Random Image

You are here: Random Image > Words beginning with b > Random Image for baa

Possible definitions for baa

Baal
God worshiped in many ancient Middle Eastern communities, especially among Canaanites, for whom he was a fertility deity. In the mythology of Canaan, he was locked in combat with Mot, the god of death and sterility; depending on the outcome of their struggles, seven-year cycles of fertility or famine would ensue. Baal was also king of gods, having seized the kingship from the sea god, Yamm. Baal worship was popular in Egypt from the later New Kingdom to its end (1400-1075 BC). The Aramaeans used the Babylonian pronunciation Bel; Bel became the Greek Belos, identified with Zeus. The Old Testament often refers to a specific local Baal or multiple Baalim.


Bab
Iranian religious leader, founder of the Babi religion and one of the central figures of Baha'i. The son of a merchant, he was influenced by the Shaykhi school of Shiite Islam. In 1844 he wrote a commentary on the sura of Joseph in the Quran and declared himself the Bab (Arabic: "gateway") to the hidden imam. Later he would claim to be the imam himself, and finally a divine manifestation. The same year he assembled 18 disciples, who spread the new faith in the various Persian provinces. He had popular support but was opposed by members of the religious class, and he was arrested near Tehran in 1847 and imprisoned. Meeting at Badasht in 1848, his followers, the Azali, formally broke with Islam. Mirza was executed by a firing squad at Tabriz in 1850.


Baer
Prussian-Estonian embryologist. Studying chick development with his friend Christian Pander (1794-1865), Baer expanded Pander's concept of germ-layer formation to all vertebrates, thereby laying the foundation for comparative embryology. He emphasized that embryos of one species could resemble embryos (but not adults) of another, and that the younger the embryo the greater the resemblance, a concept in line with his belief that development proceeds from simple to complex, from like to different. He also discovered the mammalian ovum. His On the Development of Animals (2 vols., 1828-37) surveyed all existing knowledge on vertebrate development and established embryology as a distinct subject of research.


Baez
U.S. folksinger and activist. Born on Staten Island, N.Y., she moved often as a child, receiving little musical training. While still in her teens, her luminous soprano voice brought her to the forefront of the 1960s folk-song revival. An active participant in the protest movements of the 1960s and '70s, Baez made free concert appearances at civil-rights and anti-Vietnam War rallies. In 1964 she refused to pay federal taxes that went toward war expenses, and she was jailed twice in 1967. She published two books of memoirs.


bail
Temporary release of a prisoner in exchange for security given to guarantee the prisoner's appearance at a later hearing. It also refers to the actual security given (e.g., cash). Its main use today is to secure the ...

Top words beginning with B: bravi, butoxy, battalia, bias, butung, beset, benzoperoxide, beguine, barinaga, blackbush, bifurcate, baizas, bivinyls, blithehearted, besodden, bogled, boland, backbenchers, bacterid, braziery

More words beginning with B.

Browse the alphabet: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z