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  • “Vepkhvistqaosani” (work by Rustaveli)
    The date of composition of Shota Rustaveli’s Vepkhvistqaosani (The Knight in the Panther’s Skin) can only be conjectured. It is not mentioned in the chronicle Istoriani da azmani sharavandedtani (Histories and Praises of Crowned Monarchs), composed just after Queen Tamara’s death (c. 121...
  • “Vêpres siciliennes, Les” (opera by Verdi)
    His first essay in the new manner, Les Vêpres siciliennes (1855; The Sicilian Vespers), is a rather cold piece that has had only lukewarm success from its premiere on. The fault lay partly in the libretto—by Meyerbeer’s own librettist, the poet Eugène Scribe; Scribe merely refashioned an old piece he had written for Ga...
  • Veps language
    The five less-numerous Baltic-Finnic groups—Karelian, Veps, Ingrian, Votic, and Livonian—lie within Russia and the Baltic nations, largely in the general vicinity of the Gulf of Finland. The Karelians, Veps, and Livonians were among the original Baltic-Finnic tribes; Votic is considered to be an offshoot of Estonian, and Ingrian a remote branch of Karelian. None of these languages......
  • VER (economics)
    Another barrier is the voluntary export restraint (VER), noted for having a less-damaging effect on the political relations between countries. It is also relatively easy to remove. This approach was applied in the early 1980s when Japanese automakers, under pressure from U.S. competitors, “voluntarily” limited their exports of automobiles to the U.S. market. Like quotas, VERs limit.....
  • Ver, Fabian C. (Filipino politician)
    ...demonstrations charging government complicity in the act. An independent commission concluded in October 1984 that a military conspiracy led by the Philippine armed forces chief of staff, General Fabian C. Ver, was responsible for the assassination. Ver and 25 other suspected participants in the plot were acquitted of these charges by three Marcos-appointed judges in 1985....
  • “Ver-Vert” (work by Gresset)
    French poet and dramatist who received immediate and lasting acclaim for his irreverently comic narrative poem Ver-Vert (1734; Ver-Vert, or the Nunnery Parrot), describing with wit tinged with malice the adventures of a parrot who attempts to maintain his decorous convent background while on a visit to another convent....
  • Ver-Vert, or the Nunnery Parrot (work by Gresset)
    French poet and dramatist who received immediate and lasting acclaim for his irreverently comic narrative poem Ver-Vert (1734; Ver-Vert, or the Nunnery Parrot), describing with wit tinged with malice the adventures of a parrot who attempts to maintain his decorous convent background while on a visit to another convent....
  • Vera (American artist)
    (VERA NEUMANN), U.S. artist and designer (b. July 24, 1910, Stamford, Conn.--d. June 15, 1993, North Tarrytown, N.Y.), created brightly coloured scarves, bedroom and kitchen linens, and draperies and sportswear that bore her name. Vera, who had been a designer of children’s furniture and murals, used only her first name after founding (1946), with her husband, George Neumann, and F. Werner ...
  • “Vera Christiana Religio” (work by Swedenborg)
    ...and on Hell) is perhaps his best-known theological work. He gave an admirably clear summary of his theological thinking in his last work, the Vera Christiana Religio (1771; True Christian Religion), which was written when he was 83....
  • Vera Circuli et Hyperbolae Quadratura (work by Gregory)
    In 1663 Gregory visited The Hague and Paris before settling in Padua, Italy, to study geometry, mechanics, and astronomy. While in Italy he wrote Vera Circuli et Hyperbolae Quadratura (1667; “The True Squaring of the Circle and of the Hyperbola”) and Geometriae Pars Universalis (1668; “The Universal Part of Geometry”). In the former work he used a......
  • Vera Cruz
    country of South America that occupies half the continent’s landmass. It is the fifth largest nation in the world, exceeded in size only by Russia, Canada, China, and the United States, though its area is greater than that of the 48 contiguous U.S. states. Brazil faces the Atlantic Ocean along 4,600 miles (7,400 km) of coastline and shares more than 9,750 miles (15,700 km) of inland borders...
