Sterility
Sterility, condition of being incapable of producing offspring; freedom from germs.
21st Century Webster's Family Encyclopedia - Sterility to Swedish
Sterilization
Sterilization, surgical procedure designed to prevent conception.
Isaac Stern
Stern, Isaac (1920– ), U.S. violinist.
Joseph von Sternberg
Sternberg, Joseph von (1891–1969), Austrian-born German-U.S. film director.
Laurence Sterne
Sterne, Laurence (1713–68), British clergyman who became known as a novelist, largely because of the popularity of his book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760–67).
Steroid
Steroid, hormone produced in the body from cholesterol, mainly by the adrenal glands.
Stethoscope
Stethoscope, instrument devised (1819) by René T.
Stettin
Stettin See: Szczecin.
Edward Riley Stettinius Jr.
Stettinius, Edward Riley, Jr. (1900–49), U.S. businessperson and politician.
Friedrich Wilhelm Augustin Steuben Baron von
Steuben, Friedrich Wilhelm Augustin, Baron von (1730–94), Prussian soldier who helped train the Continental army.
Stevens
Stevens, U.S. family of inventors and engineers.
John Paul Stevens
Stevens, John Paul (1920– ), U.S. jurist.
Thaddeus Stevens
Stevens, Thaddeus (1792–1868), militant member of the U.S.
Wallace Stevens
Stevens, Wallace (1879–1955), U.S. poet.
Stevenson
Stevenson, family of U.S.
Robert Louis Stevenson
Stevenson, Robert Louis (1850–94), Scottish author, essayist, and poet who was one of the most successful writers of his day.
Julian Haynes Steward
Steward, Julian Haynes (1902–72), U.S. anthropologist.
James Stewart
Stewart, James (1908–97), U.S. popular screen actor acclaimed for his sympathetic portrayals of the American common man.
Potter Stewart
Stewart, Potter (1915–85), associate justice of the U.S.
Stibnite
Stibnite See: Antimony.
Stickleback
Stickleback, small fish with spines on its back that lives in fresh and salt waters of the Northern Hemisphere.
Stickseed
Stickseed, North American wild plant belonging to the borage family.
Alfred Stieglitz
Stieglitz, Alfred (1864–1946), U.S. photographer and founder of Photo-Secession (1902), an organization dedicated to the promotion of photography as a fine art.
Clyfford Still
Still, Clyfford (1904–80), one of the first abstract expressionist painters in the United States, known for his dramatic use of color.
Stillwater
Stillwater (pop. 12,290), historic city in Minnesota, located on the boundary between Minnesota and Wisconsin and known as the “birthplace of Minnesota.” Founded in 1839, it was one of the earliest settlements in the state and the site of a convention that led to the formation of Minnesota territory.
Stilt
Stilt, bird belonging to the stilt and avocet family, commonly found in warm pond areas throughout the world.
Joseph Warren Stilwell
Stilwell, Joseph Warren (1883–1946), U.S. commander of the Allied forces in the Far East in World War II, sometimes referred to as “Vinegar Joe” because of his acerbic comments.
Henry Lewis Stimson
Stimson, Henry Lewis (1867–1950), U.S. politician, author of the Stimson Doctrine.
Stimulant
Stimulant, drug that stimulates an organ.
Stingray
Stingray, one of 100 species of flat, disk-shaped fish belonging to the family Dasyatidae.
Stink bug
Stink bug, shield-shaped insect belonging to the stink bug family, known for the unpleasant odor it emits when disturbed.
Stirling engine
Stirling engine, type of external-combustion engine invented in Scotland by the Rev.
Stoat
Stoat See: Ermine.
Stock
Stock, group of about 50 varieties of fragrant garden flowers belonging to the family Cruciferae.
capital Stock
Stock, capital, ownership in a corporation.
