iris: Major species: English iris (I. xiphioides), so named because of its popularity in British horticulture, bears bright blue flowers. Dutch irises are sturdier, earlier-flowering hybrids created in the Netherlands.

ivy: … especially denotes the commonly grown English ivy (Hedera helix), which is frequently planted to clothe brick walls.

Beryl Bainbridge: English Journey; or, The Road to Milton Keynes (1984) is a diary she kept in 1983 during the filming of a television series for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). She also published Front Row: Evenings at the Theatre: Pieces from the Oldie (2005), a collection…

English language, West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family that is closely related to the Frisian, German, and Dutch (in Belgium called Flemish) languages. English originated in England and is the dominant language of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia,

cherry laurel: Prunus laurocerasus, also known as the English laurel in North America, is a small tree or shrub native to southeastern Europe and southwestern Asia. The plants barely reach heights of more than 18 meters (59 feet), and they bear simple glossy leaves that are arranged…

Lamiaceae: Major genera and species: Also Mediterranean is lavender (Lavandula officinalis), with fragrant blue to lavender flowers in leafless spikes. Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis) was once used as a curative herb.

constitution: Great Britain: The English constitution and the English common law grew up together, very gradually, more as the result of the accretion of custom than through deliberate, rational legislation by some “sovereign” lawgiver. Parliament grew out of the Curia Regis, the King’s Council, in which the monarch originally…

English literature, the body of written works produced in the English language by inhabitants of the British Isles (including Ireland) from the 7th century to the present day. The major literatures written in English outside the British Isles are treated separately under American literature,

Sir Leslie Stephen: Stephen’s English Literature and Society in the Eighteenth Century (1904) was a pioneer work in the sociological study of literature.

military technology: The English longbow: The longbow evolved during the 12th century in response to the demands of siege and guerrilla operations in the Welsh Marches, a topographically close and economically marginal area that was in many ways similar to the regions in which the crossbow had evolved…

John Wilbye: …volumes 6 and 7 of The English Madrigal School, edited by E.H. Fellowes, 1913–24, and revised by Thurston Dart, 1965–68). Wilbye’s achievement lies in the grave music of his “serious” madrigals, a style then largely unpracticed in England. The “new poetry” of the Italianizing poets Sir Philip Sidney and Edmund…

John Dunstable: …what they learned from Dunstable’s “English manner.”

Midlands, region of central England, commonly subdivided into the East and the West Midlands. The East Midlands includes the historic and geographic counties of Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, and Rutland. The West Midlands comprises Staffordshire,

uakari: The white, or bald, uakari (C. calvus calvus) is a different colour form of the same species. It has whitish fur and lives only in the Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve along the upper Amazon in Brazil. Because of its vermilion face, local people call it the…

crumpet: (American-invented English muffins, on the other hand, are firmer and more breadlike, cooked on both sides, and split before toasting.) Before being served, crumpets are toasted, generously buttered, and often sprinkled with a pinch of salt. They may be topped with a poached egg or a…

Peter Ackroyd: (1987), First Light (1989), English Music (1992), The House of Doctor Dee (1993), The Trial of Elizabeth Cree: A Novel of the Limehouse Murders (1995), The Fall of Troy (2006), Three Brothers (2013), and Mr. Cadmus (2020). In 2009 Ackroyd also published a retelling of The

English National Ballet, British dance troupe. Organized in 1950 by Alicia Markova, Anton Dolin, and Julian Braunsweg with a corps de ballet drawn chiefly from the Cone-Ripman School in London and at Tring, Hertford, the troupe performs at locations throughout Great Britain and conducts world

English oak, (Quercus robur), ornamental and timber tree that is native to Eurasia but also cultivated in North America and Australia. Many varieties are grown as ornamentals, including a popular columnar form. The tree’s heavy heartwood was once extensively used in Great Britain for shipbuilding

The English Patient, acclaimed novel by Sri-Lankan-born Canadian writer Michael Ondaatje. Published in 1992, it won the Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction and a Booker Prize. It was adapted as a 1996 film, which won the Academy Award for best picture. The novel is set in a bombed-out

The English Patient, British-American film, released in 1996, that won glowing reviews and nine Academy Awards, including that for best picture. It also won four BAFTA Awards, including best picture, as well as the Golden Globe Award for best drama. (Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film

peppermint: Black peppermint, also called English peppermint or mitcham mint, is extensively grown in the United States and has purplish stems. The white variety is less hardy and less productive, but its oil is considered more delicate in odour and obtains a higher price.

