Geena Davis: Beetlejuice, Earth Girls Are Easy, and The Accidental Tourist: …Murray in the heist comedy Quick Change (1990).

chess: Quick chess: Early chess clocks often broke down after repeated use. Sturdier clocks, appearing after World War I, made possible a new form of casual chess, played at extremely fast speeds, such as five-minute sudden-death games, which proved extremely popular among younger players.

quack grass, (Elymus repens), rapidly spreading grass of the family Poaceae. Quack grass is native to Europe and has been introduced to other north temperate areas for forage or erosion control. In cultivated lands, it is often considered a weed because of its persistence. The plant has been used

cake: In the quick-dump, or one-bowl, method, all the ingredients except the leavening agent are put into a bowl and mixed vigorously (preferably with a power mixer), the leavening agent added, and mixing completed. As a modification of the method, the eggs and part of the milk may be added…

needlepoint: …7, it is known as quick point. From the 16th to the 18th century most needlepoint was petit point with 20 to 45 squares per linear inch.

QR Code, a type of bar code that consists of a printed square pattern of small black and white squares that encode data which can be scanned into a computer system. The black and white squares can represent numbers from 0 to 9, letters from A to Z, or characters in non-Latin scripts such as

Charlotte Mason was an American philanthropist who for a time encouraged many artists of the Harlem Renaissance. Known as “Godmother,” she was a generous patron, but her controlling nature often caused conflict with her beneficiaries. Mason was born into a wealthy family. She married a prominent

basic oxygen process: …in North America and the OBM (from the German, Oxygen bodenblasen Maxhuette, or “oxygen bottom-blowing furnace”) in Europe. In this system, oxygen is injected with lime through nozzles, or tuyeres, located in the bottom of the vessel. The tuyeres consist of two concentric tubes: oxygen and lime are introduced through…

restaurant: American contributions to restaurant development: So-called fast-food restaurants, usually operated in chains or as franchises and heavily advertised, offer limited menus—typically comprising hamburgers, hot dogs, fried chicken, or pizza and their complements—and also offer speed, convenience, and familiarity to diners who may eat in the restaurant or take their food home.…

mountain ash: Common species: …also called dogberry, and the European mountain ash (S. aucuparia), also called rowan-berry, or quickbeam. Both are handsome trees, the European growing to 18 metres (60 feet), twice the height of the American species, and yielding several cultivated varieties popular in landscaping.

Klaus Groth: …German regional poet whose book Quickborn (1853) first revealed the poetic possibilities of Plattdeutsch (Low German).

quicklime (CaO), compound of one atom of calcium and one atom of oxygen that is a white or grayish white solid produced in large quantities by roasting calcium carbonate so as to drive off carbon dioxide. At room temperature, CaO will spontaneously absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere,

The Merry Wives of Windsor: …three suitors use Caius’s servant Mistress Quickly to argue their case to young Anne. Slender is favoured by Master Page, who devises a plan for Slender and Anne to elope after the play’s climactic scene. Mistress Page, who favours Caius as a son-in-law, devises a similar plan.

chess: Quick chess: This control, variously called action chess, active chess, quickplay, and game/25, became popular because it provided a livelier tempo in which an entire tournament could be completed in an evening.

quicksand, state in which saturated sand loses its supporting capacity and acquires the character of a liquid. Quicksand is usually found in hollows at the mouths of large rivers or along flat stretches of streams or beaches where pools of water become partially filled with sand and an underlying

Quicksand, novel by American writer Nella Larsen, published in 1928. A loosely autobiographical work, it was the first of two novels by the Harlem Renaissance author. Helga Crane is Quicksand’s protagonist. Born of a white Danish mother and an absent West Indian father, she is a restless and

mercury (Hg), chemical element, liquid metal of Group 12 (IIb, or zinc group) of the periodic table. atomic number80 atomic weight200.592 melting point−38.83 °C (−37.89 °F) boiling point356.62 °C (673.91 °F) specific gravity13.5 at 20 °C (68 °F) valence1, 2 electron configuration2-8-18-32-18-2 or

Tony Hoare: At that time, Hoare devised Quicksort, a computer algorithm for efficiently looking up information in computer tables.

