• Sjöwall, Maj (Swedish journalist and author)

    Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö: 
Per Wahlöö and his wife, Maj Sjöwall (married in 1962), wrote a series of detective stories in which Martin Beck and his colleagues at the Central Bureau of Investigation in Stockholm were the main characters. From Roseanna (1965) to Terroristerna (1975; “The Terrorists”), the series consists of 10 novels, all


  • Sjöwall, Maj; and Wahlöö, Per (Swedish journalists and authors)

    Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö were Swedish journalists and innovative writers of detective fiction. As a team, Per Wahlöö and his wife, Maj Sjöwall (married in 1962), wrote a series of detective stories in which Martin Beck and his colleagues at the Central Bureau of Investigation in Stockholm were

  • Sju SĂžstre (waterfalls, Norway)

    Syv Systre, waterfalls in west-central Norway. The falls have their sources in Geit Mountain. The water flows over a high perpendicular cliff and plunges several hundred feet into Geiranger Fjord below. The name, which in English means “seven sisters,” is derived from the seven separate streams

  • sjunde inseglet, Det (film by Bergman [1957])

    The Seventh Seal, Swedish allegorical dramatic film, released in 1957, that is widely considered director Ingmar Bergman’s greatest work and a classic in world cinema. (Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film preservation.) Antonius Block (played by Max von Sydow) is a disillusioned knight

  • SK Group (South Korean conglomerate)

    chaebol: SK Group. In the early 21st century the chaebols produced about two-thirds of South Korea’s exports and attracted the greater part of the country’s foreign capital inflows.

  • ska (music)

    ska, style of popular music that is known for its fast, energetic tempos and its blending of Caribbean and African American music styles, such as calypso with jazz and rhythm and blues (R&B). Originating in Jamaica, ska is that country’s first indigenous urban pop style, and it heavily influenced

  • Skadar (Albania)

    ShkodĂ«r, town, northwestern Albania. It lies at the southeast end of Lake Scutari, at a point where the BuenĂ« (Serbian and Croatian: Bojana) River, one of Albania’s two navigable streams, flows out of the lake toward the Adriatic Sea. The city is situated at the edge of a wide plain surrounded by

  • Skadarsko Jezero (lake, Europe)

    Lake Scutari, largest lake in the Balkans, on the frontier between Montenegro and Albania. Its area is 150 square miles (390 square km), but it reaches 205 square miles (530 square km) at its seasonal high water. The lake was formerly an arm of the Adriatic Sea. On its west and northwest are steep

  • Skadi (Norse mythology)

    Skadi, in Norse mythology, the giant wife of the sea god Njörd. In order to avenge the death of her father, the giant Thiazi, Skadi took up arms and went to attack the rival tribe of the gods (the Aesir) in Asgard, home of the gods. The Aesir, wanting to appease her anger, offered her the choice of

  • SkĂŠrmydsler (work by Wied)

    Gustav Wied: 
read rather than performed, one, Skérmydsler (1901; “Skirmishes”), transcended the inherent difficulties of performance to become one of the great successes of the Royal Theatre. A few of his works, the play Ranke Viljer og 2 × 2 = 5 (1906; 2 × 2 = 5) and two collections of


  • Skagen (Denmark)

    Skagen, city and port, northern Jutland, Denmark, near the northern tip of the peninsula on the Kattegat strait. Chartered in 1413, it is one of the principal fishing centres in Denmark. It is also a summer resort and, from the 1870s, the site of an artists’ and writers’ colony. Notable are the

  • Skager Strait (strait, Scandinavia)

    Skagerrak, rectangular arm of the North Sea, trending southwest to northeast between Norway on the north and the Jutland peninsula of Denmark on the south. About 150 miles (240 km) long and 80–90 miles (130–145 km) wide, the Skagerrak narrows between Cape Skagen (the Skaw), Denmark, and the Swedish

  • Skagerrak (strait, Scandinavia)