English literature: The later Romantics: Shelley, Keats, and Byron: …gauntlet in his early poem English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809), in which he directed particular scorn at poets of sensibility and declared his own allegiance to Milton, Dryden, and Pope, he developed a poetry of dash and flair, in many cases with a striking hero. His two longest poems,…

pointer, highly regarded breed of sporting dog of hound, spaniel, and setter ancestry. The pointer derives its name from its assumption of a rigid posture in the direction of the quarry it has located. First recorded about 1650, in England, the pointer was originally used to point out hares for

ironstone china, type of stoneware introduced in England early in the 19th century by Staffordshire potters who sought to develop a porcelain substitute that could be mass-produced. The result of their experiments was a dense, hard, durable stoneware that came to be known by several names—e.g.,

dictionary: Specialized dictionaries: That of Daniel Jones, An English Pronouncing Dictionary, claimed to represent that “most usually heard in everyday speech in the families of Southern English persons whose men-folk have been educated at the great public boarding-schools.” Although he called this the Received Pronunciation (RP), he had no intention of imposing…

archives: The English Public Record Act of 1838 brought all separate collections together and placed them under the Public Record Office (later part of the National Archives). England, therefore, is the outstanding example of centralization, whereas the more usual practice, as already suggested, is decentralization of archives…

Edward Arber: His English Reprints, 30 vol. (1868–71), began with a sixpenny edition of Milton’s Areopagitica. Later series include the important English Garner, 8 vol. (1877–96), and The English Scholar’s Library of Old and Modern Works, 16 vol. (1878–84). Also valuable are his Transcript of the Registers of…

biblical literature: The English Revised Version: The remarkable and total victory of the King James Version could not entirely obscure those inherent weaknesses that were independent of its typographical errors. The manner of its execution had resulted in a certain unevenness and lack of consistency. Because the…

London: Reconstruction after World War II: …August 2011 a wave of riots swept the city after police shot and killed a 29-year-old man who was suspected of involvement with gun-related crimes. What began as a peaceful gathering at the police station in the Tottenham neighborhood soon spiraled into violence. Over the following days, dozens of fires…

Precambrian: Structure and occurrence of granulite-gneiss belts: …supracrustals of southern India, the English River gneisses of Ontario in Canada that form a narrow strip between greenstone-granite belts, the Sand River gneisses that occupy a small area between greenstone-granite belts in Zimbabwe, and the Napier Complex in Enderby Land in Antarctica. Granulite-gneiss belts are commonly surrounded

Anthony Munday: Critics have found his English Romayne Lyfe (1582) of permanent interest as a detailed and entertaining, though hostile, description of life and study in the English College at Rome. By 1586 he had been appointed one of the “messengers of her majesty’s chamber,” a post he seems to have…

copperplate script, in calligraphy, dominant style among 18th-century writing masters, whose copybooks were splendidly printed from models engraved on copper. The alphabet was fundamentally uncomplicated, but the basic strokes were often concealed in luxuriant flourishing and dazzling professional

saddle: The English, or Hungarian, saddle is lighter, flatter, and padded and was designed for sport and recreational uses.

