weasel Any of several genera (carnivore family Mustelidae) of vora¬ cious nocturnal predators found throughout the Americas, Africa, and Eurasia. Weasels have slender bodies and necks, small flat heads, short legs, clawed toes, dense short fur, and slim pointed tails. The size and relative length of the tail vary among species. Their total length is 7-20 in.
(17-50 cm), and they may weigh 1—12 oz (30-350 g). The approxi¬ mately 10 New World and Eurasian species of Mustela are reddish brown; in cold regions, their winter coat turns white, and the pelt, especially of the stoat (M. erminea ), is called ermine. Weasels generally hunt alone, feeding on rodents, fish, frogs, and birds’ eggs.
weather State of the atmosphere at a particular place during a short period of time. It involves day-to-day changes in such atmospheric phe¬ nomena as temperature, humidity, precipitation (type and amount), air pressure, wind, and cloud cover. Most weather occurs in the troposphere, but phenomena of the higher regions of the atmosphere, such as jet streams, and geographic features, most notably mountains and large bodies of water, also affect it. See also climate.
weather forecasting Prediction of the weather through application of the principles of physics and meteorology. Weather forecasting predicts atmospheric phenomena and changes on the Earth’s surface caused by atmospheric conditions (snow and ice cover, storm tides, floods, etc.). Scientific weather forecasting relies on empirical and statistical tech¬ niques, such as measurements of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pres¬ sure, wind speed and direction, and precipitation, and computer-controlled mathematical models.
weather modification Deliberate or inadvertent alteration of atmo¬ spheric conditions by human activity, sufficient to modify the weather on a local or regional scale. Deliberate alterations include covering plants to keep them warm at night, seeding clouds to induce or augment precipi¬ tation, and firing silver-iodide particles into clouds to suppress or mitigate hail and to reduce fog at airports. Inadvertent alterations are the result of industrialization and urbanization, which have added billions of tons of carbon dioxide and other gases to the atmosphere (see acid rain, global WARMING, GREENHOUSE EFFECT).
weathering Physical disintegration and chemical decomposition of rocks, minerals, and immature soils at or near the Earth’s surface. Physi¬ cal, chemical, and biological processes induced or modified by wind, water, and climate cause the changes. Weathering is distinguished from erosion in that no transportation of material is involved. A broader appli¬ cation of erosion, however, includes weathering as a component. Weath¬ ering is also distinguished from metamorphism, which usually takes place deep in the crust at much higher temperatures and elevated pressures.
JOHN H. GERARD
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Weaver ► Webster I 2039
Weaver, James B(aird) (b. June 12, 1833, Dayton, Ohio, U.S.—d. Feb. 6, 1912, Des Moines, Iowa) U.S. politician. An advocate of the Greenback movement, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa (1879-81, 1885-89). He helped form the People’s Party (see Populist movement) and was its candidate for president in 1892, receiving more than 1 million popular votes and 22 electoral votes. After helping effect the party’s merger with the Democratic Party, he retired to Iowa.
Weaver, John (b. July 21, 1673, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, Eng.—d. Sept. 24, 1760, Shrewsbury) English dancer and teacher, known as “the father of English pantomime.” From 1700 to 1736 he performed and pro¬ duced his dance dramas at the Drury Lane and Lincoln’s Inn Fields the¬ atres. His libretto for The Loves of Mars and Venus (1717) was the first published dance drama and displayed the integration of plot and dance that was later developed by Jean-Georges Noverre and Gasparo Angiolini as the ballet d’action.
Weaver, Warren (b. 1894, Reedsburg, Wise., U.S.—d. 1978) U.S. mathematician. He studied at the University of Wisconsin, taught there (1920-32), and directed the Rockefeller Foundation’s Natural Science Division (1932-55). He is considered the first person to propose using electronic computers for the translation of natural languages. In a 1949 memo, he proposed that statistical techniques from the field of informa¬ tion theory could be used to enable computers to translate text from one natural language to another automatically. His proposal was based on the assumption that a document in a human language can be viewed as hav¬ ing been written in code, which can be broken like other codes.
weaving Production of fabric by interlacing two sets of yarns so that they cross each other, normally at right angles, usually accomplished with a hand- or power-operated loom. In weaving, lengthwise yarns are called warp and crosswise yarns are called weft, or filling. Most woven fabrics are made with their outer edges finished in a manner that avoids raveling (because the weft yarn turns around instead of ending in a cut end). These edges, called selvages, run lengthwise, parallel to the warp yams. The three basic weaves are plain or tabby (weft threads go over one warp thread, then under one), twill, and satin. Fancy weaves, such as pile, Jac¬ quard, dobby, and leno, require more complicated looms or special loom attachments. See also Navajo weaving.
Web See World Wide Web
Web site Collection of files and related resources accessible through the World Wide Web and organized under a particular domain name. Typi¬ cal files found at a Web site are HTML documents with their associated graphic image files (GIF, JPEG, etc.), scripted programs (in Perl, CGI, Java, etc.), and similar resources. The site’s files are usually accessed through hypertext or hyperlinks embedded in other files. A Web site may consist of a single HTML file, or it may comprise hundreds or thousands of related files. A Web site’s usual starting point or opening page, called a home page, usually functions as a table of contents or index, with links to other sections of the site. Web sites are hosted on one or more Web servers, which transfer files to client computers or other servers that request them using the HTTP protocol. Although the term “site” implies a single physical location, the files and resources of a Web site may actu¬ ally be spread among several servers in different geographic locations. The particular file desired by a client is specified by a URL that is either typed into a browser or accessed by selecting a hyperlink.
Webb, Sidney (James) and Beatrice Beatrice Webb orig. Mar¬ tha Beatrice Potter (respectively b. July 13, 1859, London, Eng.—d. Oct. 13, 1947, Liphook, Hampshire; b. Jan. 22, 1858, Gloucester, Glouc¬ estershire, Eng.—d. April 30, 1943, Liphook, Hampshire) English social¬ ist economists. Sidney was a civil service clerk when George Bernard Shaw induced him to join the Fabian Society in 1885. He wrote the first Fabian tract. Facts for Socialists (1887), and took to lecturing on social¬ ism. In 1891 he met Beatrice, author of The Cooperative Movement in Great Britain (1891), and they were married in 1892. Together they wrote the influential The History of Trade Unionism (1894) and Industrial Democracy (1897). As a member of the London County Council (1892— 1910), Sidney effected extensive reforms in public education. The Webbs cofounded the London School of Economics and helped reorganize the University of London. As a member of the Poor Laws commission (1905- 09), Beatrice wrote a report that anticipated the welfare state. In 1914 they joined the Labour Party, and Sidney wrote its influential policy statement, Labour and the New Social Order (1918). Sidney served in Parliament (1922-29) and as colonial secretary (1929-31), having been created