish physicist and mathematician who helped develop quaternions, an advanced algebra that gave rise to vector analysis and was instrumental in the development of modern mathematical physics....
  • Taito (Japanese artist)
    Japanese master artist and printmaker of the ukiyo-e (“pictures of the floating world”) school. His early works represent the full spectrum of ukiyo-e art, including single-sheet prints of landscapes and actors, hand paintings, and surimono (“printed things”), such as greetings and announcements. Later he concentrated on the classical themes of...
  • Taittinger, Pierre (French political leader)
    ...and 12 parliamentary deputies. Other fascist movements in France included the short-lived Faisceau (1925–28), led by Georges Valois; the Young Patriots (Jeunesses Patriotes), led by Pierre Taittinger; French Solidarity (Solidarité Française), founded and financed by François Coty and led by Jean Renaud; the Franks (Francistes), led by Marcel Bucard; the......
  • Taitu (emperor of Ethiopia)
    ...of the Ethiopian state. Its immediate predecessor, Entoto, was situated on a high tableland and was found to be unsatisfactory because of extreme cold and an acute shortage of firewood. The empress Taitu, wife of Emperor Menilek II (reigned 1889–1913), persuaded the emperor to build a house near the hot springs at the foot of the tableland and to grant land in the area to members of the....
  • Taiwan (self-governing island, Asia)
    island, located about 100 miles (161 km) off the southeast coast of the China mainland. It is approximately 245 miles (394 km) long (north-south) and 90 miles across at its widest point. The largest city, Taipei, is the seat of the government of the Republic of China (ROC; Nationalist China). In addition to the main island, the ROC government has jurisdiction over 22 islands in ...
  • Taiwan earthquake of 1999
    earthquake that began at 1:47 am local time on Sept. 21, 1999, below an epicentre 93 miles (150 km) south of Taipei, Taiwan. The death toll was 2,400 and some 10,000 people were injured. Thousands of houses collapsed, making more than 100,000 people homeless. The magnitude of the main shock was 7.7, resulting in about 10,000 bu...
  • Taiwan, flag of
    ...
  • Taiwan Haixia (strait, China Sea)
    arm of the Pacific Ocean, 100 miles (160 km) wide at its narrowest point, lying between the coast of China’s Fukien province and the island of Taiwan (Formosa). The strait extends from southwest to northeast between the South and East China seas. It reaches a depth of about 230 feet (70 m) and contains the Pescadores Islands (which are controlled by the government of Taiwan). The chief port...
  • Taiwan, history of
    Taiwan was known to the Chinese as early as the 3rd century ad, but settlement by the Chinese was not significant until the first quarter of the 17th century after recurrent famines in Fukien Province encouraged emigration of Fukienese from the mainland. Before then the island was a base of operations for Chinese and Japanese pirates. The Portuguese, who first visited the island in 1...
  • Taiwan Major League (Taiwanese sports organization)
    ...1982. Taiwan, which has produced several Little League world champion teams, has two professional leagues, the Chinese Professional Baseball League, a four-team league that started in 1990, and the Taiwan Major League, a four-team league that began operations in 1997. Australia has an eight-team professional league, the International Baseball Association Australia, which started in 1989....
  • Taiwan Relations Act (United States [1979])
    ...position that there is but one China and that Taiwan is part of China. It thus precluded itself from any future support for an independent Taiwan. Subsequently, however, the U.S. Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act, authorizing continued social and economic ties with Taiwan. The United States also unilaterally stated that it would continue to sell defensive arms to Taiwan, a move that......
  • Taiwan Strait (strait, China Sea)
    arm of the Pacific Ocean, 100 miles (160 km) wide at its narrowest point, lying between the coast of China’s Fukien province and the island of Taiwan (Formosa). The strait extends from southwest to northeast between the South and East China seas. It reaches a depth of about 230 feet (70 m) and contains the Pescadores Islands (which are controlled by the government of Taiwan). The chief port...
  • Taiwudi (Chinese emperor)
    ...of the Southeast, and K’ou was given concrete temporal power of a sort that the Hsüs had not envisaged. Political and economic factors favoured the acceptance of his message at court; Emperor T’ai Wu Ti (5th century) of the Northern Wei dynasty put K’ou in charge of religious affairs within his dominions and proclaimed Taoism the official religion of the empire. The ...
  • Taixuanjing (work by Yang Xiong)
    ...positions taken by the philosophers Mencius (original goodness) and Xunzi (original evil). His chief works in philosophy are the Fayan (“Model Sayings”) and the Taixuanjing (“Classic of the Supremely Profound Principle”), 15 essays that imitate the form of the Confucian classic Yijing (I-Ching; “Classic of......
  • Taiyan (Chinese scholar)
    Nationalist revolutionary leader and one of the most prominent Confucian scholars in early 20th-century China....
  • “Taiyang zhao zai Sangganhe shang” (work by Ding Ling)
    Ding Ling’s officially successful proletarian novel Taiyang zhao zai Sangganhe shang (1948; The Sun Shines over the Sanggan River) was the first Chinese novel to win the Soviet Union’s Stalin Prize (1951). Yet despite her triumphs, she remained in political trouble for her open criticisms of the party, especially in regard to women’s rights. She was o...
  • Taíyetos Mountains (mountains, Greece)
    mountain range, southern Peloponnese, Greece. The maximum elevation is approximately 7,905 feet (2,371 m) in the range, which imposes a barrier between the regions of Laconia and Messina. Called the five-fingered mountain by the ancient epic poet Homer, the Taíyetos range, which is the highest mountain chain in the Peloponnese, consists of a narrow ridge of crystalline rock trending north-s...
  • Taíyetos Óros (mountains, Greece)
    mountain range, southern Peloponnese, Greece. The maximum elevation is approximately 7,905 feet (2,371 m) in the range, which imposes a barrier between the regions of Laconia and Messina. Called the five-fingered mountain by the ancient epic poet Homer, the Taíyetos range, which is the highest mountain chain in the Peloponnese, consists of a narrow ridge of crystalline rock trending north-s...
  • Taiyi (Chinese emperor)
    reign name of the Chinese emperor who overthrew the Xia dynasty (c. 2070–c. 1600 bc) and founded the Shang, the first historical dynasty ( c. 1600–1046 bc, though the dating of the Shang—and hence also of the Tang emperor’s founding of it—have long been the subject of much deba...
  • Taiyō (Japanese magazine)
    Japanese magazine published from 1895 to 1928 and especially known for its literary criticism, Japanese literature, and translations of Western authors....
  • Taiyuan (China)
    city and capital of Shanxi sheng (province), China. One of the greatest industrial cities in China, it lies on the Fen River in the northern portion of the river’s fertile upper basin. Taiyuan commands the north-south route through Shanxi, as well as important natural lines of communication through the mountains t...
Skip this Advertisement

Link to this article and share the full text with the readers of your Web site or blog-post.

If you think a reference to this article on "" will enhance your Web site, blog-post, or any other web-content, then feel free to link to this article, and your readers will gain full access to the full article, even if they do not subscribe to our service.

You may want to use the HTML code fragment provided below.

copy link

We welcome your comments. Any revisions or updates suggested for this article will be reviewed by our editorial staff. Contact us here.

Regular users of Britannica may notice that this comments feature is less robust than in the past. This is only temporary, while we make the transition to a dramatically new and richer site. The functionality of the system will be restored soon.

The Britannica Store
A-Z Browse

Image preview