• Sayornis phoebe (bird)

    phoebe: …the best-known species is the eastern phoebe (Sayornis phoebe), 18 cm (7.5 inches) long, plain brownish gray above and paler below. Its call is a brisk “fee-bee” uttered over and over. It makes a mossy nest, strengthened with mud, on a ledge, often under a bridge. In the open country…

  • Sayornis saya (bird)

    phoebe: …of western North America is Say’s phoebe (S. saya), a slightly larger bird with buff-hued underparts.

  • sayraisin (food)

    buckwheat: …or groats, are prepared as kasha, cooked and served much like rice. While buckwheat flour is unsatisfactory for bread, it is used, alone or mixed with wheat flour, to make griddle cakes called buckwheat cakes in the United States and Canada. Buckwheat is high in carbohydrates and protein and provides…

  • Sayram, Lake (lake, Asia)

    Tien Shan: Physiography: …metres) lies the great undrained Lake Sayram. The Ili depression is bounded to the south by the highest mountains in the central Tien Shan—the Halik Mountains, reaching heights up to 22,346 feet (6,811 metres), and the isolated Ketpen (Ketmen) Range, which rises to an elevation of 11,936 feet (3,474 metres)…

  • Sayre, Zelda (American writer and artist)

    Zelda Fitzgerald was an American writer and artist, best known for personifying the carefree ideals of the 1920s flapper and for her tumultuous marriage to F. Scott Fitzgerald. Zelda was the youngest daughter of Alabama Supreme Court Justice Anthony Dickinson Sayre and Minnie Buckner Machen Sayre.

  • Sayyāb, Badr Shākir al- (Iraqi poet)

    Arabic literature: Categories and forms: …Iraqi poets, Nāzik al-Malāʾikah and Badr Shākir al-Sayyāb, almost simultaneously decided to abandon the system of prosody that the critical establishment had for centuries imposed as a principal method of identifying the poetic, choosing to adopt in its place a system that used variable line length and patterns of assonance…

  • sayyid (Arabic title)

    sayyid, (Arabic: “master,” or “lord”), Arabic title of respect, sometimes restricted, as is the title sharīf, to the Banū Hāshim, members of Muḥammad’s clan; in particular, the descendants of Muḥammad’s uncles al-ʿAbbās and Abū Ṭālib and of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib by Muḥammad’s daughter Fāṭimah. In the

  • Sayyid Ahmad Khan (Muslim scholar)

    Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan was a Muslim educator, jurist, and author, founder of the Anglo-Mohammedan Oriental College at Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, and the principal motivating force behind the revival of Indian Islam in the late 19th century. His works, in Urdu, included Essays on the Life of

  • Sayyid Āqā Jalāl ad-Dīn Mīrak al-Ḥasanī (Persian painter)

    Āqā Mīrak was a Persian painter, an admired portraitist and an excellent colourist, who painted in a sumptuous style. A descendant of the Prophet Muḥammad and a native of Eṣfahān, he worked mostly in Tabrīz, the capital of the Ṣafavid empire. He knew the Persian painter Behzād, who was director of

  • Sayyid ash-Sharīf, as- (Iranian theologian)

    al-Jurjānī was a leading traditionalist theologian of 15th-century Iran. Jurjānī received a varied education, first in Harāt and then in Egypt. He visited Constantinople in 1374, and, upon his return in 1377, he was given a teaching appointment in Shīrāz. In 1387 Shīrāz fell to Timur, the famous

  • Sayyid dynasty (Indian dynasty)

    Sayyid dynasty, rulers of India’s Delhi sultanate (c. 1414–51) as successors of the Tughluq dynasty until displaced by the Afghan Lodīs. This family claimed to be sayyids, or descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. The central authority of the Delhi sultanate had been fatally weakened by the invasion

  • Sayyid Mahdi Ali (Indian political leader)

    India: Nationalism in the Muslim community: …popularly known by his title Mohsin al-Mulk, had succeeded Sayyid Ahmad as leader and convened a deputation of some 36 Muslim leaders, headed by the Aga Khan III, that in 1906 called on Lord Minto (viceroy from 1905–10) to articulate the special national interests of India’s Muslim community. Minto promised…

  • Sayyid Muḥammad Raḥīm Bahādur II (Khivan khan)

    Chagatai literature: The khan Sayyid Muḥammad Raḥīm Bahādur II introduced printing to Khiva in 1874, the year of Āgahī’s death. Taking the pen name Firuz, he also wrote verse in Chagatai.

