P-38, fighter and fighter-bomber employed by the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. A large and powerful aircraft, it served as a bomber escort, a tactical bomber, and a photo-reconnaissance platform. Of the three outstanding Army fighters of the war (the others being the P-47 Thunderbolt

lightning, the visible discharge of electricity that occurs when a region of a cloud acquires an excess electrical charge, either positive or negative, that is sufficient to break down the resistance of air. A brief description of lightning follows. For a longer discussion of lightning within its

clipper ship: The Lightning set the all-time record for a single day’s sail, covering 436 nautical miles in 24 h. The Lightning and the James Baines (both launched in 1854 or 1855), as well as the Flying Cloud, were built by Donald McKay, a Canadian-born shipbuilder, at his…

Sir John Isaac Thornycroft: …of the Royal Navy, HMS Lightning, which he completed in 1877. At the same time, he experimented with hull form and propeller design and patented a hull that could skim, rather than cut through, the water. He also designed water-tube boilers for torpedo boats as well as one of the…

ball lightning, a rare aerial phenomenon in the form of a luminous sphere that is generally several centimetres in diameter. It usually occurs near the ground during thunderstorms, in close association with cloud-to-ground lightning. It may be red, orange, yellow, white, or blue in colour and is

Pearl Jam: Later releases: …released its 10th studio album, Lightning Bolt, which claimed the top spot on the Billboard 200 chart. On Gigaton (2020) the band inveighed against the dangers of climate change.

firefly, (family Lampyridae), any of some 2,000 species of beetles (insect order Coleoptera) found in most tropical and temperate regions that have special light-producing organs on the underside of the abdomen. Most fireflies are nocturnal, although some species are diurnal. They are soft-bodied

conch: canaliculatum) and the lightning conch (B. contrarium), both about 18 cm long and common on the Atlantic coast of the United States. Another melongenid is the Australian trumpet, or baler (Syrinx aruanus), which may be more than 60 cm long—the largest living snail. It is rivaled by the…

lightning rod, metallic rod (usually copper) that protects a structure from lightning damage by intercepting flashes and guiding their currents into the ground. Because lightning tends to strike the highest object in the vicinity, rods are typically placed at the apex of a structure and along its

construction: Vertical transportation: …high-speed electric-powered roped elevator (called “lightning” elevators in comparison to the slower hydraulics) in 1889 and the electric-powered moving staircase, or escalator, in the 1890s.

Dia Art Foundation: …such as Walter De Maria’s The Lightning Field (1977), a series of lightning rods arranged in a grid formation in the southwestern New Mexico desert. In addition, in 1983 Dia established the Dan Flavin Art Institute in Bridgehampton, New York, which serves as a permanent installation of the light-based works…

plant hopper, any member of several insect families of the order Homoptera, easily recognized because of the hollow, enlarged head extension that may appear luminous (see lanternfly). Plant hoppers feed on plant juices and excrete honeydew, a sweet by-product of digestion. Plant hoppers, ranging in

Nicholas Ray: Later films: …cancer, Ray appeared in Wenders’s Lightning over Water (1980), a moving record of his last months. For periods in his life Ray wore a signature patch over one eye, though it may have been a fashion statement rather than a necessity; accounts of its origin vary. There is little doubt,…

lightning rod, metallic rod (usually copper) that protects a structure from lightning damage by intercepting flashes and guiding their currents into the ground. Because lightning tends to strike the highest object in the vicinity, rods are typically placed at the apex of a structure and along its

King Vidor: Later films: Lightning Strikes Twice (1951), a murder melodrama with Ruth Roman and Richard Todd, and Japanese War Bride (1952) were the sort of near B-films that would have been inconceivable for someone of his stature a decade earlier. Vidor had more success with Ruby Gentry (1952),…

Titanic: U.S. inquiry: Notable witnesses included Second Officer Charles Lightoller, the most senior officer to survive. He defended the actions of his superiors, especially Captain Smith’s refusal to decrease the ship’s speed. Many passengers testified to the general confusion on the ship. A general warning was never sounded, causing a number of passengers…

The Jazz Singer: …another Warner Brothers Vitaphone film, Lights of New York (1928).

