Serendib, name for the island of Sri Lanka (Ceylon). The name, Arabic in origin, was recorded in use at least as early as 361 ce and for a time gained considerable currency in the West. It is best known to speakers of English through the word serendipity, invented in the 18th century by the English

Serendib, name for the island of Sri Lanka (Ceylon). The name, Arabic in origin, was recorded in use at least as early as 361 ce and for a time gained considerable currency in the West. It is best known to speakers of English through the word serendipity, invented in the 18th century by the English

extraterrestrial intelligence: Radio searches: …radio SETI experiments, such as Project SERENDIP V (begun in 2009 by the University of California at Berkeley) and Australia’s Southern SERENDIP (begun in 1998 by the University of Western Sydney at Macarthur), scan large tracts of the sky and make no assumption about the directions from which signals might…

Serengeti National Park, national park and wildlife refuge on the Serengeti Plain in north-central Tanzania. It is partly adjacent to the Kenya border and is northwest of the adjoining Ngorongoro Conservation Area. It is best known for its huge herds of plains animals—especially gnu (wildebeests),

Tanzania: Plant and animal life: For example, the famous Serengeti Plain owes its grasslands to a calcrete, or calcium-rich hardpan, deposited close to the surface by evaporated rainwater. Swamps are found in areas of perennial flooding. Desert and semidesert conditions range from an alpine type at high elevations to saline deserts in poorly drained…

Vittorio Sereni was an Italian poet, author, editor, and translator who was known for his lyric verse and for his translations into Italian of works by Pierre Corneille, Guillaume Apollinaire, Paul Valéry, René Char, Albert Camus, Ezra Pound, and William Carlos Williams. A graduate of the

Taurus-Littrow Valley: …enormous impact that created the Serenitatis Basin. Some rocks from the Taurus-Littrow site, which is crossed by one of the rays of material ejected from the impact that formed the comparatively young crater Tycho, suggested an age for the crater of about 100 million years. The complex geologic history of…

Anne Hathaway: The Dark Knight Rises, Les Misérables, and Interstellar: Her credits from 2019 include Serenity, a thriller in which her character solicits her ex-husband (Matthew McConaughey) to commit murder; the comedy The Hustle, about two rival con artists; Modern Love, an Amazon anthology series in which Hathaway appeared in an episode as a woman struggling with mental illness; and…

Paul Sereno is an American paleontologist who discovered several notable dinosaur species while on field expeditions in Africa, Asia, and South America. Sereno was raised in Naperville, Illinois. As an undergraduate at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Sereno majored in both art and biology,

Paul Sereno is an American paleontologist who discovered several notable dinosaur species while on field expeditions in Africa, Asia, and South America. Sereno was raised in Naperville, Illinois. As an undergraduate at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Sereno majored in both art and biology,

palm: Evolution: genera, including Phoenix, Sabal, Serenoa, Livistona, Trachycarpus, and Oncosperma, existed in the United States, Canada, India, Europe, and China, many in places where palms do not occur today. These genera include members of groups considered primitive and specialized within the family and appear to represent an early burst of…

palm: Ecology: disperses Sabal, Rhapidophyllum hystrix, and Serenoa repens in Florida, U.S. Fruits of Euterpe in northern South America are sought by fish and by the electric eel (Electrophorus electricus). Wild dogs (family Canidae) and palm civets (Paradoxurus) devour fruits of Arenga and Caryota in Asia. Studies of fruit dispersal are in…

Serer, group of more than one million people of western Senegal and The Gambia who speak a language also called Serer, an Atlantic branch of the Niger-Congo language family. The Serer are a settled, agricultural people who grow millet, rice, and a wide variety of other crops, including tree crops.

Serer: …speak a language also called Serer, an Atlantic branch of the Niger-Congo language family.