English school, dominant school of painting in England throughout the second half of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th. Its establishment marked the rise of a national tradition that began with the emergence of native artists whose works were no longer provincial but rivaled

dictionary: From Classical times to 1604: Edmund’s, in 1596 brought out The English Schoolmaster, Teaching All His Scholars of What Age Soever the Most Easy Short & Perfect Order of Distinct Reading & True Writing Our English Tongue, with a table that consisted of about 1,400 words, sorted out by different typefaces on the basis of…

English setter, breed of sporting dog that has served as a gun dog in England for more than 400 years and has been bred in its present form since about 1825. It is sometimes called the Llewellin setter or the Laverack setter for the developers of two strains of the breed. Like the other setters, it

property law: Marxism, liberalism, and the law: The English Settled Land Acts (1882, 1890, 1925) gave considerably more power to the present holder of settled land than the common law had given him. The Married Women’s Property Acts in both countries (originating in the United States in 1839 and in England in 1857)…

sonnet: …other major form is the English (or Shakespearean) sonnet.

house sparrow, (Passer domesticus), one of the world’s best-known and most abundant small birds, sometimes classified in the family Passeridae (order Passeriformes). It lives in towns and on farms, worldwide, having accompanied Europeans from its original home—most of Eurasia and northern Africa.

springer spaniel: The English springer spaniel is a medium-sized, compact dog standing 19 to 20 inches (48 to 51 cm) and weighing 40 to 50 pounds (18 to 23 kg). Its glossy coat is flat or wavy and usually black and white or liver-coloured and white. The English…

English garden, type of garden that developed in 18th-century England, originating as a revolt against the architectural garden, which relied on rectilinear patterns, sculpture, and the unnatural shaping of trees. The revolutionary character of the English garden lay in the fact that, whereas

sweating sickness, a disease of unknown cause that appeared in England as an epidemic on five occasions—in 1485, 1508, 1517, 1528, and 1551. It was confined to England, except in 1528–29, when it spread to the European continent, appearing in Hamburg and passing northward to Scandinavia and

sweating sickness, a disease of unknown cause that appeared in England as an epidemic on five occasions—in 1485, 1508, 1517, 1528, and 1551. It was confined to England, except in 1528–29, when it spread to the European continent, appearing in Hamburg and passing northward to Scandinavia and

Julianne Moore: Movies of the early 21st century: …later films included the dramedy The English Teacher (2013); Carrie (2013), a horror film based on Stephen King’s classic novel; Non-Stop (2014), an action thriller set on an airplane; and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (2014) and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 (2015), adaptations of a young-adult novel…

English toy spaniel, breed of dog known in Britain since Tudor times but that apparently originated in ancient Japan or China. It was favoured by Mary, Queen of Scots, King Charles II (after whom it was named the King Charles spaniel), and Queen Victoria, as well as by members of the aristocracy.

Ralph Waldo Emerson: Mature life and works: In English Traits he gave a character analysis of a people from which he himself stemmed. The Conduct of Life (1860), Emerson’s most mature work, reveals a developed humanism together with a full awareness of human limitations. It may be considered as partly confession. Emerson’s collected…

truffle: Major species: …truffle, also known as the English truffle (T. aestivum), is found principally in beech woods. It is bluish black, rounded, and covered with coarse polygonal warts; the gleba is white when immature, then yellowish, and finally brown with white branched markings.

English walnut, (Juglans regia), valuable nut and timber tree of the family Juglandaceae, native to Iran. The English walnut is cultivated extensively for its fine-quality edible seeds, sold commercially as walnuts. The dark fine-grained wood, similar to that of black walnut (Juglans nigra), is

Pequot: …were defeated in the subsequent Battle of the English Withdrawal and in the Swamp Fight, most Pequot communities elected to abandon their country rather than continue the war against the English. Many who fled were killed or captured by other tribes or the English, and others were sold into slavery…

English yew, (Taxus baccata), (all three are lumber trade names), an ornamental evergreen tree or shrub of the yew family (Taxaceae), widely distributed throughout Europe and Asia as far east as the Himalayas. Some botanists consider the Himalayan form to be a separate species, called Himalayan yew

Denver Nuggets: …1980 Denver traded for forward Alex English, who would go on to become the franchise’s all-time leading scorer in 10 and a half seasons with the Nuggets. During English’s second season with Denver, Doug Moe took over as head coach. Moe and English guided high-scoring Nuggets teams, which were also…

Basic English, simplified form of English developed between 1926 and 1930 by the British writer and linguist Charles Kay Ogden. Intended for use as an international second language, it enjoyed some popularity for more than a decade, but subsequently the language was little used. Basic English