Western dance: Latin-American and jazz dances: …trot, the fox-trot, and the quickstep, performed to the new jagged rhythms. These rhythms were African in origin, whether from the Latin-American tangos and rumbas or from the Afro-American jazz. It is impossible to say how far this music was reduced in intensity from its original forms, but its influence…

QuickTime, file-compression and translation format developed by Apple Computer that facilitates the distribution of audio-visual material over computer networks such as the Internet and contributes to the multimedia environment of the World Wide Web (the leading information retrieval service of the

Athanasian Creed, a Christian profession of faith in about 40 verses. It is regarded as authoritative in the Roman Catholic and some Protestant churches. It has two sections, one dealing with the Trinity and the other with the Incarnation; and it begins and ends with stern warnings that unswerving

quid pro quo, in business and politics, an exchange of goods, services, or other benefits between two parties in which the exchanged items are regarded by the parties as being of comparable value. From the 16th through the 18th centuries, the expression quid pro quo was often used by apothecaries

Scotland: Medieval economy and society: …and in 1225 the bull Quidam vestrum permitted the Scottish church, lacking a metropolitan see, to hold provincial councils by authority of Rome. However, such councils, which might have served to check abuses, were seldom held.

Ludwig Quidde was a historian, politician, and one of the most prominent German pacifists of the early 20th century. He was the co-winner (with Ferdinand-Édouard Buisson) of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1927. During 1889–96 he was editor of the Deutsche Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft and in

J.K. Rowling: Harry on the big screen and on stage: …that featured screenplays by Rowling; Quidditch Through the Ages (2001); and The Tales of Beedle the Bard (2008)—all of which originated as books read by Harry Potter and his friends within the fictional world of the series. Proceeds from their sales were donated to charity.

St. John’s: The Quidi Vidi Battery, which once guarded the entrance to a small fishing harbour east of Signal Hill leading to a small lake, has been restored to its 1812 appearance; the annual (August) regatta, held since 1828 on the lake, is one of the oldest organized…

John Quidor was an American genre painter and artisan. In 17 of his approximately 35 paintings he depicted subjects from Washington Irving’s stories: e.g., the paintings Ichabod Crane at the Van Tassel’s Ball (1855), The Money Diggers (1832), and Rip Van Winkle (1829). At age nine Quidor moved with

John of Paris was a Dominican monk, philosopher, and theologian who advanced important ideas concerning papal authority and the separation of church and state and who held controversial views on the nature of the Eucharist. A lecturer at the University of Paris and the author of several works

John of Paris was a Dominican monk, philosopher, and theologian who advanced important ideas concerning papal authority and the separation of church and state and who held controversial views on the nature of the Eucharist. A lecturer at the University of Paris and the author of several works

John of Paris was a Dominican monk, philosopher, and theologian who advanced important ideas concerning papal authority and the separation of church and state and who held controversial views on the nature of the Eucharist. A lecturer at the University of Paris and the author of several works

Ricky Martin: Albums from the 2010s and 2020s and marriage: Martin’s 10th studio album, A quien quiera escuchar (2015; “To Those Who Want to Listen”), won the Grammy Award for best Latin pop album. About this time he met Syrian-Swedish artist Jwan Yosef, whom he married in 2017. Together they welcomed two children, a daughter, Lucia, born in 2018,…

plant development: The root tip: The discovery of the “quiescent centre” in the root apex has clarified many features, however. The quiescent centre is a group of cells, up to 1,000 in number, in the form of a hemisphere, with the flat face toward the root tip; it lies at the centre of the…

solar prominence: …two main types, active and quiescent. Active prominences erupt quickly and have lifetimes lasting from several minutes to a few hours. They are associated with sunspot groups and, like these, are correlated in numbers and activity with the solar cycle. Quiescent prominences tend to emerge smoothly and subside much more…

solar prominence: …two main types, active and quiescent. Active prominences erupt quickly and have lifetimes lasting from several minutes to a few hours. They are associated with sunspot groups and, like these, are correlated in numbers and activity with the solar cycle. Quiescent prominences tend to emerge smoothly and subside much more…

The Quiet American, novel by Graham Greene, combining a murder mystery with a cautionary tale of Western involvement in Vietnam. It was first published in 1955, at the beginning of the U.S. involvement in Vietnamese politics, and it proved to be prophetic. The novel concerns the relationship

Joseph L. Mankiewicz: Films of the 1950s: The Quiet American (1958) was a bowdlerized version of Graham Greene’s novel about a mysterious American (Audie Murphy) in Saigon, Vietnam, who finds himself at odds with a cynical British reporter (Michael Redgrave). Suddenly, Last Summer

Michael Caine: …British journalist in Vietnam in The Quiet American (2002).