  • Verá, Lake (lake, Paraguay)
    Paraguay has only two lakes of consequence. The largest, Lake Ypoá, about 40 miles (65 km) south of Asunción, merges into Lake Verá; it is drained by channels of the Tebicuary and feeds the marshes of the Ñeembucú plain. Lake Ypacaraí, about 30 miles (50 km) east of Asunción, is the site of a favourite summer resort at San Bernardino....
  • Veracruz (state, Mexico)
    estado (state), east-central Mexico. Veracruz is bounded by the state of Tamaulipas to the north, by the Gulf of Mexico to the east, and by the states of Tabasco and Chiapas to the southeast, Oaxaca to the southwest, and Puebla...
  • Veracruz (Mexico)
    city and port on the Gulf of Mexico, Veracruz estado (state), east-central Mexico....
  • Veracruz Blues (Mexican baseball team)
    ...the 1930s and ’40s. The most productive period of his career, however, was spent in Mexico. The colour barrier in the United States and the lure of higher salaries in Mexico landed Dandridge on the Veracruz Blues, a team that featured other Negro League stars, including Willie Wells, Josh Gibson, and Cool Papa Bell. Dandridge played in the Mexican League for eight seasons—for both...
  • Veracruz incident (United States-Mexican history)
    (April 21–Nov. 14, 1914), the occupation of Veracruz, the chief port on the east coast of Mexico, by military forces of the United States during the civil wars of the Mexican Revolution....
  • Veracruz Llave (Mexico)
    city and port on the Gulf of Mexico, Veracruz estado (state), east-central Mexico....
  • Veralden-olmai (Sami deity)
    (Sami: “Ruler of the World”), the deity believed by the Sami (Lapps) to be closest to the starry heaven. Because the deity is associated with mailmen stytto, the pillar supporting the heavens, he is also responsible for the continued maintenance of life and is considered a fertility god. Veralden-radien is believed to support all growth. The goddess of childbirth, Ma...
  • Veralden-radien (Sami deity)
    (Sami: “Ruler of the World”), the deity believed by the Sami (Lapps) to be closest to the starry heaven. Because the deity is associated with mailmen stytto, the pillar supporting the heavens, he is also responsible for the continued maintenance of life and is considered a fertility god. Veralden-radien is believed to support all growth. The goddess of childbirth, Ma...
  • Verān (mountain pass, Asia)
    ...[6,059 metres]). These peaks are surrounded by a host of lesser mountains. Glaciers are poorly developed, but the mountain passes—which include Putsigrām (13,450 feet [5,000 metres]), Verān (15,400 feet [4,694 metres]), Rām Gol (15,400 feet [4,694 metres]), and Anjoman (13,850 feet [4,221 metres])—are high, making transmontane communications difficult....
  • veranda (architecture)
    in architecture, most frequently, an open-walled, roofed porch attached to the exterior of a domestic structure and usually surrounded by a railing. The word came into English through the Hindi varandā, but it is related to the Spanish baranda, meaning “railing,” and thus most likely entered Hindi via Portuguese explorers of India....
  • verapamil (drug)
    In the mid-1970s the calcium channel blockers, another type of antiarrhythmic drug, were introduced. Verapamil and diltiazem are important examples of this class of drugs. They reduce the influx of calcium ions through the cell membrane, which normally occurs when the cell is depolarized. This movement of calcium ions across the membrane appears to be important in the genesis of reentrant......
  • Verapaz (historical province, Guatemala)
    ...and Guatemala failed to bring better treatment to the Indians, he went to a province of northern Guatemala to pacify it without military force. His experiment in this province, which he called the Verapaz, was only partially successful, but it served as the basis for his arguments to the Spanish crown against abuse of the Indians. The resulting New Laws of 1542 began the suppression of the......
  • Vérard, Antoine (French publisher)
    ...a reputation for careful and elegant work. Their volumes, sumptuous more often than not, were characterized by minute attention to almost extravagant detailing. Books of the hours, introduced by one Antoine Vérard, whose tastes ran to illustrated and heavily ornamented pages bound in deluxe editions, were important influences in these directions. It is estimated that Vérard......