Stock exchange
Stock exchange, auction for the sale and exchange of stock, which is a certificate of ownership in a corporation. Stock markets exist in all major industrial states; stock market proceedings are published in most large daily newspapers. The price of each stock is determined each hour of the trading day, according to the laws of supply and demand. Factors that influence stock prices include the sta…
Stock market crash of (1929)
Stock market crash of 1929 See: Great Depression.
Stock ticker
Stock ticker, teletype device for recording the buying and selling of stock.
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Stockhausen, Karlheinz (1928– ), German composer and theorist.
Stockholm
Stockholm (pop. 693,100), capital of Sweden, located on a network of islands on the country's eastern coast.
Richard Stockton
Stockton, Richard (1730–81), member of the Continental Congress and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Stoicism
Stoicism, ancient Greek school of philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium, who taught in a stoa (portico) in Athens c.300 B.C.
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent (pop. 252,900), city in England known for its pottery, located on the River Trent.
Bram Stoker
Stoker, Bram (1847–1912), British author who won notoriety for his book Dracula (1897), a tale of horror about a Transylvanian vampire with supernatural abilities.
Carl Burton Stokes
Stokes, Carl Burton (1927– ), mayor of Cleveland (1967–71) and first African-American mayor of a large U.S. city.
Leopold Stokowski
Stokowski, Leopold (Boleslawowicz Stanislaw Antoni; 1882–1977), U.S. conductor.
Stol
Stol See: V/STOL.
Stomach
Stomach, large organ of the digestive system.
Stone Age
Stone Age, stage of earliest human cultural development, preceding the Bronze Age and Iron Age.
Edward Durell Stone
Stone, Edward Durell (1902–78), U.S. architect whose works include the U.S. pavilion for the Brussels World's Fair (1958), the U.S.
Harlan Fiske Stone
Stone, Harlan Fiske (1872–1946), U.S. jurist.
Lucy Stone
Stone, Lucy (1818–93), U.S. reformer and feminist.
Stone Mountain
Stone Mountain, granite dome, 650 ft (198 m), near Atlanta, Ga.
Oliver Stone
Stone, Oliver (1946– ), U.S. film director and screenwriter.
Thomas Stone
Stone, Thomas (1743–87), Maryland lawyer and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Stonechat
Stonechat (Saxicola torquata), small bird of the thrush subfamily native to the Eastern Hemisphere, named for the percussive sound of its call.
Stonefly
Stonefly, any of approximately 1,550 species of insects of the order Plecoptera.
Stonehenge
Stonehenge, ruins of a megalithic monument, dating from the Stone Age and early Bronze Age, on Salisbury Plain, in southern England.
Stoneware
Stoneware, durable kind of pottery with a variety of industrial and aesthetic applications.
Tom Stoppard
Stoppard, Tom (1937– ), English playwright best known for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1966), an existentialist drama centering on 2 minor characters from Shakespeare's Hamlet.
David Storey
Storey, David (1933– ), English playwright and novelist.
Stork
Stork, large, heavily built bird, family Ciconiiodae, with long legs and neck, a long, stout bill, and usually black-and-white plumage.
Joseph Story
Story, Joseph (1779–1845), associate Supreme Court justice (1812–45).
Storytelling
Storytelling, folk art practiced throughout the ages whose forms include the reciting of folk tales, myths, legends, epics, and fables.
Veit Stoss
Stoss, Veit (1440?–1533), influential German sculptor and wood carver who created dramatic, detailed religious statues in the late Gothic style.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Stowe, Harriet Beecher (1811–96), U.S. writer, author of the antislavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852).
Strabismus
Strabismus, condition in which the 2 eyes do not see the identical image simultaneously; usually one eye is directed in a slightly different direction from the other.
Strabo
Strabo (63 B.C.?–A.D. 24?), ancient Greek geographer and historian known for his massive Geographical Sketches, a detailed description of the geography of the known world of his day.
Lytton Strachey
Strachey, Lytton (1880–1932), English critic and biographer who belonged to the famed circle of artists and intellectuals known as the Bloomsbury group in London.
or Stradivarius Stradivari Antonio
Stradivari, or Stradivarius, Antonio (1644–1737), Italian violin maker, most famous of a group of fine craftspeople who worked in Cremona.