Peter Høeg: …published Den stille pige (2006; The Quiet Girl), a complex thriller about a circus clown who uses his heightened sense of hearing to search for a young girl gone missing. The novel’s poor reviews compelled Høeg to retreat further from the literary spotlight. Despite the positive reception for his 2010…

Beryl Bainbridge: …Outing (1974), Sweet William (1975), A Quiet Life (1976), and Injury Time (1977). In Young Adolf (1978), Bainbridge imagines a visit Adolf Hitler might have paid to a relative living in England before World War I. Winter Garden (1980) is a mystery about an English artist who disappears on a…

The Quiet Man, American romantic comedy film, released in 1952, that paid homage to director John Ford’s ancestral Ireland; the film was noted for its lush photography and memorable fight scene between its leading male characters. John Wayne portrayed ex-boxer Sean Thornton, Ford’s thinly disguised

Helen Levitt: …and painter Janice Loeb on The Quiet One, a prizewinning documentary about a young African American boy, and with Agee and Loeb on the film In the Street, which captures everyday life in East Harlem. For the next decade she concentrated on film editing and directing. In 1959 and 1960…

A Quiet Place: …A Quiet Place (2018) and A Quiet Place Part II (2020), were directed by John Krasinski, who played Lee Abbott in the films, and written by Krasinski, Bryan Woods, and Scott Beck. A Quiet Place, which premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, received enthusiastic reviews…

A Quiet Place, American science-fiction–horror film series that uses sound and silence in innovative ways to tell the postapocalyptic story of a family trying to survive after Earth has been invaded by blind extraterrestrial creatures that hunt humans by sound. The films are noted for their

Lupita Nyong’o: Films: 12 Years a Slave, Black Panther, and Us: She next starred in A Quiet Place: Day One (2024), a prequel to A Quiet Place, a horror film about the invasion of alien creatures that kill at any sound.

Quiet Revolution, period of rapid social and political change experienced in Québec during the 1960s. This vivid yet paradoxical description of the period was first used by an anonymous writer in The Globe and Mail. Although Québec was a highly industrialized, urban, and relatively outward-looking

Roberta Flack: Career: …key figure in the emerging Quiet Storm soul music genre, which embraced romantic lyrics and smooth, slow-tempo, jazz-inspired elements. In 1981 she composed and produced the soundtrack album for comedian Richard Pryor’s film Bustin’ Loose.

Margaret Lockwood: …Munich (1940), the romantic comedy Quiet Wedding (1941), as the husband-stealing murderess in the period melodrama The Man in Grey (1943), Trent’s Last Case (1952), Cast a Dark Shadow (1955), and as Cinderella’s stepmother in The Slipper and the Rose (1976). Her most popular roles were as the spunky heroine…

Quietism, a doctrine of Christian spirituality that, in general, holds that perfection consists in passivity (quiet) of the soul, in the suppression of human effort so that divine action may have full play. Quietistic elements have been discerned in several religious movements, both Christian and

Jane Alexander is an American actress who, in addition to achieving a successful performance career, became the first actor to chair the National Endowment for the Arts (1993–97). Alexander grew up in Brookline, a suburb of Boston. In 1957 she enrolled at Sarah Lawrence College, and two years later

Malpighiales: Ochnaceae, Medusagynaceae, and Quiinaceae: Quiinaceae contains 4 genera and 55 species of evergreen trees or, less often, lianas, all from the Neotropics. The main genera are Quiina (about 25 species) and Lacunaria (12 species). The leaves are opposite, often compound, strongly stipulate, and with toothed margins. The pattern made…

battlefield medicine: …extract from shrimp shells), and QuikClot, which is made with inorganic zeolite granules.

