• Olympic truce (ancient Greece)

    The Olympic Truce: The creation of the Ekecheiria, the Olympic truce, lies within the traditional story of the founding of the ancient Olympic Games. Two warring kings of the area around Olympia, Iphitos and Cleomenes, joined with the Spartan lawgiver Lycurgus in an agreement to hold the Games…

  • Olympic Village (village, Olympic Games)

    Helsinki 1952 Olympic Games: …were dropped, but a separate Olympic Village for Eastern bloc countries was created in Otaniemi. The Games themselves, however, were friendly, and by the end of the competition Soviet officials had opened their village to all athletes. The Helsinki Games marked the return of German and Japanese teams to Olympic…

  • Olympic, Operation (World War II)

    20th-century international relations: The atomic decision: …MacArthur to plan Operation “Olympic,” an invasion of Kyushu, for November 1. The second means, inducement, was clearly preferable, and on May 8, the day after the German surrender, President Harry S. Truman tried it. Unconditional surrender, he said, would mean “the termination of the influence of the military…

  • Olympics (ProCon debate)

    The Olympic Games were first held in Olympia, Greece, in 776 bce as a religious festival to honor Zeus. The first Olympic Stadium was in an area thought to have been cleared when Zeus hurled down a lightning bolt. When not in use as a stadium for the Games the area (which never contained an actual

  • Olympics

    Olympic Games, athletic festival that originated in ancient Greece and was revived in the late 19th century. Before the 1970s the Games were officially limited to competitors with amateur status, but in the 1980s many events were opened to professional athletes. Currently, the Games are open to

  • Olympicus (work by Dion Chrysostom)

    Dio Chrysostom: In Olympicus the sculptor Phidias explains the principles he followed in his famous statue of Zeus, one passage being supposed by some to have suggested the German dramatist Gotthold Lessing’s Laocoon. In On Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, Dio compares the treatment of the story of Philoctetes…

  • Olympio, Sylvanus (president of Togo)

    Sylvanus Olympio was a nationalist politician and the first president of Togo who was the first presidential victim of a wave of military coups that occurred in Africa in the 1960s. A leader of the Committee of Togolese Unity after World War II, Olympio was elected president of the first

  • Olympiodorus The Younger (Greek philosopher)

    Olympiodorus The Younger was a Neoplatonist philosopher who is famous for having maintained the Platonic tradition in Alexandria after the Byzantine emperor Justinian had suppressed the Greek Academy at Athens and other pagan schools in ad 529. Olympiodorus’ extant works include lucid and valuable

  • Olympionikai (work by Timaeus)

    Timaeus: The Olympionikai (“Victors at Olympia”) was a synchronic list of victors in the Olympic Games, the kings and ephors of Sparta, the archons (magistrates) of Athens, and the priestesses of Hera at Argos. Timaeus’s work established the practice of dating by the Olympic Games that became…

  • Olympique de Marseille (French football club)

    Olympique de Marseille, French professional football (soccer) club founded in 1899 and based in Marseille. Established as a general sports club that originally focused on rugby, Olympique de Marseille won the first of 10 French Cup trophies in 1924 and its first French top-division (known as Ligue

  • Olympique Lyonnais (French football team)

    Michael Essien: …in 2003 Essien transferred to Olympique Lyonnais in Lyon, France. He helped lead the team to league championships in both the 2003–04 and 2004–05 seasons, and in 2005 he was named France’s Player of the Year. Essien’s continued progression made him one of the most-coveted players in the world, and…

  • olympische Frühling, Der (work by Spitteler)

    Carl Spitteler: …Prize) was the poetic epic Der olympische Frühling (1900–05; revised 1910; “The Olympic Spring”), in which he found full scope for bold invention and vividly expressive power. The last years of his life were given up to rewriting his first work. Tighter in composition than the early version and, like…

  • Ólympos, Mount (mountain, Greece)