Strait
Strait, narrow water channel that joins 2 larger bodies of water, such as an ocean or a sea.
Paul Strand
Strand, Paul (1890–1976), U.S. photographer whose work helped raise photography to an art.
Strasbourg
Strasbourg (pop. 255,900), commercial and industrial city in northeastern France, famed for its Gothic cathedral.
Fritz Strassmann
Strassmann, Fritz (1902– ), German physical chemist who, with Otto Hahn, split the uranium atom (1938).
Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command (SAC), main U.S. nuclear striking force, containing U.S. land-based ballistic missiles and long-range bombers.
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT), negotiations between the United States and the USSR aimed at preventing the expansion of strategic weapons in both countries.
Strategic Defense Initiative
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), controversial program developed by the U.S. government in 1983 to develop a space-based shield against nuclear missile attack.
Office of (OSS) Strategic Services
Strategic Services, Office of (OSS), U.S. government organization founded during World War II (1942) to gather intelligence.
Edward Stratemeyer
Stratemeyer, Edward (1862–1930), U.S. writer of popular children's literature.
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon (pop. 104,600), market town in west-central England, home of William Shakespeare.
Stratosphere
Stratosphere, layer of the atmosphere that extends upward from the tro-popause (upper level of the troposphere) to approximately 18 mi (29 km) above the earth's surface.
Stratus
Stratus See: Cloud.
Oscar Straus
Straus, Oscar (1870–1954), Austrian composer of about 50 operettas, notably A Waltz Dream (1907; film, 1926) and The Chocolate Soldier (1908; film, 1941), performed internationally.
Strauss
Strauss, Viennese composers, father and son.
Levi Strauss
Strauss, Levi (1829–1902), German-born U.S. clothing manufacturer, founder of Levi Strauss & Co. (1853).
Richard Strauss
Strauss, Richard (1864–1949), German composer and conductor, the last of the great Romantic composers.
Igor Stravinsky
Stravinsky, Igor (1882–1971), Russian-born U.S. composer.
Straw
Straw, dried stalks of several kinds of grain, including wheat, barley, oats, rye, and buckwheat.
Strawberry
Strawberry, fruit-bearing plant of the genus Fragaria, native to the Americas, Europe, and Asia.
Strawflower
Strawflower, any of various tall annual plants, originally grown in Australia, particularly the Helichrysum bracteatum, which measures up to 3 ft (91 cm).
Stream of consciousness
Stream of consciousness, literary technique in which a character's thoughts are presented in the jumbled, nonsequential manner of real life, apparently without the author imposing any order on them.
Streamlining
Streamlining, process of contouring a body to minimize its drag as it travels through a fluid, whether liquid or gas.
Meryl Streep
Streep, Meryl (Mary Louise Streep; 1949– ), U.S. actress.
Street
Street, public road in a town or city.
Streetcar
Streetcar, passenger vehicle that rides on rails laid in the pavements of city streets.
Strep throat
Strep throat, infection affecting the throat and tonsils.
Streptococcus
Streptococcus, any of a genus of bacteria responsible for many common infections, including sore throat, tonsilitis, scarlet fever, and other ailments.
Streptomycin
Streptomycin, strong antibiotic acquired from a fungus that lives in soil.
Stress
Stress, in medicine, physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes tension, whether physical or mental, and may result in disease or malfunction.
Strike
Strike, cessation of work by a group of employees to achieve certain goals.
Johan August Strindberg
Strindberg, Johan August (1849–1912), Swedish playwright and novelist, widely considered the leading author in the Swedish language.
Stringed instruments
Stringed instruments, musical instruments whose sound is produced by vibrating strings or wires, the pitch being controlled by their length and tension.
Strip mining
Strip mining, technique used where ore deposits, such as coal, lie close enough to the surface to be uncovered merely by removal of the overlying material.
Alfredo Stroessner
Stroessner, Alfredo (1912– ), president of Paraguay (1954–89).
