• Versailles, Treaty of (1919)

    Treaty of Versailles, peace document signed at the end of World War I by the Allied and associated powers and by Germany in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, France, on June 28, 1919; it took force on January 10, 1920. A brief treatment of the Treaty of Versailles follows. For full

  • Verschwörung des Fiesko zu Genua, Die (play by Schiller)

    Friedrich Schiller: Early years and plays: …des Fiesko zu Genua (1783; Fiesco; or, the Genoese Conspiracy), subtitled “a republican tragedy”: the drama of the rise and fall of a would-be dictator, set in 16th-century Genoa, picturing, in Schiller’s own phrase, “ambition in action, and ultimately defeated.”

  • verse (literature)

    literature: The scope of literature: …called poetry at all but verse. Many novels—certainly all the world’s great novels—are literature, but there are thousands that are not so considered. Most great dramas are considered literature (although the Chinese, possessors of one of the world’s greatest dramatic traditions, consider their plays, with few exceptions, to possess no…

  • verse anthem (music)

    Henry Purcell: Music for church: …with sections for soloists (verse anthems), were written between 1680 and 1685, the year of Charles II’s death. The decline of the Chapel Royal during the reigns of James II and of William and Mary may have been responsible for the comparatively few works he produced during that period,…

  • verse drama (literature)

    Robert Browning: Life.: …energies for some years to verse drama, a form that he had already adopted for Strafford (1837). Between 1841 and 1846, in a series of pamphlets under the general title of Bells and Pomegranates, he published seven more plays in verse, including Pippa Passes (1841), A Blot in the ’Scutcheon…

  • Versek (work by Petőfi)

    Sándor Petőfi: His first volume of poetry, Versek, appeared in the same year and made him famous at once, though the tone of his poems scandalized many. In 1847 he married Julia Szendrey, who inspired his best love poems.

  • Verses (work by Dowson)

    Ernest Dowson: …reputation rests on his poetry: Verses (1896), the verse play The Pierrot of the Minute (1897), and Decorations in Verse and Prose (1899). His lyrics, much influenced by French poet Paul Verlaine and marked by meticulous attention to melody and cadence, turn the conventional world-weariness of the 1890s into a…

  • Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift (poem by Swift)

    English literature: Swift: …the intricately textured humor of Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift (completed in 1732; published 1739) and to the delicate humanity of his poems to Stella. But his prime distinction is, of course, as the greatest prose satirist in the English language. His period as secretary to the distinguished…

  • verses to his lady (English literature)

    George Turberville: …to publish a book of verses to his lady, a genre that became popular in the Elizabethan age.

  • verset (literature)

    verset, a short verse, especially from a sacred book, such as those found in the Song of Solomon and the Psalms, or a stanza form modeled on such biblical verse. The stanza form is characterized by long lines and powerful, surging rhythms and usually expresses fervent religious or patriotic

  • versi sciolti (poetic form)

    blank verse, unrhymed iambic pentameter, the preeminent dramatic and narrative verse form in English and also the standard form for dramatic verse in Italian and German. Its richness and versatility depend on the skill of the poet in varying the stresses and the position of the caesura (pause) in

  • versiera (curve)

    Maria Gaetana Agnesi: …into English as the “Witch of Agnesi.” The French Academy of Sciences, in its review of the Instituzioni, stated that: “We regard it as the most complete and best made treatise.” Pope Benedict XIV was similarly impressed and appointed Agnesi professor of mathematics at the University of Bologna in…

  • versification (literature)

    prosody, the study of all the elements of language that contribute toward acoustic and rhythmic effects, chiefly in poetry but also in prose. The term derived from an ancient Greek word that originally meant a song accompanied by music or the particular tone or accent given to an individual

  • Versinikia, Battle of (Byzantine history)

    Michael I Rhangabe: …22, 813, he lost the Battle of Versinikia near Adrianople, as a result of the desertion of the troops of one of his generals, Leo the Armenian. Leo then deposed Michael and himself ascended the throne as Leo V. Michael retired to a monastery on one of the Princes Islands.…

  • version control system (computing)

    GitHub: GitHub remains the dominant version control system (VCS) for software development and is often credited for its user-friendly interface. This interface and its open-source design have led GitHub to accumulate more than 100 million unique users and achieve an annual recurring revenue of approximately $1 billion.