  • Sayyid Murtaḍā az-Zabīd, al- (Muslim philologist)

    Islamic arts: New importance of Indian literature: It should be added that al-Sayyid Murtaḍā al-Zabīd (died 1791), a leading philologist, author of the fundamental work of lexicography Tāj al-ʿarūs (“The Bride’s Crown”), and commentator on Ghazālī’s main work, was of Indian origin. Laudatory poems and belles lettres in Arabic were still popular in the early 19th century…

  • Sayyid Saʿīd ibn Sulṭān (Arabian ruler)

    eastern Africa: The Omani ascendancy: …both developed and used by Sayyid Saʿīd ibn Sulṭān of Oman as the base for his growing ambitions. Having won the succession to Muscat after an internecine struggle following his father’s death in 1804, Saʿīd spent much of the next two decades establishing his authority there. (In this he was…

  • Sayyid, Ḥusain ʿAlī Khān Bāraha (Mughal minister)

    India: Struggle for a new power center: …brothers, ʿAbd Allāh Khan and Ḥusayn ʿAlī Khan Bāraha. The Sayyids thus earned the offices of vizier and chief bakhshī and acquired control over the affairs of state. They promoted the policies initiated earlier by Ẓulfiqār Khan. In addition to the jizyah, other similar taxes were abolished. The brothers finally…

  • Sayyid, ʿAbd Allah Khan (Mughal minister)

    India: Struggle for a new power center: …accession to the Sayyid brothers, ʿAbd Allāh Khan and Ḥusayn ʿAlī Khan Bāraha. The Sayyids thus earned the offices of vizier and chief bakhshī and acquired control over the affairs of state. They promoted the policies initiated earlier by Ẓulfiqār Khan. In addition to the jizyah, other similar taxes were…

  • Sayyidah Arwā, as- (Ṣulayḥid ruler)

    Ṣulayḥid dynasty: …the principality to his wife, al-Sayyidah Arwā. The Fāṭimids recognized her as suzerain of the kings of the Yemen until her death in 1138, when Yemen passed into Zurayʿid hands.

  • Sayyidī Yaḥyā oasis (oasis, Morocco)

    Oujda: Oujda is near Sidi Yahya (Sayyidī Yaḥyā) oasis, a legendary burial place of John the Baptist and site of the Battle of Isly, where the French defeated the Moroccan army in 1844. It is connected by road and railway with Taza.

  • Sazerac (alcoholic beverage)

    Sazerac, a variation of a cognac cocktail native to New Orleans, and the city’s signature alcoholic beverage. Named for the French cognac Sazerac de Forge et Fils, the original base until a grape blight in France restricted the supply of cognac, this drink is made by mixing rye whiskey or bourbon

  • Sazonov, Sergey Dmitriyevich (Russian statesman)

    Sergey Dmitriyevich Sazonov was a statesman and diplomat, Russia’s minister of foreign affairs (1910–16) during the period immediately preceding and following the outbreak of World War I. Having entered the foreign ministry in 1883, Sazonov, whose brother-in-law Pyotr Stolypin was Russia’s prime

  • Ṣāʾib (Persian poet)

    Ṣāʾib was a Persian poet, one of the greatest masters of a form of classical Arabic and Persian lyric poetry characterized by rhymed couplets and known as the ghazel. Ṣāʾib was educated in Eṣfahān, and in about 1626/27 he traveled to India, where he was received into the court of Shāh Jahān. He

  • Ṣāʾib Khāthir (Persian musician)

    Islamic arts: The beginning of Islam and the first four caliphs: …heard from captive Persians; and Ṣāʾib Khāthir, a Persian merchant. Songs were generally accompanied by the lute (ʿūd), the frame drum (duff), or the percussion stick (qaḍīb).