Clackmannanshire: …end of the 7th century St. Serf, who had come to the Fife peninsula to convert the Picts, visited Tullibody, Tullicoultry, and Alva; a well at Alva and a bridge over the Devon commemorate his name. The victory of Kenneth MacAlpin, king of the Scots, over the Picts in 844…

serfdom, condition in medieval Europe in which a tenant farmer was bound to a hereditary plot of land and to the will of his landlord. The vast majority of serfs in medieval Europe obtained their subsistence by cultivating a plot of land that was owned by a lord. This was the essential feature

serge, (from Latin serica, “silk”), fabric much-used for military uniforms, made in an even-sided twill weave and usually clear-finished—that is, the fibre ends on the surface of the cloth are sheared or singed so that the twill weave is prominent. The resulting flat diagonal rib pattern goes from

military unit: …and is led by a sergeant. (A slightly larger unit is a section, which consists of 10 to 40 soldiers but is usually used only within headquarters or support organizations.) Three or four squads make up a platoon, which has 20 to 50 soldiers and is commanded by a lieutenant.…

legal profession: England after the Conquest: More particularly, they could become serjeants—the most dignified of the advocates, from whom alone after about 1300 the royal judges were appointed. Various agents for litigation resembling procurators also became known. The “attorneys,” authorized by legislation, at first shared the life of the Inns with the “apprentices” in advocacy, who…

sergeant at arms, an officer of a legislative body, court of law, or other organization who preserves order and executes commands. In feudal England a sergeant at arms was an armed officer of a lord and was often one of a special body required to be in immediate attendance on the king’s person, to

Norman Taurog: Elvis movies: received Frankie Avalon comedies: Sergeant Deadhead (1965), a comedy about a U.S. soldier who is accidentally sent into space with a chimp and undergoes a personality change that threatens his upcoming wedding, and Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1966), a spy spoof about a secret agent’s attempts to…

cobia, (species Rachycentron canadum), swift-moving, slim marine game fish, the only member of the family Rachycentridae (order Perciformes). The cobia is found in most warm oceans. A voracious, predatory fish, it may be 1.8 m (6 feet) long and weigh 70 kg (150 pounds) or more. It has a jutting

major: …used adjectivally in the title sergeant major, the third principal officer in a regiment. In the 16th and 17th centuries there was a similarity between the duties of the sergeant, sergeant major, and sergeant major general in that they attended to the drill and administration of a company, a regiment,…

military unit: …and is commanded by a major general. A division contains all the arms and services needed for the independent conduct of military operations. Two to seven divisions and various support units make up an army corps, or a corps, which has 50,000 to 300,000 troops and is commanded by a…

John Ford: Postwar career: …the hands of white men, Sergeant Rutledge (1960) involves buffalo soldiers, the African American troops who fought in the West, and Ford overtly challenged his own legacy in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). Without a lavish budget and shot in black and white, this film is somewhat visually…

Sergeant Stubby was a stray dog whose heroic service during World War I (1914–18) saved lives and even led to the capture of a German spy. He was the unofficial mascot for the 102nd Infantry, 26th “Yankee” Division, and is the first dog to be promoted to the rank of sergeant in the U.S. Army. When

Sergeant York, American war film, released in 1941, that was noted for Gary Cooper’s Academy Award-winning portrayal of Alvin York, one of the most decorated and celebrated American heroes of World War I. The inspirational film, directed by Howard Hawks and cowritten by John Huston, was nominated

John Sergeant was an English Roman Catholic priest, notable for his criticisms of several of the leading thinkers of his time, including John Locke. After serving as secretary to Thomas Morton, Anglican bishop of Durham, Sergeant was converted to Roman Catholicism. He then took theological studies

United States presidential election of 1832: Banking battle: …nominated Clay for president and John Sergeant for vice president, while the Democrats chose former secretary of state Martin Van Buren to replace Calhoun as Jackson’s vice president. Though the National Republicans attempted to paint Jackson’s positions as unconstitutional, his reform agenda remained popular, and he won a second term…

damselfish: …and the sergeant major (Abudefduf saxatilis), a black-banded, bluish and yellow fish of the tropical Atlantic.

sergeanty, in European feudal society, a form of land tenure granted in return for the performance of a specific service to the lord, whether the king or another. Sergeants included artisans, bailiffs within the lord’s realm, domestic servants, and sometimes those who provided the lord with some

John Sturges: Bad, Magnificent, and Great: …then reunited with Sinatra on Sergeants 3 (1962), a comedic western that included other members of the “Rat Pack”: Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop.

