Lamashtu \la-'mash-tu\ In Mesopotamian religion, the most terrible of all female demons. The daughter of the sky god Anu, Lamashtu killed children, consumed human flesh and blood, blighted plants, spoiled riv¬ ers and streams, sent nightmares, caused miscarriages, and brought dis¬ ease. She had seven names and was often described in incantations as “seven witches.” She was portrayed on amulets as a lion- or bird-headed female figure kneeling on an ass, holding a double-headed serpent in each hand and suckling dogs or pigs at her breasts.
lamb Live sheep before the age of one year, and the flesh of such ani¬ mals. The flesh of the mature ram or ewe at least one year old is called mutton; the meat of sheep 12-20 months old may be called yearling mut¬ ton. The meat of sheep 6-10 weeks old is usually sold as baby lamb, and spring lamb comes from sheep 5-6 months old. The primary lamb- and mutton-consuming countries (on a per capita basis) are New Zealand and Australia.
Lamb, Charles (b. Feb. 10, 1775, London, Eng.—d. Dec. 27, 1834, Edmonton, Middlesex) English essayist and critic. Lamb was employed as a clerk at East India House (headquarters for the East India Company) from 1792 to 1825. From 1796 he was guardian of his sister, the writer Mary Lamb (1764-1847), who, in a fit of madness (which proved recur¬ rent), had killed their mother. He is best known for the often autobio¬ graphical essays he wrote under the pseudonym Elia for London Magazine, collected in Essays of Elia (1823) and The Last Essays of Elia (1833). Among the greatest of English letter writers, he included some of his most perceptive literary criticism, often in the form of marginalia, in letters. He collaborated with Mary on Tales from Shakespear (1807), a highly popular retelling of the plays for children.
Lamb, William See Viscount Melbourne lambkill See SHEEP LAUREL
lamb's ears or lamb's ear Widely cultivated perennial herb (Stachys byzantina, or S. olympica ) of the mint family, native to South Asia. Covered with densely matted hairs, its silver-green leaves, which provide a pleasing contrast to green leaves and to bright- or soft-coloured flowers, make lamb’s ears a hardy favourite in perennial gardens of the northeastern U.S.
Lamennais \lam-'ne\, (Hugues-) Felicite (-Robert de) (b. June 19, 1782, Saint-Malo, France—d. Feb. 27, 1854, Paris) French priest and philosopher. With his brother Jean, he sketched a program of church reform in Reflections on the State of the Church (1808) and in 1814 pro¬ duced a defense of ultramontanism (papal authority). Ordained a priest in 1816, he wrote the acclaimed Essay on Indifference Toward Religion (1817-23), which argued for the necessity of religion. After the July Revo¬ lution (1830), he cofounded the journal L’Avenir to advocate democratic principles and church-state separation. Its principles were condemned by the pope in 1832. Lamennais’s The Words of a Believer (1834), written in response, provoked another papal encyclical and led to Lamennais’s severance from the church. Thereafter he wrote in the cause of republi¬ canism and socialism.
Lamerie \lam-'re\, Paul de (b. April 9, 1688, ’s Hertogenbosch, Neth.—d. Aug. 1, 1751, London, Eng.) Dutch-born British silversmith. His Huguenot parents had left France in the early 1680s and settled in England by 1691. After an apprenticeship with a London goldsmith, he registered his mark and opened a shop in 1713. Early in his career he made simple vessels such as tankards and teapots in an unadorned Queen Anne style; later he used more ornamentation. By the 1730s he had estab¬ lished his own version of the Rococo style, seen in a 1737 cup with handles in the form of snakes.
laminar flow Fluid flow in which the fluid travels smoothly or in regular paths. The velocity, pressure, and other flow properties at each point in the fluid remain constant. Laminar flow over a horizontal surface may be thought of as consisting of thin layers, all parallel to each other, that slide over each other. It is common only where the flow channel is rela¬ tively small, the fluid is moving slowly, and its viscosity is relatively high. Examples include the flow of oil through a thin tube and blood flow through capillaries. See also turbulent flow.