Alain Mabanckou: …and Lumières de Pointe-Noire (2013; The Lights of Pointe-Noire), described by one critic as “a dazzling meditation on homecoming and belonging.” In 2007 Mabanckou became a professor of French and Francophone studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

radio: Horror and suspense: In that same year Lights Out, a true milestone in radio horror, was launched by producer-director Wyllis Cooper; in 1936 Cooper accepted a Hollywood screenwriting job and left the series to writer-director Arch Oboler. The show (which frequently aired at midnight so as not to be heard by the…

ancient lights, in English property law, the right of a building or house owner to the light received from and through his windows. Windows used for light by an owner for 20 years or more could not be obstructed by the erection of an edifice or by any other act by an adjacent landowner. This rule

Hanukkah, Jewish festival that begins on Kislev 25 (usually in December, according to the Gregorian calendar) and is celebrated for eight days. Hanukkah reaffirms the ideals of Judaism and commemorates in particular the rededication of the Second Temple of Jerusalem by the lighting of candles on

lightship, marine navigation and warning beacon stationed where lighthouse construction is impractical. The first lightship was the Nore (1732), stationed in the estuary of the River Thames in England. Modern lightships are small, unattended vessels equipped with fog signals, radio beacons, and

ship: Hydrostatics: …weight are known collectively as lightship weight. The sum of deadweight and lightship weight is displacement—that is, the weight that must be equaled by the weight of displaced water if the ship is to float. Of course, the volume of water displaced by a ship is a function of the…

Chris Evans: In the animated Lightyear (2022), a spin-off of Pixar’s popular Toy Story series, Evans voiced the character of Buzz Lightyear. His other credits from 2022 include the spy thriller The Gray Man, in which he portrayed a villainous former CIA agent.

Ingrid Betancourt: …novel, La Ligne bleue (2014; The Blue Line), was a love story set during the Argentine Dirty War.

Charles-Joseph, prince de Ligne was a Belgian military officer and man of letters whose memoirs and correspondence with such leading European figures as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Voltaire had an important influence on Belgian literature. The son of Claude Lamoral, prince de Ligne, head of a family

Riedel thyroiditis, extremely rare form of chronic inflammation of the thyroid gland, in which the glandular tissues assume a densely fibrous structure, interfering with production of thyroid hormone and compressing the adjacent trachea and esophagus. The thyroid becomes enlarged, often

Nancy Huston: …into French of her novel Fault Lines, originally written in English but not published in that language until 2007.

lignin, complex oxygen-containing organic polymer that, with cellulose, forms the chief constituent of wood. It is second to cellulose as the most abundant organic material on Earth, though relatively few industrial uses other than as a fuel have been found. A secondary metabolite, lignin is

lignite, generally yellow to dark brown or rarely black coal that formed from peat at shallow depths and temperatures lower than 100 °C (212 °F). It is the first product of coalification and is intermediate between peat and subbituminous coal according to the coal classification used in the United

cellulosic ethanol: Cellulosic ethanol is produced from lignocellulosic biomass, which is primarily composed of cellulose and lignin found in dry plant matter. Lignocellulosic biomass can be generally categorized as virgin biomass from naturally occurring plants, waste biomass from industrial and agricultural by-products, and energy crops that are grown specifically for cellulosic ethanol…

Myrtales: Characteristic morphological features: …Myrtaceae is the presence of lignotubers. These organs are large, woody, rounded outgrowths, up to several centimetres in diameter, surrounding the base of the young tree trunk. The lignotuber consists of a mass of vegetative buds and associated vascular tissue and contains substantial food reserves. If the top of a…

lignum vitae, (genus Guaiacum), any of several trees in the family Zygophyllaceae (order Zygophyllales), particularly Guaiacum officinale, native to the New World tropics. G. officinale occurs from the southern United States to northern South America. It grows about 9 metres (30 feet) tall and

Napoleon I: Elba and the Hundred Days: …and defeated the Prussians at Ligny on June 16, 1815. Two days later, at Waterloo, he met the British under Wellington, the victor of the Peninsular War. A savage battle followed. Napoleon was in sight of victory when the Prussians under Gebhard Blücher arrived to reinforce the British, and soon,…

Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), astronomical observatory located in Hanford, Washington, and in Livingston, Louisiana, that in 2015 made the first direct detection of gravitational waves. Construction began on LIGO in 1999, and observations began in 2001. Gravitational

Līgo feast, in Baltic religion, the major celebration honouring the sun goddess, Saule

Nakhon Si Thammarat, town, southern Thailand, on the eastern side of the Malay Peninsula. The walled town of Nakhon Si Thammarat, one of Thailand’s oldest cities, lies near the coast of the Gulf of Thailand. Founded more than 1,000 years ago, it was the capital of a powerful state that controlled

Pirro Ligorio was an Italian architect, painter, landscaper, and antiquarian who designed the Villa d’Este at Tivoli (1550–69), which still stands in its original state. Built for Ligorio’s patron, Cardinal Ippolito d’Este, the villa has a planted landscape and a vast terraced garden with

rugby: France: …French rugby league federation (Ligue Française de Rugby à XIII) was formed. Like rugby union, the league game in France is largely confined to the southern part of the country. During World War II, rugby league play was outlawed in France by the Vichy government, but the sport made…

National Dialogue Quartet: …de l’Artisinat; UTICA), and the Tunisian Human Rights League (La Ligue Tunisienne pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme; LTDH)—that was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2015 for its efforts to broker peaceful political compromise in Tunisia in the wake of the Tunisian Revolution of 2010–11 (also called the…

Auguste Chouteau: …she formed a liaison with Pierre Laclède Liguest, who took Auguste and the rest of the family to the Illinois country in 1763. The following year 14-year-old Auguste commanded a group of 30 men who built a village on the west bank of the Mississippi at the junction of the…

Asteraceae: Flowers: …one kind of flower, the ligulate flower. Ligulate flowers superficially resemble the ray flowers of radiate heads in having a corolla that is tubular at the base and prolonged on the outer side into a flat, strap-shaped ligule. They differ from ray flowers in that they are perfect (bisexual) and…

Asteraceae: Flowers: …various tribes of Asteraceae, the ligulate head is almost entirely restricted to one tribe, Lactuceae (Cichorieae), and is found in all members of that tribe. Ligulate heads consist entirely of one kind of flower, the ligulate flower. Ligulate flowers superficially resemble the ray flowers of radiate heads in having a…

Asteraceae: Flowers: …a generally flat projection, the ray, or ligule. These rays are the petal-like parts, in a comparison of the flower head to an ordinary flower. The ray flowers in radiate heads are either pistillate (female) or neutral (with a vestigial, nonfunctional ovary and no style). The disk flowers in a…

lycophyte: Form and function: …a leaf; this is the ligule, a peculiar tonguelike outgrowth from the leaf surface near the leaf base. Leaves of Lycopodium and Selaginella can be differentiated on this basis. The ligule, which appears very early in the development of a leaf, is a surprisingly complex structure at maturity. Its evolutionary…

St. Alphonsus Liguori ; canonized 1839; feast day August 1) was an Italian doctor of the church, one of the chief 18th-century moral theologians, and founder of the Redemptorists, a congregation dedicated primarily to parish and foreign missions. In 1871 he was named a doctor of the church by Pope

St. Alphonsus Liguori ; canonized 1839; feast day August 1) was an Italian doctor of the church, one of the chief 18th-century moral theologians, and founder of the Redemptorists, a congregation dedicated primarily to parish and foreign missions. In 1871 he was named a doctor of the church by Pope

St. Alphonsus Liguori ; canonized 1839; feast day August 1) was an Italian doctor of the church, one of the chief 18th-century moral theologians, and founder of the Redemptorists, a congregation dedicated primarily to parish and foreign missions. In 1871 he was named a doctor of the church by Pope

St. Alphonsus Liguori ; canonized 1839; feast day August 1) was an Italian doctor of the church, one of the chief 18th-century moral theologians, and founder of the Redemptorists, a congregation dedicated primarily to parish and foreign missions. In 1871 he was named a doctor of the church by Pope