sergeanty, in European feudal society, a form of land tenure granted in return for the performance of a specific service to the lord, whether the king or another. Sergeants included artisans, bailiffs within the lord’s realm, domestic servants, and sometimes those who provided the lord with some

Nicholas Sergeyev was a Russian dancer and company manager of the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg, who re-created for several western European companies the many classical ballets that had been preserved in the Russian repertoire. Trained at the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet School, Sergeyev

Neoclassical art: Denmark and Sweden: The Swede Johan Tobias Sergel, court sculptor to the Swedish king Gustav III, and the Dane Bertel Thorvaldsen, who lived most of his life in Rome, were among the best-known Neoclassical sculptors in Europe. Thorvaldsen was the chief rival to Canova and eventually replaced him in critical…

Italian literature: Social commitment and the new realism: …by Mario Rigoni Stern (Il sergente nella neve [1952; The Sergeant in the Snow]). By contrast, there were humorous recollections of provincial life under fascism—for example, Mario Tobino’s Bandiera nera (1950; “Black Flag”) and Goffredo Parise’s Prete bello (1954; “The Handsome Priest”; Eng. trans. The Priest Among the Pigeons).…

John Of Kronshtadt was a Russian Orthodox priest-ascetic whose pastoral and educational activities, particularly among the unskilled poor, contributed notably to Russia’s social and spiritual reform. After graduating from the theological academy in St. Petersburg, John entered the married

Konstantin Mikhailovich Sergeyev was a Russian ballet dancer and director long associated with the Kirov (now Mariinsky) Ballet as a premier dancer (1930–61) and as artistic director and chief choreographer (1951–55; 1960–70). In 1930 Sergeyev completed his studies with the State Academic Theatre

Nicholas Sergeyev was a Russian dancer and company manager of the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg, who re-created for several western European companies the many classical ballets that had been preserved in the Russian repertoire. Trained at the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet School, Sergeyev

Nicholas Sergeyev was a Russian dancer and company manager of the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg, who re-created for several western European companies the many classical ballets that had been preserved in the Russian repertoire. Trained at the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet School, Sergeyev

Wagner Moura: Later work as actor and director: …and the United States, and Sergio (2020), a biopic about a Brazilian diplomat killed during the Iraq War. In 2022 he voiced a character in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, and two years later Moura, Cailee Spaeny, and Kirsten Dunst portrayed a group of journalists and photographers in Alex…

Sergipe, smallest estado (state) of Brazil, located on the southern coast of that country’s northeastern bulge into the Atlantic Ocean. It is bounded on the east by the Atlantic, on the south and west by the state of Bahia, and on the north by the state of Alagoas, from which it is separated by the

Sergius was a theologian and patriarch of Moscow and the Russian Orthodox church who, by his leadership in rallying the church membership in a united effort with the Soviet government to repel the German invasion of 1941, obtained substantial advantages for the church in the postwar period. The son

Saints Sergius and Bacchus ; feast day October 7) were among the earliest authenticated and most celebrated Christian martyrs, commemorated in the Eastern and Western churches. Early martyrologies record that Sergius and Bacchus were officers in the Roman army on the Syrian frontier. They were

Sergius I was a Greek Orthodox theologian and patriarch of Constantinople (610–638), one of the most forceful and independent churchmen to hold that office. He not only supported the emperor Heraclius (610–641) in the victorious defense of the Eastern Roman Empire against Persian and Avar invaders

Saint Sergius I ; feast day September 8) was the pope from 687 to 701, and he was one of the most important 7th-century pontiffs. Sergius was of Syrian parentage, and he served under popes St. Leo II and Conon, whom he succeeded after a fierce struggle between two other candidates, the archdeacon

Sergius II was the pope from 844 to 847. Of noble birth, Sergius was made cardinal by Pope St. Paschal I and became an archpriest under Pope Gregory IV, whom he was elected to succeed by the Roman nobility against the wishes of the populace, which enthroned the deacon John as antipope. Although