  • Versos (poems by Alegre)

    Caetano da Costa Alegre: …and published Alegre’s poetry as Versos.

  • Versos libres (work of Martí)

    José Martí: …poetry, such as the collection Versos libres (1913; “Free Verses”), written between 1878 and 1882 on the theme of freedom, reveals a deep sensitivity and an original poetic vision. Martí’s essays, which are considered by most critics his greatest contribution to Spanish American letters, helped to bring about innovations in…

  • Versos prohibidos (work by Chacel)

    Spanish literature: Women poets: …of neo-Gongoristic sonnets, and in Versos prohibidos (1978; “Prohibited Verse”), a mixture of unrhymed pieces that resemble in their metre blank verse and alexandrines and in their form epistles, sonnets, and odes. Frequent themes are philosophical inspiration, faith, religiosity, separation, menace (echoing the Civil War), friendships, and her wanderings. Concha…

  • Verstappen, Max (race-car driver)

    Max Verstappen is a race-car driver competing in Formula One (F1) under the Dutch flag. He is the sport’s youngest race winner, and he is also the youngest person to start an F1 race. Driving for Red Bull Racing, he won four consecutive F1 drivers’ championships—one of only five drivers to do so in

  • Verstappen, Max Emilian (race-car driver)

    Max Verstappen is a race-car driver competing in Formula One (F1) under the Dutch flag. He is the sport’s youngest race winner, and he is also the youngest person to start an F1 race. Driving for Red Bull Racing, he won four consecutive F1 drivers’ championships—one of only five drivers to do so in

  • Verstehen (philosophy)

    philosophy of history: Explanation and understanding: …they were strongly opposed to Verstehen, or “empathy,” theories of historical knowledge. They regarded the contention that historical understanding presupposes an allegedly direct identification with the mental processes of past human agents as representing at best a heuristic recommendation of doubtful utility, at worst an obscurantist doctrine that transparently fails…

  • Verstraeten, Wim (Belgian aviator)

    Bertrand Piccard: In 1992 Piccard and Wim Verstraeten crossed the Atlantic Ocean, winning the Chrysler Transatlantic Challenge. The pair made two unsuccessful attempts to circle the globe: the first, in 1997, ended with a fuel leak that released toxic fumes into their cabin; and the second try, a 1998 flight in…

  • Versuch die Metamorphose der Pflanzen zu erklären (treatise by Goethe)

    Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Return to Weimar and the French Revolution (1788–94): …of the principles of botany, Versuch, die Metamorphose der Pflanzen zu erklären (“Essay in Elucidation of the Metamorphosis of Plants”; Eng. trans. in Goethe’s Botany), an attempt to show that all plant forms are determined by a process of alternating expansion and contraction of a basic unit, the leaf. He…

  • Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen (treatise by Quantz)

    Johann Joachim Quantz: …on playing the transverse flute, Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen (1752), was reprinted many times. It contains valuable information on ornamentation and performance practices of the 18th century. He added a second key to the flute and invented the sliding end used to tune the instrument.

  • Versuch einer Geschichte der Leibeigenschaft in Pommern und Rügen (work by Arndt)

    Ernst Moritz Arndt: His subsequent Versuch einer Geschichte der Leibeigenschaft in Pommern und Rügen (1803) is, as the title suggests, a history of serfdom in Pomerania and Rügen that resulted in its abolition three years later by the Swedish king Gustav IV. In 1806 Arndt was appointed to the chair…

  • Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule (work by Mozart)

    Leopold Mozart: …Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule (A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing), coincidentally published in 1756, the year of Wolfgang’s birth, was long a standard text and was widely reprinted and translated. Among his musical compositions are concerti for various instruments, symphonies, and other pieces.