    Mount Olympus, mountain peak, the highest (9,570 feet [2,917 metres]) in Greece. It is part of the Olympus massif near the Gulf of Thérmai (Modern Greek: Thermaïkós) of the Aegean Sea and lies astride the border between Macedonia (Makedonía) and Thessaly (Thessalía). It is also designated as Upper

  • Olympus Has Fallen (film by Fuqua [2013])

    Angela Bassett: …Service in the action thriller Olympus Has Fallen (2013) and its sequel London Has Fallen (2016). Her other films include Lee’s crime dramedy Chi-Raq (2015) and the action adventure Mission: Impossible—Fallout (2018). Bassett also played the mother of the character T’Challa (the Black Panther) in the Marvel Cinematic

  • Olympus Mons (volcano, Mars)

    Olympus Mons, volcano on the planet Mars, the highest point on the planet and the largest known volcano in the solar system. Centred at 19° N, 133° W, Olympus Mons consists of a central edifice 22 km (14 miles) high and 700 km (435 miles) across. Around its perimeter an outward-facing cliff ascends

  • Olympus, Mount (mountain, Washington, United States)

    Olympic National Park: …found on the highest peak, Mount Olympus (7,965 feet [2,428 metres]), and on others. In all, there are some 250 glaciers in the park, although most are small and localized. The ocean shore section contains scenic beaches, islets, and points; three Indian reservations (of the Makah, Quileute, and Hoh tribes)…

  • Olympus, Mount (mountain, Cyprus)

    Cyprus: Relief: The range’s summit, Mount Olympus (also called Mount Troodos), reaches an elevation of 6,401 feet (1,951 metres) and is the island’s highest point.

  • Olympus, Mount (mountain, Greece)

    Mount Olympus, mountain peak, the highest (9,570 feet [2,917 metres]) in Greece. It is part of the Olympus massif near the Gulf of Thérmai (Modern Greek: Thermaïkós) of the Aegean Sea and lies astride the border between Macedonia (Makedonía) and Thessaly (Thessalía). It is also designated as Upper

  • Olynthiacs (orations by Demosthenes)

    Demosthenes: Leader of the democratic faction: …three stirring speeches (the “Olynthiacs”) to elicit aid for Olynthus, but the city fell the following year without significant help from Athens. Finally, Philip and the Athenians agreed in April 346 to the Peace of Philocrates; Demosthenes, partly to gain time to prepare for the long struggle he saw…

  • Olynthus (ancient city, Greece)

    Olynthus, ancient Greek city situated on the Chalcidice Peninsula of northwestern Greece. It lay about 1.5 miles (2.5 km) inland from the Gulf of Torone of the Aegean Sea. A Thracian people called the Bottiaeans inhabited Olynthus until 479 bce, when Persian forces killed them and handed the town

  • Olyokma River (river, Russia)

    Lena River: Physiography: …after the junction with the Olyokma River, and the width of the river reaches 1 mile (1.6 km). From the mouth of the Vitim to the Olyokma, the river skirts the Patom Plateau, on the right bank, forming an enormous bend; the width of the valley increases in places to…

  • Olyphant, Timothy (American actor)

    Timothy Olyphant is an American actor who has appeared in a wide range of roles but is best known for portraying two lawmen on television: Sheriff Seth Bullock in Deadwood (2004–06) and Deadwood: The Movie (2019) and U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens in Justified (2010–15) and the miniseries Justified:

  • Olyphant, Timothy David (American actor)

    Timothy Olyphant is an American actor who has appeared in a wide range of roles but is best known for portraying two lawmen on television: Sheriff Seth Bullock in Deadwood (2004–06) and Deadwood: The Movie (2019) and U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens in Justified (2010–15) and the miniseries Justified:

  • Olyslagers, Nicola (Australian track-and-field athlete)