Sergius II was the patriarch of Constantinople (1001–19) who claimed the title of “ecumenical patriarch” against the objections of the papacy. He also supported for a time the continuing schismatical movement begun in 867 in the Byzantine church by the patriarch Photius (c. 820–895), occasioned by

Sergius III was the pope from 904 to 911, during a scandalous period of pontifical history. Of noble birth, Sergius was a deacon when made bishop of Caere by Pope Formosus, during whose pontificate powerful Roman factions developed that involved the influential Tusculani count Theophylactus. Later,

Italy: The papacy and the Normans: In 1030 Sergius, duke of Naples, granted the county of Aversa to the Norman Rainulf in return for his support against Pandulf of Capua. Rainulf was able to add Gaeta to his holdings, and his nephew, Count Richard, who had succeeded to Aversa in 1047, added the…

Sergius IV was the pope from 1009 to 1012. He became bishop of Albano, Papal States, about 1004. Elected to succeed Pope John XVIII, he was consecrated on July 31, 1009; he changed his name from Peter to Sergius out of deference to the first pope. He was powerless in the hands of the Roman nobles

Saint Sergius of Radonezh was a Russian Orthodox monk whose spiritual doctrine and social programs made him one of Russia’s most respected spiritual leaders. His monastery of the Trinity became the Russian centre and symbol of religious renewal and national identity. He was tonsured a monk in 1337

Aristotelianism: The Syriac, Arabic, and Jewish traditions: Proba and Sergius of Resaina were among those who contributed, through translations of the basic logical texts and commentaries on them, to the establishment of Aristotelian studies in these centres. At the time of the Arabic invasion of the Byzantine and Sāsānian empires about 640, and for…

Sergiyev Posad, city, Moscow oblast (province), western Russia, northeast of Moscow city. The city developed around the fortified walls of the Trinity–St. Sergius monastery, which was founded there in 1337–40 by St. Sergius of Radonezh. A theological seminary founded in 1742 remains the principal

Sergiyev Posad, city, Moscow oblast (province), western Russia, northeast of Moscow city. The city developed around the fortified walls of the Trinity–St. Sergius monastery, which was founded there in 1337–40 by St. Sergius of Radonezh. A theological seminary founded in 1742 remains the principal

Sergiyev Posad, city, Moscow oblast (province), western Russia, northeast of Moscow city. The city developed around the fortified walls of the Trinity–St. Sergius monastery, which was founded there in 1337–40 by St. Sergius of Radonezh. A theological seminary founded in 1742 remains the principal

Stakhanov, city, eastern Ukraine. It is situated in the northern part of the Donets Basin. The city developed in the 19th century as a coal-mining settlement. From 1935 to 1943, it was known as Sergo. Stakhanov was one of the major coal-mining towns of the Donets Basin, though it declined in

Nicholas Sergeyev was a Russian dancer and company manager of the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg, who re-created for several western European companies the many classical ballets that had been preserved in the Russian repertoire. Trained at the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet School, Sergeyev

minari, (Oenanthe javanica), perennial herb in the carrot family (Apiaceae) that grows in wetlands and is widely eaten in East Asia. It grows well in marshes, along stream banks, and in irrigated fields. The hollow stems and compound (divided) green leaves are harvested as a vegetable. It is valued

Seri, a tribe of Mesoamerican Indians who live on Tiburón Island in the Gulf of California and on the adjacent mainland in Sonora. Their language seems to be related to the Yuman languages, and both are commonly assigned to the hypothetical Hokan super-stock. Early 21st-century population estimates

Mesoamerican Indian languages: The classification and status of Mesoamerican languages:

Seria, town, Brunei, on the South China Sea, southwest of the national capital, Bandar Seri Begawan. It is the centre of an important petroleum-producing area that includes offshore wells. A tanker terminal at Seria accommodates ships carrying crude oil. Seria’s oil has provided much of the revenue

serial, a novel or other work appearing (as in a magazine) in parts at intervals. Novels written in the 19th century were commonly published as serials. Many works by Charles Dickens, George Eliot, William Makepeace Thackeray, Anthony Trollope, and others first appeared serially in such magazines

public affairs radio programming: Podcasting: …was popularized by the podcast Serial (2014–). The success of this series, and many others, has greatly boosted podcast listenership.

