wolfram See tungsten
Wolfram von Eschenbach Vvolf-ram-fon-'esh-on-.bakV (b. c. 1170—d. c. 1220) German poet. An impoverished Bavarian knight, Wol¬ fram apparently served a succession of lords. The epic “Parzival,” one of his eight surviving lyric poems, is one of the masterpieces of the Middle Ages; likely based on a romance by Chretien de Troyes, it introduced the theme of the Holy Grail into German literature. Richard Wagner used it as the basis for his last opera, Parsifal (1882). Wolfram’s influence on later poets was profound, and, with Hartmann von Aue and Gottfried von Strassburg, he is one of the three great Middle High German epic poets.
Wollaston Vwa-los-tonV Lake Lake, northeastern Saskatchewan, Canada. It is 70 mi (113 km) long and 25 mi (40 km) wide, with an area of 1,035 sq mi (2,681 sq km). It drains through two outlets—one north¬ westward through the Fond du Lac River to Lake Athabasca and the Mackenzie River system, the other northeastward via the Cochrane River to Reindeer Lake and the Churchill River system. The lake was used as a link between the two river systems after its discovery by Peter Fidler in about 1800. It is noted for its fishing.
Wollstonecraft Ywol-ston- ,kraft\, Mary (b. April 27, 1759,
London, Eng.— -d. Sept. 10, 1797,
London) English writer. She taught school and worked as a governess and as a translator for a London pub¬ lisher. Her early Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787) fore¬ shadowed her mature work on the place of women in society, A Vindi¬ cation of the Rights of Woman (1792), whose core is a plea for equality in the education of men and women. The Vindication is widely regarded as the founding document of modem feminism. In 1797 she mar¬ ried the philosopher William Godwin; she died days after the birth of their daughter, Mary (see Mary Shelley), that same year.
Wolof \'wo-lof\ Muslim people of Senegal, The Gambia, and Maureta¬ nia. They speak a language of the Atlantic branch of the Niger-Congo family. In the 14th-16th century the
Wolof maintained a powerful empire. Traditional Wolof society was highly stratified, consisting of royalty, an aristocracy, a warrior class, commoners, slaves, and members of despised artisan castes. Today most Wolof (numbering some 5 million) are farmers, but many live and work in Dakar, Senegal, and Banjul, The Gambia. Wolof women are renowned for their elaborate hair styles, abundant gold ornaments, and voluminous dresses. Nearly half the people of Senegal are Wolof.
Wolsey Vwul-zeV Thomas, Cardinal (b. c. 1475, Ipswich, Suffolk, Eng.—d. Nov. 29, 1530, Leicester, Leicestershire) English prelate and statesman. He served as chaplain to Henry VII and later Henry VIII, for whom he organized the successful campaign against the French (1513). On Henry’s recommendation, the pope made Wolsey successively bishop of Lincoln (1514), archbishop of York (1514), cardinal (1515), and papal legate (1518). In 1515 Henry appointed him lord chancellor of England, which added to his power and wealth. Wolsey sought to bring peace to Europe, but in 1521 he allied with Emperor Charles V against France. Although he introduced judicial and monastic reforms, he became unpopular for raising taxes. In 1529 he failed to persuade the pope to grant Henry an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, for which he soon lost favour and was stripped of his offices except the archbish¬ opric of York. In 1530 he was arrested for treason for corresponding with the French court, and he died on his way to face the king.
wolverine or skunk bear Solitary, voracious, nocturnal carnivore (Gulo gulo) that inhabits northern timberlands worldwide. Wolverines are 26-36 in. (65-90 cm) long and 14-18 in. (36-45 cm) high, and weigh 20-65 lbs (9-30 kg); the bushy tail is 5-10-in. (13-26-cm) long. They have short bowed legs, hairy soles, and long, sharp claws.
Their long, coarse hair, used to trim parkas, is blackish brown, with a light horizontal strip. The anal glands secrete an unpleasant¬ smelling fluid. A cunning, fearless predator, the wolverine will attack almost any animal, including sheep, deer, and small bears.
woman suffrage Right of women by law to vote in national and local elections. Women’s voting rights became an issue in the 19th century, especially in Britain and the U.S. In the U.S. the woman suffrage move¬ ment arose from the antislavery movement (see abolitionism) and from the advocacy of figures such as Lucretia Mon and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who believed that equality should extend to both women and African Ameri¬ cans. They organized the Seneca Falls Convention (1848), which issued a declaration calling for woman suffrage and for the right of women to edu¬ cational and employment opportunities. In 1850 Lucy Stone held the move¬ ment’s first national convention. Stanton and Susan B. Anthony formed the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869 to secure an amend¬ ment to the Constitution granting women the right to vote, while Stone founded the American Woman Suffrage Association to seek similar amendments to state constitutions; in 1890 the two organizations merged as the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Following Wyo¬ ming’s lead in 1890, states began adopting such amendments; by 1918 women had won suffrage in 15 states. After a woman suffrage amend¬ ment was passed by Congress, a vigorous campaign brought ratification, and in August 1919 the 19th Amendment became part of the Constitution. In Britain the first woman suffrage committee was formed in Manchester in 1865. In the 1870s suffragists submitted petitions bearing nearly three million signatures. Despite growing support, suffrage bills were continu¬ ally defeated; in frustration, some suffragists became militant activists under the leadership of Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst. Parliament finally passed the Representation of the People Act in 1918, by which time women had already won voting rights in New Zealand (1893), Australia (1902), Finland (1906), Norway (1913), the Soviet Union (1917), Poland (1918), Sweden (1919), Germany (1919), and Ireland (1922). After World War II woman-suffrage laws were adopted in many countries, including France, Italy, India, and Japan.
Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) U.S. temperance-movement organization. Founded in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1874, it used educational, social, and political means to promote legislation. Its president (1879-98) was Frances Willard (1839-1898), an effective
Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin), detail, oil on canvas by John Opie, c. 1797; in the National Portrait Gallery, Lon¬ don.
NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, LONDON
Wolverine (Gulo gulo)
ALAN G. NELSON/ROOT RESOURCES
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
2072 I womb ► Wood
speaker and lobbyist who also led the World’s Woman’s Christian Tem¬ perance Union from its founding in 1883. The WCTU was instrumental in promoting nationwide temperance and in the eventual adoption of Pro¬ hibition.
womb See uterus
wombat Either of two species (family Vombatidae) of nocturnal Aus¬ tralian marsupials that are heavily built, 28-47 in. (70-120 cm) long, and tailless. The single newborn develops in the mother’s pouch for about five months. Wombats eat grasses, tree bark, and shrub roots.
They make a grassy nest at the end of a long burrow. The common wombat ( Vombatus ursinus) of southeastern Australia and Tasmania, considered a pest, has coarse dark hair and short ears. The rare Queen¬ sland hairy-nosed wombat ( Lasiorhi - nus barnardi ) has fine fur and longer ears; protected by law, the population lives principally in a national park.
Women's Army Corps (WAC) U.S. Army unit. It was established (as the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps) by Congress to enlist women for aux¬ iliary noncombat duty in World War II. Its first head was Oveta C. Hobby. By 1945 nearly 150,000 women had served. Women relieved thousands of men of their clerical assignments, and many performed nontraditional jobs such as radio operator, electrician, and air-traffic controller. After the war the government requested former servicewomen to reenlist to meet the staffing needs of army hospitals and administrative centres. The WAC became part of the regular army with the passage of the 1948 Women’s Armed Services Integration Act. The WAC remained a separate unit of the U.S. Army until 1978, when male and female forces were integrated.