    Skagerrak, rectangular arm of the North Sea, trending southwest to northeast between Norway on the north and the Jutland peninsula of Denmark on the south. About 150 miles (240 km) long and 80–90 miles (130–145 km) wide, the Skagerrak narrows between Cape Skagen (the Skaw), Denmark, and the Swedish

  • Skagerrak, Battle of the (World War I [1916])

    Battle of Jutland, (May 31–June 1, 1916), the only major encounter between the main British and German battle fleets in World War I, fought near the Skagerrak, an arm of the North Sea, about 60 miles (97 km) off the west coast of Jutland (Denmark). In late spring 1916, after months of calm in the

  • Skaggs, Rickie Lee (American musician and producer)

    Ricky Skaggs is an American mandolin and fiddle virtuoso, singer, and music producer who played a leading role in the New Traditionalist movement of the 1980s by adapting bluegrass music’s instrumentation and historically conscious sensibility to mainstream country music. Skaggs was a child prodigy

  • Skaggs, Ricky (American musician and producer)

    Ricky Skaggs is an American mandolin and fiddle virtuoso, singer, and music producer who played a leading role in the New Traditionalist movement of the 1980s by adapting bluegrass music’s instrumentation and historically conscious sensibility to mainstream country music. Skaggs was a child prodigy

  • Skagway (Alaska, United States)

    Skagway, municipality, southeastern Alaska, U.S. Lying 90 miles (145 km) northeast of Juneau and situated at the north end of the Lynn Canal, it is the northernmost point on the Inside Passage (Alaska Marine Highway). The area was originally inhabited by the Tlingit, and its name derives from the

  • Skaj (Finno-Ugric deity)

    Finno-Ugric religion: High gods: 
god of the sky (Ć kaj, “creator” or “birth giver,” among the Moksha people, and also ƃiĆĄkĂ©-pas, “the great inseminating god”) is the chief of the gods, all-knowing and all-seeing, who is not approached for trivial things. He appears, however, very concretely in a festival connected with the beginning of


  • Skala, Lilia (actress)

    Lilies of the Field: 
tough-as-nails mother superior (played by Lilia Skala) eventually enlists his help in building a chapel. Despite several setbacks, he completes the chapel and in the process earns the respect and admiration of the nuns and the local townspeople.

  • skald (medieval literature)

    skaldic poetry: Skalds were identified by name; their poems were descriptive and subjective; their metres were strictly syllabic instead of free and variable; and their language was ornamented with heiti and kennings. Heiti (“names”) are uncompounded poetic nouns, fanciful art words rather than everyday terms; e.g., “brand”


  • skaldic poetry (medieval literature)

    skaldic poetry, oral court poetry originating in Norway but developed chiefly by Icelandic poets (skalds) from the 9th to the 13th century. Skaldic poetry was contemporary with Eddaic poetry but differed from it in metre, diction, and style. Eddaic poetry is anonymous, simple, and terse, often

  • SkĂĄldskaparmĂĄl (Icelandic literature)

    Germanic religion and mythology: Scandinavian literary sources: 
then furnished a section entitled “Skáldskaparmál” (“Poetic Diction”), explaining and illustrating the abstruse allusions to gods and ancient heroes in the poetry of the skalds. After this, he wrote an introduction to the mythology of the north in the “Gylfaginning” (“Beguiling of Gylfi”), a section describing all of the major


  • Skalholt (Iceland)

    Iceland: Christianization: 
bishoprics were established, one at Skálholt in 1056 and the other at Hólar in 1106. Literate Christian culture also transformed lay life. Codification of the law was begun in 1117–18. Later the Icelanders began to write sagas, which were to reach their pinnacle of literary achievement in the next century.

