• sprint canoeing (sport)

    canoeing: Recreation and sport: Sprint races are held on still water (except for wild-water and slalom) in depths of at least 3 metres (9.8 feet). Races of up to 1,000 metres take place entirely in lanes, whereas longer races only end in lanes. Long-distance racing is not governed by…

  • Sprint Cup Series (auto racing championship)

    Jimmie Johnson: …Series and, in 2008, the Sprint Cup Series.) He also earned his first Busch Series win in 2001, at Chicagoland Speedway, winding up eighth in that series’s point standings. In 2002 he began his rookie season in the Cup Series, winning three races and ending the season ranked fifth. Two…

  • Sprint Nextel (American company)

    NASCAR: …to reflect Nextel’s merger with Sprint, another telephone service provider. In 2007 the Japanese automaker Toyota entered the Cup Series, traditionally dominated by American manufacturers such as Chevrolet (see General Motors Corporation) and Ford. By the end of the first decade of the 21st century, Jimmie

  • sprocket

    bicycle: Drivetrain: …the chain from one rear sprocket to the next. The front derailleur moves the chain from one front chainwheel to the next. By varying the size of the sprockets and chainwheels, the rear wheel can turn faster or slower than the crank. Modern bicycles have up to 10 sprockets on…

  • sprosser (bird)

    sprosser, species of nightingale

  • Spruance, Raymond (United States military officer)

    Battle of the Philippine Sea: …under the command of Admiral Raymond Spruance. The result for the Japanese was a disaster: in the first day of the battle the Japanese lost more than 200 planes and two regular carriers; and, as their fleet retired northward toward safe harbour at Okinawa, it lost another carrier and nearly…

  • spruce (plant)

    spruce, (genus Picea), genus of about 40 species of evergreen ornamental and timber trees in the conifer family Pinaceae, native to the temperate and cold regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Spruce pulp is important in the paper industry, and timber from the trees is used in a variety of

  • spruce budworm (insect)

    spruce budworm, Larva of a leaf roller moth (Choristoneura fumiferana), one of the most destructive North American pests. It attacks evergreens, feeding on needles and pollen, and can completely defoliate spruce and related trees, causing much loss for the lumber industry and damaging

  • Spruce Goose (flying boat)

    Howard Hughes: Aviation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Las Vegas: The Hercules, an eight-engine wooden flying boat intended to carry 750 passengers, was not finished until 1947. That year Hughes was brought before a Senate committee investigating war profiteering. In the highly publicized hearing, he sparred with Sen. Owen Brewster and ultimately prevailed. Hughes subsequently piloted (1947) the Hercules, popularly…

  • spruce grouse (bird)

    grouse: The spruce grouse (Falcipennis canadensis), found in northerly conifer country, is nearly as big as a ruffed grouse, the male darker. Its flesh usually has the resinous taste of conifer buds and needles, its chief food. Also of evergreen forests is the blue grouse (Dendragapus obscurus),…

  • Spruce Knob (mountain, West Virginia, United States)

    Spruce Knob, highest point in West Virginia, U.S., located in the Allegheny Mountains in the eastern part of the state, about 25 miles (40 km) southeast of Elkins. Spruce Knob lies at an elevation of 4,863 feet (1,482 metres) at the southern end of Spruce Mountain, a ridge extending

  • Spruce Knob–Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area (area, West Virginia, United States)

    Spruce Knob: …focal points of Spruce Knob–Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area within the national forest. The recreation area, established in 1965, has an area of about 156 square miles (405 square km) and is a noted destination for rock climbing.

  • spruce sawfly (insect)

    insect: Ecological factors: …the early 1940s the European spruce sawfly (Gilpinia hercyniae), which had caused immense damage, was completely controlled by the spontaneous appearance of a viral disease, perhaps unknowingly introduced from Europe. This event led to increased interest in using insect diseases as potential means of managing pest populations.