Ligurian, any member of a collection of ancient peoples who inhabited the northwestern Mediterranean coast from the mouth of the Ebro River in Spain to the mouth of the Arno River in Italy in the 1st millennium bc. No ancient texts speak of Ligurians in southern Gaul as nations or attribute

Ligurian Sea, arm of the Mediterranean Sea indenting the northwestern coast of Italy. It extends between Liguria and Tuscany (north and east) and the French island of Corsica (south). It receives many rivers that originate in the Apennines, and it reaches a depth of more than 9,300 feet (2,850

Ligurian, any member of a collection of ancient peoples who inhabited the northwestern Mediterranean coast from the mouth of the Ebro River in Spain to the mouth of the Arno River in Italy in the 1st millennium bc. No ancient texts speak of Ligurians in southern Gaul as nations or attribute

Liguria, the third smallest of the regioni of Italy, bordering the Ligurian Sea, in the northwestern part of the country. It comprises the provincie of Genoa, Imperia, La Spezia, and Savona. Shaped like a crescent reaching from the mouth of the Roia River to that of the Magra and from the French

Ligurian, any member of a collection of ancient peoples who inhabited the northwestern Mediterranean coast from the mouth of the Ebro River in Spain to the mouth of the Arno River in Italy in the 1st millennium bc. No ancient texts speak of Ligurians in southern Gaul as nations or attribute

Ligurian language, language spoken by the Ligurians in northwestern Italy (and perhaps also in southern France and northeastern Spain) in pre-Roman and early Roman times. It is apparently an Indo-European language. Some scholars have maintained that Ligurian is closely related to the Italic and

pizza: The Ligurian pizza resembles the pissaladière of Provence in France, adding anchovies to olives and onions. Pizza has also spread from Italy throughout much of the rest of the world, and, in regions outside of Italy, the toppings used vary with the ingredients available and the…

Ligurian Republic, republic created by Napoleon Bonaparte on June 15, 1797, organizing the conquered city of Genoa and its environs. The government was modeled on that of the Directory in France, and the republic was tied to France by alliance. In 1803 it became also a military district, closely

Ligurian Sea, arm of the Mediterranean Sea indenting the northwestern coast of Italy. It extends between Liguria and Tuscany (north and east) and the French island of Corsica (south). It receives many rivers that originate in the Apennines, and it reaches a depth of more than 9,300 feet (2,850

Ligurian Sea, arm of the Mediterranean Sea indenting the northwestern coast of Italy. It extends between Liguria and Tuscany (north and east) and the French island of Corsica (south). It receives many rivers that originate in the Apennines, and it reaches a depth of more than 9,300 feet (2,850

Ligurian, any member of a collection of ancient peoples who inhabited the northwestern Mediterranean coast from the mouth of the Ebro River in Spain to the mouth of the Arno River in Italy in the 1st millennium bc. No ancient texts speak of Ligurians in southern Gaul as nations or attribute

Ligurian Sea, arm of the Mediterranean Sea indenting the northwestern coast of Italy. It extends between Liguria and Tuscany (north and east) and the French island of Corsica (south). It receives many rivers that originate in the Apennines, and it reaches a depth of more than 9,300 feet (2,850

privet, any of about 40 to 50 species of shrubs and small trees belonging to the genus Ligustrum of the family Oleaceae that are widely used for hedges, screens, and ornamental plantings. Privets—native to Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Mediterranean region—are evergreen or deciduous plants with

privet: Japanese privet (L. japonicum), about 4.7 m tall, has very glossy leaves. It also requires mild winters, as does the smaller leaved California privet (L. ovalifolium) from Japan, commonly grown as a hedge plant. All four species have variegated forms.

privet: Glossy privet (L. lucidum), from eastern Asia, is a 9-metre tree in areas with mild winters. It has 25-centimetre (10-inch) flower clusters in summer. Japanese privet (L. japonicum), about 4.7 m tall, has very glossy leaves. It also requires mild winters, as does the smaller…

privet: …as does the smaller leaved California privet (L. ovalifolium) from Japan, commonly grown as a hedge plant. All four species have variegated forms.