nueva canción: The formative years: the late 1950s through the ’60s: Those were Quilapayún (Mapuche language: “Three Beards”), formed in 1965 and for several years associated with Jara, and Inti-Illimani (Aymara language: “Sun of the Illimani [a mountain in the Andes]”), formed in 1967. Both groups projected a strongly Andean image.

drawing: Pens: …of sorts, that of the quill pen opens up a far wider range of possibilities. Ever since the rise of drawing in Western art—that is, since the late Middle Ages—the quill has been the most frequently used instrument for applying liquid mediums to the drawing surface. The importance accorded to…

Are Porcupines Aggressive?: …turn their rear, where their quills are most concentrated, toward the perceived danger. These quills, which detach upon contact and embed in an attacker, are a passive defense mechanism rather than an active offensive action.

keyboard instrument: Plucking mechanism: …the quill, plastic, or leather plectrum that does the actual plucking; the smaller slot holds a piece of cloth that rests on the string and silences it when the key is not depressed. When the harpsichordist pushes down on a key, the back end rises, lifting the jack and forcing…

quill, hollow, horny barrel of a bird’s feather, used as the principal writing instrument from the 6th century until the mid-19th century, when steel pen points were introduced. The strongest quills were obtained from living birds in their new growth period in the spring. Only the five outer wing

drawing: Pens: …of sorts, that of the quill pen opens up a far wider range of possibilities. Ever since the rise of drawing in Western art—that is, since the late Middle Ages—the quill has been the most frequently used instrument for applying liquid mediums to the drawing surface. The importance accorded to…

porcupine, any of several species of large, herbivorous, quill-bearing rodents active from early evening to dawn. All have short stocky legs, but their tails range from short to long, some being prehensile. The quills, or spines, take various forms depending on the species, but all are modified

Sint Eustatius: …of one of the volcanoes, The Quill, arid conditions prevail and xerophytic plants (adapted to growth with limited water) predominate. The remainder of the island is covered with tough, thorny bushes and trees, many of which lose their leaves during the dry season.

Fabales: Characteristic morphological features: The two species of Quillaja, the only genus in Quillajaceae, are small, evergreen trees with bark containing considerable quantities of saponins. Leaves are spirally arranged and toothed. The terminal inflorescence contains five parted flowers usually with a well-developed nectary inserted into the hypanthium (floral cup). The flowers are rather…

Fabales: Distribution and abundance: Quillajaceae, with one genus (Quillaja) and two species, is restricted to temperate South America.

Daniel Gray Quillen was an American mathematician who was awarded the Fields Medal in 1978 for contributions to algebraic K-theory. Quillen attended Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. (Ph.D., 1969), and held appointments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1973–88) and the Mathematical

The Quiller Memorandum, British-American spy film, released in 1966, that was especially noted for the deliberately paced but engrossing script by playwright Harold Pinter. Quiller (played by George Segal) is an American secret agent assigned to work with British MI6 chief Pol (Alec Guinness) in

Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch was an English poet, novelist, and anthologist noted for his compilation of The Oxford Book of English Verse 1250–1900 (1900; revised 1939) and The Oxford Book of Ballads (1910). He was educated at Newton Abbot College, Clifton College, and Trinity College, Oxford,

perciform: Annotated classification: Family Ptilichthyidae (quillfish) Extremely elongated, body ending in a free fleshy point; pelvic fins absent; dorsal and anal fins like vanes of a feather. 1 species (Ptilichthys goodei), rare; North Pacific. Family Zaproridae (prowfish) A single species (Zaprora silenus) like a shorter, deeper-bodied prickleback; pelvic fins

Philip Kaufman: Films in the 21st century: …Kaufman returned to directing with Quills (2000), an adaptation of the Broadway play about the Marquis de Sade. The film was a critical success, earning star Geoffrey Rush an Oscar nomination for his performance as the imprisoned de Sade. Kate Winslet played the prison laundress who helps smuggle his writings…

quillwork, type of embroidery done with the quills of a porcupine, or sometimes with bird feathers. This type of decoration was used by American Indians from Maine to Virginia and westward to the Rocky Mountains. For all practical purposes the art has died out. Quills were used on tobacco and

quillwort, (family Isoetaceae), family of about 250 species of seedless vascular plants of the order Isoetales. Quillworts are the only extant members of the order and are usually placed in a single genus, Isoetes (also spelled Isoëtes). The plants are aquatic or semi-aquatic, and most are native