Bill English is a New Zealand politician who became leader of the National Party and prime minister of New Zealand in December 2016 when three-time prime minister John Key unexpectedly resigned. English served as prime minister until October 2017 and as party leader until February 2018. English

Bill English is a New Zealand politician who became leader of the National Party and prime minister of New Zealand in December 2016 when three-time prime minister John Key unexpectedly resigned. English served as prime minister until October 2017 and as party leader until February 2018. English

Emily Blunt: A Quiet Place and Oppenheimer: …appeared in the TV miniseries The English, a violent western in which she played a British aristocrat seeking revenge in the 1890s.

Douglas Engelbart: …with a colleague at SRI, William English, he eventually perfected a variety of input devices that became common—including joysticks, light pens, and track balls. Prior to Engelbart’s inventions, laborious and error-prone keypunch cards or manually set electronic switches were necessary to control computers, and data had to be printed before…

United States presidential election of 1880: The candidates: …nominee was former Indiana representative William H. English.

John Hurt: …Crisp in the TV movie An Englishman in New York (2009). His subsequent credits included the television miniseries Labyrinth (2012); Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), in which he played a vampiric Christopher Marlowe; and the dark sci-fi thriller Snowpiercer (2013). Hurt also starred as an incarnation of the…

Salvador de Madariaga y Rojo: …Madariaga’s most notable essays are Englishmen, Frenchmen, Spaniards (1928), a study of national psychology; Guía del lector del Quijote (1926; Don Quixote), an analysis of Cervantes’ classic; and Spain (1942), a historical essay. He also published books on various periods in Latin-American history, among them Cuadro histórico de las Indias,…

Kilkenny: …the bishops of Ossory; and Englishtown, which was established by William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, and was raised to the status of a city in 1609. The two were united in 1843. The people of Kilkenny are known as “Cats,” the name likely originating in the medieval period.

history of publishing: Women’s magazines: …began to be tapped by The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine, a monthly issued by Samuel Beeton at twopence instead of the usual one shilling; it was also the first women’s periodical to concentrate on home management and offer practical advice to women rather than provide entertainment for the idle. Beeton’s wife…

englyn, a group of strict Welsh poetic metres. The most popular form is the englyn unodl union (“direct monorhyme englyn”), which is a combination of a cywydd, a type of rhyming couplet, and another form and is written in an intricate pattern of alliteration and rhyme called cynghanedd. The englyn

Cyprus: The Bronze Age: West of Famagusta was Engomi, the principal city and port; its massive city walls and houses of hewn stone demonstrate a high level of prosperity.

Hercules, constellation in the northern sky at about 17 hours right ascension and 30° north in declination. Its brightest star is Beta Herculis, with a magnitude of 2.8. Hercules contains the solar apex, the point on the sky toward which the Sun is moving as it orbits in the Milky Way Galaxy, and

hallucination: The nature of hallucinations: >engrams. Ideas and images are held to derive from the incorporation and activation of these engrams in complex circuits involving nerve cells. Such circuits in the cortex (outer layers) of the brain appear to subserve the neurophysiology of memory, thought, imagination, and fantasy

engram, in Scientology, a mental image of a past experience that produces a negative emotional effect in an individual’s life. L. Ron Hubbard (1911–86), the founder of Scientology, believed that the basic principle of human existence is survival. He argued that actions that support survival are

anchovy, any of numerous schooling saltwater fishes of the family Engraulidae (order Clupeiformes) related to the herring and distinguished by a large mouth, almost always extending behind the eye, and by a pointed snout. Most of the more than 100 species live in shallow tropical or warm temperate

engraved glass, glassware decorated with finely carved, three-dimensional patterns or pictures. The most common engraving technique involves incising a design into glass with a rapidly spinning copper wheel fed with abrasives. Other techniques include diamond scribing and stipple engraving; the

engraving, technique of making prints from metal plates into which a design has been incised with a cutting tool called a burin. Modern examples are almost invariably made from copperplates, and, hence, the process is also called copperplate engraving. Another term for the process, line engraving,

art market: The rise of London: The passing of the Engraving Copyright Act in 1735 (often called the Hogarth Act) extended intellectual-property law from literature to the visual arts and proved to be a vital step in maintaining artistic quality within London’s nascent market.