  • Ṣāʾib of Eṣfahān (Persian poet)

    Ṣāʾib was a Persian poet, one of the greatest masters of a form of classical Arabic and Persian lyric poetry characterized by rhymed couplets and known as the ghazel. Ṣāʾib was educated in Eṣfahān, and in about 1626/27 he traveled to India, where he was received into the court of Shāh Jahān. He

  • Ṣāʾib of Tabriz (Persian poet)

    Ṣāʾib was a Persian poet, one of the greatest masters of a form of classical Arabic and Persian lyric poetry characterized by rhymed couplets and known as the ghazel. Ṣāʾib was educated in Eṣfahān, and in about 1626/27 he traveled to India, where he was received into the court of Shāh Jahān. He

  • Ṣāʾigh, Tawfīq al- (Lebanese author)

    Islamic arts: Arabic: …as the Lebanese Adonis and Tawfiq Sayigh (died 1971), or the Egyptian dramatist Salah Abdel Sabour (died 1981), made use of traditional imagery in a new, sometimes esoteric, often fascinating and daring way.

  • Saʿādah, Anṭūn (Syrian politician)

    Anṭūn Saʿādah was a Syrian political agitator who sought to unify Syria with neighbouring areas that he considered really parts of Syria. In 1921 Saʿādah went to Brazil to join his father, a physician and scholar, in the latter’s publishing business. He returned to Lebanon in 1930 and the following

  • Saʿādī (people)

    Egypt: Ethnic groups: …divided into two groups, the Saʿādī (not to be confused with the Ṣaʿīdī, Upper Egyptians) and the Mūrābiṭīn. The Saʿādī regard themselves as descended from Banū Hilāl and Banū Sulaym, the great Arab tribes that migrated to North Africa in the 11th century. The most important and numerous of the…

  • Saʿadia ben Joseph (Jewish exegete and philosopher)

    Saʿadia ben Joseph was a Jewish exegete, philosopher, and polemicist whose influence on Jewish literary and communal activities made him one of the most important Jewish scholars of his time. His unique qualities became especially apparent in 921 in Babylonia during a dispute over Jewish

  • Saʿd ebn Zangī (Salghurid governor)

    Iran: The Khwārezm-Shahs: Abū Bakr’s father, Saʿd, for whom Saʿdī took his pen name, conferred great prosperity on Shīrāz.

  • Saʿd Zaghlūl Pasha ibn Ibrāhīm (Egyptian statesman)

    Saad Zaghloul was an Egyptian statesman and patriot, leader of the Wafd party and of the nationalist movement of 1918–19, which led Britain to give Egypt nominal independence in 1922. He was briefly prime minister in 1924. Zaghloul was from a well-to-do peasant family in Ibyānah in the Nile River

  • Saʿdābād Pact (Iraqi history)

    Iraq: Independence, 1932–39: A nonaggression pact, called the Saʿdābād Pact, between Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and Iraq was signed in 1937. In 1939, shortly before the outbreak of World War II, King Ghāzī was killed in a car accident, and his son Fayṣal II ascended the throne. As Fayṣal was only four years old,…

  • Ṣaʿdah (Yemen)

    Ṣaʿdah, town, northwestern Yemen, in the mountainous Yemen Highlands. It was the original capital of the Zaydī dynasty of imams (religious-political leaders) of Yemen (ad 860–1962). The effective founder of Ṣaʿdah as a base of Zaydī power was Imam Yaḥyā al-Hādī ilā al-Ḥāqq I (reigned 893–911).

  • Saʿdāwī, Nawāl al- (Egyptian physician, psychiatrist, author and feminist)

    Nawal El Saadawi was an Egyptian public health physician, psychiatrist, author, and advocate of women’s rights. Sometimes described as “the Simone de Beauvoir of the Arab world,” El Saadawi was a feminist whose writings and professional career were dedicated to political and sexual rights for

  • Saʿdī (Persian poet)

    Saʿdī was a Persian poet, one of the greatest figures in classical Persian literature. He lost his father, Muṣliḥ al-Dīn, in early childhood; later he was sent to study in Baghdad at the renowned Neẓāmīyeh College, where he acquired the traditional learning of Islam. The unsettled conditions