  • Veratrum (plant genus)
    genus of poisonous herbs of the family Melanthiaceae. The genus includes about 25 to 30 perennial species, among them the American hellebore and the European hellebore (see hellebore) and the false hellebore (see skunk cabbage). They bear flowers that are greenish white to brownish purple and are planted as ornamentals. Their poisons have commerc...
  • Veratrum album (plant)
    The genus Veratrum, of the family Melanthiaceae, is composed of about 25–30 species, which are native widely in damp areas of the Northern Hemisphere. The genus includes European white hellebore (V. album), once used as an arrow poison, and American white hellebore (V. viride), also called itchweed. The plants have simple, parallel-veined leaves and terminal clusters......
  • Veratrum californicum (plant)
    ...americanum), of the same family, having a large yellow spathe, is found from California to Alaska and eastward to Montana. Another skunk cabbage (Veratrum californicum) is the poisonous corn lily, or false hellebore, which grows from New Mexico and Baja California northward to Washington....
  • Veratrum viride (plant)
    ...of about 25–30 species, which are native widely in damp areas of the Northern Hemisphere. The genus includes European white hellebore (V. album), once used as an arrow poison, and American white hellebore (V. viride), also called itchweed. The plants have simple, parallel-veined leaves and terminal clusters of small flowers....
  • Veraval (India)
    city, south-central Gujarāt state, west-central India. Verāval lies on the Arabian Sea coast of the Kāthiāwār Peninsula and is part of the Pātan urban agglomeration. Its port principally handles timber and agricultural products. Matches, textile bobbins, and bone fertilizer are manufactured in the city, and there is offshore fishing. The ruins of the ancie...
  • verb (grammar)
    The Proto-Indo-European verb had three aspects: imperfective, perfective, and stative. Aspect refers to the nature of an action as described by the speaker—e.g., an event occurring once, an event recurring repeatedly, a continuing process, or a state. The difference between English simple and “progressive” verb forms is largely one of aspect—e.g.,......
  • verb ending (grammar)
    ...auxiliaries ‘shall’ and ‘will,’ and -yeH1- alternating with -iH1- for the optative, corresponding roughly to English ‘should’ and ‘would.’ Verbs without one of these two suffixes were marked for mood and tense by their personal endings alone....
  • verb phrase (grammar)
    ...The notion of phrase structure may be dealt with independently of its incorporation in the larger system. In the following system of rules, S stands for Sentence, NP for Noun Phrase, VP for Verb Phrase, Det for Determiner, Aux for Auxiliary (verb), N for Noun, and V for Verb stem....
  • Verba, Sidney (American political scientist)
    Perhaps the most important work of political culture was Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba’s The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations (1963), which surveyed 1,000-person samples in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and Mexico. Almond and Verba identified three types of political culture: (1) participant, in which citizens understan...
  • verbal contract (legal history)
    in Roman law, a form of contract based upon a simple question and answer. It had no parallel in other legal systems. Stipulatio developed, at first, with very strict rules. Although no witnesses were required, both parties had to be present during the entire proceedings, which had to be one continuous act. The contract was oral and had to be made in Latin. The stipulator asked, “Spo...
  • verbal fallacy (logic)
    The other major grouping of fallacies concerns those apparently correct arguments whose plausibility depends on some ambiguity. For an argument to be valid it is required that the terms occurring in the argument retain one meaning throughout. Subtle shifts of meaning that destroy the correctness of any argument can occur in natural language expressions:Today chain-smokers are rapidly......
  • verbal inspiration (biblical criticism)
    ...Theological Seminary argued for the verbal (word-for-word) inspiration of Scripture and affirmed that the Bible was not only infallible (correct when it spoke on matters of faith and morals) but inerrant (correct when it spoke on any matters, including history and science)....
  • verbal irony (literature)
    language device, either in spoken or written form in which the real meaning is concealed or contradicted by the literal meanings of the words (verbal irony) or in a situation in which there is an incongruity between what is expected and what occurs (dramatic irony)....
