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as opposed to death

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1 life

[laɪf] 1.
nome (pl. lives)

1) (as opposed to death) vita f.

a matter of life and death — una questione di vita o di morte

to bring sb. back to life — riportare in vita qcn.; med. rianimare qcn.

to take one's own life — togliersi la vita

plant, marine life — la vita vegetale, marina

life has to go on — la vita continua

that's life — così è la vita

run for your life! — si salvi chi può!

2) (period from birth to death) vita f.

throughout one's life — per tutta la vita

the first time in my life — la prima volta nella mia vita

romance of one's life — amore della propria vita

I got the fright of my life! — è stato il più grande spavento della mia vita!

a job for life — un lavoro per tutta la vita

to mark sb. for life — marcare qcn. a vita

in later life — più avanti negli anni

at my time of life — alla mia età

in her early life — quando era giovane

3) (biography) vita f.

4) (animation) vita f., vitalità f.

full of life — pieno di vita

there was no life in her voice — non c'era vitalità nella sua voce

there's not much life in the town in winter — in questa città non c'è molta vita d'inverno

to come to life — [ person] rinvenire, riprendere conoscenza; [ fictional character] prendere vita; [ party] animarsi

to bring history to life — fare rivivere la storia

put a bit of life into it — colloq. mettici un po' di animo

5) (social activity, lifestyle) vita f.

to lead a busy life — avere una vita piena di impegni

private life — vita privata

in public life — in pubblico

way of life — modo di vivere

to live the good o high life — fare la bella vita

6) (human beings)

without loss of life — senza perdite di vite umane

the ship sank with the loss of 500 lives — il naufragio della nave ha causato la morte di 500 persone

7) (useful duration)

the average life of a washing machine — la durata media di una lavatrice

there's plenty of life still left in them — sono ancora utilizzabili

8) dir.

to serve o do colloq. life scontare un ergastolo; to sentence sb. to life condannare qcn. all'ergastolo; to get life — colloq. farsi dare l'ergastolo

9) art.

from life — [draw, paint] dal vero
2.
modificatore [president, membership, ban] a vita

••

anything for a quiet life — qualsiasi cosa per amore del quieto vivere

for dear life — più che si può, con tutte le forze

he couldn't for the life of him see why — non riusciva assolutamente a capire il perché

get a life! — colloq. lasciami vivere!

not on your life! — certo che no! neanche per sogno!

this is the life! — questa sì che è vita!

to frighten the life out of sb. — spaventare a morte qcn.

to have the time of one's life — divertirsi come matti

to take one's life in one's hands — rischiare la vita

* * *

plural - lives; noun

1) (the quality belonging to plants and animals which distinguishes them from rocks, minerals etc and things which are dead: Doctors are fighting to save the child's life.) vita

2) (the period between birth and death: He had a long and happy life.) vita

3) (liveliness: She was full of life and energy.) vita

4) (a manner of living: She lived a life of ease and idleness.) vita

5) (the period during which any particular state exists: He had many different jobs during his working life.) vita

6) (living things: It is now believed that there may be life on Mars; animal life.) vita

7) (the story of a life: He has written a life of Churchill.) biografia

8) (life imprisonment: He was given life for murder.) ergastolo

•

- lifeless
- lifelike
- life-and-death
- lifebelt
- lifeboat
- lifebuoy
- life-cycle
- life expectancy
- lifeguard
- life-jacket
- lifeline
- lifelong
- life-saving
- life-sized
- life-size
- lifetime
- as large as life
- bring to life
- come to life
- for life
- the life and soul of the party
- not for the life of me
- not on your life!
- take life
- take one's life
- take one's life in one's hands
- to the life
* * *
[laɪf] 1.
nome (pl. lives)

1) (as opposed to death) vita f.

a matter of life and death — una questione di vita o di morte

to bring sb. back to life — riportare in vita qcn.; med. rianimare qcn.

to take one's own life — togliersi la vita

plant, marine life — la vita vegetale, marina

life has to go on — la vita continua

that's life — così è la vita

run for your life! — si salvi chi può!