    Nicola Olyslagers is the first Australian woman to jump 2 meters (6 feet 6.74 inches) in the high jump. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games (held in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic), the track-and-field athlete earned a silver medal and set a personal best record with a jump of 2.02 meters (6

  • Olyslagers, Nicola Lauren (Australian track-and-field athlete)

    Nicola Olyslagers is the first Australian woman to jump 2 meters (6 feet 6.74 inches) in the high jump. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games (held in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic), the track-and-field athlete earned a silver medal and set a personal best record with a jump of 2.02 meters (6

  • om (Indian religion)

    om, in Hinduism and other religions chiefly of India, a sacred syllable that is considered to be the greatest of all the mantras, or sacred formulas. The syllable om is composed of the three sounds a-u-m (in Sanskrit, the vowels a and u coalesce to become o), which represent several important

  • Om Kalsoum (Egyptian musician)

    Umm Kulthūm was an Egyptian singer who mesmerized Arab audiences from the Persian Gulf to Morocco for half a century. She was one of the most famous Arab singers and public personalities of the 20th century. Umm Kulthūm’s father was a village imam who sang traditional religious songs at weddings

  • Om Shanti Om (film by Khan [2007])

    Deepika Padukone: Actress and producer: …a Hindi film actress in Om Shanti Om. The slightly offbeat Finding Fanny (2014) showed her in the role of a young widow who sets off on a road trip to help a friend. Padukone starred in Piku (2015) opposite popular Bollywood actor Amitabh Bacchan, playing a daughter who tries…

  • Om Vaudevillen (work by Heiberg)

    Johan Ludvig Heiberg: Theoretically, he argued in Om Vaudevillen (1826; “About Vaudeville”), vaudeville as a genre was a synthesis of words and music that subsumed in its poetic realism both the lyrical and the epic and thus marked the highest form of comedy-drama. Besides his vaudeville pieces, Heiberg’s most frequently performed plays…

  • ’om-bu (tree)

    Tibet: Plant and animal life: …grow mainly in hilly regions), ’om-bu (bushlike trees with red flowers that grow near water), khres-pa (strong durable forest trees used to make food containers), glang-ma (a willow tree used for basketry), and rtsi-shings (the seeds of which are used for making varnish). Fruit-bearing trees and certain roots are used…

  • OMA (Dutch architectural firm)

    Rem Koolhaas: In 1975 he formed the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) with Elia and Zoe Zenghelis and Madelon Vriesendorp (at that time Koolhaas’s wife), with offices in Rotterdam and London.

  • Oma Irama (Indonesian musician)

    Rhoma Irama is an Indonesian popular musician who was in large part responsible for the creation of dangdut dance music, a blend of Indonesian, Indian, Middle Eastern, and Western styles that amassed a tremendous following in Indonesia in the late 20th century. Born to a lower-middle-class family

  • Omagh (former district, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom)

    Omagh, former district (1973–2015) within the former County Tyrone, now in Fermanagh and Omagh district, western Northern Ireland, made up of rolling lowlands and hills. It was bordered by the former districts of Strabane to the north, Magherafelt and Cookstown to the east, Dungannon to the south,

  • Omagh (Northern Ireland, United Kingdom)

    Omagh, town, Fermanagh and Omagh district, western Northern Ireland. Situated on the River Strule, Omagh is a market, shopping, and light-manufacturing centre for the district. Traditional crafts (such as table linens and crochet lace) continue to be produced in the town. It is also a major

  • Omagh bombing (terrorist attack, Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland)

    Omagh bombing, terrorist attack in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, on August 15, 1998, in which a bomb concealed in a car exploded, killing 29 people and injuring more than 200 others. The Omagh bombing, carried out by members of the Real Irish Republican Army (Real IRA, or New IRA), was

  • Omagua (legendary city)