  • sprue, nontropical (autoimmune digestive disorder)

    celiac disease, an inherited autoimmune digestive disorder in which affected individuals cannot tolerate gluten, a protein constituent of wheat, barley, malt, and rye flours. General symptoms of the disease include the passage of foul pale-coloured stools (steatorrhea), progressive malnutrition,

  • sprue, tropical (disease)

    tropical sprue, rare acquired disease characterized by an impairment of the small intestine’s ability to absorb fats, vitamins, and minerals. Tropical sprue is found primarily in Cuba, Haiti, and Puerto Rico and in India and Pakistan. Sprue often attacks middle-aged adults. Its cause is unknown;

  • sprul-sku lama (Tibetan Buddhism)

    lama: Some lamas are considered reincarnations of their predecessors. These are termed sprul-sku lamas, as distinguished from “developed” lamas, who have won respect because of the high level of spiritual development they have achieved in the present lifetime. The highest lineage of reincarnate lamas is that of Dalai Lama, who…

  • sprung rhythm (prosody)

    sprung rhythm, an irregular system of prosody developed by the 19th-century English poet Gerard Manley Hopkins. It is based on the number of stressed syllables in a line and permits an indeterminate number of unstressed syllables. In sprung rhythm, a foot may be composed of from one to four

  • SPS (political party, Switzerland)

    Social Democratic Party of Switzerland, Swiss political party of the centre-left that supports an extensive government role in the economy. With the Christian Democratic People’s Party, FDP. The Liberals, and the Swiss People’s Party, the Social Democratic Party has governed Switzerland as part of

  • SPS (device)

    CERN: …the particle accelerator; and the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS; 1976), which featured a 7-km (4.35-mile) circumference ring able to accelerate protons to a peak energy of 500 GeV. Experiments at the PS in 1973 demonstrated for the first time that neutrinos could interact with matter without changing into muons; this…

  • SPS (political party, Yugoslavia)

    fascism: Serbia: Slobodan Milošević, leader of the Socialist Party of Serbia (Socijalisticka Partija Srbije; SPS), the campaigns in Croatia and Bosnia were undertaken in part to bolster Milošević’s image as a staunch nationalist and to consolidate his power at the expense of Vojislav Seselj’s Serbian Radical Party (Srpska Radikalna Stranka; SRS), then…

  • Spu-rgyal btsan-po (Tibetan ruler)

    Gnam-ri-srong-brtsan was a descendant of a line of rulers of Yarlong, who united tribes in central and southern Tibet that became known to China’s Sui dynasty (581–618). After his assassination, he was succeeded by his son, Srong-brtsan-sgam-po (c. 608–650), who continued his father’s military

  • spud (dredge part)

    dredge: Long stakes, called spuds, are frequently used to pinion a dredge to the bottom.

  • Spud (adjustable pierhead)

    Mulberry: …terminated at great pierheads, called Spuds, that were jacked up and down on legs which rested on the seafloor. These structures were to be sheltered from the sea by lines of massive sunken caissons (called Phoenixes), lines of scuttled ships (called Gooseberries), and a line of floating breakwaters (called Bombardons).…

  • Spuds MacKenzie (fictional character)

    Bull Terrier: In the late 1980s “Spuds MacKenzie,” portrayed by a female Bull Terrier named Honey Tree Evil Eye, began starring in TV commercials for Bud Light. According to The New York Times, Spuds helped increase sales by 20 percent between 1987 and 1988; the dog was pictured on everything from…

  • spun glass (glass)

    fibreglass, fibrous form of glass that is used principally as insulation and as a reinforcing agent in plastics. Glass fibres were little more than a novelty until the 1930s, when their thermal and electrical insulating properties were appreciated and methods for producing continuous glass

  • spun silk (textile)

    sericulture: Spun silk is made from short lengths obtained from damaged cocoons or broken off during processing, twisted together to make yarn. The thickness of silk filament yarn is expressed in terms of denier, the number of grams of weight per 9,000 metres (9,846 yards) of…

  • spun silk yarn (textile)

    sericulture: Spun silk is made from short lengths obtained from damaged cocoons or broken off during processing, twisted together to make yarn. The thickness of silk filament yarn is expressed in terms of denier, the number of grams of weight per 9,000 metres (9,846 yards) of…

  • Spunk: The Selected Stories (work by Hurston)

    Zora Neale Hurston: …were published posthumously; these include Spunk: The Selected Stories (1985), The Complete Stories (1995), and Every Tongue Got to Confess (2001), a collection of folktales from the South. In 1995 the Library of America published a two-volume set of Hurston’s work in its series. In addition, Hurston’s Barracoon: The Story…