  • Versuch einer Kritik aller Offenbarung (work by Fichte)

    Johann Gottlieb Fichte: Early life and career: Later, when Fichte submitted his Versuch einer Kritik aller Offenbarung (“An Attempt at a Critique of All Revelation”) to Kant, the latter was favourably impressed by it and helped find a publisher (1792). Fichte’s name and preface were accidentally omitted from the first edition, and the work was ascribed by…

  • Versuch einer kritischen Dichtkunst vor die Deutschen (work by Gottsched)

    Johann Christoph Gottsched: …his most important theoretical work, Versuch einer kritischen Dichtkunst vor die Deutschen (“Essay on a German Critical Poetic Theory”), the first German treatise on the art of poetry to apply the standards of reason and good taste advocated by Nicolas Boileau, the foremost exponent of classicism in France.

  • Versuch eines vollständigen Gram-matisch-kritischen Wörterbuches der hochdeutschen Mundart (work by Adelung)

    Johann Christoph Adelung: Adelung’s Versuch eines vollständigen Grammatisch-kritischen Wörterbuches der hochdeutschen Mundart (1774–86; “Attempt at a Complete Grammatical-Critical Dictionary of the High German Dialect”) revealed an intimate knowledge of the history of dialects basic to modern German. At the time of his death, he was still at work on…

  • Versuch in poetischen Fabeln und Erzählungen (work by Hagedorn)

    Friedrich von Hagedorn: …most popular works appeared in Versuch in poetischen Fabeln und Erzählungen (1738; “Attempt at Poetic Fables and Tales”) and Oden und Lieder, 3 vol. (1742–52; “Odes and Songs”). These fables and tales in verse, influenced by the French poet Jean de La Fontaine, are characterized by neatness of form, graceful…

  • Versuch über die Transcendental-philosophie (work by Maimon)

    Salomon Maimon: …major critique of Kantian philosophy, Versuch über die Transcendentalphilosophie (1790; “Search for the Transcendental Philosophy”).

  • Versuch über die wahre Art das Klavier zu spielen (work by C.P.E. Bach)

    Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: 1787; Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments), and acquired an enviable reputation, as a composer, performer, and teacher.

  • Versuch, den Begriff der negativen Grössen in die Weltweisheit einzuführen (work by Kant)

    Immanuel Kant: Critic of Leibnizian rationalism: In an essay, “Versuch, den Begriff der negativen Grössen in die Weltweisheit einzuführen” (1763; “An Attempt to Introduce the Conception of Negative Quantities into Philosophy”), he argued that physical opposition as encountered in things cannot be reduced to logical contradiction, in which the same predicate is both affirmed…

  • Versuche über Pflanzenhybriden (article by Mendel)

    Gregor Mendel: Theoretical interpretation: His paper “Experiments on Plant Hybrids” was published in the society’s journal, Verhandlungen des naturforschenden Vereines in Brünn, the following year. It attracted little attention, although many libraries received it and reprints were sent out. The tendency of those who read it was to conclude that Mendel…

  • Versucher, Der (novel by Broch)

    The Spell, allegorical novel by Hermann Broch, published posthumously in 1953 as Der Versucher. It was the only completed volume of a projected trilogy to have been called Bergroman (“Mountain Novel”). The author wrote it in the mid-1930s and then, dissatisfied, completely rewrote it twice more; by

  • vert (sport)

    skateboarding: Vertical skating (also called “vert”) features aerial acrobatics performed in half-pipes that were originally built to emulate empty swimming pools. Street style features tricks performed in a real or simulated urban environment with stairs, rails, ledges, and other obstacles. Skateboarding has developed as a youth…