L'Amour Ua-'mor-, la-'mur\, Louis orig. Louis Dearborn
LaMoore (b. March 22, 1908, Jamestown, N.D., U.S.—d. June 10, 1988, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. author of westerns. He left school at age 15 and traveled the world before beginning his writing career in the 1940s. He used pseudonyms, including Tex Bums and Jim Mayo, until Hondo (1953) became a successful film. His more than 100 works, mostly for¬ mula westerns that convincingly portray frontier life, have sold 200 mil¬ lion copies in 20 languages, and more than 30—including Kilkenny (1954), The Burning Hills (1956), Guns of the Timberland (1955), and How the West Was Won (1963)—were the basis of films.
lamprey Vlam-pre, Tam-,pra\ Any of about 22 species of primitive, jawless fishes (with hagfishes in class Agnatha). Lampreys live in coastal and freshwater in temperate regions worldwide except Africa. Eel-like, scaleless animals, they are 6—40 in. (15-100 cm) long. Lampreys have well-developed eyes, a single nostril on top of the head, a cartilaginous skeleton, and a sucking mouth with horny teeth surrounding the round opening. They spend years as burrowing larvae; adults of most species move into the sea. They attach to fish with their mouth and feed on their host’s blood and tissues. Some species will remain in freshwater, notably the sea lamprey, which entered the Great Lakes and nearly eliminated lake trout and other commercially important fishes there.
Lamprey ( Lampetra ) on rainbow trout.
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Lampsacus Vlamp-so-kosX Ancient Greek colony on the Asian shore of the Dardanelles. It was famous for its wines and was the chief seat of the worship of Priapus. Colonized in 654 bc by Ionian Phocaea, it took part in the Ionian revolt against the Persian Achaemenian dynasty in 499 and later joined the Delian League. When Athens fell in 405, it again came under Persian control until Alexander the Great captured it in 334. It was the home of the philosopher Strato of Lampsacus.
LAN See local area network
Lan Chang See Lan Sang Lan-chou See Lanzhou
Lan Na One of the first major Tai (Siamese) kingdoms in Thai history. It was founded by Mangrai (r. c. 1259-1317) in the northern region of
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Lan Sang ► land reform I 1071
present-day Thailand; its capital was the city of Chiang Mai. Lan Na was a powerful state and a centre for the spread of Theravada Buddhism. Under Tilokaracha (r. 1441-87) it was famous for its Buddhist scholarship and literature. It remained independent until it was conquered by Myanmar (Burma) in the 16th century. The Siamese did not reassert control over the area until the 19th century.
Lan Sang \'lan-'saq\ or Lan Xang \Tan-'shaq\ or Lan Chang
Vlan-'chaqX Laotian kingdom that flourished from the 14th century until it was split into two separate kingdoms in the 18th century. Conflict with its neighbours forced Lan Sang’s rulers to move the capital from Luang Prabang to Vientiane in 1563, but the kingdom maintained its power.
Lan-Ts'ang Chiang See Mekong River Lan Xang See Lan Sang
Lanao \la-'nau\, Lake or Lake Sultan Alonto Lake, west-central Mindanao, Philippines. It is located in a plateau region north of a range of active volcanoes. The second largest lake in the Philippines, it occu¬ pies an area of 131 sq mi (340 sq km). It is about 20 mi (32 km) long and has a maximum width of 10 mi (16 km).
Lancang Jiang See Mekong River
Lancashire Vlaq-ko-.shirX Administrative (pop. 2001: 1,134,976), his¬ toric, and geographic county, northwestern England. The administrative county comprises 12 districts. In the early Middle Ages it was a province of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. The region included the ancestral lands of the house of Lancaster. In the Industrial Revolution it became an important manufacturing region and a centre of the textile industry. Lancaster and Preston are its major market and industrial cities; it also has resort towns, including Blackpool, on the Irish Sea.