  • spur (tool part)

    auger: …are two sharp points called spurs, which score a circle equal in diameter to the hole, and two radial cutting edges that cut shavings within the scored circle. The twist is helical and carries the shavings away from the cutters. The tang is square and tapered and fits in the…

  • spur (animal appendage)

    platypus: Form and function: Male platypuses have a spur on the inner side of each ankle that is connected to a venom gland located over the thighs. The spurs can be wielded in defense, and the venom is potent enough to kill small animals and cause intense pain in humans if the spur…

  • spur (flower part)

    angiosperm: The corolla: …the tubular corolla, called a spur. This may involve one petal, as in the larkspur (Delphinium), or all the petals, as in columbine (Aquilegia), both members of the family Ranunculaceae.

  • spur (equestrian equipment)

    horsemanship: Origins and early history: Early, stumpy prickspurs have been found in Bohemia on 4th-century-bce Celtic sites.

  • spur (physics)

    radiation: Radiation chemistry: …energy in small collections called spurs, which may be 1,000 angstroms (10-5 centimetre) or so apart. The appearance of the excitation and ionization track has been likened to a rope (in the case of positive-ion bombardment), on the one hand, as compared with isolated beads on a string (in the…

  • spur (pathology)

    arthritis: Osteoarthritis: …affected joints, called osteophytes (bone spurs), are common.

  • spur gear (mechanics)

    gear: …to the shaft axes (spur gears) or by gears with twisted, screwlike teeth (helical gears). Intersecting shafts are connected by gears with tapered teeth arranged on truncated cones (bevel gears). Nonparallel, nonintersecting shafts are usually connected by a worm and gear. The worm resembles a screw, and the gear…

  • spur system (agriculture)

    fruit farming: Training and pruning: …one of two systems: (1) spur system, cutting growth of the previous season (canes) to short spurs, (2) long-cane system, permitting canes to remain relatively long. Whether a spur or long-cane system is followed depends on the flowering habit of the variety. Relatively small trees that respond favourably to severe…

  • spur-throated grasshopper (insect)

    short-horned grasshopper: The spur-throated grasshoppers, subfamily Cyrtacanthacridinae, include some of the most destructive species. In North America the eastern lubber grasshopper (Romalea microptera) is 5–7 cm long and has large red wings bordered in black. The western lubber grasshopper (Brachystola magna), also called the buffalo grasshopper because of…

  • spur-winged goose (bird)

    anseriform: Locomotion: …feet, is exemplified by the spur-winged goose (Plectropterus gambensis). Others walk more straightforwardly and can outrun a pursuing human. In the ducks, whose short legs are situated rearward and farther apart, the gait is at best a waddle. The legs of most pochards and mergansers are so far back that…

  • spurdog (fish)

    dogfish: The spiny dogfishes of the family Squalidae possess a sharp spine in front of each of their two dorsal fins. The most widely known species is Squalus acanthias, called the spiny dogfish, spurdog, or skittle dog. It is abundant along northern Atlantic and Pacific coasts; a…

  • spurge (plant)

    spurge, (genus Euphorbia), large and diverse genus of flowering plants in the family Euphorbiaceae, comprising at least 2,100 species. Many spurge species are important as ornamentals, as sources of drugs, or as agricultural weeds and invasive species. The genus takes its common name from a group

  • spurge family (plant family)

    Euphorbiaceae, spurge family of flowering plants (order Malpighiales), containing some 6,745 species in 218 genera. Many members are important food sources. Others are useful for their waxes and oils and as a source of medicinal drugs; dangerous for their poisonous fruits, leaves, or sap; or

  • spurge olive family (plant family)

    Rutaceae, the rue family of flowering plants (order Sapindales), composed of 160 genera and about 2,070 species. Rutaceae includes woody shrubs and trees (and a few herbaceous perennials) and is distributed throughout the world, especially in warm temperate and tropical regions. The largest numbers

  • spurge-laurel (plant)

    Daphne: Among them is the spurge-laurel (D. laureola), with thick, glossy leaves and small greenish flowers near the ends of the branches. It produces poisonous black berries. The mezereon (D. mezereum) is a larger shrub, up to 1.5 m (5 feet), with deciduous leaves and spicy-fragrant pink flowers; the entire…

  • Spurgeon, C.H. (English minister)