  • vertebra (anatomy)

    joint: Symphyses: …one between each pair of vertebrae below the first cervical vertebra, or atlas, and above the second sacral vertrebra (just above the tailbone). The lumbar (lower back) disks are thickest, the thoracic (chest or upper back) are thinnest, and the cervical are of intermediate size. These differences are associated with…

  • vertebrae (anatomy)

    joint: Symphyses: …one between each pair of vertebrae below the first cervical vertebra, or atlas, and above the second sacral vertrebra (just above the tailbone). The lumbar (lower back) disks are thickest, the thoracic (chest or upper back) are thinnest, and the cervical are of intermediate size. These differences are associated with…

  • vertebral artery (anatomy)

    vertebral artery, in anatomy, one of two arteries that begin deep in the neck as the first branches of the subclavian arteries, run headward through openings in the side projections of the neck vertebrae, enter the skull cavity, and join to form the basilar artery

  • vertebral column (anatomy)

    vertebral column, in vertebrate animals, the flexible column extending from neck to tail, made of a series of bones, the vertebrae. The major function of the vertebral column is protection of the spinal cord; it also provides stiffening for the body and attachment for the pectoral and pelvic

  • vertebral foramen (anatomy)

    vertebral column: …arch surround an opening, the vertebral foramen, through which the spinal cord passes. The centrums are separated by cartilaginous intervertebral disks, which help cushion shock in locomotion.

  • Vertebrata (animal)

    vertebrate, any animal of the subphylum Vertebrata, the predominant subphylum of the phylum Chordata. They have backbones, from which they derive their name. The vertebrates are also characterized by a muscular system consisting primarily of bilaterally paired masses and a central nervous system

  • vertebrate (animal)

    vertebrate, any animal of the subphylum Vertebrata, the predominant subphylum of the phylum Chordata. They have backbones, from which they derive their name. The vertebrates are also characterized by a muscular system consisting primarily of bilaterally paired masses and a central nervous system

  • Vertebrate Body, The (work by Romer)

    Alfred Sherwood Romer: Scientific career: …Review of the Pelycosauria (1940), The Vertebrate Body (1949), The Osteology of the Reptiles (1956), and numerous research papers. The Vertebrate Body is a comprehensive textbook of comparative anatomy, widely used in colleges and universities throughout the United States. The Pelycosauria and Osteology treat various aspects of reptilian evolution. Honours…

  • Vertebrate Paleontology (work by Romer)

    Alfred Sherwood Romer: Scientific career: Vertebrate Paleontology appeared in 1933. In its three editions, this book shaped much of the thinking in the subject for several decades. After 11 years at Chicago, marred only by the problem of training biologically oriented graduate students in a geology department, Romer went to…

  • vertep (theater)

    Ukraine: Theatre and motion pictures: …drama, and puppet theatre (vertep) performed on a stage of two levels. The best example of the Cossack Baroque theatre was the historical play Vladimir (1705) by Feofan Prokopovich (Ukrainian: Teofan Prokopovych). After a period of decline, a Ukrainian ethnographic theatre developed in the 19th century. Folk plays and…

  • vertex (mathematics)

    Feynman diagram: …a Feynman diagram as a “vertex”—i.e., a junction of three lines. In this way the path of an electron, for example, appears as two straight lines connected to a third, wavy, line where the electron emits or absorbs a photon. (See the figure.)

  • vertex presentation (childbirth)

    breech birth: …the baby from breech to vertex (head-down) position in the uterus. The physician will use his or her hands on the outside of the expecting mother’s abdomen to try to orient the baby so that the head is first to exit the vagina. External cephalic version is performed at the…

  • Vertical call option spreads: Defined risk and reward with a bearish bias

    If you’re already familiar with selling put vertical spreads for a credit as a neutral-to-bullish strategy, but you happen to be in a bit of a bearish mood, don’t worry. There’s a defined risk/defined reward strategy for that, too. It’s called the short call vertical spread, and it could be your