Quilmes, cabecera (county seat) and partido (county), of Gran (Greater) Buenos Aires. It is located southeast of the city of Buenos Aires in Buenos Aires provincia (province), eastern Argentina, near the Río de la Plata estuary. Colonization of the area began with the second and permanent founding

quilombo, in colonial Brazil, a community organized by fugitive slaves. Quilombos were located in inaccessible areas and usually consisted of fewer than 100 people who survived by farming and raiding. The largest and most famous was Palmares, which grew into an autonomous republic and by the 1690s

Kollam, port city, southern Kerala state, southwestern India. It lies on the Malabar Coast of the Arabian Sea northwest of Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital. The city is situated next to Asthamudi Lake, an inlet of the sea, and is linked with Alappuzha and Kochi (Cochin) to the north by a

Daniel Quilp, fictional character, the dwarfish villain of Charles Dickens’s novel The Old Curiosity Shop

bedspread: …French word contrepoinct, meaning “stitched quilt,” was probably made of patched or applied pieces, quilted together. The quilts, or quilted bedspreads, in both appliqué and patchwork, that were made in the United States during the 18th and 19th centuries have come to be considered an important type of American folk…

quilting: The quilt revival: National quilt contests of the 20th century, notably the 1933 World’s Fair quilt contest sponsored by Sears, Roebuck and Company and the 1977 Bicentennial contest sponsored by Good Housekeeping magazine, have contributed to interest in quilting and brought forward national teachers like Jinny Beyer.

quilting: The quilt revival: Bonnie Leman’s Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine, founded in 1969, was the first quilt-dominated magazine. Others soon followed, including Lady’s Circle Patchwork Quilts, Quilt World, and the American Quilter. The latter promotes the American Quilter’s Society, founded by William and Meredith Schroeder in 1984, with an annual contest and…

quilting, sewing technique in which two layers of fabric, usually with an insulating interior layer, are sewn together with multiple rows of stitching. It has long been used for clothing in China, the Middle East, North Africa, and the colder areas of Europe but is now primarily associated with the

Lucille Clifton: …included Next: New Poems (1987), Quilting: Poems 1987–1990 (1991), The Terrible Stories (1996), Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems, 1988–2000 (2000), and Mercy (2004). Generations: A Memoir (1976) is a prose piece celebrating her origins, and Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir, 1969–1980 (1987)

Marie Webster: In her 1915 best-seller, Quilts: Their Story and How to Make Them, America’s first book dedicated to quilt history, Webster wrote, “The work of the old-time quilters possesses artistic merit to a very high degree.”

Native American art: Colombia, Ecuador, and Brazil: …does the work of the Quimbaya, whose skill in creating polished metal flasks is remarkable. Notable also is Sinú casting, which could execute works weighing several pounds. In Ecuador the goldwork found at La Tolita is legendary and shows a skill in casting and overlay that did not seem to…

Phineas Parkhurst Quimby: The Quimby Manuscripts (1921, ed. by H.W. Dresser) include his philosophy. The first edition contains a number of Eddy’s letters to Quimby and others not found in later editions.

Harriet Quimby was an American aviator, the first female pilot to fly across the English Channel. Quimby’s birth date and place are not well attested. (She sometimes claimed 1884 in Arroyo Grande, California.) By 1902, however, it is known that she and her family were living in California, and in

Phineas Parkhurst Quimby was an American exponent of mental healing who is generally regarded as the founder of the New Thought movement, a religio-metaphysical healing cult. Quimby employed hypnosis as a means of healing but discovered that he could also heal by suggestion. He held that all

Quimper, town, capital of Finistère département, Brittany région, western France. Quimper is a port at the estuarine confluence of the Odet and Steir rivers. Once the ancient capital of the countship Cornouaille, it is associated with the legendary (5th century) king Gradlon, who came from Cornwall

Quimper faience, tin-enamelled earthenware produced by a factory at Loc Maria, a suburb of Quimper in Brittany, Fr. The factory was founded in 1690 by Jean-Baptiste Bosquet, a potter from Marseille who had settled there. Both Pierre Caussy, who took over in 1743, and de la Hubeaudière, who bought

James Tassie: …he developed with a physician, Henry Quin.