    C.H. Spurgeon was an English fundamentalist Baptist minister and celebrated preacher whose sermons, which were often spiced with humour, were widely translated and extremely successful in sales. Reared a Congregationalist, Spurgeon became a Baptist in 1850 and, the same year, at 16, preached his

  • Spurgeon, Charles Haddon (English minister)

    C.H. Spurgeon was an English fundamentalist Baptist minister and celebrated preacher whose sermons, which were often spiced with humour, were widely translated and extremely successful in sales. Reared a Congregationalist, Spurgeon became a Baptist in 1850 and, the same year, at 16, preached his

  • spurious pregnancy

    false pregnancy, disorder that may mimic many of the effects of pregnancy, including enlargement of the uterus, cessation of menstruation, morning sickness, and even labour pains at term. The cause may be physical—the growth of a tumour or hydatidiform mole in the uterus—or

  • Spurlock, Morgan (American filmmaker)

    fast food: Criticism and response: American filmmaker Morgan Spurlock’s 2004 documentary, Super Size Me, is perhaps the best-known work to closely examine fast food and its effects on the human body. Spurlock documented a month of his life in which the only food he consumed was from McDonald’s. By the end of…

  • Spurn Head (spit, England, United Kingdom)

    Spurn Head, low-lying sand and shingle spit on the North Sea coast of the East Riding of Yorkshire unitary authority, Eng. It projects for 4 miles (6.5 km) south across the mouth of the Humber Estuary, itself a major North Sea

  • Spurr, Mount (volcano, Alaska, United States)

    Alaskan mountains: Physiography of the southern ranges: Mount Spurr erupted in 1954 and remains active, as do Mounts Redoubt (1968) and Augustine (1976).

  • spurred snapdragon (plant)

    toadflax, (genus Linaria), genus of nearly 200 herbaceous flowering plants in the family Plantaginaceae native to the north temperate zone, particularly the Mediterranean region. The common name toadflax refers to their flax-like leaves, and the flowers are two-lipped and spurred like snapdragons.

  • SPURV

    undersea exploration: Measurements of ocean currents: One such system, called a Self-Propelled Underwater Research Vehicle (SPURV), manoeuvres below the surface of the sea in response to acoustic signals from the research vessel. It can be used to produce horizontal as well as vertical profiles of various physical properties.

  • Spurzheim, Johann Kaspar (German physician)

    phrenology: …and such 19th-century adherents as Johann Kaspar Spurzheim (1776–1832) and George Combe (1788–1858). Phrenology enjoyed great popular appeal well into the 20th century but has been wholly discredited by scientific research.

  • Sputnik (satellites)

    Sputnik, any of a series of three artificial Earth satellites, the first of whose launch by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957, inaugurated the space age. Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite launched, was a 83.6-kg (184-pound) capsule. It achieved an Earth orbit with an apogee (farthest

  • Sputnik Planitia (physical feature of Pluto)

    Pluto: The surface and interior: …half of Tombaugh Regio is Sputnik Planitia, a smooth plain of nitrogen ice without impact craters. The lack of craters shows that Sputnik Planitia is a very young feature and thus that Pluto likely has some geologic activity. Tombaugh Regio is surrounded by less smooth regions that contain some mountain…

  • Sputnik Sweetheart (novel by Murakami)

    Haruki Murakami: …novel Supūtoniku no koibito (1999; Sputnik Sweetheart) probes the nature of love as it tells the story of the disappearance of Sumire, a young novelist. Subsequent novels included Umibe no Kafuka (2002; Kafka on the Shore) and Afutā dāku (2004; After Dark). 1Q84 (2009), its title a reference to George…

  • sputter ion pump (device)

    vacuum technology: Sputter ion pump: Capacities are available up to 14,000 cu ft per minute, with an operating pressure range of 10-2 torr to below 10-11 torr. The full speed of the pump is developed in the pressure range from about 10-6 to 10-8 torr, although the…

  • sputter-initiated RIS (physics)

    spectroscopy: Sputter atomization: In contrast, the sputter-initiated RIS (SIRIS) method takes advantage of the much more numerous neutral atoms emitted in the sputtering process. In SIRIS devices the secondary ions are rejected because the yield of these ions can be greatly affected by the composition of the host material (known as…