  • vertical channel conflict (business)

    marketing: Management of channel systems: …its dealers, this is a vertical channel conflict. Horizontal channel conflict arises when a franchisee in a neighbouring town feels a fellow franchisee has infringed on its territory. Finally, multichannel conflict occurs when a manufacturer has established two or more channels that compete against each other in selling to the…

  • vertical circle telescope (astronomical instrument)

    telescope: Astronomical transit instruments: …the transit circle telescope, the vertical circle telescope, and the horizontal meridian circle telescope. The transit circle determines the right ascension of celestial objects, while the vertical circle measures only their declinations. Transit circles and horizontal meridian circles measure both right ascension and declination at the same time. The final…

  • vertical cylinder press (machine)

    printing: Cylinder presses: …design of cylinder presses, the vertical cylinder press is composed of a vertical bed, and both bed and cylinder move vertically with a reciprocating motion, each in an opposite direction. The cylinder revolves only while it is moving up and down, which makes this kind of press similar to the…

  • vertical differentiation (biological community)

    inland water ecosystem: Permanent bodies of standing fresh water: This type of lake stratifies in summer as the surface water (epilimnion) warms and ceases to mix with the lower, colder layer (hypolimnion). Water circulates within but not between the layers, more vigorously within the epilimnion. The boundary between these layers is the metalimnion, a zone of rapid temperature…

  • vertical equity (finance)

    income tax: Equity tests: The concept of vertical equity relates to the taxes paid by individuals at different income levels. Clearly, if income is a good index of ability to pay, the taxes for these individuals should not be the same, but how different should taxes be at different income levels? If…

  • vertical farming

    vertical farming, agricultural technique in which crops are grown indoors in vertical, stacked layers with no soil. Modern vertical farming emerged in the late 20th century and has been touted as a means to produce food in urban areas and other locations that are not conducive to traditional

  • vertical flute (musical instrument)

    flute: In vertical, end-vibrated flutes—such as the Balkan kaval, the Arabic nāy, and panpipes—the player holds the pipe end to his mouth, directing his breath against the opposite edge. In China, South America, Africa, and elsewhere, a notch may be cut in the edge to facilitate sound…

  • vertical gene transfer (genetics)

    horizontal gene transfer: …reproduction, which is known as vertical gene transfer.

  • Vertical Hour, The (play by Hare)

    Andrew Scott: Success on the stage in the 2000s: …estranged father (Bill Nighy) in The Vertical Hour (2006) at the Music Box Theatre in New York City. Scott then starred as Alex in Sea Wall, a one-man play that premiered in 2008 at the Bush Theatre, London, which playwright Simon Stephens specifically wrote for him (Scott reprised the role…

  • vertical illumination (optics)

    microscope: Metallographic microscopes: This type of microscope employs vertical illumination, in which the light source is inserted into the microscope tube below the eyepiece by means of a beam splitter. Light shines down through the objective and is focused through the objective onto the specimen. The light reflected or scattered back to the…

  • vertical integration (business)

    vertical integration, form of business organization in which all stages of production of a good, from the acquisition of raw materials to the retailing of the final product, are controlled by one company. A current example is the oil industry, in which a single firm commonly owns the oil wells,

  • vertical merger (business)

    merger: …service for different markets; or vertical, if a firm acquires either a supplier or a customer. If the merged business is not related to that of the acquiring firm, the new corporation is called a conglomerate (q.v.).

  • vertical mixing (atmospheric and oceanographic science)

    vertical mixing, in the atmosphere or oceans, an upward and downward movement of air or water that occurs as a result of the temperature gradients (temperature differences between layers of the fluid). In the atmosphere vertical mixing is sometimes discernible as a form of atmospheric turbulence.

  • vertical mobility (sociology)

    social mobility: …class, it is called “vertical mobility” and involves either “upward mobility” or “downward mobility.” An industrial worker who becomes a wealthy businessman moves upward in the class system; a landed aristocrat who loses everything in a revolution moves downward in the system.