2) (period from birth to death) vita f.

throughout one's life — per tutta la vita

the first time in my life — la prima volta nella mia vita

romance of one's life — amore della propria vita

I got the fright of my life! — è stato il più grande spavento della mia vita!

a job for life — un lavoro per tutta la vita

to mark sb. for life — marcare qcn. a vita

in later life — più avanti negli anni

at my time of life — alla mia età

in her early life — quando era giovane

3) (biography) vita f.

4) (animation) vita f., vitalità f.

full of life — pieno di vita

there was no life in her voice — non c'era vitalità nella sua voce

there's not much life in the town in winter — in questa città non c'è molta vita d'inverno

to come to life — [ person] rinvenire, riprendere conoscenza; [ fictional character] prendere vita; [ party] animarsi

to bring history to life — fare rivivere la storia

put a bit of life into it — colloq. mettici un po' di animo

5) (social activity, lifestyle) vita f.

to lead a busy life — avere una vita piena di impegni

private life — vita privata

in public life — in pubblico

way of life — modo di vivere

to live the good o high life — fare la bella vita

6) (human beings)

without loss of life — senza perdite di vite umane

the ship sank with the loss of 500 lives — il naufragio della nave ha causato la morte di 500 persone

7) (useful duration)

the average life of a washing machine — la durata media di una lavatrice

there's plenty of life still left in them — sono ancora utilizzabili

8) dir.

to serve o do colloq. life scontare un ergastolo; to sentence sb. to life condannare qcn. all'ergastolo; to get life — colloq. farsi dare l'ergastolo

9) art.

from life — [draw, paint] dal vero
2.
modificatore [president, membership, ban] a vita

••

anything for a quiet life — qualsiasi cosa per amore del quieto vivere

for dear life — più che si può, con tutte le forze

he couldn't for the life of him see why — non riusciva assolutamente a capire il perché

get a life! — colloq. lasciami vivere!

not on your life! — certo che no! neanche per sogno!

this is the life! — questa sì che è vita!

to frighten the life out of sb. — spaventare a morte qcn.

to have the time of one's life — divertirsi come matti

to take one's life in one's hands — rischiare la vita

English-Italian dictionary > life
2 life

life [laɪf]

1. noun

(plural lives)

   a. vie f

• a matter of life and death une question de vie ou de mort

• loss of life perte f de vies humaines

• to lose one's life perdre la vie

• no lives were lost il n'y a eu aucune victime

• to take one's (own) life se donner la mort

• to take sb's life donner la mort à qn

• to take one's life in one's hands risquer sa vie

• to bring sb back to life ranimer qn

• to lay down one's life sacrifier sa vie

• he ran for his life il a pris ses jambes à son cou

• run for your lives! sauve qui peut !

• I couldn't for the life of me tell you his name (inf) je ne pourrais absolument pas vous dire son nom

   b. ( = living things) vie f

• is there life on Mars? y a-t-il de la vie sur Mars ?

• bird life les oiseaux mpl

• insect life les insectes mpl

• animal and plant life la faune et la flore

   c. ( = existence) vie f

• life went on uneventfully la vie poursuivit son cours paisible

• life goes on la vie continue

• he lived in France all his life il a vécu toute sa vie en France

• she began life as a teacher elle a débuté comme professeur

• in her early life dans sa jeunesse

• in later life plus tard (dans la vie)

• in his later life vers la fin de sa vie

• late in life sur le tard

   d. ( = way of living) vie f

• which do you prefer, town or country life? que préférez-vous, la vie à la ville ou à la campagne ?