  • SkĂĄlholt (novel by Kamban)

    Gudmundur Kamban: 
is the four-volume historical novel SkĂĄlholt (1930–32; Eng. trans. of vol. 1 and 2, The Virgin of Skalholt), a carefully researched fictional investigation of the life of the daughter of the 17th-century Icelandic bishop BrynjĂłlfur Sveinsson. Another important work is Jeg ser et stort skönt land (1936; I See a


  • Skalkottas, Nikolaos (Greek composer)

    Nikos Skalkottas was one of the leading Greek composers of the 20th century. Skalkottas began violin studies at the age of five, continuing them later at the Athens conservatory and in Berlin, where he also studied composition. Influenced by Schoenberg, with whom he studied (1927–31), he began

  • Skalkottas, Nikos (Greek composer)

    Nikos Skalkottas was one of the leading Greek composers of the 20th century. Skalkottas began violin studies at the age of five, continuing them later at the Athens conservatory and in Berlin, where he also studied composition. Influenced by Schoenberg, with whom he studied (1927–31), he began

  • Skalla-GrĂ­msson, Egill (Icelandic poet)

    Egill SkallagrĂ­msson was one of the greatest of Icelandic skaldic poets, whose adventurous life and verses are preserved in Egils saga (c. 1220; translated in The Sagas of Icelanders), attributed to Snorri Sturluson. The saga portrays Egill as having a dual nature derived from his mixed descent

  • SkallagrĂ­msson, Egill (Icelandic poet)

    Egill SkallagrĂ­msson was one of the greatest of Icelandic skaldic poets, whose adventurous life and verses are preserved in Egils saga (c. 1220; translated in The Sagas of Icelanders), attributed to Snorri Sturluson. The saga portrays Egill as having a dual nature derived from his mixed descent

  • Skamander (Polish literary group)

    Skamander, group of young Polish poets who were united in their desire to forge a new poetic language that would accurately reflect the experience of modern life. Founded in Warsaw about 1918, the Skamander group took its name, and the name of its monthly publication, from a river of ancient Troy.

  • Skammen (film by Bergman [1968])

    Ingmar Bergman: Life: 
of the Wolf), Skammen (1968; Shame), and En passion (1969; A Passion, or The Passion of Anna), all dramas of inner conflicts involving a small, closely knit group of characters. With The Touch (1971; Beröringen), his first English-language film, Bergman returned to an urban setting and more romantic subject matter,


  • Skanda (Hindu deity)

    Skanda, Hindu god of war who was the firstborn son of Shiva. The many legends giving the circumstances of his birth are often at variance with one another. In Kalidasa’s epic poem Kumarasambhava (“The Birth of the War God”; 5th century ce), as in most versions of the story, the gods wished for

  • Skanda Gupta (Gupta ruler)

    Gupta dynasty: His successors—Kumara Gupta, Skanda Gupta, and others—saw the gradual demise of the empire with the invasion of the Hunas (a branch of the Hephthalites). By the mid-6th century, when the dynasty apparently came to an end, the kingdom had dwindled to a small size.

  • Skanderbeg (Albanian hero)

    Skanderbeg was the national hero of the Albanians. A son of John (Gjon) Kastrioti, prince of Emathia, George was early given as hostage to the Turkish sultan. Converted to Islām and educated at Edirne, Turkey, he was given the name Iskander—after Alexander the Great—and the rank of bey (hence

  • Skanderbeg Square (square, Tirana, Albania)

    Tirana: The focus is Skanderbeg Square, whose Etehem Bey Mosque (1819) is now flanked by the Soviet-built Palace of Culture. Nearby is the University of Tirana (1957). The old city stretches to the east and north of the main square and features alehouses and historic architecture. Tirana has museums,


  • skandha (Buddhism)

    skandha, according to Buddhist thought, the five elements that sum up the whole of an individual’s mental and physical existence. The self (or soul) cannot be identified with any one of the parts, nor is it the total of the parts. They are: (1) matter, or body (rĆ«pa), the manifest form of the four

  • SkĂ„ne (county and province, Sweden)