Erich von Stroheim
Stroheim, Erich von (1885–1957), German-born U.S. film director.
Stroke
Stroke, or cerebrovascular accident (CVA), sudden loss of some aspect of brain function due to lack of blood supply to a given area.
Stromboli
Stromboli, Italian island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off northeastern Sicily.
Strontium
Strontium, chemical element, symbol Sr; for physical constants see Periodic Table.
Otto Struve
Struve, Otto (1897–1963), U.S. astronomer.
Strychnine
Strychnine, poisonous alkaloid produced from the seeds of the Strychnos nux vomica tree, which grows in India, Sri Lanka, and Australia.
Charles Edward Stuart
Stuart, Charles Edward (1720–88), pretender to the throne of England.
Gilbert Charles Stuart
Stuart, Gilbert Charles (1755–1828), U.S. portrait painter, best known for the portrait of George Washington (1796) reproduced on the one-dollar bill.
House of Stuart
Stuart, House of, royal family of Scotland (1371–1714)and England (1603–1714).
James Ewell Brown ‘Jeb’ Stuart
Stuart, James Ewell Brown ‘Jeb’ (1833–64), Confederate cavalry officer.
Studebaker
Studebaker, family name of 5 brothers (Clement, Harry, John Mohler, Peter Everst, and Jacob Franklin) whose company was the largest producer of horse-drawn wagons in the United States and was also a leading manufacturer of automobiles and trucks.
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), U.S. civil rights organization in the 1960s.
Students for a Democratic Society
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), left-wing U.S. student organization founded in 1960 as the youth group of the Social Democratic organization of the League for Industrial Democracy.
Sturgeon
Sturgeon, fish of the north temperate zone whose eggs are eaten as caviar.
Preston Sturges
Sturges, Preston (1898–1959), U.S. playwright, screenwriter, and film director.
Sturm und Drang
Sturm und Drang (German, “storm and stress”), name given to a period of literary ferment in Germany (1770–84).
Stuttering
Stuttering, speech impairment characterized by repeated attempts to pronounce a syllable or word.
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (pop. 583,700), capital of Baden-Württemberg, a state in southwest Germany. Stuttgart is a major governing, industrial, and cultural center in West Germany. Once the capital of the Württemberg kingdom, Stuttgart is situated on the Neckar River, in a rich farm and vineyard region. Besides producing wines and fruits, Stuttgart manufactures automobiles, machines, precision ins…
Peter Stuyvesant
Stuyvesant, Peter (c.1610–72), Dutch director-general (1647–64) of New Netherland, Holland's North American colony, which included the city of New Amsterdam, later renamed New York.
Sty
Sty, infection in an eyelash follicle or in a gland in the eyelid.
William Styron
Styron, William (1925– ), U.S. novelist and winner of the 1968 Pulitzer Prize for The Confessions of Nat Turner (1967), a first-person novelization of an 1831 slave rebellion.
Styx
Styx, in Greek mythology, river of the underworld.
Francisco Suárez
Suárez, Francisco (1548–1617), Spanish Jesuit philosopher who represented a late flowering of Scholasticism.
Sublimation
Sublimation, in chemistry, act of changing a solid into a gas, or a gas into a solid, without going through a liquid stage.
Submarine
Submarine, ship capable of sustained underwater operation. The first working craft, built by the Dutch inventor Cornelis Drebbel (1620), was a wooden rowboat covered with greased leather that could remain submerged for as long as 15 hours. The first submarine used in warfare, designed by David Bushnell of the United States (1776), was a one-man, hand-powered, screwdriven vessel designed to attach …
Suburb
Suburb, community that lies on the outskirts of a city.
Subway
Subway, underground railroad system designed for urban and suburban passenger transport. The first subway, known as the Underground, was built in London (1860–63) and used steam trains. From 1886 to 1890 a 3-mile section of the London subway was built using a large, cylindrical steel tube (developed by J.H. Greathead) that was forced forward through the earth by hydraulic jacks; tunnel wall…
Succession wars
Succession wars, conflicts that result from disagreements about who should inherit a throne, or who should succeed a monarch.