• to lead a busy life avoir une vie bien remplie

• the good life (pleasant) la belle vie

• to make a new life for o.s. commencer une nouvelle vie

• to have a life of its own n'en faire qu'à sa tête

   e. ( = liveliness) there isn't much life in our village notre village est plutôt mort

• she brought the party to life elle a mis de l'animation dans la soirée

• the town came to life when the sailors arrived la ville s'éveillait à l'arrivée des marins

• it put new life into me ça m'a ragaillardi

• he's the life and soul of the party c'est un boute-en-train

   f. (in exclamations) that's life! c'est la vie !

• get a life! (inf) secoue-toi un peu ! (inf)

• how's life? comment (ça) va ?

• not on your life! (inf) jamais de la vie !

• this is the life! (inf) voilà comment je comprends la vie !

• what a life! quelle vie !

   g. ( = lifespan) vie f ; [of car, ship, government, battery] durée f de vie

• for the first time in my life pour la première fois de ma vie

• never in (all) my life have I seen such stupidity jamais de ma vie je n'ai vu une telle stupidité

• it will last you for life cela vous durera toute votre vie

• for the rest of his life pour le restant de ses jours

• at my time of life à mon âge

• to be sent to prison for life être condamné à perpétuité

• friends for life amis pour toujours

• a job for life un emploi pour la vie

• my car's nearing the end of its life ma voiture a fait son temps

   h. ( = life imprisonment) (inf) he got life il a été condamné à perpétuité

• he's doing life (for murder) il purge une peine de réclusion à perpétuité (pour meurtre)

2. compounds

[subscription] à vie

► life-affirming adjective (humainement) positif

► life assurance noun assurance-vie f

► life coach noun coach mf (personnel(le))

► life cycle noun cycle m de vie

► life drawing noun dessin m d'après nature

► life-enhancing adjective revigorant

► life expectancy noun espérance f de vie

► life form noun forme f de vie

► life history noun

• her life history l'histoire f de sa vie ► life imprisonment noun réclusion f à perpétuité

► life insurance noun assurance-vie f

► life jacket noun gilet m de sauvetage

► life member noun membre m à vie

► life peer noun (British) pair m à vie

► life preserver noun (US = life jacket) gilet m de sauvetage

► life raft noun radeau m de sauvetage

► life-saver noun ( = person) maître m nageur-sauveteur

• that money was a life-saver cet argent m'a (or lui a etc) sauvé la vie ► life-saving noun ( = rescuing) sauvetage m ; ( = first aid) secourisme m adjective de sauvetage

► life sentence noun condamnation f à la réclusion à perpétuité

► life-size, life-sized adjective grandeur nature inv

► life span noun durée f de vie

► life story noun biographie f

• his life story l'histoire f de sa vie

• he started telling me his life story (inf) il a commencé à me raconter sa vie ► life support machine noun

• he's on a life support machine il est sous assistance respiratoire ► life's work noun œuvre f d'une vie

► life-threatening adjective [disease, emergency] extrêmement grave

► life-vest adjective (US) gilet m de sauvetage

* * *
[laɪf] 1.
(pl lives) noun

1) ( as opposed to death) vie f

a matter of life and death — une question de vie ou de mort

to have a love of life — aimer la vie

to bring somebody back to life — gen rendre la vie à quelqu'un; Medicine ranimer quelqu'un

plant life — la vie végétale

to take one's own life — se donner la mort

to take life as it comes — prendre la vie comme elle vient

life must go on — la vie continue

that's life! — c'est la vie!

run for your life! — sauve qui peut!