    SkĂ„ne, lĂ€n (county) and traditional landskap (province), southern Sweden. SkĂ„ne county was created in 1997 from the counties of Malmöhus and Kristianstad and is coextensive with SkĂ„ne province. Occupying the peninsular southern tip of Sweden, it is bounded by water on three sides—the Baltic Sea on

  • SkĂ„ne question (Scandinavian history)

    SkÄne question, in medieval and modern Baltic and Scandinavian history, international problem involving control of the southern Scandinavian Peninsula province of SkÄne, which affected the political and economic power relationships of the northern European maritime powers. Although contiguous with

  • Skansen (museum, Stockholm, Sweden)

    museum: History museums: 
the first open-air museum, at Skansen. Museums of both types soon appeared in other countries. The former National Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions in Paris exemplified a national approach within a museum building. The museum’s closure in 2005, however, suggested changing trends in an era of increased globalization. The


  • Skaoi (Norse mythology)

    Skadi, in Norse mythology, the giant wife of the sea god Njörd. In order to avenge the death of her father, the giant Thiazi, Skadi took up arms and went to attack the rival tribe of the gods (the Aesir) in Asgard, home of the gods. The Aesir, wanting to appease her anger, offered her the choice of

  • Skara (Sweden)

    Skara, town, VĂ€stra Götaland lĂ€n (county), south-central Sweden, southeast of Lake VĂ€nern. One of Sweden’s oldest towns, it was a religious centre both before and after the arrival of Christianity. In 1015 it became the seat of Sweden’s first bishop. The cathedral was built in the 12th century and

  • Skara Brae (ancient village, Scotland, United Kingdom)

    Skara Brae, one of the most perfectly preserved Stone Age villages in Europe, which was covered for hundreds of years by a sand dune on the shore of the Bay of Skaill, Mainland, Orkney Islands, Scotland. Exposed by a great storm in 1850, four buildings were excavated during the 1860s by William

  • Skaraborg (former county, Sweden)

    Skaraborg, former lĂ€n (county) of south-central Sweden, located between Lakes VĂ€nern and VĂ€ttern. Founded as a county in 1634, it was merged with the counties of Älvsborg and Göteborg och Bohus in 1998 to form the county of VĂ€stra

  • Skaracarida (crustacean)

    crustacean: Annotated classification: †Subclass Skaracarida Late Cambrian; 12 trunk segments; no thoracic appendages apart from maxillipeds. Subclass Copepoda Miocene to present; no carapace; no compound eyes; 1 or more trunk segments fused to head; typically 6 pairs of thoracic limbs; no abdominal limbs; larva usually a nauplius; free-living and


  • Skarga’s Sermon (painting by Jan Matejko)

    Jan Matejko: The other two, Skarga’s Sermon (1864) and Rejtan, or the Fall of Poland (1866), won gold medals at the Paris Salon in 1865 and World Exhibition in Paris in 1867, respectively. Both of these paintings depict warnings against the eventual dissolution of the Polish state. The former dramatizes


  • Skarga, Piotr (Polish Jesuit)

    Piotr Skarga was a militant Jesuit preacher and writer, the first Polish representative of the Counter-Reformation. After a difficult childhood during which both his parents died, he studied at Jagiellonian University, then became rector of a parish school in Warsaw. After some travel, he became a

  • Skari, Bente (Norwegian skier)

    Bente Skari is a Norwegian cross-country skier who won numerous World Cup titles and who dominated international events in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Skari was the daughter of former Olympic ski medalist and International Ski Federation executive Odd Martinsen. Although she skied during the

  • SkĂĄrmeta, Antonio (Chilean novelist, screenwriter, and diplomat)

    Antonio SkĂĄrmeta was a Chilean novelist, screenwriter, and diplomat, best known for his novel Ardiente paciencia (1985; Burning Patience) and for the film adaptations it inspired, including the Oscar-nominated Il postino (1994; The Postman). SkĂĄrmeta was the grandson of Yugoslav immigrants to