  • vertical resistance (biology)

    plant disease: Variable resistance: …resistance to plant diseases are vertical (specific) and horizontal (nonspecific). A plant variety that exhibits a high degree of resistance to a single race, or strain, of a pathogen is said to be vertically resistant; this ability usually is controlled by one or a few plant genes. Horizontal resistance, on…

  • vertical retreat mining

    mining: Blasthole stoping: In vertical retreat mining the stope does not take the shape of a vertical slot. Instead, the trough serves as a horizontal slot, and only short lengths at the bottoms of the blastholes are charged with explosives, blowing a horizontal slice of ore downward into the…

  • vertical segregation (economics and society)

    gender wage gap: Vertical or hierarchical segregation: …the gender wage gap is vertical segregation. Vertical segregation, also known as hierarchical segregation, or the “authority gap,” refers to the fact that men are much more likely than women to be in positions of authority. A number of researchers have found a significant pro-male bias in promotion decisions that…

  • vertical shaft (geology)

    cave: Geomorphic characteristics of solution caves: Vertical shafts, by contrast, are controlled by the hydraulic forces of freely flowing water. They are often nearly perfect cylinders with circular cross sections. The walls are vertical and cut across the limestone beds with complete disregard for angle or composition of the beds. Vertical…

  • vertical skateboarding (sport)

    skateboarding: Vertical skating (also called “vert”) features aerial acrobatics performed in half-pipes that were originally built to emulate empty swimming pools. Street style features tricks performed in a real or simulated urban environment with stairs, rails, ledges, and other obstacles. Skateboarding has developed as a youth…

  • vertical skating (sport)

    skateboarding: Vertical skating (also called “vert”) features aerial acrobatics performed in half-pipes that were originally built to emulate empty swimming pools. Street style features tricks performed in a real or simulated urban environment with stairs, rails, ledges, and other obstacles. Skateboarding has developed as a youth…

  • vertical speciation (biology)

    evolution: Evolution within a lineage and by lineage splitting: Evolution can take place by anagenesis, in which changes occur within a lineage, or by cladogenesis, in which a lineage splits into two or more separate lines. Anagenetic evolution has doubled the size of the human cranium over the course of two million years; in the lineage of the horse…

  • vertical stratification (biology)

    inland water ecosystem: Permanent bodies of standing fresh water: …development of vertical differences (vertical stratification) of several important features, which often display marked seasonal variation as well. Light is by far the most important variable feature because it supplies not only chemical energy for biological processes but also heat. It is the diurnal, seasonal, and vertical differences in…

  • vertical takeoff and landing airplane (aircraft)

    VTOL airplane, any of several unconventional aircraft with rotating wing systems, such as the helicopter and autogiro. They may also have rotatable jet systems capable of vertical lift-off and landing in areas that only slightly exceed the overall dimensions of the aircraft. The first operational

  • vertical transmission (textual criticism)

    textual criticism: Recension: This is called “vertical” transmission, and a tradition of this kind is called “closed.” Once the possibility is admitted that a copyist used more than one exemplar or (the more probable supposition) copied an exemplar in which variants from another source or sources had been incorporated—i.e., that more…

  • vertical two-bar loom (textiles)

    textile: Two-bar: …varieties: the warp-weighted and the vertical two-bar loom. The warp-weighted loom consists of a crossbar supported by two vertical posts. The warp threads hang from the crossbar and are held taut by weights of clay, ceramic, or chalk tied to their free ends. Loom weights have been found at archaeological…

  • vertical waterwheel (engineering)

    energy conversion: Waterwheels: Early vertical-shaft water mills drove querns where the wheel, containing radial vanes or paddles and rotating in a horizontal plane, could be lowered into the stream. The vertical shaft was connected through a hole in the stationary grindstone to the upper, or rotating, stone. The device…

  • vertical-axis wind turbine (technology)

    wind turbine: Types: The less-used, mostly experimental VAWTs include designs that vary in shape and method of harnessing wind energy. The Darrieus VAWT, which uses curved blades in a curved arch design, became the most common VAWT in the early 21st century. H-type VAWTs use two straight blades attached to either side…

  • vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (technology)

    laser: Types of lasers: Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) have mirrors above and below the p-n junction, so light resonates perpendicular to the junction. The wavelength depends on the semiconductor compound.