  • Saʿdī dynasty (Moroccan dynasty)

    western Africa: The early kingdoms and empires of the western Sudan: …provoked effective retaliation from the Saʿdī dynasty of Morocco. An expeditionary force of some 4,000 soldiers was sent across the Sahara and took the important cities of Gao, Timbuktu, and Jenne. The Moroccans had firearms, but their success against the much larger numbers of the Songhai army was also facilitated…

  • Saʿdīyah (Ṣūfī order)

    Rifāʿīyah: …branch of the order, the Saʿdīyah (or Jibāwīyah), was given its form by Saʿd ad-Dīn al-Jibāwī in Damascus sometime in the 14th century. Among the Saʿdīyah, ecstasy was induced by physical motion—whirling around on the right heel—and the sheikh, or head of the order, rode on horseback over the prone…

  • Saʿdullah Khān (ruler of Arcot)

    India: The south: Travancore and Mysore: …as the Niẓām al-Mulk and Saʿd Allah Khan at Arcot. The Niẓām al-Mulk had consolidated his position in Hyderabad by the 1740s, whereas the Arcot principality had emerged some three decades earlier. Neither of these rulers, while establishing dynastic succession, claimed full sovereignty, and thus they continued to cast themselves…

  • Saʿīd (Najāḥid ruler)

    Najāḥid Dynasty: Two of Najāḥ’s sons, Saʿīd and Jayyāsh, who had fled the capital, plotted to restore themselves to the Najāḥid throne and in 1081 killed ʿAlī. Saʿīd, supported by the large Ethiopian Mamlūk population, easily secured control of Zabīd. ʿAlī’s son al-Mukarram, however, heavily influenced by his mother, took Zabīd…

  • Saʿīd ibn Sulṭān (ruler of Muscat, Oman, and Zanzibar)

    Saʿīd ibn Sulṭān was the ruler of Muscat and Oman and of Zanzibar (1806–56), who made Zanzibar the principal power in East Africa and the commercial capital of the western Indian Ocean. Born in 1791, Saʿīd succeeded his father jointly with his brother Salīm in 1804, but their cousin Badr

  • Saʿīd ibn Sulṭān ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd Āl Bū Saʿīdī (ruler of Muscat, Oman, and Zanzibar)

    Saʿīd ibn Sulṭān was the ruler of Muscat and Oman and of Zanzibar (1806–56), who made Zanzibar the principal power in East Africa and the commercial capital of the western Indian Ocean. Born in 1791, Saʿīd succeeded his father jointly with his brother Salīm in 1804, but their cousin Badr

  • Saʿīd ibn Taymūr (sultan of Oman)

    Qaboos bin Said: …in 1965 by his father, Saʿīd ibn Taymūr, who kept his son a virtual prisoner for six years while maintaining his subjects in a state of relative underdevelopment despite the country’s growing oil revenues.

  • Saʿīd Imām (ruler of Muscat, Oman, and Zanzibar)

    Saʿīd ibn Sulṭān was the ruler of Muscat and Oman and of Zanzibar (1806–56), who made Zanzibar the principal power in East Africa and the commercial capital of the western Indian Ocean. Born in 1791, Saʿīd succeeded his father jointly with his brother Salīm in 1804, but their cousin Badr

  • Saʿīd Isbar, ʿAlī Aḥmad (Syrian-born Lebanese poet and literary critic)

    Adonis is a Syrian-born Lebanese poet and literary critic who was a leader of the modernist movement in contemporary Arabic poetry. Adonis was born into a family of farmers and had no formal education until he was in his teens, though his father taught him much about classical Arabic literature. At

  • Saʿīd Pasha (Ottoman viceroy of Egypt)

    Saʿīd Pasha was an Ottoman viceroy of Egypt (1854–63) whose administrative policies fostered the development of individual landownership and reduced the influence of the sheikhs (village headmen). Saʿīd was the fourth son of Muḥammad ʿAlī Pasha, viceroy of Egypt (1805–48). While still a child, he

  • Saʿīd Sayyid (ruler of Muscat, Oman, and Zanzibar)

    Saʿīd ibn Sulṭān was the ruler of Muscat and Oman and of Zanzibar (1806–56), who made Zanzibar the principal power in East Africa and the commercial capital of the western Indian Ocean. Born in 1791, Saʿīd succeeded his father jointly with his brother Salīm in 1804, but their cousin Badr