2) ( period from birth to death) vie f

throughout one's life — pendant toute sa vie

the first time in my life — la première fois de ma vie

a day in the life of — une journée de la vie de

a job for life — un emploi à vie

a friend for life — un ami pour la vie

in later life — plus tard dans sa vie

early in life — très tôt

in adult life — à l'âge adulte

at my time of life — à mon âge

for the rest of one's life — pour le restant de ses jours

the life and times of X — la vie et l'époque de X

to write a life of somebody — écrire une biographie de quelqu'un

3) ( animation) vie f, vitalité f

full of life — plein de vie

there's not much life in this town — cette ville n'est pas très vivante

to come to life — [person] reprendre conscience; fig sortir de sa réserve; [fictional character] prendre vie; [party] s'animer

to bring a subject to life — traiter un sujet de manière très vivante

put a bit of life into it — (colloq) mettez-y un peu de tonus (colloq)

4) (social activity, lifestyle) vie f

private life — vie privée

his way of life — son mode de vie

a life of crime — une vie de criminel

to live the good ou high life — mener la grande vie

it's no life for a child — ce n'est pas une vie pour un enfant

5) ( human being(s))

without loss of life — sans perte de vies humaines

the ship sank with the loss of 500 lives — le naufrage du navire a fait 500 morts

6) ( useful duration) (of machine, vehicle, product) durée f

7) Jur

to do (colloq) ou serve life — être emprisonné à vie

to sentence somebody to life — condamner quelqu'un à perpétuité

to get life — (colloq) se faire condamner à perpette (colloq)

8) Art

from life — [draw, paint] d'après nature
2.
noun modifier [ member, peer, membership] à vie

••

anything for a quiet life — tout ce que tu voudras mais laisse-moi tranquille

for dear life — de toutes mes/ses etc forces

he couldn't for the life of him see why — il n'arrivait absolument pas à comprendre pourquoi

get a life! — (colloq) lâche-moi les baskets! (colloq)

not on your life! — jamais de la vie!

this is the life! — c'est la belle vie!

to frighten the life out of somebody — faire mourir quelqu'un de peur

to have the time of one's life — s'amuser comme un fou/une folle

to take one's life in one's hands — risquer sa vie

English-French dictionary > life
3 life

life (pl lives)

A n

1 ( as opposed to death) vie f ; life and death la vie et la mort ; a matter of life and death une question de vie ou de mort ; to cling to life s'accrocher à la vie ; to have a love of life aimer la vie ; to bring sb back to life gen rendre la vie à qn ; Med ranimer qn ; to save sb's life sauver la vie de qn ; to put one's life at risk risquer sa vie ; to lay down ou give one's life for sb sacrifier sa vie pour qn ; to lose/risk one's life doing perdre/risquer sa vie à faire ; to take one's own life se donner la mort ; to take sb's life sout donner la mort à qn ; to run/swim for one's life courir/nager aussi vite que possible ; run for your life! sauve qui peut! ;

2 ( period from birth to death) vie f ; short/long life courte/longue vie ; throughout one's life pendant toute sa vie ; his waking life sa vie éveillée ; in this life and the next dans cette vie et dans l'autre ; the first time in my life la première fois de ma vie ; a day/year in the life of une journée/année de la vie de ; romance/race of one's life amour/course de sa vie ; I got the fright of my life! j'ai eu la frayeur de ma vie! ; a job for life un emploi à vie ; a friend for life un ami pour la vie ; in later life plus tard dans sa vie ; to mark sb for life marquer qn pour la vie ; to go through ou spend one's life doing passer sa vie à faire ; to make life worth living donner un sens à la vie ; to be all for an easy life aimer la vie facile ; early in life très tôt ; in adult life à l'âge adulte ; in the prime of life dans la fleur de l'âge ; at my time of life à mon âge ; have you lived here all your life? est-ce que tu as toujours habité ici? ; for the rest of one' s life pour le restant de ses jours ; in her early life quand elle était jeune ; to depart this life littér quitter ce monde ; the life and times of X la vie et l'époque de X ; to write a life of sb écrire une biographie de qn ;