  • vertical-hold control (television)

    television: Controls: …horizontal synchronizing impulses; (6) a vertical-hold control, which performs the same function for the vertical deflection generator; (7) a hue (or “tint”) control, which shifts all the hues in the reproduced image; and (8) a saturation (or “colour”) control, which adjusts the magnitudes of the colour-difference signals applied to the…

  • vertical-lift bridge (architecture)

    movable bridge: Movable bridges include drawbridges, vertical-lift bridges, transporter bridges, and swing (pivot) bridges.

  • vertical/short takeoff and landing jet (military aircraft)

    warship: Light carriers: A carrier equipped with these V/STOL (vertical/short takeoff and landing) jets could be much smaller than a full jet carrier, because it would need neither catapults nor arresting gear. In the 1970s and ’80s, Britain built three such ships, HMS Invincible, Illustrious, and Ark Royal. These 20,000-ton ships carried eight…

  • verticality (optics)

    illusion: Visual perceptual illusions: In studies of visual verticality, experimenters investigated the conditions that determine perception of the “upright.” A tilted chair that could be mechanically controlled by the subject was placed in a slanted room containing visual indicators of verticals and horizontals. When various persons were asked to sit in the chair…

  • vertically homogeneous estuary (oceanography)

    estuary: Vertically homogeneous estuaries: In a vertically homogeneous estuary the river flow is weak, and the tidal flow is strong. Consequently, no stratification occurs, and salt water may even move up the river channel. Salinity levels are nearly the same from top to bottom at any…

  • vertically mixed estuary (oceanography)

    estuary: Vertically homogeneous estuaries: In a vertically homogeneous estuary the river flow is weak, and the tidal flow is strong. Consequently, no stratification occurs, and salt water may even move up the river channel. Salinity levels are nearly the same from top to bottom at any…

  • verticillaster (botany)

    angiosperm: Inflorescences: …false whorl, is called a verticillaster. Finally, there are mixed inflorescences—for instance, the cymose clusters arranged in a racemose manner (e.g., lilac, Syringa vulgaris; Oleaceae) or other types of combinations.

  • Verticillium (fungus genus)

    wilt: Verticillium wilt: Verticillium wilt is a very destructive fungal disease in cool climates. It affects several hundred species of trees, shrubs, vines, flowers, house plants, vegetables, fruits, field crops, and weeds. The causal agent is the soil-inhabiting ascomycete fungus Verticillium albo-atrum and the related V. dahliae. In…

  • Verticillium albo-atrum (fungus)

    wilt: Verticillium wilt: …is the soil-inhabiting ascomycete fungus Verticillium albo-atrum and the related V. dahliae. In hot weather the leaves on one or more branches turn dull green to yellow, wilt, and wither, often from the base upward. Annuals and young trees are often stunted and usually die. Perennials may die branch by…

  • Verticillium dahliae (fungus)

    wilt: Verticillium wilt: …Verticillium albo-atrum and the related V. dahliae. In hot weather the leaves on one or more branches turn dull green to yellow, wilt, and wither, often from the base upward. Annuals and young trees are often stunted and usually die. Perennials may die branch by branch over a period of…

  • Verticillium wilt (plant disease)

    wilt: Verticillium wilt: Verticillium wilt is a very destructive fungal disease in cool climates. It affects several hundred species of trees, shrubs, vines, flowers, house plants, vegetables, fruits, field crops, and weeds. The causal agent is the soil-inhabiting ascomycete fungus Verticillium albo-atrum and the related