Succot
Succot See: Sukkot.
Succulent
Succulent, category of plants whose leaves or stems are covered with a waxy substance that reduces water loss and enables them to live in arid regions.
Sucker
Sucker, any of various freshwater fishes (family Catostomidae) related to the minnows.
Sir John Suckling
Suckling, Sir John (1609–42), poet and playwright.
Sucre
Sucre (pop. 88,800), city in central Bolivia, founded as La Plata in 1538 and renamed for Antonio José de Sucre in 1839.
Antonio José de Sucre
Sucre, Antonio José de (1795–1830), important leader in Latin American wars against Spanish rule and first president of Bolivia (1826–28). Born in Venezuela, he joined the revolutionary army at age 15 and soon displayed great military skills. He gained the respect of the Venezuelan leader of the Latin American revolution, Simón Bolívar, who made him a general. In…
Sucrose
Sucrose, white, crystalline disaccharide carbohydrate (C12H22O11) commercially obtained from sugar beet, sugarcane, and sweet sorghum.
Sudan
Sudan, Republic of the Sudan, largest country in Africa, located in the northeast of the continent. Sudan occupies 967,494 sq mi (2,505,813 sq km) and is bounded on the north by Egypt; on the west by Libya, Chad, the Central African Republic, and Zaire; on the south by Uganda and Kenya; and on the east by Ethiopia and Eritrea. It has a 400-mi (644-km) coastline on the Red Sea. Sudan may be divided…
Sudan grass
Sudan grass (Sorghum vulgare, variety Sudanese), hay plant in the grass family.
Sudbury
Sudbury (pop. 88,700), city in Ontario, Canada.
Sudden infant death syndrome
Sudden infant death syndrome, sudden, unexpected death of an apparently healthy infant, also known as SIDS, crib death, or cot death.
Sudetenland
Sudetenland, region in the north of the Czech Republic.
Suez
Suez (pop. 376,000), city in Egypt located at the top of the Gulf of Suez.
Suez Canal
Suez Canal, canal in Egypt linking the Gulf of Suez (an arm of the Red Sea) to the eastern Mediterranean.
Suffrage
Suffrage See: Woman suffrage.
Sufism
Sufism, Muslim mystical philosophical and literary movement dating from the 10th and 11th centuries.
Sugar
Sugar, sweet, soluble compound of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.
Sugar beet
Sugar beet, plant (Beta vulgaris) whose swollen root provides almost half the world's sugar.
Sugar cane
Sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum), tall plant of the grass family.
Sugar maple
Sugar maple See: Maple.
Suharto
Suharto (1921– ), Indonesian statesman, president 1968–98.
Sui dynasty
Sui dynasty, dynasty (ruling family) that governed China from A.D. 581–618.
Suicide
Suicide, act of voluntarily taking one's own life.
Suite
Suite, musical form developed in Germany and France in the 17th and 18th centuries, originally inspired by dance.
Sukarno
Sukarno (1901–70), first president of independent Indonesia (1945–65).
Sukkot
Sukkot, or Feast of Tabernacles, 8-day autumn Jewish festival, during which meals are taken in a hut (sukkah) roofed with branches and fruits to symbolize the shelters used by the ancient Hebrews during their wanderings after the Exodus from Egypt.
or Sulayman Suleiman I
Suleiman I, or Sulayman (1494–1566), sultan of Ottoman Empire from 1520–1566.
Sulfa drug
Sulfa drug, any of various synthetic compounds derived from sulfanilimide that inhibit the multiplication of invading bacteria, thus allowing the body's cellular defense mechanisms to suppress infection.
Sulfate
Sulfate, chemical mixture containing sulfur and oxygen.
Sulfide
Sulfide, compound of sulfur and another element or elements.