police: Computerization: The Enhanced 911 (E911) system, adopted in the United States, instantly identifies the number of the phone from which the call is made, as well as the name and physical address of the person who owns the phone. Data maintained in the E911 system sometimes include…

armour: Modern body armour systems: The Enhanced Body Armour (EBA) version could be reinforced with ceramic plates for greater protection against higher-velocity projectiles. In response to combat conditions in the Afghanistan War, where troops found themselves fighting more often on foot than in armoured vehicles, the Osprey Assault body armour system…

tornado: Tornado intensity: …tornadoes specific values on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, or EF-Scale, of tornado intensity. The notion of developing such a scale for use in comparing events and in research was proposed in 1971 by the Japanese American meteorologist T. Theodore Fujita.

The Enhanced Fujita Scale (EF-Scale) is a system for classifying tornado intensity based on damage to structures and vegetation. It is a modified version of the original Fujita Scale (F-Scale) developed by Japanese-born American meteorologist T. Theodore Fujita in 1971. In 2004 atmospheric

John Brennan: …Brennan’s involvement in the “enhanced interrogation techniques” practiced during the administration of Pres. George W. Bush, which had come under criticism as amounting to torture. Instead, Brennan became assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism for roughly the next four years, helping shape U.S. policy in response…

petroleum production: Enhanced recovery: Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is designed to accelerate the production of oil from a well. Waterflooding, injecting water to increase the pressure of the reservoir, is one EOR method. Although waterflooding greatly increases recovery from a particular reservoir, it typically leaves up to one-third of…

neutron bomb, specialized type of nuclear weapon that would produce minimal blast and heat but would release large amounts of lethal radiation. A neutron bomb is actually a small thermonuclear bomb in which a few kilograms of plutonium or uranium, ignited by a conventional explosive, would serve as

integrated circuit: Enhancement-mode FETs: There are two basic types of FETs. The type described previously is a depletion-mode FET, since a region is depleted of its natural charge. The field effect can also be used to create what is called an enhancement-mode FET by enhancing a region…

integrated circuit: Enhancement-mode FETs: There are two basic types of FETs. The type described previously is a depletion-mode FET, since a region is depleted of its natural charge. The field effect can also be used to create what is called an enhancement-mode FET by enhancing a region…

heredity: Transcription: …and a region called the promoter, to which the RNA polymerase binds. These sequences must be a specific distance from the transcriptional start site for successful operation. Various short base sequences in this regulatory region physically bind specific transcription factors by virtue of a lock-and-key fit between the DNA and…

enharmonic, in the system of equal temperament tuning used on keyboard instruments, two tones that sound the same but are notated (spelled) differently. Pitches such as F♯ and G♭ are said to be enharmonic equivalents; both are sounded with the same key on a keyboard instrument. The same is true of

history of Mesopotamia: Sargon’s reign: She took the name of Enheduanna and was succeeded in the same office by Enmenanna, a daughter of Naram-Sin. Enheduanna must have been a very gifted woman; two Sumerian hymns by her have been preserved, and she is also said to have been instrumental in starting a collection of songs…

Ndebele: …origin; an intermediate class (Enhla), comprising people of Sotho origin; and a lower class (Lozwi, or Holi), derived from the original inhabitants. Men of all classes were organized into age groups that served as fighting units. The men of a regiment, after marriage, continued to live in their fortified…

sea otter, (Enhydra lutris), completely marine otter species of the northern Pacific, usually found in kelp beds. Floating on its back, it opens mollusks by smashing them on a stone balanced on its chest. The large hind feet are broad and flipperlike. The thick lustrous coat is reddish to dark

Theodore Ascidas: …a conciliatory definition, the noted enhypostasia (“in the person”) formula, maintaining that the human nature of Christ, although complete, had no personal identity of its own but achieved personalization only in the divine person of the eternal Logos (Word). Despite his having established the agenda for the council, Theodore could…