SATA, an interface for transferring data between a computer’s central circuit board and storage devices. SATA replaced the long-standing PATA (parallel ATA) interface. Serial communication transfers data one bit at a time, rather than in several parallel streams. Despite the apparent advantage of

SATA, an interface for transferring data between a computer’s central circuit board and storage devices. SATA replaced the long-standing PATA (parallel ATA) interface. Serial communication transfers data one bit at a time, rather than in several parallel streams. Despite the apparent advantage of

serial bond, in finance, bond in an issue for which the maturity dates are spread over a period of years so that a certain number of bonds fall due each year. The serial-bond system of debt retirement is widely used by states and municipalities in a number of countries and has tended to replace the

peripheral device: …a port) can be either serial or parallel, depending on whether the data path carries one bit at a time (serial) or many at once (parallel). Serial connections, which use relatively few wires, are generally simpler than parallel connections. Universal serial bus (USB) is a common serial bus.

George Perle: In his Serial Composition and Atonality: An Introduction to the Music of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern (1962; 6th ed., rev., 1991)—a book based on his doctoral dissertation—Perle developed a revolutionary theoretical framework for music analysis that moved beyond traditional tonal harmony and rhythmic schemes into the realm…

computer science: Information management: Many file systems are sequential, meaning that successive records are processed in the order in which they are stored, starting from the beginning and proceeding to the end. This file structure was particularly popular in the early days of computing, when files were stored on reels of magnetic tape…

Lynn Margulis: …was an American biologist whose serial endosymbiotic theory of eukaryotic cell development revolutionized the modern concept of how life arose on Earth.

Lynn Margulis: …was an American biologist whose serial endosymbiotic theory of eukaryotic cell development revolutionized the modern concept of how life arose on Earth.

computer science: Information management: Sequential files are generally stored in some sorted order (e.g., alphabetic) for printing of reports (e.g., a telephone directory) and for efficient processing of batches of transactions. Banking transactions (deposits and withdrawals), for instance, might be sorted in the same order as the accounts file,…

evolution: Convergent and parallel evolution: This has been called serial homology. There is serial homology, for example, between the arms and legs of humans, between the seven cervical vertebrae of mammals, and between the branches or leaves of a tree. The jointed appendages of arthropods are elaborate examples of serial homology. Crayfish have 19…

serial murder, the unlawful homicide of at least two people carried out by the same person (or persons) in separate events occurring at different times. Although this definition is widely accepted, the crime is not formally recognized in any legal code, including that of the United States. Serial

serial murder, the unlawful homicide of at least two people carried out by the same person (or persons) in separate events occurring at different times. Although this definition is widely accepted, the crime is not formally recognized in any legal code, including that of the United States. Serial

John Waters: Going more mainstream: Cry-Baby, Serial Mom, and later films: Waters’s next movie, Serial Mom (1994), starred Kathleen Turner as the murderous titular character. His later films include Pecker (1998) and Cecil B. Demented (2000; in which an indie filmmaker and his crew kidnap a famous actress for their underground film), and A Dirty Shame (2004).

monogamy: …repeatedly, a practice sometimes called serial monogamy.

serial murder, the unlawful homicide of at least two people carried out by the same person (or persons) in separate events occurring at different times. Although this definition is widely accepted, the crime is not formally recognized in any legal code, including that of the United States. Serial

animal social behavior: Social interactions involving sex: …may be referred to as serial polyandry, sequential polyandry, or serial monogamy, depending on whether the focus is on mate-switching behavior or the number of mates at a given time. Serial monogamy can be used to describe species such as the milkweed leaf beetle (Labidomera clivicollis), in which males and…

computer science: Information management: Many file systems are sequential, meaning that successive records are processed in the order in which they are stored, starting from the beginning and proceeding to the end. This file structure was particularly popular in the early days of computing, when files were stored on reels of magnetic tape…

human intelligence: Cognitive theories: …what psychologists call the “serial processing of information,” meaning that in these examples, cognitive processes are executed in series, one after another. Yet the assumption that people process chunks of information one at a time may be incorrect. Many psychologists have suggested instead that cognitive processing is primarily parallel.…