  • Vertigine della lista (book by Eco)

    Umberto Eco: …book, Vertigine della lista (2009; The Infinity of Lists), produced in conjunction with an exhibition he organized at the Louvre Museum, in which he investigated the Western passion for list making and accumulation. Costruire il nemico e altri scritti occasionali (2011; Inventing the Enemy, and Other Occasional Writings) collected pieces—some…

  • vertigo (physiology)

    vertigo, sensation of spinning or tilting or that one’s surroundings are rotating. Usually the state produces dizziness, mental bewilderment, and confusion. If the sensation is intense enough, the person may become nauseated and vomit. The cause of vertigo is often unknown. However, several

  • Vertigo (comic book imprint)

    DC Comics: Vertigo and continuity reboots: Far more enduring was DC’s Vertigo imprint, which began in 1993 as a home for mature-themed horror titles such as Hellblazer, Swamp Thing, and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. Under the leadership of editor Karen Berger, the Vertigo line expanded dramatically to include Grant Morrison’s metafictional secret society saga The Invisibles (1994–2000),…

  • Vertigo (film by Hitchcock [1958])

    Vertigo, American psychological thriller film, released in 1958, that is considered one of director Alfred Hitchcock’s most complex movies. Although it received a lukewarm reception upon its release, Vertigo is now commonly ranked among the greatest movies ever made. (Read Alfred Hitchcock’s 1965

  • Vertisol (United States soil order)

    Vertisol, one of the 12 soil orders in the U.S. Soil Taxonomy. Vertisols are clay-rich soils that undergo significant vertical cracking during the dry seasons. Typically forming under grassland vegetation in basin or rolling hill landscapes, they are best suited for use as pastureland and for the

  • Vertisol (FAO soil group)

    Vertisol, one of the 30 soil groups in the classification system of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Vertisols are characterized by a clay-size-particle content of 30 percent or more by mass in all horizons (layers) of the upper half-metre of the soil profile, by cracks at least 1 cm

  • Vertol Corporation (American company)

    Boeing Company: History of Boeing Company: In 1960 Boeing purchased Vertol Corporation, then the world’s largest independent manufacturer of helicopters. As Boeing Helicopters, the unit focused on tandem-rotor helicopters and was responsible for the development of the CH-47 Chinook and CH-46 Sea Knight military transport helicopters (first flown in 1961 and 1962, respectively). Boeing’s work…

  • Vertomannus, Lodovico de (Italian adventurer)

    Lodovico de Varthema was an intrepid Italian traveler and adventurer whose account of his Middle Eastern and Asiatic wanderings was widely circulated throughout Europe and earned him high fame in his own lifetime. He made significant discoveries (especially in Arabia) and made many valuable

  • Vertov, Dziga (Soviet director)

    Dziga Vertov was a Soviet motion-picture director whose kino-glaz (“film-eye”) theory—that the camera is an instrument, much like the human eye, that is best used to explore the actual happenings of real life—had an international impact on the development of documentaries and cinema realism during

  • Vertue (poem by Herbert)

    prosody: Scansion: An analysis of “Vertue” by the 17th-century English poet George Herbert reveals how the elements of prosody combine into a complex organism, a life sustained by the technical means available to the poet. When the metre is scanned with the symbols, it can be seen (and heard) how…

  • Vertue, George (British antiquarian and engraver)

    George Vertue was a British antiquarian and engraver known primarily for his portraits and book illustrations. Though not acclaimed a great artist, Vertue left a body of work that has great historical value, including notes and memorandums that were to go into his planned History of the Arts in

  • Verulam, Francis Bacon, Baron (British author, philosopher, and statesman)

    Francis Bacon was the lord chancellor of England (1618–21). A lawyer, statesman, philosopher, and master of the English tongue, he is remembered in literary terms for the sharp worldly wisdom of a few dozen essays; by students of constitutional history for his power as a speaker in Parliament and