globulin Vglab-yo-lonV Any of a major class of proteins insoluble in pure water and soluble in dilute saline (salt) solutions. In their natural state, the protein chain is folded into a globular form. Globulins are found in many plants, especially cereals. Globulins in animal fluids include enzymes, anti¬ bodies (the GAMMA GLOBULINS), LIPOPROTEINS, COMPLEMENT Components, TRANS¬ PORT proteins, and various types of fibrous and contractile proteins.
glockenspiel Vgla-kon-.spel, ‘gla-kan-.shpelN Percussion instrument consisting of a set of tuned steel bars, arranged like a piano keyboard, which are struck with hammers. An alternative form of the instrument is played by means of an actual keyboard. Its normal range is 2 Vi octaves. The bell lyre, held vertically, is the portable form of glockenspiel used in marching bands.
Glomma River formerly Glama River River, eastern Norway. The longest river in Scandinavia, it rises in a series of small streams near the Swedish-Norwegian border. It flows south, then west into Lake 0yeren. From there it continues south to Sarpsborg and enters Oslo Fjord at Fre- drikstad, after a course of 372 mi (599 km). It is a major source of hydro¬ electric power. It is navigable up to Sarpsfoss, the waterfall at Sarpsborg.
Glorious Revolution or Bloodless Revolution or Revolution of 1688 In English history, the events of 1688-89 that resulted in the deposition of James II and the accession of his daughter Mary II and her husband William III. James’s overt Roman Catholicism, his suspension of the legal rights of dissenters, and the prospect of a Catholic heir to the throne brought discontent to a head, which caused opposition leaders to invite the Protestant William of Orange to bring an army to redress the nation’s grievances. The support remaining for James dwindled, and he fled to France. The Convention Parliament asked William and Mary to rule jointly and set out the Bill of Rights.
glossolalia See tongues, speaking in
Gloucester Vglas-toA ancient Glevum City and administrative dis¬ trict (pop., 2001: 109,888), administrative and historic county of Glouces¬ tershire, southwestern England. The county seat of Gloucestershire, it lies on the River Severn and is linked by ship canal to docks in the Severn estuary. It was founded as the Roman colony of Glevum in ad 96-98. An abbey was founded there in 681; the town later became the capital of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia. Important economically even before the Norman Conquest (1066), it was incorporated in 1483 and continued to flourish as a trading centre. It has varied industries, including the manu¬ facture of railway rolling stock and aircraft, and light and heavy engi¬ neering works.
Gloucestershire Vglas-tor-.shirX Administrative (pop., 2001: 564,559), geographic, and historic county, southwestern England. It is located at the head of the River Severn estuary on the Welsh border; Gloucester is the county seat. The Severn bisects the county from north to south. Prehis¬ toric peoples were active in the area, as the numerous burial mounds indi¬ cate; later, the Romans had military camps within the county, and Gloucester was a Roman town of note. After the departure of the Romans, the Saxons occupied the area. Throughout the Middle Ages Gloucester¬ shire was a battlefield, reflected in the imposing Norman defensive castles built on the Welsh frontier. The county’s Cotswold area is important eco¬ nomically. Most of its eastern half is scenic, and a large area is set aside as the Dean National Forest Park.
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glove Covering for the hand with separate sections for the fingers and
the thumb, usually extending over the wrist or part of the arm. Linen gloves were found in the tomb of Tut¬ ankhamen in Egypt. Medieval Euro¬ pean nobles wore both fabric and leather gloves, often jeweled and embroidered. By the 14th century gloves were worn generally by upper-class men; but in the 16th cen¬ tury Catherine de Medicis, queen consort of Henry li of France, made gloves for women fashionable. Glovemaking became an industry in 1834 when the glove-cutting die was invented in France. Fabric gloves of antiquity were made of woven mate¬ rial, but modern fabric gloves are knitted of cotton, wool, or synthetic fibres.
glowworm Any crawling, lumi¬ nous insect that emits light either continuously or in prolonged glows rather than in the brief flashes char¬ acteristic of most FIREFLIES. GIOW- worms include larvae and adult (often wingless) females of fireflies and certain other beetle species and larvae of certain gnat species. They are widely distributed. The great diversity in the size, number, loca¬ tion, and structure of the biolumines- cent organs suggests that the light- producing ability of the various species evolved independently.
English kid glove, embroidered in silk and metal thread, c. 1600; in the Met¬ ropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
COURTESY OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW VORK CITY, PURCHASE, ROGERS FUND, 1953
gloxinia \glak-'si-ne-o\ Any of the 20 plant species, native to Brazil,
that make up the genus Sinningia in the gesneriad family, especially S. speciosa, an ornamental potted plant. Gloxinias produce large, erect, bell¬ shaped flowers in rich, velvety colours, usually violet or purple. The genus Gloxinia of the same family contains six species that are not cultivated.
Gluck Vgluk\, Christoph Willibald later Ritter (knight) von Gluck (b. July 2, 1714, Erasbach, Upper Palatinate, Bavaria—d. Nov. 15, 1787, Vienna, Austria) German opera composer. Son of a forester, he ran away to study music in Prague. He traveled widely, writing operas for various cities, before settling in 1750 in Vienna, where he would remain— except for an interlude in Paris (1773-79)—the rest of his life. In 1762, with the librettist Ranieri di Calzabigi (1714-95), he wrote his famous opera Orfeo eel Euridice, in which he borrowed aspects of French opera to achieve a simplified dramatic style that decisively broke with the static and calcified Italian style. His preface to Alceste (1767) laid out the musico-dramatic principles of his “reform opera”; the goal was “simplic¬ ity, truth and naturalness.” In 1773 he moved to Paris, where his former pupil Marie-Antoinette was on the verge of becoming queen. There he won acclaim for Iphigenie en Aulide (1774), Armide (1777), and Iphigenie en Tauride (1779). His other operas (numbering more than 40 in all) include Paride ed Elena (1770) and Echo et Narcisse (1779). He also wrote five ballets, of which Don Juan (1761) was one of the first successful ballets d’action.
glucose or dextrose or grape sugar or corn sugar Organic compound, a simple sugar (monosaccharide), chemical formula C 6 H 12 0 6 . The product of photosynthesis in plants, it is found in fruits and honey. As the major circulating free sugar in blood, it is the source of energy in cell function and a major participant in metabolism. Control of its level and metabolism is of great importance (see insulin). Glucose and fructose make up sucrose. Glucose units in long chains make up polysaccharides (e.g., cellulose, glycogen, starch). Glucose is used in foods, medicine, brewing, and wine making and as the source of various other organic chemicals.
glue Adhesive substance resembling gelatin, extracted from animal tis¬ sue, particularly hides and bones, or from fish, casein (milk protein), or vegetables. Glue was used as early as 3000 bc in wooden-furniture con¬
struction in Egypt. Synthetic resin adhesives such as the epoxies are replac¬ ing glue for many uses, but glue is still widely used as an adhesive in woodworking and in certain manufacturing and other industrial processes.