information processing: Recording media: …of its location, while in serial-access media the access time depends on the data’s location and the position of the read-write head. The typical serial-access medium is magnetic tape. The storage density of magnetic tape has increased considerably over the years, mainly by increases in the number of tracks packed…

serialism, in music, technique that has been used in some musical compositions roughly since World War I. Strictly speaking, a serial pattern in music is merely one that repeats over and over for a significant stretch of a composition. In this sense, some medieval composers wrote serial music,

igneous rock: Fabric: …generally characterized either by a seriate fabric, in which the variation in grain size is gradual and essentially continuous, or by a porphyritic fabric, involving more than one distinct range of grain sizes. Both of these kinds of texture are common. The relatively large crystals in a porphyritic rock ordinarily…

human behaviour: Cognitive development: This ability is called seriation. A seven-year-old can arrange eight sticks of different lengths in order from shortest to longest, indicating that the child appreciates a relation among the different sizes of the objects. Seriation is crucial to understanding the relations between numbers and hence to learning arithmetic. Children…

history of technology: The mastery of iron: …steel in Roman times was Seric steel, brought into the Western world from India, where it was produced in blocks a few inches in diameter by a crucible process, melting the ingredients in an enclosed vessel to achieve purity and consistency in the chemical combination.

lespedeza: Sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata) is widely used in American agriculture as a pasture crop. Because of its great root system, its dense growth canopy, and its ability to grow on badly eroded soils, the sericea lespedeza is also extremely useful in soil conservation. Some shrublike…

sericulture: …second pair of glands secretes sericin, a gummy substance that cements the two filaments together. Because an emerging moth would break the cocoon filament, the larva is killed in the cocoon by steam or hot air at the chrysalis stage.

sericite, fine-grained variety of either of the silicate minerals muscovite and paragonite

sericulture, the production of raw silk by means of raising caterpillars (larvae), particularly those of the domesticated silkworm (Bombyx mori). The production of silk generally involves two processes: The silkworm caterpillar builds its cocoon by producing and surrounding itself with a long,

bowerbird: …satin bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus); the regent bowerbird (Sericulus chrysocephalus) and its relatives; and the spotted bowerbird (Chlamydera maculata) and its relatives. Satin and regent bowerbirds make a paint of vegetable pulp, charcoal, and saliva and apply it to the interior walls; a daub of green leaves may be used—a rare…

Gaston Gallimard: …1933) as well as the Série Noire, a series of some 2,000 thrillers, detective novels, and spy stories.

seriema, South American bird of grasslands, constituting the family Cariamidae (order Gruiformes). There are two species, both restricted to southern-central South America. The red-legged, or crested, seriema (Cariama cristata), with long legs and neck, stands about 60 cm (2 feet) tall. The beak

series circuit, any electrically conducting pathway comprising an electric circuit along which the whole current flows through each component. The total current in a series circuit is equal to the current through any resistor in the series. This can be illustrated by the equation below:Itotal = I1

If you want hefty investment returns, you usually have to take on a fair amount of risk. But as inflation raged in the early 2020s, a high return/low risk savings vehicle rose to prominence: Series I savings bonds. Although I bonds won’t solve all your inflation woes, they’re one way to help

spectral line series: …the shortest wavelength, called the series limit. Hydrogen displays five of these series in various parts of the spectrum, the best-known being the Balmer series in the visible region. Johann Balmer, a Swiss mathematician, discovered (1885) that the wavelengths of the visible hydrogen lines can be expressed by a simple…

magnetic circuit: …the circuit is called a series magnetic circuit.

electric motor: Direct-current commutator motors: …of commutator motor is the series motor in which the field coils, with relatively few turns, carry the same current as does the armature. With a high value of current, the flux is high, making the torque high and the speed low. As the current is reduced, the torque is…

Lawrence Weiner: He renamed it A Series of Stakes Set in the Ground at Regular Intervals to Form a Rectangle—Twine Strung from Stake to Stake to Demark a Grid—a Rectangle Removed from This Rectangle (1968).