  • sputtering (physics)

    spectroscopy: Sputter atomization: …target in a process called sputtering. In the secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) method, these secondary ions are used to gain information about the target material (see mass spectrometry: Secondary-ion emission). In contrast, the sputter-initiated RIS (SIRIS) method takes advantage of the much more numerous neutral atoms emitted in the…

  • sputum (mucous)

    respiratory disease: Signs and symptoms: A cough productive of sputum is the most important manifestation of inflammatory or malignant diseases of the major airways, of which bronchitis is a common example. In severe bronchitis the mucous glands lining the bronchi enlarge greatly, and, commonly, 30 to 60 ml of sputum are produced in a…

  • spy (intelligence)

    intelligence: Levels of intelligence: …to prevent spies or other agents of a foreign power from penetrating the country’s government, armed services, or intelligence agencies. Counterintelligence also is concerned with protecting advanced technology, deterring terrorism, and combating international narcotics trafficking. Counterintelligence operations sometimes produce positive intelligence, including information about the intelligence-gathering tools and techniques of…

  • Spy (British caricaturist)

    Sir Leslie Ward was an English caricaturist noted for his portraits of the prominent people of his day in the pages of Vanity Fair. Born into a family of painters, Ward first exhibited his work in 1867 while he was a student at Eton College. After studying architecture briefly, he joined the Royal

  • Spy (film by Feig [2015])

    Melissa McCarthy: …and saves the world in Spy (2015). In The Boss (2016) McCarthy portrayed an unscrupulous businesswoman attempting to counteract the stigma of having been convicted of insider trading. Ghostbusters: Answer the Call (2016), a remake of the 1984 classic comedy about hunting spirits and other supernatural creatures, featured McCarthy alongside…

  • Spy Game (film by Scott [2001])

    Robert Redford: (1992), The Horse Whisperer (1998), Spy Game (2001), and The Clearing (2004) earned mixed reviews. Better received, however, was All Is Lost (2013), in which he played a sailor whose yacht is struck by a shipping container; the tense survival drama featured little dialogue, and Redford was the only actor…

  • Spy Hunter (electronic game)

    electronic vehicle game: Home games: …been around since Bally Midway’s Spy Hunter (1983), an arcade game in which the player chases and shoots at a spy while trying not to run over or shoot civilians on the roads. An example of an electronic adventure game with prominent automobile sequences is Rockstar Game’s multi-platform series Grand…

  • Spy in the House of Love, A (novel by Nin)

    Anaïs Nin: … (1947), The Four-Chambered Heart (1950), A Spy in the House of Love (1954), and Solar Barque (1958).

  • Spy Kids (film by Rodriguez [2001])

    Antonio Banderas: …Banderas reteamed with Rodriguez on Spy Kids, playing a family man who is forced to return to his former career as a secret agent. The movie was a hit and led to several sequels. Banderas later reprised the role of El Mariachi in Rodriguez’s Once Upon a Time in Mexico…

  • Spy Next Door, The (film by Levant [2010])

    Jackie Chan: …The Forbidden Kingdom (2008), and The Spy Next Door (2010). Chan starred in a remake of the 1984 action-drama The Karate Kid (2010) and later in the revenge thriller The Foreigner (2017). He did voice work in the computer-animated film Kung Fu Panda (2008) and its sequels (2011 and 2016);…

  • Spy of the First Person (novel by Shepard)

    Sam Shepard: …his final work, the novel Spy of the First Person. It centres on the reflections of a dying man. The book was published in December 2017, some five months after Shepard’s death.

  • Spy Story (work by Deighton)

    Len Deighton: …espionage genre in 1974 with Spy Story and a later series of trilogies featuring British intelligence agent Bernard Samson, which include Spy Hook (1988), Spy Line (1989), and Spy Sinker (1990) and Faith (1994), Hope (1995), and Charity (1996). Other novels are SS-GB (1978), XPD (1981), Goodbye, Mickey Mouse (1982),…

  • spy story (narrative genre)

    spy story, a tale of international intrigue and adventure. Among the best examples of the genre are works by John Buchan, Len Deighton, John le Carré, and Sapper (H. Cyril McNeile). Two directions taken by the modern spy story were typified by Ian Fleming’s enormously popular James Bond thrillers,

  • Spy Who Came In from the Cold, The (film by Ritt [1965])