3 (animation, vigour) vie f, vitalité f ; full of life plein de vie or vitalité ; there was no life in her voice il n'y avait aucune vitalité dans sa voix ; there's not much life in the town in winter cette ville n'est pas très vivante l'hiver ; to come to life [person] reprendre conscience ; fig sortir de sa réserve ; [fictional character] prendre vie ; [party] s'animer ; to bring a subject to life traiter un sujet de manière très vivante ; to bring history/a character to life donner de la vie à l'histoire/un personnage ; to roar/splutter into life se mettre en marche en vrombissant/en toussant ; put a bit of life into it ○ mettez-y un peu de tonus ○ ; this drink will put new life into you cette boisson te redonnera des forces ;

4 (social activity, lifestyle) vie f ; to lead a busy/sheltered life mener une vie occupée/protégée ; to change one's life transformer sa vie ; private/family ou home life vie privée/de famille ; working/social life vie professionnelle/personnelle ; his way of life son mode de vie ; a way of life un style de vie ; a life of luxury/crime une vie de luxe/de criminel ; to live the good ou high life mener la grande vie ; the outdoor life la vie au grand air ; it's no life for a child ce n'est pas une vie pour un enfant ; to have a life of one's own avoir sa propre vie ; to make a new life for oneself se forger une nouvelle vie ; to get on with one's life continuer sa vie ; what a life! quelle vie! ; in public life dans les affaires publiques ;

5 ( as general concept) vie f ; life in general la vie en général ; life's been kind to me la vie m'a été favorable ; isn't life wonderful? la vie n'est-elle pas merveilleuse? ; how's life treating you? comment va la vie? to make life easier/difficult for sb faciliter/compliquer la vie à qn ; don't make life so difficult for yourself ne te rends pas la vie impossible ; to take life as it comes prendre la vie comme elle vient ; life has to go on la vie continue ; that's life c'est la vie ; life's a bitch ○ chienne de vie ○ ;

6 ( living things) vie f ; origins of life origines de la vie ; extraterrestrial life la vie extraterrestre ; life as we know it la vie telle que nous la connaissons ; plant/marine life la vie végétale/marine ; life in the hedgerows/forest la faune des haies/forêts ; low life péj racaille ○ f ;

7 ( human being(s)) without loss of life sans perte de vies humaines ; the ship sank with the loss of 500 lives le naufrage du navire a fait 500 morts ;

8 ( useful duration) durée f ; shelf life durée de conservation ; the average life of a washing-machine la durée moyenne d'une machine à laver ; there's plenty of life still left in them ils sont encore tout à fait utilisables ; this carpet's coming to the end of its life ce tapis commence à avoir fait son temps ;

9 Jur to do ○ ou serve life être emprisonné à vie ; to sentence sb to life condamner qn à perpétuité ; to get life ○ se faire condamner à perpette ○ ;

10 Games vie f ; to lose a life perdre une vie ;

11 Art from life [draw, paint] d'après nature.

B modif [member, president, peer, peerage, membership] à vie ; [ban] définitif/-ive ; Insur [annuity] viager/-ère.

Idioms

anything for a quiet life tout ce que tu voudras mais laisse-moi tranquille ; for dear life de toutes mes/ses etc forces ; not for the life of me absolument pas ; he couldn't for the life of him see why il n'arrivait absolument pas à comprendre pourquoi ; get a life ○ ! lâche-moi les baskets ○ ! ; not on your life! jamais de la vie! ; this is the life! c'est la belle vie!, voilà la vie qu'il me/nous etc faut! ; to frighten the life out of sb faire mourir qn de peur ; to have the time of one's life s'amuser comme un fou/une folle ; you get out of life what you put into it comme on fait son lit on se couche Prov ; to take one's life in one's hands risquer sa vie.