  • skarn (geology)

    skarn, in geology, metamorphic zone developed in the contact area around igneous rock intrusions when carbonate sedimentary rocks are invaded by large amounts of silicon, aluminum, iron, and magnesium. The minerals commonly present in a skarn include iron oxides, calc-silicates (wollastonite,

  • SkarĂč∙rę (people)

    Tuscarora, Iroquoian-speaking North American Indian tribe. When first encountered by Europeans in the 17th century, the Tuscarora occupied what is now North Carolina. They were noted for their use of indigenous hemp for fibre and medicine. Traditionally, the Tuscarora depended heavily on

  • SkarĆŒysko-Kamienna (Poland)

    SkarĆŒysko-Kamienna, city, Úwiętokrzyskie wojewĂłdztwo (province), southeastern Poland. It is located on the Kamienna River. An important metallurgical centre since the end of World War II and rail junction on the Warsaw-KrakĂłw line, it is part of the Staropolskie ZagƂębie PrzemysƂowe, or the Old

  • skat (card game)

    skat, card game for three players, but usually four participate, with each player sitting out a turn as dealer. It is Germany’s national card game. It originated in Altenburg, near Leipzig, about 1817 and is played wherever Germans have settled; the International Skat Players Association (ISPA) has

  • Skatalites (Jamaican music group)

    ska: The Skatalites and their influence: 
leadership they became known as the Skatalites in 1963, making several seminal recordings for leading producers and backing many prominent singers, as well as the fledgling Bob Marley and the Wailers. The Skatalites’ most distinctive musical presence was trombonist, composer, and arranger Drummond. A colorful figure who grappled with mental


  • Skate (United States submarine)

    Skate, first production-model nuclear-powered attack submarine of the U.S. Navy. Launched and commissioned in 1957, it was similar to the first nuclear-powered submarine, the Nautilus, but smaller, displacing only 2,360 tons. Like the Nautilus, the Skate and the three other boats in its class

  • skate (fish)

    skate, (order Rajiformes), in zoology, any of numerous flat-bodied cartilaginous fishes constituting the order Rajiformes. Skates are found in most parts of the world, from tropical to near-Arctic waters and from the shallows to depths of more than 2,700 metres (8,900 feet). Most classifications

  • Skate Canada (Canadian sports organization)

    figure skating: Regional and national: Skate Canada is the ISU member organization overseeing figure skating in Canada. It qualifies judges, provides financial support for skaters, and conducts training for coaches. Skate Canada also holds junior and senior nationals for its top skaters, who qualify for national competition in a manner


  • skate park

    skateboarding: The first skate park was built in Florida in 1976, and many others began to appear throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia, all providing a variety of slopes and banked surfaces for sudden turns and stunts. It was at this time that riders started skating


  • skate sailing (sport)

    skate sailing, the sport of moving over ice on skates by carrying a small sail for propulsion by the wind. It probably originated in the Scandinavian countries and was practiced in some form or another almost immediately after the invention of the skate. The skate sail is generally rectangular or

  • skateboarding (recreation and sport)

    skateboarding, form of recreation and sport, popular among youths, in which a person rides standing balanced on a small board mounted on wheels. Considered one of the so-called extreme sports, skateboarding as a professional sport boasts a range of competitions, including vertical and street-style

  • skatepark

    skateboarding: The first skate park was built in Florida in 1976, and many others began to appear throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia, all providing a variety of slopes and banked surfaces for sudden turns and stunts. It was at this time that riders started skating


  • Skatepark Project, The (American organization)

    Tony Hawk: That year the Tony Hawk Foundation was founded to help develop skate parks in low-income neighbourhoods. Hawk also wrote several books on skateboarding, and his autobiography, Hawk: Occupation: Skateboarder (written with Sean Mortimer), was published in 2000. He later was the subject of the documentary Tony Hawk: Until


  • Skaters’ Waltz, The, Op. 183 (work by Waldteufel)