  • Ṣaʿīd, Al- (region, Egypt)

    Upper Egypt, geographic and cultural division of Egypt, generally consisting of the Nile River valley south of the delta and the 30th parallel N. It thus consists of the entire Nile River valley from Cairo south to Lake Nasser (formed by the Aswan High Dam). This division also includes what some

  • Saʿīd, Amīnah al- (Egyptian journalist and writer)

    Amīnah al-Saʿīd was an Egyptian journalist and writer who was one of Egypt’s leading feminists and was a founder (1954) and editor (1954–69) of Ḥawwaʾ (“Eve”), the first women’s magazine to be published in Egypt. At age 14, Saʿīd joined the youth section of the Egyptian Feminist Union, and in 1931

  • Saʿīd, Qays (president of Tunisia)

    Kais Saied is a Tunisian law professor and politician who serves as president of Tunisia (2019– ). He rose to prominence through the popular support of Tunisians who hoped he could repair a dysfunctional political system. However, his term in office has been marred by controversy for his use of

  • Saʿīd, ʿUbayd Allāh (Fāṭimid ruler)

    Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Shīʿī: …news of al-Shīʿī’s success reached ʿUbayd ʿAllāh al-Mahdī, the leader of the Ismāʿīlīs, at his headquarters at Salamiyya, ʿUbayd disguised himself as a merchant and traveled toward northwest Africa. He was captured and jailed by the Khārijī emir of Sijilmāssa but was then rescued by al-Shīʿī in August 909. In…

  • Ṣaʿīdī (people)

    Egypt: Settlement patterns: …up to Aswān governorate, the Ṣaʿīdīs, are more conservative than the delta people. In some areas women still do not appear in public without a veil; family honour is of great importance, and the vendetta remains an accepted (albeit illegal) means of resolving disputes between groups. Until the building of…

  • Ṣāʿiqah, al- (Syrian guerrilla organization)

    al-Ṣāʿiqah, Syrian guerrilla force sponsored by the Syrian government with the purpose of promoting the interests of the Palestinian branch of the Syrian Baʿth Party. Al-Ṣāʿiqah was founded by the party in 1968 and has maintained a socialist ideology. Chosen from the Palestinians in the upper ranks

  • Saʿūd I ibn ʿAbd al-Azīz (Arab leader)

    Saudi Arabia: Origins and early expansion: …cooperation with his warlike son, Saud I (1803–14), busied himself with the expansion of his empire far beyond the limits inherited by him. Meanwhile, in 1792, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb died at the age of 89. Wahhābī attacks on settled areas had begun to attract the attention of officials of…

  • Saʿūd II ibn Fayṣal (Arab leader)

    Saudi Arabia: Death of Faisal: …the rebellion of his brother Saud II for six years until the Battle of Jūdah (1871), in which Saud triumphed. Abdullah fled, and Saud took power. But during the next five years the throne changed hands no fewer than seven times in favour of different members of the Saud family.…

  • Saʿūd, Āl (rulers of Saudi Arabia)

    Saud dynasty, rulers of Saudi Arabia. The dynasty, founded by Muhammad ibn Saud in the 18th century, takes its name from his father, Saud ibn Muhammad ibn Muqrin, who ruled the town of Al-Dirʿiyyah (near what is now Riyadh) from 1720 to 1725. What follows is a brief history of the Saud dynasty. For

  • Saʿūdi family (rulers of Saudi Arabia)

    Saud dynasty, rulers of Saudi Arabia. The dynasty, founded by Muhammad ibn Saud in the 18th century, takes its name from his father, Saud ibn Muhammad ibn Muqrin, who ruled the town of Al-Dirʿiyyah (near what is now Riyadh) from 1720 to 1725. What follows is a brief history of the Saud dynasty. For

  • saʿy (Islam)

    ʿumrah: The saʿy, running seven times between the hills of al-Ṣafā and al-Marwah, and the ritual shaving of the head for male pilgrims complete the ʿumrah.

  • SB (Polish government)

    Poland: Police: …mobile paramilitary riot squad—and the Security Service (SB), a secret political police force. In the early 1980s ZOMO played a key role in enforcing martial law and controlling demonstrations. The paramilitary nature of the Policja (“Police”), as they became known after 1990, has diminished.