Eni, Italian energy company operating primarily in petroleum, natural gas, and petrochemicals. Established in 1953, it is one of Europe’s largest oil companies in terms of sales. Eni has operations in more than 70 countries. Its headquarters are in Rome. Eni is an outgrowth of Agip (Azienda

Eni, Italian energy company operating primarily in petroleum, natural gas, and petrochemicals. Established in 1953, it is one of Europe’s largest oil companies in terms of sales. Eni has operations in more than 70 countries. Its headquarters are in Rome. Eni is an outgrowth of Agip (Azienda

ENIAC, the first programmable general-purpose electronic digital computer, built during World War II by the United States. American physicist John Mauchly, American engineer J. Presper Eckert, Jr., and their colleagues at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania

unique-headed bug, (family Enicocephalidae), any of about 130 species of bugs (order Heteroptera) that have an unusual elongated head that is constricted behind the eyes and also at the base. The unique-headed bug is found throughout the world and is about 4 mm (0.2 inch) long. These bugs are also

forktail, any of seven species of birds of the Asian, chiefly Himalayan, genus Enicurus. Forktails usually are placed among the Old World flycatchers Muscicapidae (order Passeriformes). Forktails pick insects from stones along mountain streams and have loud whistling calls. Most are strikingly

Enid, city, seat (1907) of Garfield county, north-central Oklahoma, U.S. Located at a watering place on the Chisholm Trail and reached by the Rock Island Railroad in 1889, it was founded overnight as a tent city around a U.S. land office when the Cherokee Strip was opened to settlers on September

John Barry: …Sue Got Married (1986), and Enigma (2001). He also composed for the stage, including the moderately successful musicals Passion Flower Hotel (1965) and Billy (1974), and won four Grammy Awards, notably best jazz instrumental performance, big band, for the film sound track of The Cotton Club (1984). Barry, who was…

Enigma, device used by the German military command to encode strategic messages before and during World War II. The Enigma code was first broken by the Poles, under the leadership of mathematician Marian Rejewski, in the early 1930s. In 1939, with the growing likelihood of a German invasion, the

Giorgio de Chirico: …of landscapes that included The Enigma of an Autumn Afternoon (1910), in which the long, sinister, and illogical shadows cast by unseen objects onto empty city spaces contrast starkly with bright, clear light that is rendered in brooding green tonalities. Moving to Paris in 1911, de Chirico gained the admiration…

Dany Laferrière: …The Return; also translated as The Enigma of the Return), which was awarded the Prix Médicis in France. Laferrière referred to himself as a Québécois, rather than a “francophone,” writer; he advocated for artistic vision without preconceived boundaries and proclaimed it the writer’s responsibility to “invent his own language.”

Enigma Variations, series of 14 short musical portraits by Edward Elgar that premiered in London on June 19, 1899. The subjects of these portraits were several of the composer’s friends and family. The work’s origins were described by Elgar in a letter to his friend August Jaeger at the music

Dany Laferrière: …The Return; also translated as The Enigma of the Return), which was awarded the Prix Médicis in France. Laferrière referred to himself as a Québécois, rather than a “francophone,” writer; he advocated for artistic vision without preconceived boundaries and proclaimed it the writer’s responsibility to “invent his own language.”

Lagash: …with many temples, including the Eninnu, “House of the Fifty,” a seat of the high god Enlil. Architecturally the most remarkable structure was a weir and regulator, once doubtless possessing sluice gates, which conserved the area’s water supply in reservoirs.

Emmanuel Lévinas: …taught in Paris at the École Normale Israelite Orientale (ENIO), a school for Jewish students, and the Alliance Israelite Universelle, which tried to build bridges between French and Jewish intellectual traditions. Serving as an officer in the French army at the outbreak of World War II, he was captured by…

Yenisey River, river of central Russia, one of the longest rivers in Asia. The world’s sixth largest river in terms of discharge, the Yenisey runs from south to north across the great expanse of central Siberia. It traverses a vast region of strikingly varied landscapes where ancient peoples and