Random Image

You are here: Random Image > Words beginning with y > Random Image for yaird

Possible definitions for yaird

yard
Unit of length, equal to 36 inches or 3 ft (see foot) in the U.S. system, or to 0.9144 m (see meter) in the International System of Units. A cloth yard, used to measure cloth, was 37 in. long. (A cloth yard was also the standard length for arrows.) In casual speech, a yard (e.g., of concrete, gravel or topsoil) may refer to a cubic yard.


Bairiki
Islet (pop., 1990: 2,000) and administrative center, Kiribati. It is located on Tarawa atoll, N Gilbert Islands. It has port facilities as well as an extension center of the Univ. of the S. Pacific.


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.


bird
Any member of the warm-blooded vertebrate class Aves, containing about 8,700 living species. A covering of feathers distinguishes birds from all other animals. They have a four-chambered heart (like mammals), forelimbs modified into wings, an egg with a calcium-containing shell, and keen vision. Their sense of smell is not highly developed. Birds are found almost worldwide in diverse habitats. Dietary preferences and nest structure vary widely. Almost all species incubate their eggs. The big flying birds have evolved skeletons in which part of the bone is replaced by air spaces, an adaptation for reducing weight. The crop, an enlarged part of the esophagus used for temporary food storage, enables birds to feed while in flight. Humans use wild and domesticated birds and their eggs for food, hunt wild birds for sport, and use feathers for decoration and insulation. More than 1,000 extinct species of bird have been identified from fossil remains; the earliest known fossil bird is the archaeopteryx.


Cairo
City (pop., 1991 est.: 6,663,000; metro. area pop., 1996 est.: 9,900,000), capital of Egypt. Located on the banks of the Nile near the site of a Roman city captured by the Arabs in 641, Old Cairo (Al-Fustat) was then built by the Arabs as a military camp. Cairo's newer section (Al-Qahirah) was built by the Fatimid dynasty c.968 and was made the capital in 973. From the 13th cent., as the capital of the Mamluk sultans, it reached its greatest prosperity as a trade and cultural center. Invaded by Napoleon in 1798, it was held by the French for three years. In World War II it was a British and U.S. base and was also the site of two Allied conferences (see Cairo conferences). The ancient metropolis is a blend of old and new, East and West. It is the largest city of the Middle East and of Africa, and the chief cultural center of the Arab world. The Pyramids of Giza are at the ...

Top words beginning with Y: yashmacs, yorkshire, ypsiloid, yeshivas, yaruran, yalb, yahoodom, yowled, yearningly, yellowgolds, yules, ypsiliform, yook, yeastlike, yuechi, yancopin, yachtmen, yankeeland, yearn, youthful

More words beginning with Y.

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