  • Verbania (Italy)
    commune, Piemonte (Piedmont) regione, northern Italy. Verbania is a summer resort on Lake Maggiore (ancient Verbanus Lacus). Formed in 1939 by the union of the towns of Pallanza and Intra, it has botanical gardens, two 16th-century churches (San Secondo and Madonna di Campagna), and the 18th-century Palazzo Dugnani, which houses a museum. The commune’s industries i...
  • Verbanus, Lacus (lake, Europe)
    second largest lake in Italy (area 82 square miles [212 square km]), bisected by the border between Lombardy (east) and Piedmont (west). Its northern end is in the Swiss Ticino canton. At an elevation of 633 feet (193 m) above sea level, the lake is 34 miles (54 km) long, with a maximum width of 7 miles (11 km) and a maximum depth of 1,220 feet (372 m). The lake is traversed from north to s...
  • Verbascum (plant)
    any of the 360 species of the genus Verbascum (family Scrophulariaceae), large biennial or perennial herbs native to northern temperate regions, especially eastern Eurasia. The common mullein (V. thapsus) grows 0.6 to 2 metres (2 to 7 feet) tall, has a single, unbranched stem with large, thick, densely velvety leaves, and has pale-yellow, slightly irregular flowers...
  • Verbascum thapsus (plant)
    any of the 360 species of the genus Verbascum (family Scrophulariaceae), large biennial or perennial herbs native to northern temperate regions, especially eastern Eurasia. The common mullein (V. thapsus) grows 0.6 to 2 metres (2 to 7 feet) tall, has a single, unbranched stem with large, thick, densely velvety leaves, and has pale-yellow, slightly irregular flowers about 2.5 cm (1......
  • verbena (Spanish festival)
    ...are among the high points of the year. Important matches are played in two stadiums, Santiago Bernabéu (home of Real Madrid) and Vicente Calderón (Club Atlético). The verbenas, special fiestas held in each quarter in honour of its patron saint, are regular public events, especially in warm weather, with San Isidro (mid-May) taking pride of place. The....
  • Verbena (plant genus)
    genus of plants in the family Verbenaceae that contains several species of garden flowers. Verbena consists of some 200 to 250 species, almost all of them native to the tropical and subtropical Americas, including 20 in the United States. Two species are indigenous to the Old World. Most verbenas are perennials, though a few are annuals. They usually have opposite leaves that are toothed, l...
  • Verbena family (plant)
    family of plants, in the order Lamiales, a worldwide but mainly tropical grouping of 30 genera and some 1,100 species, some of which are important for their flowers. Members of the family, sometimes known as Verbena or Vervain, have opposite or whorled leaves that are usually undivided. The flowers are aggregated in spikes, clusters, or racem...
  • Verbena hastata (plant)
    ...also sometimes cultivated as garden flowers. Most other species in the United States are low-growing, small-flowered, somewhat weedy plants that are referred to as vervains rather than verbenas. The blue vervain (V. hastata) reaches a height of 1.5 metres (5 feet) and produces spikes of blue to purple flowers. The Eurasian species V. officinalis was once considered a medicinal......
  • Verbena hortensis (plant)
    The best-known species is the common garden verbena (V. hortensis, or hybrida), which is derived from various South American species. This square-stemmed, creeping plant bears flat heads of phloxlike flowers that sometimes have yellow eyes. Its flowers range in colour from pure white to pink, red, blue, violet, and yellow and also occur in striped varieties. Forms of the North......
  • Verbena hybrida (plant)
    The best-known species is the common garden verbena (V. hortensis, or hybrida), which is derived from various South American species. This square-stemmed, creeping plant bears flat heads of phloxlike flowers that sometimes have yellow eyes. Its flowers range in colour from pure white to pink, red, blue, violet, and yellow and also occur in striped varieties. Forms of the North......
  • verbena, lemon (plant)
    (Aloysia citriodora or Lippia citriodora), tropical perennial shrub belonging to the family Verbenaceae, originating in Argentina and Chile. Growing more than 3 metres (10 feet) high in warm climates, it is also grown as a potted plant reaching a height of about 25.4 cm (10 inches)....