    Eldorado: …legendary cities named Manoa and Omagua. In this quest, Gonzalo Pizarro crossed the Andes from Quito (1539), Francisco de Orellana sailed down the Napo and the Amazon (1541–42), and Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada explored eastward from Bogotá (1569–72). Sir Walter Raleigh searched for Manoa in the Orinoco lowlands (1595), while…

  • Ómagyar Mária-siralom (work by Godefroy de Breteuil)

    Hungarian literature: Earliest writings in Hungarian: It is known as Ómagyar Mária-siralom (c. 1300; “Old Hungarian Lament of the Virgin Mary”). The 14th century also produced translations of the legends of St. Margaret and St. Francis of Assisi. The Jókai codex, which contains the St. Francis legend, was written in about 1440 and is the…

  • Omaha (poker game)

    poker: Omaha: The play and betting in Omaha are similar to Texas hold’em. However, instead of two hole cards, Omaha players are dealt four hole cards to start the betting. Then there is a flop of three community cards before the last round of betting. Furthermore,…

  • Omaha (racehorse)

    Omaha, (foaled 1932), American racehorse (Thoroughbred) who in 1935 became the third winner of the American Triple Crown—the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes. He was sired by Gallant Fox (winner of the Triple Crown in 1930) and was the only Triple Crown winner sired by a

  • Omaha (city, Nebraska, United States)

    Omaha, city, seat (1855) of Douglas county, eastern Nebraska, U.S. It is situated on the west bank of the Missouri River opposite Council Bluffs, Iowa. Omaha is Nebraska’s biggest city and a regional manufacturing, transportation, trade, and service hub. From the 1890s through the mid-20th century

  • Omaha (people)

    Omaha, North American Indian people of the Dhegiha branch of the Siouan language stock. It is thought that Dhegiha speakers, which include the Osage, Ponca, Kansa, and Quapaw as well as the Omaha, migrated westward from the Atlantic coast at some point in prehistory and that their early settlements

  • Omaha Beach (World War II)

    Omaha Beach, second beach from the west among the five landing areas of the Normandy Invasion of World War II. It was assaulted on June 6, 1944 (D-Day of the invasion), by units of the U.S. 29th and 1st infantry divisions, many of whose soldiers were drowned during the approach from ships offshore

  • omaheke (desert, Africa)

    Kaukauveld, westward extension of the Kalahari (desert) in Namibia and extreme northwestern Botswana, locally called the omaheke (sandveld). It has an area of about 32,000 square miles (83,000 square km), lies east of the town of Grootfontein, and is bordered on the north and south by two

  • Omaigh, An (Northern Ireland, United Kingdom)

    Omagh, town, Fermanagh and Omagh district, western Northern Ireland. Situated on the River Strule, Omagh is a market, shopping, and light-manufacturing centre for the district. Traditional crafts (such as table linens and crochet lace) continue to be produced in the town. It is also a major

  • omakase (Japanese cuisine)

    omakase, Japanese word meaning to “leave to someone else,” which diners at Japanese sushi restaurants use to indicate that they are leaving their meal to the chef’s discretion. The term omakase can also refer to such a meal, which usually consists of a series of small servings or courses of sushi

  • Omalius d’Halloy, Jean-Baptiste-Julien d’ (Belgian geologist)

    Jean-Baptiste-Julien d’ Omalius d’Halloy was a Belgian geologist who was an early proponent of evolution. D’Omalius was educated first in Liège and afterward in Paris. While a youth he became interested in geology (over the protests of his parents) and, having an independent income, was able to

  • omalizumab (drug)

    omalizumab, monoclonal antibody used in the treatment of moderate to severe allergic asthma, chronic spontaneous urticaria (hives), and nasal polyps. Omalizumab is the first monoclonal antibody designed to specifically block the effects of the antibody immunoglobulin E (IgE), which plays a key role

  • Oman

    Oman, country occupying the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula at the confluence of the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea. Much of the country’s interior falls within the sandy, treeless, and largely waterless region of the Arabian Peninsula known as the Rubʿ al-Khali. The region is still the

  • Oman bullhead shark (fish)

    bullhead shark: …the Oman bullhead shark (H. omanensis) of the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea.