    The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, British spy film, released in 1965, that is an adaptation of John le Carré’s 1963 best seller, featuring Richard Burton in one of his finest performances. British agent Alec Leamas (played by Burton) has grown cynical about the espionage game. His boss at MI6,

  • Spy Who Came In from the Cold, The (novel by le Carré)

    John le Carré: …came with his third novel, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1963), which centred on Alec Leamas, an aging British intelligence agent ordered to discredit an East German official. Unlike the usual glamorous spies of fiction, Leamas is a lonely and alienated man, without a respectable career or…

  • Spy Who Dumped Me, The (film by Fogel [2018])

    Gillian Anderson: Films: The House of Mirth and The Last King of Scotland: …MI6 agent in the comedy The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018). Her film credits from 2019 included The Sunlit Night. Anderson subsequently appeared in White Bird (2023) and Scoop (2024). In the latter film, which is based on true events, she played a news anchor who interviews Prince Andrew about…

  • Spy Who Loved Me, The (film by Gilbert [1977])

    Carly Simon: …to the James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me.

  • Spy, The (television miniseries)

    Sacha Baron Cohen: …Cohen in the TV series The Spy. Baron Cohen then played Abbie Hoffman in Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020), a film about a group of political activists who were tried for their antiwar activities during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Also in 2020 he brought Borat…

  • Spy, The (novel by Cooper)

    James Fenimore Cooper: Early years: His second novel, The Spy (1821), was based on another British model, Sir Walter Scott’s “Waverley” novels, stories of adventure and romance set in 17th- and 18th-century Scotland. But in The Spy Cooper broke new ground by using an American Revolutionary War setting (based partly on the experiences…

  • Spyan-ras gzigs (bodhisattva)

    Avalokiteshvara, in Buddhism, and primarily in Mahayana (“Greater Vehicle”) Buddhism, the bodhisattva (“buddha-to-be”) of infinite compassion and mercy, possibly the most popular of all figures in Buddhist legend. Avalokiteshvara is beloved throughout the Buddhist world—not only in Mahayana

  • Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer (memoir by Wright)

    Malcolm Turnbull: …prevent publication of his memoir Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer, claiming that it constituted a violation of the Official Secrets Act.

  • spying (international relations)

    espionage, process of obtaining military, political, commercial, or other secret information by means of spies, secret agents, or illegal monitoring devices. Espionage is sometimes distinguished from the broader category of intelligence gathering by its aggressive nature and its illegality. See

  • Spyker Cars NV (Dutch company)

    Saab AB: …the company to Dutch automaker Spyker Cars NV. However, Saab Automobile continued to struggle, and various efforts to secure additional financing failed. In December 2011 the company filed for bankruptcy. The majority of its assets were purchased by the start-up company National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS).

  • Spyri, Bernhard (Swiss lawyer)

    Johanna Spyri: …her marriage in 1852 to Bernhard Spyri, a lawyer engaged in editorial work, she moved to Zürich. Her love of homeland, feeling for nature, unobtrusive piety, and cheerful wisdom gave both her work and her life their unique quality. Her books include Ein Blatt auf Vronys Grab (1870; “A Leaf…

  • Spyri, Johanna (Swiss writer)

    Johanna Spyri was a Swiss writer whose Heidi, a book for children, is popular all over the world. Her psychological insight into the child mind, her humor, and her ability to appreciate the joys and sorrows of childhood give her books appeal and lasting value. After her marriage in 1852 to Bernhard

  • Spyridon Louis: The First Olympic Hero

    For the Greek hosts of the first modern Olympics in 1896, the marathon signified much more than an athletic competition. The idea for the long-distance race was based on a Greek legend of a lone runner who covered the distance between Marathon and Athens to report the victory of the Greeks over the

  • Spyrou, Aristokles (Greek patriarch)

    Athenagoras I was the ecumenical patriarch and archbishop of Constantinople (modern Istanbul) from 1948 to 1972. Athenagoras was the son of a physician. He attended the seminary on the island of Halki, near Constantinople, and was ordained a deacon in 1910. He then moved to Athens, where he served

  • spyware (computing)

    spyware, type of computer program that is secretly installed on a person’s computer or mobile device in order to obtain the owner’s private information, such as lists of websites visited, passwords, and credit card numbers. Spyware often finds its way onto users’ computers when they install some