  • Verbenaceae (plant)
    family of plants, in the order Lamiales, a worldwide but mainly tropical grouping of 30 genera and some 1,100 species, some of which are important for their flowers. Members of the family, sometimes known as Verbena or Vervain, have opposite or whorled leaves that are usually undivided. The flowers are aggregated in spikes, clusters, or racem...
  • verbenarius (Roman religion)
    According to Book 1 of Livy’s history of Rome, after Rome had been injured by another state, four fetials were sent out to seek redress. One member, the verbenarius, carried herbs gathered from the Arx on the Capitoline Hill. Another member, called the pater patratus, served as the group’s representative. Upon reaching the border of the offending state, the pater pat...
  • Verbiest, Ferdinand (Jesuit missionary)
    Dutch Jesuit missionary and astronomer who became an influential official in the Chinese government....
  • Verbindungen (German fighting corps)
    ...Mensur (student duel) is still a feature of German university life as a form of sporting event. Most German universities have long-established Verbindungen (fighting corps) with strict rules, secret meetings, distinctive uniforms, and great prestige. In such duels, which involve a method of swordplay distinct from that of normal......
  • verbivocovisual expression (poetry)
    ...and Invenção. Concrete poetry attempts to move away from a purely verbal concept of verse toward what its proponents call “verbivocovisual expression,” incorporating geometric and graphic elements into the poetic act or process. Their experiments have included the use of ideograms as a substitute for verbal forms,......
  • Verbruggen, Hendrik Frans (Flemish sculptor)
    ...(1713) and the Treaty of Rastatt (1714) the territories passed to Austria. Eighteenth-century painting and sculpture became increasingly weak and provincial, though fantastic pulpits carved by Hendrik Frans Verbruggen, Michel Vervoort, and Theodor Verhaegen provide a remarkable parallel to those in central Europe....
  • Vercellae (Italy)
    city, capital of Vercelli provincia, Piemonte (Piedmont) regione, northwestern Italy. It lies along the Sesia River, southwest of Novara. The chief city of the Libici (a Ligurian tribe), it later became a Roman municipium (town). The Campi Raudii (Raudian Fields) to the south were ...
  • Vercelli (Italy)
    city, capital of Vercelli provincia, Piemonte (Piedmont) regione, northwestern Italy. It lies along the Sesia River, southwest of Novara. The chief city of the Libici (a Ligurian tribe), it later became a Roman municipium (town). The Campi Raudii (Raudian Fields) to the south were ...
  • Vercelli Book (Old English literature)
    Old English manuscript written in the late 10th century. It contains texts of the poem Andreas, two poems by Cynewulf, The Dream of the Rood, an “Address of the Saved Soul to the Body,” and a fragment of a homiletic poem, as well as 23 prose homilies and a prose life of St. Guthlac, the Vercelli Guthlac. The book is so named because it was found in the cathedral ...
  • Verchoiansk (Russia)
    town, Sakha (Yakutiya), far northeastern Russia, on the Yana River near its confluence with the Sartang. Founded as a fort in 1638 and today a minor centre of tin and gold mining, Verkhoyansk is noted chiefly for its exceptionally low winter temperatures, with a January average of −56 °F (−49 °C). Its minimum, −89.7 °F (−67.6 °C), is surpasse...
  • Verchojansk (Russia)
    town, Sakha (Yakutiya), far northeastern Russia, on the Yana River near its confluence with the Sartang. Founded as a fort in 1638 and today a minor centre of tin and gold mining, Verkhoyansk is noted chiefly for its exceptionally low winter temperatures, with a January average of −56 °F (−49 °C). Its minimum, −89.7 °F (−67.6 °C), is surpasse...
  • Verchojansk Mountains (mountains, Russia)
    mountains of Sakha (Yakutiya), far northeastern Russia, extending for 700 miles (1,100 km)—in a huge arc parallel to and east of the lower Lena River—to the Laptev Sea. The range represents a major anticlinal structure, created in a period of folding. Its height generally exceeds 3,300 feet (1,000 metres), reaching a maximum of 7,838 feet (2,389 metres). The mountains support sparse ...
  • Vercingetorix (Gallic chieftain)
    chieftain of the Gallic tribe of the Arverni whose formidable rebellion against Roman rule was crushed by Julius Caesar....
