Windsor, house of formerly (1901-17) House of Saxe- Coburg-Gotha Royal house of Britain, which succeeded the house of Hanover on the death of its last monarch. Queen Victoria. The dynas¬ tic name of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was that of Victoria’s German-born hus¬ band, Prince Albert. The dynasty has included Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, George VI, and Elizabeth II. In view of the anti-German atmo¬ sphere of World War I, George V pro¬ claimed in 1917 that all British male descendants of Queen Victoria would adopt the surname of Windsor.
Windsor, Wallis Warfield, duchess of (b. June 19,1896, Blue Ridge Summit, Pa., U.S.—d. April 24, 1986, Paiis, France) U.S. social¬ ite who became the wife of Prince Edward, duke of Windsor (Edward VIII), after the latter had abdicated the British throne in order to marry her. She had earlier married Earl Spencer in 1916. After their divorce (1927), she married Ernest Simpson (1928) and moved with him to Lon¬ don. As a member of fashionable British society, she met Edward, prince of Wales, and the two gradu¬ ally fell in love. She filed for divorce in 1936 with the intention of marry¬ ing Edward (by then King Edward), but as a woman twice divorced, she was unacceptable as a prospective British queen. Edward renounced the throne, and after she received her divorce they were married in 1937. The two thereafter lived a well- publicized international social life, residing mainly in France.
Windsor Castle Principal British royal residence, on the River Thames in Windsor, Berkshire, southern England. It comprises two quadrilateral building courts, or upper and lower wards, separated by the Round Tower (erected by Henry II), a massive structure built on a mound and visible for many miles. The present-day complex has been reworked repeatedly since William the Conqueror first constructed a stockade on the site. The lower ward includes the Albert Memorial Chapel and St. George’s Chapel, the burial place of 10 sovereigns. The upper ward, part of which was dam¬ aged by fire in 1992, includes the monarch’s private apartments, visitors’ apartments, and the royal library.
windsurfing Sport of riding a sailboard, a modified surfboard with a movable mast. Steered from a standing position, sailboards are capable of moderately high speeds and are usually used on lakes, or close to shore—sometimes within the surf zone—on the ocean. The sport origi¬ nated in the U.S. in the late 1960s and quickly grew in popularity. It was introduced at the Olympic Games in 1984.
Windward Islands Island group, Lesser Antilles, West Indies. Located at the eastern end of the Caribbean Sea, they include Dominica (sometimes classified as part of the Leeward Islands), Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada, and the chain of small islands known as the Grena-
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wine ► Winsor i 2067
dines. Though near the general area, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados are usually not considered part of the group.
wine Alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of grapes. Wine may also be made from various fruits and plant parts. Though known by the ancients, wine was not drunk in its matured form until the develop¬ ment of the bottle and cork in the late 17th century. In wine manufacture, grapes are crushed and strained, and the juice (called must) is sealed in vats along with yeast ( Saccharomyees ellipsoideus ) and often sulfur diox¬ ide, which suppresses wild yeasts and organisms. Fermentation continues for several weeks, and then the wine is drawn off (“racked”) into wooden barrels or other containers for a second fermentation (“aging”). It is clari¬ fied and bottled before undergoing final maturation. Wines may be clas¬ sified according to colour as red, rose (pink), or white; colour depends on whether the skins of red grapes are allowed to ferment with the juice. Wine taste is described as sweet or dry, sweet wines being high in sugar content and dry wines containing little or no sugar. Sparkling wines, such as champagne, contain suspended carbon dioxide, the result of bottling the wine before fermentation is complete. Fortified wines, such as port and sherry, contain added brandy. The leading wine-producing countries are France, Italy, Spain, the U.S., Argentina, Germany, Australia, South Africa, Portugal, and Romania.
Winfrey, Oprah (b. Jan. 29, 1954, Kosciusko, Miss., U.S.) U.S. tele¬ vision talk-show host and actress. After enduring an impoverished and troubled childhood, she became a news anchor for a local CBS television station in Tennessee at age 19. After graduating from Tennessee State University, she worked as a television reporter and anchor in Baltimore, Md., where she cohosted her first talk show (1977-83), and moved to Chicago to host AM. Chicago (1984), which became that city’s highest- rated morning show. The renamed Oprah Winfrey Show was syndicated in 1986, making her the first African American woman to host a success¬ ful national daytime talk show. Initially sensationalist, the enormously popular show gradually took on an uplifting and therapeutic tone. In 1986 she also formed her own television production company, Harpo Produc¬ tions. In 1996 she introduced “Oprah’s Book Club” to foster reading by endorsing certain books. She appeared in the movies The Color Purple (1985) and Beloved (1998).
wing In zoology, one of the paired structures certain animals use for flying. Bat and bird wings are modifications of the vertebrate forelimb. In birds, the fingers are reduced and the forearm is lengthened. The primary flight feathers propel the bird forward, and the secondaries (on the upper wing) provide lift. Bat wings consist of a membrane stretched over slen¬ der, elongated arm and hand bones. Insect wings are folds of integument (“skin”). Most insects have two pairs of wings; dipterans (flies) have only one developed pair, and beetles have two but use only one for flying. The two wings on a side usually move together, but dragonfly wings work independently.
Winnebago \,wi-n3-'ba-go\ North American Indian people who live in the Midwestern U.S., notably Iowa, Wisconsin, and Nebraska. Their lan¬ guage belongs to the Siouan language family, and their name is derived from a Fox name meaning “People of the Stinking Water.” They call themselves Hochungra, meaning “People of the Big Speech [or Parent Speech].” Before the 17th century, the Winnebago lived in what is now eastern Wisconsin. By the early 19th century, as a result of their partici¬ pation in the fur trade, they had expanded into southwestern Wisconsin and northwestern Illinois. They lived in villages of dome-shaped wig¬ wams; there they cultivated com, squash, beans, and tobacco and hunted bison. Their major ceremony was the medicine dance, in which both men and women participated. Membership in the 12 clans was determined by the father, and the clans were important units in social life. The Win¬ nebago were involved in the Black Hawk War of 1832, after which most of the tribe was removed to other Midwestern states. At the turn of the 21st century they numbered some 12,000.
Winnemucca, Sarah Hopkins See Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins
Winnipeg City (pop., 2001: metro, area, 671,274), capital of Manitoba, Canada. Located at the confluence of the Red River of the North and the Assiniboine River, Winnipeg was settled as a French fur-trading post in 1738. In the early 19th century Thomas Douglas founded a Scottish settle¬ ment there. Development ensued with the arrival of Canada’s first trans¬ continental railroad in 1885. Following disastrous floods in 1950, much of the city was rebuilt. It is a cultural, financial, commercial, industrial, and government centre.
Winnipeg, Lake Lake, south-central Manitoba, Canada. Fed by many rivers, including the Saskatchewan, Red River of the North, and Winnipeg, it is drained to the northeast by the Nelson River. It is 264 mi (425 km) long, up to 68 mi (109 km) wide, and has an area of 9,416 sq mi (24,387 sq km). The Canadian explorer Pierre La Verendrye visited the lake in 1733. With an average depth of 50 ft (15 m), it is important for shipping, com¬ mercial fishing, and recreation.