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Possible definitions for rcrd

Acadia
N. Amer. possession of France in the 17th-18th cent., centered in what is now Nova Scotia. Acadia was probably intended to include the other present Maritime Provinces as well as parts of Maine and Quebec. The first European settlement was made by the French colonizer Sieur de Monts in 1604. The area at times was also claimed by the British and was contested often in the 18th-cent. colonial wars; in 1713 Nova Scotia came under British rule. In 1755 many French-speaking Acadians were deported by the British because of imminent war with France; several thousand settled in French-ruled Louisiana, where their descendants were known as Cajuns. The event was the theme for H. W. Longfellow's Evangeline.


acid
Any substance that in water solution tastes sour, changes the color of acid-base indicators (e.g., litmus), reacts with some metals (e.g., iron) to yield hydrogen gas, reacts with bases to form salts, and promotes certain chemical reactions (e.g., acid catalysis). Acids contain one or more hydrogen atoms that, in solution, dissociate as positively charged hydrogen ions. Inorganic, or mineral, acids include sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, and phosphoric acid. Organic acids include carboxylic acids, phenols, and sulfonic acids. Broader definitions of acids cover situations in which water is not present. See also acid-base theory.


Acre
Seaport city (pop., 1993 est.: 44,000), NW Israel on the Mediterranean coast. First mentioned in an Egyptian text from the 19th cent. BC, it was ruled by Egyptians, Romans, Persians, and Arabs; under Phoenician rule it was called Ptolemais. It was a Syrian town under the Seljuq Turks when the crusaders captured it in 1104; the Crusaders renamed the city St. Jean d'Acre and made it their last capital (see Crusades). Except for brief intervals, it was under the rule of Ottoman Turks from 1516 until British forces took it in 1918. It was part of Palestine under the British mandate and became part of Israel in 1948. Notable structures include the Great Mosque and the Crypt of St. John.


bard
Celtic tribal poet-singers gifted in composing and reciting verses of eulogy and satire or of heroes and their deeds. The institution died out in Gaul but survived in Ireland, where bards have preserved a tradition of chanting poetic eulogy, and in Wales, where the bardic order was codified into distinct grades in the 10th cent. Despite a decline in the late Middle Ages, the Welsh tradition is celebrated in the annual National Eisteddfod.


Bardot
French film actress. She was discovered by R. Vadim when she appeared on a magazine cover at 15, and made her film debut in 1952. Vadim crafted her "sex kitten" image for his films And God Created Woman (1956) and The Night Heaven Fell (1958), which set box-office records and made her an international star. She displayed her acting ability in The Truth (1960), Contempt (1963), and ...

Top words beginning with R: redtailed, retrust, raveled, resubscribing, reverbrate, refilters, respirator, resipsy, refiners, redisseizor, reingress, reassemblies, rookeries, roms, raylike, redreamt, raviolis, rerecords, rolleywayman, ringleted

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