privet: The hardy common privet (L. vulgare), native to northeastern Europe and Great Britain and naturalized in northeastern North America, is widely used as a hedge plant. It reaches about 4.5 m (15 feet). Glossy privet (L. lucidum), from eastern Asia, is a 9-metre tree in areas with…

veld: Physiography: The Lowveld is the name given to two areas that lie at an elevation of between 500 and 2,000 feet (150 and 600 metres) above sea level. One area is in the South African provinces of Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Swaziland, and the other…

Kamehameha II was the king of Hawaii from 1819 to 1824, son of Kamehameha I. In 1820 he admitted the first company of missionaries (from New England), who, within two years, had learned the language, reduced it to writing, and printed the first textbook. Kamehameha resisted conversion to

Kamehameha IV was a Hawaiian sovereign known for his firm opposition to the annexation of his kingdom by the United States. As Kamehameha IV, he strove to curb the political power of the American Protestant missionaries in the Hawaiian Islands. Dedicated to protecting his people, who were rapidly

Lihue, city, seat of Kauai county, southeastern Kauai island, Hawaii, U.S. Sugarcane became the locality’s economic mainstay with the foundation of the Lihue Sugar Plantation (1849) by German colonists. In 1883 the Germans built a Lutheran church that fused classical New England and Bavarian

history of Arabia: Dedān and Al-Ḥijr: …soon by a kingdom of Liḥyān (Greek: Lechienoi). The entire area, however, was not long in coming under the rule of the Nabataean kings of a dynasty (centred at Petra) covering the 1st century bce and the 1st ce; and the ancient town of Dedān was eclipsed by a new…

Estonian literature: …in the later work of Juhan Liiv.

Ethiopia: Iyasu (1913–16): As Menilek aged, he appointed a cabinet to act for his grandson and heir designate, Iyasu (Lij Yasu), a son of the Muslim Oromo ruler of Wallo. Upon the emperor’s death in 1913, Iyasu took power in his own right. Seeking a society…

Ethiopia: Iyasu (1913–16): As Menilek aged, he appointed a cabinet to act for his grandson and heir designate, Iyasu (Lij Yasu), a son of the Muslim Oromo ruler of Wallo. Upon the emperor’s death in 1913, Iyasu took power in his own right. Seeking a society…

Liji, one of the Five Classics (Wujing) of Chinese Confucian literature, the original text of which is said to have been compiled by the ancient sage Confucius (551–479 bc). During the 1st century bc the text was extensively reworked by Dai De (Elder Dai) and his cousin Dai Sheng (Younger Dai).

lijia, system of social organization in Ming dynasty China. See

likin, special tax paid by merchants and traders in mid-19th-century China. Likin (“a tax of one-thousandth”) was levied on goods in transit or as a sales tax in shops where goods were sold. The tax originated in 1853 in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu as a method of financing troops to aid

Liji, one of the Five Classics (Wujing) of Chinese Confucian literature, the original text of which is said to have been compiled by the ancient sage Confucius (551–479 bc). During the 1st century bc the text was extensively reworked by Dai De (Elder Dai) and his cousin Dai Sheng (Younger Dai).

Willem Elsschot: …“The Deliverance”) and Lijmen (1924; Soft Soap), went virtually unnoticed; discouraged, he devoted himself to his business career and ceased writing until the 1930s. He published Kaas (“Cheese”) in 1933 and followed it with the novel Tsjip (“Cheep”) in 1934. Laarmans, who is the protagonist in Kaas, had been introduced…

Rotterdam: The Lijnbaan Shopping Centre became the prototype for similar centres in Europe and America that allowed only pedestrian traffic.

consociationalism: The theory of elite cooperation: …the 1960s, in particular by Arend Lijphart, and is used today as both an analytical and a normative category. Based on a number of factors, it takes different forms in different countries, and it has been widely criticized.