  • Oman Mountains (mountains, Oman)

    Arabian Desert: Physiography: The Oman Mountains divide short, steeply graded, northeast-sloping wadis from the less steep wadis sloping southwest into the eastern Rubʿ al-Khali.

  • Oman, flag of

    national flag consisting of horizontal stripes of white, red, and green and, at the hoist, a vertical red stripe with the national coat of arms. The flag generally has a width-to-length ratio of 1 to 2, but ratios of 4 to 7 or 5 to 9 are sometimes used.A plain red flag was used in Oman as early as

  • Oman, Gulf of (gulf, Arabian Sea)

    Gulf of Oman, northwest arm of the Arabian Sea, between the eastern portion (Oman) of the Arabian Peninsula to the southwest and Iran to the north. The gulf is 200 miles (320 km) wide between Cape al-Ḥadd in Oman and Gwādar Bay on the Pakistan–Iran border. It is 350 miles (560 km) long and connects

  • Oman, history of

    Oman: History: This discussion focuses on Oman since the 18th century. For a treatment of earlier periods and of the country in its regional context, see history of Arabia.

  • Oman, John Wood (British theologian)

    John Wood Oman was a British Presbyterian theologian. After graduating from Edinburgh University and the theological college of the United Presbyterian Church, Oman studied in Germany. After serving as an assistant pastor in Paisley, Scot., he transferred to the ministry of the Presbyterian Church

  • Omani dynasties (African dynasties)

    eastern Africa: The Omani ascendancy: There ensued, after the Omani victory, a century during which, despite a succession of Omani incursions, the East African coast remained very largely free from the dominance of any outside power. Oman itself suffered an invasion by the Persians and was long distracted…

  • Omani highlands (geographical region, Arabia)

    Arabia: Geology: The Omani highlands are geologically more closely related to the Zagros Mountains of western Iran than to other mountains in Arabia. (The sea is only about 50 miles wide at the Strait of Hormuz.)

  • Omantel (Omani company)

    Oman: Transportation and telecommunication: Government-owned Omantel (formerly known as General Telecommunications Organization) is Oman’s primary telecommunications provider. During the 1990s it instituted plans that increased the number of phone lines, expanded the fibre-optic network, and introduced digital technology. The Internet became available in 1997, with Omantel as the official provider.…

  • Omar Khadr case (Canadian history)

    Omar Khadr case, the imprisonment, trial, and eventual release of Omar Khadr, a Toronto-born Canadian, captured by U.S. soldiers after a firefight in Afghanistan in 2002 when he was 15 years old. The only minor since World War II to be convicted of purported war crimes, Khadr was held for nearly 13

  • Omar Khayyam (Persian poet and astronomer)

    Omar Khayyam was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet, renowned in his own country and time for his scientific achievements but chiefly known to English-speaking readers through the translation of a collection of his robāʿīyāt (“quatrains”) in The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1859), by the

  • Omar! My Life on and off the Field (work by Vizquel and Dyer)

    Omar Vizquel: His autobiography, Omar! My Life on and off the Field, written with Bob Dyer, was published in 2002. Vizquel was inducted into the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame in 2014 and the Latino Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015.