Sulfur
Sulfur, chemical element, symbol S; for physical constants see Periodic Table. Sulfur has been known and used for thousands of years. It is referred to in the bible as brimstone. As a mineral, it occurs in iron pyrites, galena, sphalerite, Epsom salts, barite, and many others. It occurs free in nature in the vicinity of volcanoes and hot springs. Sulfur is also found in the atmosphere of Venus and…
Sulfur dioxide
Sulfur dioxide (SO2), colorless, poisonous gas that has a sharp smell.
Sulfuric acid
Sulfuric acid, chemical compound (H2SO4) that is a colorless, oily liquid that corrodes materials.
Sulgrave Manor
Sulgrave Manor, home of the ancestors of George Washington, first President of the United States.
Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Sulla, Lucius Cornelius (138–78 B.C.), Roman general and ruler.
Anne Sullivan
Sullivan, Anne (1866–1936), U.S. teacher of Helen Keller.
Harry Stack Sullivan
Sullivan, Harry Stack (1892–1949), U.S. psychiatrist and head of William Alanson White Institute and Washington School of Psychiatry, who contributed to the study of schizophrenia and originated the idea that psychiatry depends on study of culture and its influence on behavior.
John L. Sullivan
Sullivan, John L., U.S. boxing champion.
Leon Howard Sullivan
Sullivan, Leon Howard (1922– ), Baptist minister whose numerous projects have improved economic opportunities for African Americans. Acting on his belief that unemployment was a major reason for crime, he initiated a 1959 boycott of Philadelphia firms that did not hire African Americans. After 3 years, these companies made jobs available to African Americans. In 1964 Sullivan founded a cent…
Louis Henri Sullivan
Sullivan, Louis Henri (1856–1924), U.S. architect whose office buildings pioneered modern design.
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan
Sullivan, Sir Arthur Seymour (1842–1900), English composer.
René François Armand Sully-Prudhomme
Sully-Prudhomme, René François Armand , (1839–1907), French Parnassian poet, winner of the first Nobel Prize in literature, in 1901.
Thomas Sully
Sully, Thomas (1783–1872), English-born U.S. portrait painter who studied briefly under Gilbert Stuart.
Sulphur
Sulphur See: Sulfur.
Sulu Sea
Sulu Sea, also known as the Sea of Mindoro, sea located between Borneo and the Philippine Islands.
Sulzberger
Sulzberger, name of 2 publishers of The New York Times.
Sumac
Sumac, common name for trees, shrubs, and vines (genus Rhus) with resinous, sometimes bitter sap.
Sumatra
Sumatra, second-largest island of Indonesia, about 183,000 sq mi (473,970 sq km) in area.
Sumer
Sumer, southern region of ancient Mesopotamia (presently southern Iraq).
Charles Sumner
Sumner, Charles (1811–74), U.S. political leader and opponent of slavery.
Thomas Sumter
Sumter, Thomas (1734–1832), partisan of the American Revolution who formed a guerrilla band and harassed the British in the Carolina campaign (1780–81).
Sun
Sun, star at the center of our Solar System, a luminous sphere of gas about 865,000 mi (1.4 million km) in diameter and 93 million mi (150 million km) from earth.
Sun dance
Sun dance, religious ceremony observed by a number of Plains tribes of Native Americans during the summer.
Sun Valley
Sun Valley, resort area in south-central Idaho, in the Sawtooth Mountains on the Big Wood River.
Sun worship
Sun worship, reverence for the sun, as for a god or goddess.
Sun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen (1866–1925), Chinese political leader, regarded as the “father of modern China.” Born in the Guangdong province, he spent most of his youth in Hawaii, where he learned about Western thought and politics. He then studied medicine in Hong Kong, becoming a doctor in 1892. In 1894 Sun founded a political group and attempted his first revolution against the Manchu dynas…
Sunbelt and Frostbelt
Sunbelt and Frostbelt, popular terms designating, respectively, the southern tier of states stretching from North Carolina to California and the states of the Northeast and Midwest.
Sunbird
Sunbird, any of approximately 115 species of songbirds in the sunbird family.