  • Vercingétorix (opera by Canteloube)
    Although his folk-song settings have won a degree of popularity, Canteloube’s original works, which include the operas Le Mas and Vercingétorix (performed at the Paris Opéra in 1929 and 1933, respectively), have been neglected. He also edited the Anthologie des chants populaires français (1939–44)....
  • Vercors (French author)
    French novelist and artist-engraver, who wrote Le Silence de la mer (1941; The Silence of the Sea), a patriotic tale of self-deception and of the triumph of passive resistance over evil. The novella was published clandestinely in Nazi-occupied Paris and served to rally a spirit of French defiance....
  • Vercors Plateau (plateau, France)
    ...caves, and much sculptured limestone. In the Alps are massive folded and faulted limestones and dolomites that underlie alpine karst terrain from France to the Balkan Peninsula. In France the Vercors Plateau is pavement karst featuring many deep caves, including the Berger Shaft—one of the deepest in Europe. The Hölloch Cave, the world’s third longest at 133 kilometres, is....
  • Vercovicium (archaeological site, Scotland, United Kingdom)
    At Housesteads, at about the midpoint of Hadrian’s Wall, archaeologists have uncovered a market where northern natives exchanged cattle and hides for Roman products; in this way some Roman wares, and possibly more general cultural influences, found their way north, but the scale of this commerce was probably small. Roman civilization, typified by the towns and villas, or country houses, of....
  • Verdad sospechosa (work by Mendoza)
    ...excelled in liveliness. Mexican-born Juan Ruiz de Alarcón struck a distinctive note. His 20 plays were sober, studied, and imbued with serious moral purpose, and his Verdad sospechosa (1634; “The Truth Suspected”) inspired the great French dramatist Pierre Corneille’s Menteur (1643). Corneille’s famous ......
  • Verdala Palace (building, Malta island, Malta)
    ...including a partially restored villa housing a museum. Extensive early Christian catacombs are beneath the town, and there are several cave churches and medieval churches and monasteries. The nearby Verdala Palace (1586) was built as a summer residence for the grand masters of the Hospitalers (Knights of St. John of Jerusalem) and was used by the governors of the islands....
  • Verdandi (German mythology)
    ...mythology, any of a group of supernatural beings who corresponded to the Greek Moirai; they were usually represented as three maidens who spun or wove the fate of men. Some sources name them Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld, perhaps meaning “past,” “present,” and “future.” They were depicted as living by Yggdrasill, the world tree, under Urd’s well and w...
  • Verde, Cesário (Portuguese poet)
    poet who revived Portuguese poetry by introducing colloquial language and by exploring its capacity for expression. He dealt extensively with themes pertaining to the growth of urban life....
  • Verde Grande (river, Brazil)
    ...and Petrolina. In this stretch the river receives its main left-bank tributaries—the Paracatu, Urucuia, Corrente, and Grande rivers—and its main right-bank tributaries—the Verde Grande, Paramirim, and Jacaré....
  • Verde, José Joaquim Cesário (Portuguese poet)
    poet who revived Portuguese poetry by introducing colloquial language and by exploring its capacity for expression. He dealt extensively with themes pertaining to the growth of urban life....
  • Verde River (river, Arizona, United States)
    ...complex of volcanic calderas that formed about 305 million years ago; the mountains reach to about 3,000 feet (900 metres) at their highest point. The Mazatzal Mountains rise to the northeast; the Verde River flows to the west of the mountains, entering the Salt River east of Phoenix....
  • Verdelot, Philipe (composer)
    ...accordingly, the text was less syllabically declaimed. Both of these early styles are represented among the works of the first generation of 16th-century madrigal composers: Costanza Festa, Philippe Verdelot, Jacques Arcadelt, and Adriaan Willaert. Important works by Festa and Verdelot appear in the first printed book of madrigals (Rome, 1530)....
  • Verdet, Ilie (Romanian politician)
    Romanian politician (b. May 10, 1925, Comanesti, Rom.—d. March 20, 2001, Bucharest, Rom.), as the brother-in-law of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, held a variety of government posts, including first deputy prime minster (1966–74) and prime minister (1979–82). After Ceausescu’s overthrow and execution (1989), Verdet declared himself head of a provisional government...