  • Omar, Ilhan (American politician)

    Ilhan Omar is an American policy analyst, organizer, public speaker, advocate, and politician who began representing Minnesota’s 5th congressional district, which includes Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs, in 2019. Upon her inauguration to the U.S. House of Representatives, she became the first

  • Omar, Mohammad (emir of Afghanistan)

    Mohammad Omar was an Afghan militant and leader of the Taliban (Pashto: Ṭālebān [“Students”]) who was the emir of Afghanistan (1996–2001). Mullah Omar’s refusal to extradite al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden prompted the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 that overthrew the Taliban government

  • Omar, Mosque of (shrine, Jerusalem)

    Dome of the Rock, shrine in Jerusalem built by the Umayyad caliph ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān in the late 7th century ce. It is the oldest extant Islamic monument. The structure is situated on a flat elevated plaza known to Muslims as al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf (“The Noble Sanctuary”) and to Jews as the

  • Omar, Mullah (emir of Afghanistan)

    Mohammad Omar was an Afghan militant and leader of the Taliban (Pashto: Ṭālebān [“Students”]) who was the emir of Afghanistan (1996–2001). Mullah Omar’s refusal to extradite al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden prompted the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 that overthrew the Taliban government

  • omasum (anatomy)

    artiodactyl: Digestive system: … (or paunch), the reticulum, the omasum (psalterium or manyplies)—which are all believed to be derived from the esophagus—and the abomasum (or reed), which corresponds to the stomach of other mammals. The omasum is almost absent in chevrotains. Camels have a three-chambered stomach, lacking the separation of omasum and abomasum; the…

  • Omayyad dynasty (Islamic history)

    Umayyad dynasty, the first great Muslim dynasty to rule the empire of the caliphate (661–750 ce), sometimes referred to as the Arab kingdom (reflecting traditional Muslim disapproval of the secular nature of the Umayyad state). The Umayyads, headed by Abū Sufyān, were a largely merchant family of

  • OMB (United States government)

    Office of Management and Budget (OMB), agency of the U.S. federal government (executive branch). It assists the president in preparing the federal budget and in supervising the budget’s administration in executive agencies. It is involved in the development and resolution of all budget, policy,

  • Ombédé, Philippe Louis (Cameroonian author)

    René Philombe was an African novelist, poet, playwright, and journalist. The Cameroon Tribune called him “one of the most influential personalities in the new wave of creative writing in Cameroon.” Philombe, a cultural and political activist from his teens, became a policeman in 1949. He unionized

  • Ombi Islands (islands, Indonesia)

    Obi Islands, group of the northern Moluccas, Maluku Utara (North Moluccas) provinsi (province), Indonesia. They lie south of Halmahera Island, north of Ceram Island, and east of the Sula Islands. The principal island of the group is Obi Island, 52 miles (84 km) long and 28 miles (47 km) wide, which

  • Ombos (ancient city, Egypt)

    Kawm Umbū: …“Hill of Umbū”) lies ancient Ombos. It is known for its unique double temple of the Ptolemaic and Roman periods, which is dedicated to Sebek (Suchos), the crocodile god, and to Horus, the falcon-headed god. Parts of the temple’s pylon and court have been eroded away by the river. Ombos…

  • ombre (card game)

    ombre, Anglicized version of the classic Spanish card game originally called hombre (meaning “man”) and now known as tresillo in Spain and South America. Three players each receive 10 cards from the Spanish suited 40-card deck lacking 10-9-8 in each suit; the remaining cards go facedown as a stock.

  • ombres chinoises (puppet show)

    ombres chinoises, (French: “Chinese shadows”), European version of the Chinese shadow-puppet show, introduced in Europe in the mid-18th century by returning travelers. Soon adopted by French and English showmen, the form gained prominence in the shows of the French puppeteer Dominique Séraphin, who

  • ombu (plant)

    tree: Trees of special interest: The ombu (Phytolacca dioica) is a remarkable South American relative of the pokeweed (P. americana). A tree capable of attaining heights of 20 metres (65 feet) and a spread of 30 metres (100 feet), it has a wide trunk; the branches contain as much as 80…

  • ombudsman (government overseer)

    ombudsman, legislative commissioner for investigating citizens’ complaints of bureaucratic abuse. The office originated in Sweden in 1809–10 and has been copied in various forms in Scandinavia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Israel and in certain states in the United States and

  • Omdurman (Sudan)