    The Skaters’ Waltz, Op. 183, waltz by French composer Emil Waldteufel written in 1882. Of Waldteufel’s many compositions—including more than 200 dance pieces—The Skaters’ Waltz is the best-known. In The Skaters’ Waltz Waldteufel set out to capture the atmosphere of a winter day in Paris, with

  • Skaters, The (work by Waldteufel)

    The Skaters’ Waltz, Op. 183, waltz by French composer Emil Waldteufel written in 1882. Of Waldteufel’s many compositions—including more than 200 dance pieces—The Skaters’ Waltz is the best-known. In The Skaters’ Waltz Waldteufel set out to capture the atmosphere of a winter day in Paris, with

  • skating (sport)

    skating, sport in which bladelike runners or sets of wheels attached to shoes are used for gliding on ice or other surfaces. See figure skating; ice hockey; roller-skating; speed

  • Skating Minister, The (painting by Raeburn)

    The Rev. Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch, painting created in about 1795 by Scottish portraitist Sir Henry Raeburn that has become one of the best known and most iconic artworks in the National Galleries of Scotland. The painting, often called The Skating Minister, is a departure from

  • skating, ice (sport)

    Ice skating refers to the recreation and sport of gliding across an ice surface on blades fixed to the bottoms of shoes (skates). The activity of ice skating has given rise to two distinctive sports: figure skating, which involves the performance of various jumps, spins, and dance movements; and

  • skating, roller (sport)

    roller-skating, recreational and competitive sport in which the participants use special shoes fitted with small wheels to move about on rinks or paved surfaces. Roller-skating sports include speed skating, hockey, figure skating, and dancing competitions similar to the ice-skating sports, as well

  • skatole (chemical compound)

    heterocyclic compound: Five-membered rings with one heteroatom: Skatole, a degradation product of tryptophan that retains the indole unit, contributes much of the strong odour of mammalian feces. Indole-3-acetic acid (heteroauxin or ÎČ-indolylacetic acid) is a plant-growth regulator and the most important member of the auxin family of plant hormones (see hormone: The


  • Skaw, The (Denmark)

    Skagen, city and port, northern Jutland, Denmark, near the northern tip of the peninsula on the Kattegat strait. Chartered in 1413, it is one of the principal fishing centres in Denmark. It is also a summer resort and, from the 1870s, the site of an artists’ and writers’ colony. Notable are the

  • skaz (Russian literature)

    skaz, in Russian literature, a written narrative that imitates a spontaneous oral account in its use of dialect, slang, and the peculiar idiom of that persona. Among the well-known writers who have used this device are Nikolay Leskov, Aleksey Remizov, Mikhail Zoshchenko, and Yevgeny Zamyatin. The

  • Skazhi izyum (novel by Aksyonov)

    Vasily Aksyonov: Another, Skazhi izyum (1985; Say Cheese!), is an irreverent portrait of Moscow’s intellectual community during the last years of Leonid Brezhnev’s leadership. Pokolenie zimy (1994; Generations of Winter) chronicles the fate of a family of intellectuals at the hands of the Soviet regime during the period of Joseph Stalin’s


  • Skea’s Corners (Ontario, Canada)

    Oshawa, city, regional municipality of Durham county, southeastern Ontario, Canada. It lies on the north shore of Lake Ontario, just northeast of Toronto. Founded as Skea’s Corners on the military Kingston Road in 1795, it was renamed Oshawa—an Indigenous word referring to a stream crossing—in

  • Skeat, Walter William (British anthropologist)

    Walter William Skeat was a British ethnographer of the Malay Peninsula whose detailed works laid the foundation for later ethnographic studies of the area. Following a classical education at Christ’s College, Cambridge, Skeat in 1891 joined the civil service of the state of Selangor in the Malay

  • Skeat, Walter William (British philologist)

    dictionary: Specialized dictionaries: 
was provided in 1879 by Walter William Skeat. It was long kept in print in reeditions but was superseded in 1966 by The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, by Charles Talbut Onions, who had worked many decades on it until his death. Valuable in its particular restricted area is J.F.


