Lynn, Loretta orig. Loretta Webb (b. April 14, 1935, Butcher Hol¬ low, Ky., U.S.) U.S. country music singer. Born in a coalminer’s shack, Lynn married at age 13 and bore the first of six children the next year. In 1960 she released her first single, “Honky Tonk Girl,” which became a hit. In 1962 she joined the Grand Ole Opry, and by the mid-1960s hits such as “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’” made her one of country’s big¬ gest stars. In 1970 she released her signature song, “Coal Miner’s Daugh¬ ter”; it provided the title of a best-selling autobiography and a popular film (1980). Her half-sister, Crystal Gayle (b. 1951), also had a success¬ ful recording career.
Lynn Canal Deep fjord, southeastern Alaska, U.S. An important gateway to the Klondike region, it is 80 mi (129 km) long and 6 mi (10 km) wide. The northernmost fjord to penetrate the Coast Mountains, it was named in 1794 by Capt. George Vancouver for his birthplace, King’s Lynn, Eng.
lynx Any of three species of short-tailed forest cat (genus Lynx ) found in Europe, Asia, and northern North America. The North American lynx {Lynx canadensis) is regarded as distinct from the Eurasian and Spanish (Iberian) species. The lynx has long legs, large paws, tufted ears, hairy soles, and a broad, short head. Its coat, which forms a bushy ruff on the neck, is tawny to cream-coloured and mottled with brown and black. Its dense, soft winter fur has been used for trimming garments. Lynx are approximately 3CM10 in. (80-100 cm) long, without the 4-8-in. (10-20- cm) tail, and stand about 24 in. (60 cm) high at the shoulder. They weigh 20—45 lb (10-20 kg). Nocturnal and silent except during mating season, lynx live alone or in small groups. They climb and swim well and feed on birds, small mammals, and occasionally deer. Some regional popula¬ tions of lynx are considered endangered.
Lyon \'lyo n \ English Lyons Ylyo n , 'll-3nz\ City (pop., 1999: city, 445,452; metro, area, 1,348,932), east-central France. Located at the con¬ fluence of the Rhone and Saone rivers, it was founded as the Roman mili¬ tary colony Lugdunum in 43 bc (see Lorraine) and became a principal city of Gaul. It was incorporated in 1032 into the Holy Roman Empire and in 1312 into the kingdom of France. It flourished economically in the 15th century, and by the 17th century it was the silk-manufacturing centre of Europe. It was a centre of the French Resistance movement during World War II. A major river port, it has a diversified economy, including textile, metallurgical, and printing industries. Its many ancient buildings include a Roman theatre, a 12th-century Gothic cathedral, and a 15th-century palace.
Lyon, Councils of 13th and 14th ecumenical councils of the Roman Catholic Church. The First Council of Lyon was convened by Pope Inno¬ cent IV in 1245 after he fled to Lyon from the besieged city of Rome; the pope deposed the emperor, Frederick II, and urged support for Louis IX on the Seventh Crusade. At the Second Council in 1274, Pope Gregory X nominally reunited the Eastern and Western churches, but the Greek clergy soon repudiated the union.
Lyon, Mary (Mason) (b. Feb. 28, 1797, near Buckland, Mass., U.S.—d. March 5, 1849, South Hadley) U.S. pioneer in higher education for women. She studied at various academies, supporting herself from age 17 by teaching. Her success as a teacher and administrator, and the demand for the young women she had trained, led to her plan for a per¬ manent instructional institution for women. The school she founded in South Hadley, Mass., opened in 1837 as the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (the forerunner of Mount Holyoke College), and she served as its principal until her death.
lyre Stringed musical instrument consisting of a resonating body with two arms and a crossbar to which the strings extending from the resona¬ tor are attached. Lyrelike instruments existed in Sumer before 2000 bc. Greek lyres were of two types, the kithara and the lyra. The latter had a rounded body and a curved back—often a tortoiseshell—and a skin belly. It was the instrument of the amateur; professionals used the more elabo¬ rate kithara. In ancient Greece the lyre was an attribute of Apollo and symbolized wisdom and moderation. In medieval Europe new varieties of lyre emerged that, like the kithara, were box lyres, although their precise
relation to the lyres of Classical antiquity is not known. The lyres of modern East Africa probably reflect ancient diffusion of the instrument via Egypt.
lyrebird Either of two species of insectivorous suboscine passerines (family Menuridae) named for the shape of their extremely long tail when spread in courtship display.
Found in forests in southeastern Aus¬ tralia, lyrebirds are ground dwellers with chickenlike bodies. About 40 in. (1 m) in total length, the male superb lyrebird is the longest of the passerines. He displays in a small clearing, bringing his tail forward so that the beautiful white plumes form a canopy over his head and the lyre¬ like feathers stand out to the side. In this position, while prancing in rhythm, he sings far-carrying melo¬ dious notes interspersed with perfect mimicry of other creatures and even of mechanical sounds.
lyric Verse or poem that can, or supposedly can, be sung to musical accompaniment (in ancient times, usually a lyre) or that expresses intense personal emotion in a manner suggestive of a song. Lyric poetry expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet and is sometimes contrasted with narrative poetry and verse drama, which relate events in the form of a story. The elegy, ode, and sonnet are important forms of lyric poetry.
Lysander Ul-'san-dorV (d. 395 bc, Haliartus, Boeotia) Spartan leader in the Peloponnesian War. In his first year as admiral he won the support of the Persian king Cyrus the Younger. He defeated the Athenian fleet at Notium (406), causing the dismissal of Alcibiades. In 405 he destroyed the Athenian fleet at the Battle of Aegospotami; this action closed the grain route and starved the city into surrender. Lysander installed the Thirty Tyrants and made his friends governors of Athens’s former empire. He suffered a defeat when Sparta allowed the restoration of democracy in Athens (403). Having led an army of Sparta’s northern allies into Boeo¬ tia, he was killed while attacking Haliartus.
Lysenko Uo-'seq-koV Trofim (Denisovich) (b. 1898, Karlovka, Ukraine, Russian Empire—d. Nov.
20, 1976, Kiev, Ukraine, U.S.S.R.)
Soviet biologist and agronomist.
During the Soviet famines of the 1930s, he proposed techniques for the enhancement of crop yields, rejecting orthodox Mendelian genet¬ ics on the basis of unconfirmed experiments, and gained a large popular following. As director of the Soviet Academy of Sciences’ Insti¬ tute of Genetics (1940-65), he became the controversial “dictator” of Stalinist biology. Claiming, among other things, that wheat plants raised in the appropriate envi¬ ronment would produce seeds of rye, he promised greater, more rapid, and less costly increases in crop yields than other biologists believed pos¬ sible. Eventually his “grassland” sys¬ tem of crop rotation was abandoned in favour of cultivation with mineral fertilizers, and a hybrid-corn pro¬ gram based on the U.S. example was pursued. In 1964 Lysenko’s doc¬ trines were officially discredited, and intensive efforts were made toward reestablishing orthodox genetics in the Soviet Union.
Lysias \Ti-se-os\ (b. c. 445— d. c. 380 bc) Greek orator. He was a metic (resident foreigner) in Athens, and as such he was forbidden to speak as
East African bowl lyre; in the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford
COURTESY OF THE Pin RIVERS MUSEUM, OXFORD
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
lysine ► lysosome I 1155
a Roman citizen; all his speeches were delivered by others. He and his brother were seized by the ruling oligarchy in 404 as disaffected aliens; his brother was killed but Lysias escaped. He ranks with Antiphon as a writer of clear, simple prose of great effectiveness, and his style became one model for Attic Greek prose. Many of his writings survive.