James Quin was an English actor whose Falstaff was considered the finest of his time. Quin made his first stage appearance at the Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, in 1712. He was engaged for small parts at London’s Drury Lane Theatre, where his remarkable memory enabled him to fill in at short notice

dye: Quinacridone compounds: A second group of pigments developed in the 20th century were the quinacridone compounds. Quinacridone itself was introduced in 1958. Its seven crystalline forms range in colour from yellowish-red to violet; the violet β and red γ forms are used as pigments, both…

history of medicine: Tropical medicine: …become available, in 1934, was quinacrine (known as mepacrine, Atabrine, or Atebrin). In World War II it amply fulfilled the highest expectations and helped to reduce disease among Allied troops in Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Far East. A number of other effective antimalarial drugs subsequently became available.

cytogenetics: …such as Giemsa banding (G-banding), quinacrine banding (Q-banding), reverse banding (R-banding), constitutive heterochromatin (or centromere) banding (C-banding), and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). G-banding is one of the most-used chromosomal staining methods. In this approach, chromosomes are first treated with an enzyme known as trypsin and then with Giemsa stain.

Quinará, region located on the Atlantic coast in southwestern Guinea-Bissau. The Rio Grande de Buba flows east-west through the centre of the region and empties into the Atlantic; most of the oil palms in the region are grown along the river. Rice is produced throughout Quinará, as are subsistence

coin: Introduction of the denarius: …of 10 asses; the silver quinarius (now of eight asses and with the types of the victoriate) became rare; and the silver sesterce (now equal to four asses) virtually disappeared. After about 80 bc the striking of bronze was discontinued until the time of Caesar.

numerals and numeral systems: Number bases: The quinary scale, or number system with base five, is very old, but in pure form it seems to be used at present only by speakers of Saraveca, a South American Arawakan language; elsewhere it is combined with the decimal or the vigesimal system, where the…

numerals and numeral systems: Number bases: The quinary scale, or number system with base five, is very old, but in pure form it seems to be used at present only by speakers of Saraveca, a South American Arawakan language; elsewhere it is combined with the decimal or the vigesimal system, where the…

Jean-Baptiste Lully: …he worked with the librettist Philippe Quinault on operatic and ballet works varying from the classical Atys (1676) and Isis (1677) to the heroic Roland (1685) and the pastoral Le Temple de la paix (1685). He died of an infected wound in his foot caused by his long conducting stick.

mimicry: The chemical basis for repulsion: …secrete a bitter substance (a quinazoline) that repels birds; similar substances, differing only slightly in molecular structure, are found in palms. The fact that a certain chemical substance is restricted to a specific function, such as sex attraction, does not necessarily mean that it was evolved solely for that purpose.…

quinceañera, the celebration of a girl’s 15th birthday, marking her passage from girlhood to womanhood; the term is also used for the celebrant herself. The quinceañera is both a religious and a social event that emphasizes the importance of family and society in the life of a young woman. It is

quince, (Cydonia oblonga), a small tree or shrub of the rose family (Rosaceae), grown for its edible fruit. Quince is the only member of the genus Cydonia and is native to Iran, Turkey, and possibly Greece and the Crimean Peninsula. The fruit has a strong aroma and is astringent in the raw state

quinceañera, the celebration of a girl’s 15th birthday, marking her passage from girlhood to womanhood; the term is also used for the celebrant herself. The quinceañera is both a religious and a social event that emphasizes the importance of family and society in the life of a young woman. It is

quinceañera, the celebration of a girl’s 15th birthday, marking her passage from girlhood to womanhood; the term is also used for the celebrant herself. The quinceañera is both a religious and a social event that emphasizes the importance of family and society in the life of a young woman. It is

probability and statistics: Biometry: …model, now known as the Galton board, that he employed to explain the normal distribution of inherited characteristics; in particular, he used his model to explain the tendency of progeny to have the same variance as their parents, a process he called reversion, subsequently known as regression to the mean.…