  • Sked, Alan (British historian)

    United Kingdom Independence Party: Origins and the growth of Euroskepticism: 
London School of Economics professor Alan Sked that campaigned against the 1991 Maastricht Treaty on European Union. Sked founded UKIP in 1993, following Britain’s ratification of the Maastricht Treaty, the document that established the European Union. UKIP fielded nearly 200 candidates in the 1997 general election, but the party fared


  • Skeena River (river, Canada)

    Skeena River, river in western British Columbia, Canada. It rises in the Skeena Mountains in the northern part of the province and flows generally southwestward, receiving its two major tributaries, the Babine and Bulkley rivers, before emptying into Chatham Sound (an arm of the Pacific Ocean),

  • skeet shooting (sport)

    skeet shooting, sport in which marksmen use shotguns to shoot at clay targets thrown into the air by spring devices called traps. It differs from trapshooting, from which it derived, in that in skeet, traps are set at two points on the field and targets may be thrown diagonally across the shooter’s

  • skeeter (iceboat)

    iceboating: 
competition, and smaller versions, called skeeters, with a sail of only about 75 square feet (7 square m), showed that they could sail safely and fast. By 1940 the design had crystallized, and the skeeter, or class E boat, as it is now designated, enjoyed a rapid growth. Skeeters were


  • Skeezix (cartoon character)

    Frank King: 
gave the baby the name Skeezix, and after that the characters were permitted to grow older, marry, and have children of their own. Skeezix, for instance, went through high school in the 1930s and was middle-aged in the 1960s.

  • skeg (shipbuilding)

    keel: A “skeg” is an aftward extension of the keel intended to keep the boat moving straight and to protect the propeller and rudder from underwater obstructions. A “fin keel” is a narrow plate (of wood, metal, or other material) fixed midships to the keel of a


  • Skele, Andris (prime minister of Latvia)

    Vaira Vike-Freiberga: She named as prime minister Andris Skele, who had served twice in that position, and charged him with reining in the state budget. Determined to keep the country’s foreign policy on a Western-oriented course, she criticized Russia’s opposition to Latvia’s bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as


  • skeletal maturity (anatomy)

    human development: Physical and behavioral interaction: The usual measure used is skeletal maturity or bone age. This is measured by taking an X ray of the hand and wrist. The appearances of the developing bones can be rated and formed into a scale of development; the scale is applicable to boys and girls of all genetic


  • skeletal muscle (anatomy)

    skeletal muscle, in vertebrates, most common of the three types of muscle in the body. Skeletal muscles are attached to bones by tendons, and they produce all the movements of body parts in relation to each other. Unlike smooth muscle and cardiac muscle, skeletal muscle is under voluntary control.

  • skeletal soil

    South America: Soils: 
slopes are often steep, and lithosols (shallow soils consisting of imperfectly weathered rock fragments) abound, accounting for another 10 percent of the continent’s surface. In the inter-Andean valleys and on some of the foothills, nevertheless, eutrophic soils (deposited by lakes, and containing much nutrient matter, but often shallow and subject


  • skeletal system, human (anatomy)

    human skeleton, the internal skeleton that serves as a framework for the body. This framework consists of many individual bones and cartilages. There also are bands of fibrous connective tissue—the ligaments and the tendons—in intimate relationship with the parts of the skeleton. This article is

  • skeletal-muscle-relaxant drug (drug)

    Daniel Bovet: drugs, antihistamines, and muscle relaxants.