  • Sb (chemical element)

    antimony (Sb), a metallic element belonging to the nitrogen group (Group 15 [Va] of the periodic table). Antimony exists in many allotropic forms (physically distinct conditions that result from different arrangements of the same atoms in molecules or crystals). Antimony is a lustrous silvery

  • Sb galaxy (astronomy)

    galaxy: Sb galaxies: This intermediate type of spiral typically has a medium-sized nucleus. Its arms are more widely spread than those of the Sa variety and appear less smooth. They contain stars, star clouds, and interstellar gas and dust. Sb galaxies show wide dispersions in details…

  • SB0 galaxy (astronomy)

    galaxy: SB galaxies: There are SB0 galaxies that feature a large nuclear bulge surrounded by a disklike envelope across which runs a luminous featureless bar. Some SB0 systems have short bars, while others have bars that extend across the entire visible image. Occasionally there is a ringlike feature external to…

  • SBA (United States agency)

    Small Business Administration (SBA), U.S. federal agency that aids small businesses and assists in economic recovery following disasters. The Small Business Administration (SBA) provides support to prospective entrepreneurs, new start-up businesses, and existing small businesses through a variety

  • SBa galaxy (astronomy)

    galaxy: SB galaxies: SBa galaxies have bright, fairly large nuclear bulges and tightly wound, smooth spiral arms that emerge from the ends of the bar or from a circular ring external to the bar. SBb systems have a smooth bar as well as relatively smooth and continuous arms.…

  • Sbarbaro, Camillo (Italian author)

    Italian literature: The Hermetic movement: …run amok; others, such as Camillo Sbarbaro (Pianissimo [1914], Trucioli [1920; “Shavings”]), cultivated a style purified of unessential elements. Out of those efforts grew a poetry combining the acoustic potentialities of words with emotional restraint and consisting mainly of fragmentary utterances in which words were enhanced by contextual isolation and…

  • SBb galaxy (astronomy)

    galaxy: SB galaxies: SBb systems have a smooth bar as well as relatively smooth and continuous arms. In some galaxies of this type, the arms start at or near the ends of the bar, with conspicuous dust lanes along the inside of the bar that can be traced…

  • SBC Communications, Incorporated (American company)

    Carlos Slim Helú: and SBC Communications Inc. Grupo Carso also held extensive interests in numerous Mexican companies. By the late 1980s Slim had forged close ties with Pres. Carlos Salinas de Gortari and the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party. In 1990 the Gortari administration privatized Telmex, and Slim, along with…

  • SBc galaxy (astronomy)

    galaxy: SB galaxies: In SBc galaxies, both the arms and the bar are highly resolved into star clouds and stellar associations. The arms are open in form and can start either at the ends of the bar or tangent to a ring.

  • Sbeitla (Tunisia)

    Sufetula, ancient Roman city 19 miles (31 km) east-northeast of modern Al-Qaṣrayn, Tunisia. Most likely originating as a fort during the Roman campaigns against the Numidian rebel Tacfarinas (ad 17–24), it became a municipium under the emperor Vespasian (69–79) and a colonia under Marcus Aurelius

  • SBF (American businessman)

    Sam Bankman-Fried was the founder and former chief executive officer (2019–22) of FTX Trading Ltd., a cryptocurrency exchange. The exchange became the second largest of its kind, making Bankman-Fried a powerful figure within the market of digital assets and in discussions in the United States

  • SBI

    State Bank of India (SBI), state-owned commercial bank and financial services company, nationalized by the Indian government in 1955. SBI maintains thousands of branches throughout India and offices in dozens of countries throughout the world. The bank’s headquarters are in Mumbai. The oldest

  • SBR (chemical compound)

    styrene-butadiene and styrene-isoprene block copolymers (SBR), two related triblock copolymers that consist of polystyrene sequences (or blocks) at each end of a molecular chain and a butadiene or isoprene sequence in the centre. SBS and SIS are thermoplastic elastomers, blends that exhibit both

  • SBR (chemical compound)

    styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), a general-purpose synthetic rubber, produced from a copolymer of styrene and butadiene. Exceeding all other synthetic rubbers in consumption, SBR is used in great quantities in automobile and truck tires, generally as an abrasion-resistant replacement for natural