  • Verdet, Marcel Émile (French physicist)
    ...coherent light. It was to answer the question How coherent is a beam of light? (or the equivalent one, How incoherent is a beam of light?) that the theory of partial coherence was developed. Marcel Verdet, a French physicist, realized in the 19th century that even sunlight is not completely incoherent, and two objects separated by distances of over approximately......
  • Verdi, Giuseppe (Italian composer)
    leading Italian composer of opera in the 19th century, noted for operas such as Rigoletto (1851), Il trovatore (1853), La traviata (1853), Don Carlos (1867), Aida (1871), Otello (1887), and Falstaff (1893) and for his ...
  • Verdi, Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco (Italian composer)
    leading Italian composer of opera in the 19th century, noted for operas such as Rigoletto (1851), Il trovatore (1853), La traviata (1853), Don Carlos (1867), Aida (1871), Otello (1887), and Falstaff (1893) and for his ...
  • verdict (law)
    ...modifications occurred. Some jurisdictions prescribe or allow a jury of six in minor criminal cases. In civil cases the federal courts usually employ a six-person jury, and many jurisdictions allow verdicts by less-than-unanimous votes. When the required number of jurors cannot agree on a verdict (termed a hung jury in the United States), the judge declares a mistrial, which means that the......
  • Verdigris River (river, United States)
    river rising southwest of Emporia, Kan., U.S., and flowing south and southeast past Neodesha, Independence, and Coffeyville and into Oklahoma to join the Arkansas River 5 miles (8 km) northeast of Muskogee, after a course of 350 miles (560 km). There are flood-control reservoirs near Toronto and Neodesha, Kan., and one near Oologah, Okla. The river’s name is probably derived from a French ...
  • verdin (bird)
    North American songbird of the family Remizidae....
  • Verdon Canyon (canyon, France)
    ...and northwestern Italy to Lake Geneva and the Rhône valley in Switzerland. Their forms include the low-lying arid limestones of the Maritime Alps near the Mediterranean, the deep cleft of the Verdon Canyon in France, the crystalline peaks of the Mercantour Massif, and the glacier-covered dome of Mont Blanc, which at 15,771 feet (4,807 metres) is the highest peak in the Alps. Rivers from....
  • Verdon, Gwyneth Evelyn (American actress and dancer)
    American dancer and actress (b. Jan. 13, 1925, Culver City, Calif.—d. Oct. 18, 2000, Woodstock, Vt.), was the quintessential stage musical star, considered by many to have been the best Broadway dancer ever. She was highly regarded not only for her dancing but also for the depth she brought to the characters she portrayed, and she was especially noted for her collaboration with choreographe...
  • Verdon, Pierre (French inventor)
    The food processor was invented by Pierre Verdon, whose Le Magi-Mix, a compact household version of his own earlier restaurant-scaled Robot-Coupe, was first exhibited in Paris in 1971. Carl Sontheimer, an American engineer and inventor, refined Verdon’s machines to produce the Cuisinart. The widespread success of the Cuisinart following its exhibition in Chicago in 1973 led a number of......
  • Verdon River (river, France)
    river, southern France. It is famous for its gorges, including its “Grand Canyon,” which may be seen from the scenic road that runs 12 miles (20 km) between Pont de l’Artuby and Aiguines, on the border of the Alpes-de-Haute Provence and Var départements....
  • “verdriet van België, Het” (novel by Claus)
    ...takes in every imaginable narrative mode, from the naturalistic to the surreal and the teasingly allusive. His major novel, the monumental Het verdriet van België (1983; The Sorrow of Belgium), paints an unflattering portrait of a Flemish collaborationist family in the years before, during, and after World War II, but it is also a Bildungsroman about a wayward.....
  • Verdugo del Carmen Aguirre, Patricia (Chilean writer and journalist)
    Chilean writer and journalist who spent her entire career uncovering corruption and the political machinations and human rights abuses of the regime of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, who came to power in Chile in a 1973 coup. After graduating (1968) with a degree in journalism from the Catholic University of Chile, Verdugo worked for the centrist magazine Ercilla. She and Ercilla director Em...