Sunburn
Sunburn, burning effect on the skin caused by exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun.
Billy Sunday
Sunday, Billy (William Ashley Sunday; 1862–1935), U.S. revivalist preacher noted for his flamboyance and his vivid version of fundamentalist theology.
Sundew
Sundew, any plant in the sundew family.
Sundial
Sundial, ancient type of clock, consisting of a stylus (called a gnomon) parallel to the earth's axis that casts a shadow on a calibrated dial plate, which may be horizontal or vertical.
Sunfish
Sunfish, popular fresh water sports fish of the bass family, found in North America.
Sunflower
Sunflower, any of various tall plants (genus Helianthus) with large, disk-shaped yellow and brown flowers that twist to face the sun.
Sunflower State
Sunflower State See: Kansas.
Sung dynasty
Sung dynasty See: Song dynasty.
Sunni
Sunni, followers of the majority branch of Islam, as distinct from the Shi'te.
Sunset laws
Sunset laws, U.S. laws that require regular periodic review of government agencies.
Sunshine laws
Sunshine laws, U.S. laws that require government agencies to permit the public to attend their meetings.
Sunshine State
Sunshine State See: Florida; South Dakota.
Sunspot
Sunspot, apparent dark spot on the surface of the sun.
Sunstroke
Sunstroke, or heatstroke, rise in body temperature and deficiency of sweating in hot climates, often following exertion.
Superconductivity
Superconductivity, complete disappearance of resistance to electricity in a wire or other electric circuit, which allows a current to continue without any driving voltage.
Superego
Superego, term coined by Sigmund Freud meaning the mostly subconscious dimension of personality that represents moral and cultural standards established by society.
Superman
Superman See: Nietzsche, Friedrich.
Supernova
Supernova, exploding star that may increase in brightness by as much as a billion times its original state in just a few days, after which it gradually fades back to less than its original brightness.
Superstition
Superstition, belief or practice that is not based on reason.
Supply and demand
Supply and demand, in economics, central concepts that explain changes in prices, production, and consumption of goods and services.
Supply-side economics
Supply-side economics, theory of economic management that focuses on stimulating production through tax reduction, which is intended to inspire increased investment in business, leading to higher employment.
Suprematism
Suprematism, art movement (1913–19) originated by the Russian-Polish painter Kasimir Malevich (1878–1935), establishing a system of nonrepresentational composition in terms of pure geometric shapes and patterns.
Supreme Court of the United States
Supreme Court of the United States, highest court of the United States, with the authority to adjudicate all cases arising under U.S. law, including treaties and constitutional matters. The number of justices is set by statute and so has varied; since 1869 the Court has comprised a chief justice and 8 associate justices, appointed for life by the president as vacancies arise. Nominees must be conf…
Surabaya
Surabaya, or Surakaja (pop. 2,473,300), city in Indonesia, located on the northeastern coast of Java at the mouth of the Mas River.
Surface tension
Surface tension, property that makes the surface of a liquid act as if it were an elastic film.
Surfing
Surfing, sport of riding a wooden or foam plastic surfboard on the incline of a wave.
Surgeon general of the United States
Surgeon general of the United States, chief medical adviser of the United States.
Surgery
Surgery, branch of medicine chiefly concerned with manual operations to remove or repair diseased, damaged, or deformed body tissues.
Suriname
Suriname, republic on the northeastern coast of South America, bordered by Guyana on the west, Brazil on the south, and French Guiana on the east. The capital is Paramaribo. The country consists largely of unexplored forested highlands and the flat Atlantic coast. The climate is tropical, with heavy rains. The population is about 34% East Indian, 35% Creole, and 16% Indonesian…
Mary Eugenia Surratt
Surratt, Mary Eugenia (1820–65), boardinghouse keeper in Washington, D.C., unjustly hanged for complicity in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
Surrealism
Surrealism, movement in literature and art that flourished between World War I and World War II, especially in Paris; influenced by Freudianism.
Earl of Surrey
Surrey, Earl of (1517?–47), English poet.