  • skeleton

    skeleton, the supportive framework of an animal body. The skeleton of invertebrates, which may be either external or internal, is composed of a variety of hard nonbony substances. The more complex skeletal system of vertebrates is internal and is composed of several different types of tissues that

  • Skeleton Coast (region, Namibia)

    Kaokoland: 
narrow coastal belt, called the Skeleton Coast, is often foggy and humid because of cool offshore currents. Water is scarce except along the Kunene River; elsewhere in Kaokoland pools of water are sometimes found in otherwise dry riverbeds. There are a few springs adequate to support limited irrigation of garden


  • Skeleton Dance, The (animated cartoon)

    Walt Disney: First animated cartoons: 
Symphonies with a picture entitled The Skeleton Dance, in which a skeleton rises from the graveyard and does a grotesque, clattering dance set to music based on classical themes. Original and briskly syncopated, the film ensured popular acclaim for the series, but, with costs mounting because of the more complicated


  • skeleton shrimp (crustacean)

    skeleton shrimp, any of certain marine crustaceans of the family Caprellidae (order Amphipoda), particularly of the genera Caprella and Aeginella. The common name derives from the slender body structure. Most species are predators on other small animals, but some feed on organic debris. Aeginella

  • skeleton sledding (sport)

    skeleton sledding, winter sport in which the skeleton sled, consisting of steel runners fastened to a platform chassis, is ridden in a headfirst prone position. Skeleton sledding competitions are typically held on the same courses used for bobsled and luge contests. It is a dangerous and thrilling

  • Skeleton Tree (album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds)

    Nick Cave: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Grinderman: 
focus of the fiercely elegiac Skeleton Tree (2016). The double album Ghosteen was released in 2019.

  • skeleton, human (anatomy)

    human skeleton, the internal skeleton that serves as a framework for the body. This framework consists of many individual bones and cartilages. There also are bands of fibrous connective tissue—the ligaments and the tendons—in intimate relationship with the parts of the skeleton. This article is

  • Skellig Michael (island, Ireland)

    Skellig Michael, monastic settlement situated on an island off the coast of County Kerry in southwestern Ireland that was founded between the 6th and 8th centuries. Skellig Michael, a pyramidal rock nearly 715 feet (218 meters) tall, lies 8 miles (13 km) from the Irish mainland in the Atlantic

  • Skelmersdale (England, United Kingdom)

    Skelmersdale, town, West Lancashire district, administrative and historic county of Lancashire, northwestern England. It lies on the western periphery of the older industrial town of Wigan. During the early 10th century Scandinavians settled in the area, naming it Skjalmar’s Dale. In Domesday Book

  • Skelton Glacier (glacier, Antarctica)

    Skelton Glacier, Antarctic glacier situated on the Hillary Coast of Victoria Land, to the northeast of the Cook Mountains, near McMurdo Sound. It flows sluggishly southward into the Ross Ice Shelf. The greatest known thickness of ice along its 39-mi (62-km) length occurs at a point about 30 mi from

  • Skelton, John (English poet)

    John Skelton was a Tudor poet and satirist of both political and religious subjects whose reputation as an English poet of major importance was restored only in the 20th century. His individual poetic style of short rhyming lines, based on natural speech rhythms, has been given the name of

  • Skelton, Red (American actor)

    Red Skelton was an American pantomimist and radio and television comedian, host, and star performer of the popular TV variety program The Red Skelton Show (1951–71; called The Red Skelton Hour from 1962 to 1970). In that series, Skelton re-created a number of characters—among them Clem

  • Skelton, Richard Bernard (American actor)

    Red Skelton was an American pantomimist and radio and television comedian, host, and star performer of the popular TV variety program The Red Skelton Show (1951–71; called The Red Skelton Hour from 1962 to 1970). In that series, Skelton re-created a number of characters—among them Clem

  • Skeltonics (poetry)

    Skeltonics, short verses of an irregular metre much used by the Tudor poet John Skelton. The verses have two or three stresses arranged sometimes in falling and sometimes in rising rhythm. They rely on such devices as alliteration, parallelism, and multiple rhymes and are related to doggerel.

  • skene (ancient Greek theater)

    skene, (from Greek skēnē, “scene-building”), in ancient Greek theatre, a building behind the playing area that was originally a hut for the changing of masks and costumes but eventually became the background before which the drama was enacted. First used c. 465 bc, the skene was originally a small