  • Verdugo, Patricia (Chilean writer and journalist)
    Chilean writer and journalist who spent her entire career uncovering corruption and the political machinations and human rights abuses of the regime of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, who came to power in Chile in a 1973 coup. After graduating (1968) with a degree in journalism from the Catholic University of Chile, Verdugo worked for the centrist magazine Ercilla. She and Ercilla director Em...
  • Verdun (France)
    town, Meuse département, Lorraine région, northeastern France, on the Meuse River. Most of the town is on the left bank, near the Citadel. Practically destroyed in World War I, it was rebuilt with wide streets. A cathedral, dating from the 11th century and rising on the highest point of the town, has been r...
  • Verdun, Battle of (World War I [1916])
    (Feb. 21–July, 1916), one of the most devastating engagements of World War I, in which the French repulsed a major German offensive....
  • Verdun, Treaty of (France [843])
    (August 843), treaty partitioning the Carolingian empire among the three surviving sons of the emperor Louis I the Pious. The treaty was the first stage in the dissolution of the empire of Charlemagne and foreshadowed the formation of the modern countries of western Europe. Louis I had carefully planned his three elder sons’ inheritances; but from 829 onward his attempts ...
  • verdure tapestry (decorative arts)
    type of tapestry decorated with a design based on plant forms. It is not known exactly when the first verdure tapestries were made, but, by the 16th century, tapestries with formal designs derived from foliage had become immensely popular. In the last half of the 17th century, landscapes were incorporated into their design....
  • Verdy, Violette (French ballerina)
    French ballerina and dance director, who was awarded the French Order of Arts and Letters in 1973 and the Dance Magazine Award in 1968....
  • Vere, Edward de (English poet and dramatist)
    English lyric poet and patron of an acting company, Oxford’s Men, who became, in the 20th century, the strongest candidate proposed (next to William Shakespeare himself) for the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays....
  • Vere family (English family)
    noted English family that held the hereditary office of lord great chamberlain from 1133 to 1779 and the earldom of Oxford from 1142 to 1703....
  • Vere, John de (English soldier)
    English soldier and royal official, a Lancastrian leader in the Wars of the Roses. He helped to restore the deposed King Henry VI (1470) and later (1485) to secure the English throne for the last surviving male claimant from the house of Lancaster, Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, afterward King Henry VII....
  • Vere, Robert de (English statesman)
    favourite of King Richard II of England (ruled 1377–99) during that monarch’s minority. He led the group of courtiers who unsuccessfully supported Richard’s efforts in 1385–87 to wrest control of the government from powerful nobles....
  • Vere, Sir Francis de (English soldier)
    ...Lancastrian leader in the Wars of the Roses and crowned King Henry VII in 1485. Two of the grandsons of John, the 15th earl, were notable soldiers who were known as the “fighting Veres”; Sir Francis (1560–1609) commanded the English troops in the Netherlands that fought against Spain in the service of the United Provinces, while his younger brother Sir Horace (1565–1...
  • Vere, Sir Horace de (English soldier)
    ...Veres”; Sir Francis (1560–1609) commanded the English troops in the Netherlands that fought against Spain in the service of the United Provinces, while his younger brother Sir Horace (1565–1635) fought in Germany during the Thirty Years’ War. Edward (1550–1604), the 17th Earl of Oxford, was a poet and dramatist who squandered much of the family’s wealth...
  • Vereda da salvação (work by Andrade)
    ...in southern Brazil, the rise and fall of the one-crop coffee economy, and the drama of individuals trying to come to terms with themselves, their backgrounds, and their changing environment. In Vereda da salvação (1965; “The Path of Salvation”), he vividly depicted the delirium and destruction of a group of religious mystics at the hands of the authorities....
  • Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (Dutch trading company)
    trading company founded by the Dutch in 1602 to protect their trade in the Indian Ocean and to assist in their war of independence from Spain. The company prospered through most of the 17th century as the instrument of the powerful Dutch commercial empire in the East Indies. It was dissolved in 1799....
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