  • SBS (British special-operations force)

    Special Boat Service (SBS), elite British special operations warfare unit. With the Special Air Service (SAS), the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, the Special Forces Support Group, an integral signals regiment, and an aviation wing, it is a core part of the United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF)

  • SBS (medical disorder)

    sick building syndrome (SBS), term applied to a situation in which some or all the people occupying a building (usually working or living in it) experience non-specific health effects such as headache; dizziness; nausea; irritated eyes, nose, or throat; dry cough; or skin irritation. The term is

  • SBX (sport)

    snowboarding: Snowboard cross (boardercross): Snowboard cross (originally and still frequently called boardercross) is an event where multiple riders (four in Olympic competition) race simultaneously down the same inclined course with banked turns, jumps, berms, drops, and other artificial features that test the competitors’ balance and control at maximum speeds.…

  • SBY (president of Indonesia)

    Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is an Indonesian military officer, politician, and government official who was the first popularly elected president of Indonesia (2004–14). Yudhoyono was born into a well-to-do family of aristocratic background. Following in the footsteps of his father, a middle-ranking

  • SBYOV (Venezuelan orchestra)

    Gustavo Dudamel: …him music director of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela (SBYOV; later renamed the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela), the chief performing group. The next year Dudamel and the orchestra toured Germany, and in following years they made additional trips to Europe, all to ecstatic reviews. They played…

  • Sc (chemical element)

    scandium (Sc), chemical element, a rare-earth metal of Group 3 of the periodic table. Scandium is a silvery white, moderately soft metal. It is fairly stable in air but will slowly change its colour from silvery white to a yellowish appearance because of formation of Sc2O3 oxide on the surface. The

  • SC Bastia (French football team)

    Michael Essien: …called Liberty Professionals before joining SC Bastia, in France’s top division, in 2000.

  • Sc galaxy (astronomy)

    galaxy: Sc galaxies: These galaxies characteristically have a very small nucleus and multiple spiral arms that are open, with relatively large pitch angles. The arms, moreover, are lumpy, containing as they do numerous irregularly distributed star clouds, stellar associations, star clusters, and gas clouds known as…

  • SCA (Egyptian government)

    Zahi Hawass: …oversaw as head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA). He served as Egypt’s minister of antiquities in 2011.

  • SCAA (American organization)

    Louisa Lee Schuyler: …like-minded associates, she formed the State Charities Aid Association (SCAA), which she envisioned as an umbrella organization for local groups of volunteer visitors interested in the inspection and improvement of prisons, poorhouses, workhouses, public hospitals, and schools. While working to establish and extend the work of the SCAA and to…

  • scab (plant disease)

    scab, in botany, any of several bacterial or fungal plant diseases characterized by crustaceous lesions on fruits, tubers, leaves, or stems. The term is also used for the symptom of the disease. Scab often affects apples, crabapples, cereals, cucumbers, peaches, pecans, and potatoes. Leaves of

  • scab (medicine)

    scab, in pathology, secondary skin lesion composed of dried serum, blood, or pus. See

  • scab mite (arachnid)

    mite: … (Sarcoptidae) of humans and animals, scab mites (Psoroptidae), feather mites of birds, mites associated with insects, and many free-living forms. Grain mites (Glycyphagidae) not only damage stored products but also cause skin irritations in those who handle such products. Itch mites burrow into the layers of the skin of humans,…

  • scabby mouth (animal disease)

    sore mouth, viral disease of sheep and goats. The disease is characterized by the emergence of blisters, pustules, ulcers, and scabs on the lips especially but also on the face, the ears, and sometimes the legs. In severe cases, sores form inside the mouth. Sores may also appear on the teats of

  • scabe (causeway)

    Cobá: The many causeways—called sacbe (plural sacbeob), or “white roads,” in reference to their white limestone surface—are among the most striking and significant features of Cobá. These roads, built to resist erosion by the elements, are elevated variously from about 1.5 to 8 feet (0.5 to 2.5 metres) above…

  • scabella (musical instrument)

    percussion instrument: Idiophones: …adopted by Rome as the scabella. Other idiophones included bells, cymbals, the unidentified ēcheion, and an instrument simply called “the bronze” (chalkos), probably a metal percussion disk. When the Egyptian cult of Isis spread to Greece and Rome, her sistrum followed, always in the hands of a priest or—rarely—priestess.