    Omdurman, one of the Three Towns (with Khartoum and Khartoum North), east-central Sudan. Situated on the bank of the main Nile River just below the confluence of the Blue and White Niles, Omdurman was an insignificant riverine village until the victory of Muḥammad Aḥmad, known as al-Mahdī, over the

  • Omdurman, Battle of (African history)

    Battle of Omdurman, (September 2, 1898), decisive military engagement in which Anglo-Egyptian forces, under Maj. Gen. Herbert Kitchener (later Lord Kitchener), defeated the forces of the Mahdist leader ʿAbd Allāh and thereby won Sudanese territory that the Mahdists had dominated since 1881. In 1821

  • Ōme (Japan)

    Ōme, city, Tokyo to (metropolis), east-central Honshu, Japan, on the Tama River. An early trade centre and post town, it was known as a weaving centre for cotton textiles. Other traditional industries included the production of lumber and woodwork. Ōme became a municipality in 1951 when it and two

  • Omecíhuatl (Aztec deity)

    Ometecuhtli: With his female counterpart, Omecíhuatl (“Two-Lady” or “Lady of the Duality”), Ometecuhtli resided in Omeyocan (“Two-Place” or “Double Heaven”), the 13th and highest Aztec heaven. The opposing factors in the Aztec universe included male and female, light and dark, motion and stillness, and order and chaos. Ometecuhtli was the…

  • Omega (Christianity)

    Alpha and Omega, in Christianity, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, used to designate the comprehensiveness of God, implying that God includes all that can be. In the New Testament Revelation to John, the term is used as the self-designation of God and of Christ. The reference in

  • Omega Centauri (astronomy)

    Omega Centauri, (catalog number NGC 5139), the brightest globular star cluster. It is located in the southern constellation Centaurus. It has a magnitude of 3.7 and is visible to the unaided eye as a faint luminous patch. Omega Centauri is about 16,000 light-years from Earth and is thus one of the

  • omega effect (geomagnetics)

    geomagnetic field: The geomagnetic dynamo: This process is called the omega effect because it depends on the rotational velocity of the fluid.

  • Omega Man, The (film by Sagal [1971])

    I Am Legend: …Price as Neville, followed by The Omega Man (1971), with the Neville role played by Charlton Heston, and last a 2007 version starring Will Smith as Neville. The first version is most faithful to the book, which, in 2012, the Horror Writers Association honoured as the greatest vampire novel of…

  • Omega Workshops (arts collective)

    Roger Fry: …into a collective called the Omega Workshops. The goal of the collective was to infuse the innovative aesthetic of Post-Impressionism into the design of everyday functional objects (such as drapery, furniture, and china). The bright colour and ornamental pattern used by these artists marked a fresh departure from the more…

  • omega-3 fatty acid (chemical compound)

    dermatitis: Environmental influences and treatment: In addition, compounds called omega-3 fatty acids, which have anti-inflammatory properties, have become an important area of dermatitis research. Skin creams containing omega-3 fatty acids can lessen the severity of skin symptoms and, in some cases, prevent dermatitis. Studies comparing the early diets of children with and without dermatitis…

  • omega-6 fatty acid (chemical compound)

    fatty acid: …cannot synthesize linoleic acid (an omega-6 fatty acid) and alpha-linolenic acid (an omega-3 fatty acid). Those fatty acids are required, however, for cellular processes and the production of other necessary omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Thus, because they must be taken in through the diet, they are called essential fatty…

  • omega-chloroacetophenone (tear gas)

    tear gas: …tear gases are ω-chloroacetophenone, or CN, and o-chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile, or CS. CN is the principal component of the aerosol agent Mace and is widely used in riot control. It affects chiefly the eyes. CS is a stronger irritant that causes burning sensations in the respiratory tract and involuntary closing of the…

  • omega-consistency (logic)

    metalogic: Discoveries about formal mathematical systems: …if such a system is ω-consistent—i.e., devoid of contradiction in a sense to be explained below—then it is not complete and that, if a system is consistent, then the statement of its consistency, easily expressible in the system, is not provable in it.

