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Frederick William I
Frederick William I 1688-1740, king of Prussia (1713-40), son and successor of Frederick I. He continued the administrative reforms and the process of centralization begun by Frederick William, the Great Elector, creating a strong, absolutist state. He practiced rigid economy, and at his death ther...
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acquired characteristics
acquired characteristics modifications produced in an individual plant or animal as a result of mutilation, disease, use and disuse, or any distinctly environmental influence. Some examples are docking of tails, malformation caused by disease, and muscle atrophy. The belief in the inheritability of...
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Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle . 1 Compact of May 2, 1668, that ended the French invasion of the Spanish Netherlands (see Devolution, War of ). France kept most of its conquests in Flanders; Cambrai, Aire, Saint-Omer, and the province of Franche-Comté were returned to Spain; and the remainder o...
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Panama Canal
Panama Canal waterway across the Isthmus of Panama, connecting the Atlantic (by way of the Caribbean Sea) and Pacific oceans, built by the United States (1904-14) on territory leased from the republic of Panama . The canal, running S and SE from Limón Bay at Colón on the Atlantic to ...
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leveraged buyout
leveraged buyout the takeover of a company, financed by borrowed funds. Often, the target company's assets are used as security for the loans acquired to finance the purchase. The acquiring company or group then repays the loans from the target company's profits or by selling its assets. Many lever...
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Albert I
Albert I c.1250-1308, Holy Roman Emperor (1298-1308), son of Rudolf I . Albert was invested with Austria and Styria in 1282 by his father, who also hoped to secure the succession as king of the Germans for Albert. However, on Rudolf's death (1291) the electors rejected Albert's candidacy in orde...
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Cabinda
Cabinda , Angolan exclave (1991 est. pop. 163,000), c.2,800 sq mi (7,300 sq km), W Africa; administered as a province. The town of Cabinda is the chief population center. The territory is bounded on the N by Congo (Brazzaville), on the E and S by Congo (Kinshasa), and on the W by the Atlantic Ocean....
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sign language
sign language gestural communication used as an alternative or replacement for speech. Sign languages resemble oral languages in every way other than their modality. As with oral languages, sign languages are acquired spontaneously and have highly intricate, rule-governed grammar and phonology ....
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Gonzaga
Gonzaga , Italian princely house that ruled Mantua (1328-1708), Montferrat (1536-1708), and Guastalla (1539-1746). The family name is derived from the castle of Gonzaga, a village near Mantua. Luigi Gonzaga, 1267-1360, became captain general of Mantua in 1328. The power of his descendants gr...
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maya
maya , in Hinduism, term used in the Veda to mean magic or supernatural power. In Mahayana Buddhism it acquires the meaning of illusion or unreality. The term is pivotal in the Vedanta system of Shankara, where it signifies the world as a cosmic illusion and also the power that creates the world...
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