Likasi, city, southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It lies along the Likasi River, 86 miles (138 km) northwest of Lubumbashi, to which it is connected by road and rail. In 1892 Belgians discovered copper deposits at Likasi and at Kambove, 15 miles (24 km) northwest. Likasi was founded in

Athens: The city plan: The slopes of Mount Likavittós, outside the town limits, were still pine-clad. Since then the garden has become one of the painfully rare public parks in Athens. Likavittós now rears up in the middle of the city (as if Hyde Park or Central Park were a 1,112-foot mountain),…

Southeast Asian arts: Popular plays and puppets: …major popular theatre form is likay, which evolved in part out of lakon nok. It is now performed by more than 100 troupes in most parts of Thailand. Actors are skilled in improvising not only the dialogue and lyrics but also the plot of a play as well, weaving romantic…

Ligdan was the last of the paramount Mongol khans (ruled 1604–34). Ligdan was a member of the Chahar royal family in which the Mongol supreme khanate was vested. He lived at a time when the Mongols were abandoning their traditional shamanism to convert to Tibetan Buddhism. He had Buddhist temples

Tiffany Haddish: …Haddish starred in the movie Like a Boss, a comedy about two friends who create a cosmetics company, and appeared in the Netflix miniseries Self Made, which was inspired by the life of pioneering businesswoman Madam C.J. Walker (played by Octavia Spencer). Her films from 2021 included the comedy Bad…

Solomon Burke: …with What You Got (2005), Like a Fire (2008), and Nothing’s Impossible (2010)—were nominated in that category. He was traveling to the Netherlands for a performance in October 2010 when he died at Schiphol airport near Amsterdam. Burke was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.

Bob Seger: …Motors to feature Seger’s “Like a Rock” in a prominent and long-running advertising campaign for Chevrolet.

Bob Dylan: …most ascendant song yet, “Like a Rolling Stone.” Devoid of obvious protest references, set against a rough-hewn, twangy rock underpinning, and fronted by a snarling vocal that lashed out at all those who questioned his legitimacy, “Like a Rolling Stone” spoke to yet a new set of listeners and…

Kelsey Grammer: …meant for her honeymoon in Like Father (2018). Grammer later appeared in the legal drama Proven Innocent (2019), portraying a tough prosecutor, and was cast as a congressman in Charming the Hearts of Men (2020), a romantic drama set in the 1960s. His films from 2021 included The Space Between,…

Aamir Khan: …with Taare zameen par (Like Stars on Earth); he also starred in that critically acclaimed drama.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul: In Like the Relentless Fury of Pounding Waves (1996), Weerasethakul experimented with the layering of sound, light, still photography, and other elements of filmmaking, It was the first of his experimental documentary projects, and its concerns were to evolve in his later films.

Lois Lowry: Books of the 21st century: …Boy (2003), The Willoughbys (2008), Like the Willow Tree (2011), and The Windeby Puzzle (2023).

history of film: Mexico: …Como agua para chocolate (1992; Like Water for Chocolate). He then went on to be a director in American film and television. Alfonso Cuarón, who had been working in Hollywood, returned to Mexico to direct the acclaimed Y tu mamá también (2001; “And Your Mother Too”). He then directed the…

wake, watch or vigil held over the body of a dead person before burial and sometimes accompanied by festivity; also, in England, a vigil kept in commemoration of the dedication of the parish church. The latter type of wake consisted of an all-night service of prayer and meditation in the church.

likelihood, In mathematics, a subjective assessment of possibility that, when assigned a numerical value on a scale between impossibility (0) and absolute certainty (1), becomes a probability (see probability theory). Thus, the numerical assignment of a probability depends on the notion of

mbira, plucked idiophone (instrument whose sounding parts are resonant solids belonging to the body of the instrument itself)—or more specifically, a lamellaphone—that is unique to Africa and widely distributed throughout the continent. The mbira consists of a series of tuned metal or bamboo

African music: Musical instruments: …form of lamellaphone known as likembe dza vadzimu serves in rituals of ancestor worship, while in the kingdom of Buganda the royal drums formerly held higher status than the king. In West and central Africa, pressure drums may serve for the transmission of messages or, together with trumpets, for the…

Likert scale, rating system, used in questionnaires, that is designed to measure people’s attitudes, opinions, or perceptions. Subjects choose from a range of possible responses to a specific question or statement; responses typically include “strongly agree,” “agree,” “neutral,” “disagree,” and

Rensis Likert was an American social scientist who developed scales for attitude measurement and introduced the concept of participative management. After studying economics and sociology at the University of Michigan (A.B., 1922), Likert studied psychology at Columbia University (Ph.D., 1932). He