  • SQL (computer language)

    SQL, computer language designed for eliciting information from databases. In the 1970s computer scientists began developing a standardized way to manipulate databases, and out of that research came SQL. The late 1970s and early ’80s saw the release of a number of SQL-based products. SQL gained

  • squab (bird)

    squab, variety of domestic pigeon (q.v.) raised for its

  • squad (military unit)

    military unit: …in an army is the squad, which contains 7 to 14 soldiers and is led by a sergeant. (A slightly larger unit is a section, which consists of 10 to 40 soldiers but is usually used only within headquarters or support organizations.) Three or four squads make up a platoon,…

  • squad automatic weapon (weapon)

    machine gun: The light machine gun, also called the squad automatic weapon, is equipped with a bipod and is operated by one soldier; it usually has a box-type magazine and is chambered for the small-calibre, intermediate-power ammunition fired by the assault rifles of its military unit. The medium…

  • Squadre d’Azione (Italian history)

    Giovanni Giolitti: …policy, he tolerated the Fascist squadristi (“armed squads”) when he could have crushed them, and, as the Fascists gained strength, he welcomed their support. He resigned in June 1921. While he was waiting for the right moment to take power again, the Fascists marched on Rome (October 1922) and took…

  • squadron (military unit)

    battalion: …of the battalion is the squadron.

  • squalene (chemical compound)

    carbonium ion: Reactions.: …material cholesterol from a precursor, squalene, by way of another compound, lanosterol. In this transformation, acid-catalyzed rearrangements—reaction type 6, described earlier—occur repeatedly.

  • Squalidae (shark family)

    chondrichthyan: Annotated classification: Family Squalidae (spiny dogfishes, sleeper sharks, and relatives) Distinguished by having about as many upper teeth in anterior row as in succeeding rows. Diverse forms, habits, and sizes. Spiny dogfishes (Squalus) grow to about 120 cm (47.25 inches), the Greenland sleeper shark to over 6 metres…

  • squall (meteorology)

    squall, as used by weather forecasters, a sudden wind-speed increase of 8 metres per second (18 miles per hour) or more, for one minute or longer. It includes several briefer wind-speed changes, or gusts. A squall is often named for the weather phenomenon that accompanies it, such as rain, hail, or

  • squall line (meteorology)

    thunderstorm: Multiple-cell thunderstorms and mesoscale convective systems: …produced by organized multiple-cell storms, squall lines, or a supercell. All of these tend to be associated with a mesoscale disturbance (a weather system of intermediate size, that is, 10 to 1,000 km [6 to 600 miles] in horizontal extent). Multiple-cell storms have several updrafts and downdrafts in close proximity…

  • squalodont (fossil mammal)

    cetacean: Annotated taxonomy: †Family Squalodontidae At least 12 genera. Upper Oligocene to Late Miocene. Europe, North and South America, Australia, and New Zealand. †Family Squalodelphidae 3 genera. Lower Miocene. Europe and South America. †Family Dalpiazinidae 1 genus. Early Miocene. Europe. †Family

  • Squalodontidae (fossil mammal)

    cetacean: Annotated taxonomy: †Family Squalodontidae At least 12 genera. Upper Oligocene to Late Miocene. Europe, North and South America, Australia, and New Zealand. †Family Squalodelphidae 3 genera. Lower Miocene. Europe and South America. †Family Dalpiazinidae 1 genus. Early Miocene. Europe. †Family

  • Squaloidei (shark suborder)

    chondrichthyan: Annotated classification: Suborder Squaloidei (spiny dogfishes, bramble sharks, sleeper sharks, pygmy sharks) Anal fin lacking; snout not elongated into a beak; body subcylindrical (nearly round in section); not flattened dorsoventrally; margins of pectoral fin not expanded forward past first pair of gill openings. Widely distributed, found in all…

  • Squaloraja (fossil fish)

    Mary Anning: …she excavated the skeleton of Squaloraja, a fossil fish thought to be a member of a transition group between sharks and rays.

  • Squalus acanthias (fish)

    dogfish: The spiny dogfishes of the family Squalidae possess a sharp spine in front of each of their two dorsal fins. The most widely known species is Squalus acanthias, called the spiny dogfish, spurdog, or skittle dog. It is abundant along northern Atlantic and Pacific coasts; a…