  • scabellum (musical instrument)

    percussion instrument: Idiophones: …adopted by Rome as the scabella. Other idiophones included bells, cymbals, the unidentified ēcheion, and an instrument simply called “the bronze” (chalkos), probably a metal percussion disk. When the Egyptian cult of Isis spread to Greece and Rome, her sistrum followed, always in the hands of a priest or—rarely—priestess.

  • scabies (dermatology)

    scabies, skin inflammation accompanied by severe itching, particularly at night, caused by the itch mite (Sarcoptes scabiei, variety hominis). The mite passes from person to person by close contact. While scabies occurs worldwide, it is most common in areas that are affected by overcrowding and

  • scabini (Byzantine law officer)

    Italy: The kingdom of Italy: …judicial officials were henceforth called scabini, as their counterparts were called north of the Alps. As in Francia, the church acquired greater political importance, for the Carolingians in Italy used bishops in their central and local administrations almost as much as they used counts. And, as long as the Carolingian…

  • scabini Flandriae (government organization)

    history of the Low Countries: Consolidation of territorial states (1384–1567): …during the 13th century, the scabini Flandriae, uniting delegations from the governments of the main cities, intervened in various political matters of the principality, especially concerning economic policy. During the 14th century, the three largest cities, Brugge, Ghent, and Ypres, formed a nearly permanent consultation committee called the three members…

  • scabinus (Byzantine law officer)

    Italy: The kingdom of Italy: …judicial officials were henceforth called scabini, as their counterparts were called north of the Alps. As in Francia, the church acquired greater political importance, for the Carolingians in Italy used bishops in their central and local administrations almost as much as they used counts. And, as long as the Carolingian…

  • scabiosa (plant)

    scabious, (genus Scabiosa), genus of about 30 species of annual and perennial herbs of the honeysuckle family (Caprifoliaceae). They are native to temperate Eurasia, the Mediterranean region, and the mountains of eastern Africa. Some are important garden plants. All species have basal leaf rosettes

  • Scabiosa (plant)

    scabious, (genus Scabiosa), genus of about 30 species of annual and perennial herbs of the honeysuckle family (Caprifoliaceae). They are native to temperate Eurasia, the Mediterranean region, and the mountains of eastern Africa. Some are important garden plants. All species have basal leaf rosettes

  • Scabiosa atropurpurea (plant, Scabiosa atropurpurea)

    scabious: Major species: Pincushion flower, also called sweet scabious, mourning bride, or garden scabious (Scabiosa atropurpurea), a southern European annual with deeply cut basal leaves and feathery stem leaves, produces fragrant 5-cm (2-inch) flower heads in white, rose, crimson, blue, or deep mahogany purple. It is about 1…

  • Scabiosa caucasica (plant)

    scabious: Major species: Perennial scabious (S. caucasica), of southeastern Europe, grows to 75 cm (29.5 inches). It has narrow smooth-margined basal leaves and cut stem leaves and produces light blue flowers up to 8 cm (3 inches) across.

  • Scabiosa columbaria (plant)

    scabious: Major species: Small scabious (S. columbaria; also known as dwarf pincushion flower), from Eurasia and Africa, reaches 60 cm (24 inches). It is a perennial with toothed elongate oval basal leaves and cut stem leaves. The light blue flowers are 3.5 cm (about 1.5 inches) across.

  • scabious (plant)

    scabious, (genus Scabiosa), genus of about 30 species of annual and perennial herbs of the honeysuckle family (Caprifoliaceae). They are native to temperate Eurasia, the Mediterranean region, and the mountains of eastern Africa. Some are important garden plants. All species have basal leaf rosettes

  • scad (fish)

    scad, any of several species of fishes in the family Carangidae (order Perciformes), which also includes the jacks, amberjacks, and pompanos. The name scad is usually restricted to certain species in the genera Decapterus, Selar, and Trachurus. The half dozen species are marine and occur along the