Surveying
Surveying, process of measuring distances and features on the earth's surface for map preparation and locating boundary lines.
Susa
Susa (also called Shush), capital of the ancient Middle East country of Elam and later of the Persian Empire.
Mikhail Andreyevich Suslov
Suslov, Mikhail Andreyevich (1902–82), Communist Party official in the USSR.
Suspension
Suspension, in chemistry, mixture in which solid particles hang in a liquid or gas.
Suspension bridge
Suspension bridge See: Bridge.
Susquehanna River
Susquehanna River, river in the eastern United States, rising in Otsego Lake in central New York state and flowing southward 444 mi (715 km) across Pennsylvania and Maryland, emptying into Chesapeake Bay, Maryland.
Sussex spaniel
Sussex spaniel, strong, short, stocky dog originally bred in Sussex, England.
Dame Joan Sutherland
Sutherland, Dame Joan (1926– ), Australian soprano, one of the foremost exponents of the art of bel canto.
Suva
Suva (pop. 71,600), capital of Fiji, a country made up of more than 800 islands in the South Pacific.
Suwannee River
Suwannee River, river rising in the Okefenokee swamp of southeastern Georgia and flowing 250 mi (400 km) generally south through Florida to the Gulf of Mexico.
Suzuki method
Suzuki method, style of musical instruction begun in the 1940s to teach very young children to play musical instruments.
Svalbard
Svalbard, or Spitsbergen, island group in the Arctic Ocean 400 mi (640 km) north of Norway and officially belonging to that country since 1920.
Theodor Svedberg
Svedberg, Theodor (1884–71), Swedish chemist awarded the 1926 Nobel Prize in chemistry for inventing the ultracentrifuge, important in studies of colloids and large molecules.
Sverdlovsk
Sverdlovsk (nowadays Ekaterinburg; pop. 1,367,000), industrial city in the eastern Ural Mountains of Russia.
Swahili
Swahili, Bantu language of East Africa, widely spoken in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and parts of Zaire.
Swallow
Swallow, common name for various small birds of the family Hirundinidae.
Jan Swammerdam
Swammerdam, Jan (1637–80), Dutch entomologist, zoologist, and anatomist, who made major contributions to research on insect metamorphosis, life cycles, and anatomy.
Swamp
Swamp, area of poorly drained, low-lying land saturated with water.
Swan
Swan, any of various large, long-necked aquatic birds related to ducks and geese.
Swanscombe man
Swanscombe man, prehistoric human dating back to the Second Inter-glacial Period about 350,000 years ago.
Swansea
Swansea (pop. 188,000), industrial seaport in Wales, originally settled in the 1000s.
Swastika
Swastika, ancient symbol of well-being and prosperity employed by such diverse peoples as Greeks, Celts, Native Americans, and the Hindus of India, where it apparently arose.
Swaziland
Swaziland, country in southeastern Africa, bordered by Mozambique on the east and the Republic of South Africa on the other three sides. The capital is Mbabane. There are three main regions: the mountainous High Veld in the west, the lower Middle Veld, and the Low Veld rising in the east to the narrow Lebombo range. The four major rivers, running west to east, are being developed for irrigation an…
Sweat gland
Sweat gland See: Perspiration.
Sweatshop
Sweatshop, place of work with long hours, poor pay, and bad conditions.
Sweden
Sweden, kingdom in northern Europe, occupying most of the eastern and southern portion of the Scandinavian peninsula. Sweden has an area of 173,604 sq mi (449,750 sq km). It is bounded on the west and north by Norway; on the northeast by Finland; on the east and south by the Baltic Sea; and on the southwest by the Öresund, Kattegat, and Skagerrak, the narrows linking the Baltic with the Nor…
Swedenborgians
Swedenborgians, followers of the religious ideas of the Swedish theologian Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772).
Swedish
Swedish, one of the North Germanic or Scandinavian languages, spoken by about 9 million people in Sweden, Finland, Estonia, the United States, and Canada.