  • omega-minus particle (subatomic particle)

    subatomic particle: SU(3) symmetry: …known as the Ω− (or omega-minus), had not yet been observed. Its discovery early in 1964, at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, confirmed the validity of the SU(3) symmetry of the hadrons.

  • omegatron (instrument)

    mass spectrometry: Ion-trap methods: …derived from this idea, the omegatron and the Fourier-transform spectrometer. Both make use of the cyclotron principle (see particle accelerator: Cyclotrons), in which positive ions produced by a beam of electrons flowing along the axis of a uniform magnetic field follow circular trajectories with a radius proportional to momentum, r…

  • Omegna, Roberto (Italian filmmaker)

    Roberto Omegna was a motion picture cameraman, director, and producer of documentaries, and one of the pioneers of the Italian cinema. His thorough research and filmmaking skills place him in the forefront of early documentarians. (Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film preservation.)

  • omen (occultism)

    omen, observed phenomenon that is interpreted as signifying good or bad fortune. In ancient times omens were numerous and varied and included, for instance, lightning, cloud movements, the flight of birds, and the paths of certain sacred animals. Within each type of sign were minor subdivisions,

  • Omen, The (film by Moore [2006])

    Antichrist: …and The Omen (1976 and 2006) and its sequels. The view of Antichrist as a diabolical institution is also reflected to some extent in the superstition that credit cards and electronic bar codes mysteriously mark innocent people with Antichrist’s sign, the number 666 (Revelation 13:18).

  • Omen, The (film by Donner [1976])

    Richard Donner: Early work: …had his big-screen breakthrough with The Omen, a violent supernatural thriller that starred Gregory Peck as an American diplomat whose son, Damien—switched at birth upon the suggestion of a priest—turns out to be the Antichrist. It was a critical and commercial success, and Donner’s focus shifted to films. For his…

  • Omensetter’s Luck (novel by Gass)

    William H. Gass: His first novel, Omensetter’s Luck (1966), is about a man whose purity and good fortune are tainted when he is maliciously and falsely connected to a mysterious death. By piecing together various viewpoints, Gass creates levels of insight into character and setting; he does this, however, without the…

  • omentum (anatomy)

    peritoneum: …are of primary importance: the omentum, which hangs in front of the stomach and intestine; and the mesentery, which attaches the small intestine and much of the large intestine to the posterior abdominal cavity.

  • omeprazole (drug)

    proton pump inhibitor: …of proton pump inhibitors include omeprazole, lansoprazole, and rabeprazole.

  • Ömer (Ottoman poet)

    Nefʾi was one of the greatest classical Ottoman poets and one of the most famous satirists and panegyrists in Ottoman Turkish literature. Little is known of Nefʾi’s early life; he served as a minor government official in the reign of the sultan Ahmed I (1603–17). Not until the time of Sultan Murad

  • ʿOmer Counting, 33rd Day of the (Jewish holiday)

    Lag ba-ʿOmer, minor Jewish observance falling on the 33rd day in the period of the counting of the ʿomer (“barley sheaves”); on this day semi-mourning ceases and weddings are allowed. The origin of the festival is obscure. Among many traditions, one holds that manna first fell from heaven on this

  • Ömer Seyfeddin (Turkish author)

    Omer Seyfeddin was a short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest modern Turkish authors. Seyfeddin studied in the military schools of Edirne and Constantinople and then entered the army, eventually taking part in the Balkan Wars (1912–13). After leaving the army, he devoted

  • Omer Seyfettin (Turkish author)

    Omer Seyfeddin was a short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest modern Turkish authors. Seyfeddin studied in the military schools of Edirne and Constantinople and then entered the army, eventually taking part in the Balkan Wars (1912–13). After leaving the army, he devoted