Big English-French dictionary > life
4 muerte

muerte sustantivo femenino death;
◊ condenado a muerte sentenced to death;
a la muerte de su padre on her father's death; muerte de cuna crib death (AmE), cot death (BrE); me dio un susto de muerte (fam) she scared me to death (colloq); dar muerte a algn (frml) to kill sb; de mala muerte (fam) ‹pueblo/hotel› grotty (colloq); ser la muerte (fam) ( ser atroz) to be hell o murder (colloq); ( ser estupendo) to be fantastic (colloq)
muerte sustantivo femenino
1 death: murió de muerte natural, she died a natural death
2 (homicidio) killing (asesinato) murder: al criminal se le imputan tres muertes, the criminal is charged with three murders Locuciones: a muerte, to death: defender a muerte, to defend to the death
odiar a muerte, to loathe sb familiar de mala muerte, lousy, rotten (buenísimo) de muerte, fantastic, great ' muerte' also found in these entries: Spanish: abandonarse - afectar - amenazar - borde - cabecilla - caer - condenar - condenada - condenado - conmutar - desafiar - ejecución - enloquecer - enterada - enterado - garito - garrote - genuina - genuino - hasta - instantánea - instantáneo - lamentar - lecho - local - mal - marcar - obsesionar - origen - palo - pena - pérdida - puerta - reciente - sabrosa - sabroso - sacudir - semblante - sentida - sentido - simbolizar - sobreponerse - tugurio - vida - violenta - violento - amenaza - apenar - baja - desafío English: afterlife - anarchy - brain death - cheat - commute - curtain - cutthroat - death - death penalty - death row - death squad - deathbed - demise - dice - doom - drive - dump - early - fatal - fatally - get - hole - inquest - lead to - matter - meet - misadventure - mortally - mourn - natural - opposed - pain - penalty - point - punishable - register - release - scare - sentence - shock - silly - snuff movie - squad - upset - wit - accidental - against - bereaved - bereavement - blow

English-spanish dictionary > muerte
5 matter

1. noun
1) (affair) Angelegenheit, die

matters — die Dinge

money matters — Geldangelegenheiten od. -fragen

raise an important matter — einen wichtigen Punkt ansprechen

that's another or a different matter altogether or quite another matter — das ist etwas ganz anderes

and to make matters worse... — und was die Sache noch schlimmer macht/machte,...

2) (cause, occasion)

a/no matter for or of... — ein/kein Grund od. Anlass zu...

it's a matter of complete indifference to me — es ist mir völlig gleichgültig

3) (topic) Thema, das; Gegenstand, der

matter on the agenda — Punkt der Tagesordnung

4)

a matter of... — (something that amounts to) eine Frage (+ Gen.)...; eine Sache von...

it's a matter of taste/habit — das ist Geschmack- / Gewohnheitssache

[only] a matter of time — [nur noch] eine Frage der Zeit

it's just a matter of working harder — man muss sich ganz einfach [bei der Arbeit] mehr anstrengen

in a matter of minutes — in wenigen Minuten

Do you know him? - Yes, as a matter of fact, I do — Kennst du ihn? - Ja, ich kenne ihn tatsächlich

5)

what's the matter? — was ist [los]?

is something the matter? — stimmt irgendetwas nicht?; ist [irgend]was (ugs.) ?

6)

for that matter — eigentlich

7)

no matter! — [das] macht nichts!

no matter how/who/what/why — etc. ganz gleich od. egal (ugs.), wie/wer/was/warum usw.

8) (material, as opposed to mind, spirit, etc.) Materie, die

[in]organic/solid/vegetable matter — [an]organische/feste/pflanzliche Stoffe
2. intransitive verb
etwas ausmachen

what does it matter? — was macht das schon?; was macht's? (ugs.)

what matters is that... — worum es geht, ist...

not matter a damn — vollkommen egal sein

doesn't matter — [das] macht nichts (ugs.)

it doesn't matter how/when — etc. es ist einerlei, wie/wann usw.

does it matter to you if...? — macht es dir etwas aus, wenn...?

the things which matter in life — [das,] worauf es im Leben ankommt

* * *
['mætə] 1. noun
1) (solids, liquids and/or gases in any form, from which everything physical is made: The entire universe is made up of different kinds of matter.) die Materie

2) (a subject or topic (of discussion etc): a private matter; money matters.) die Angelegenheit

3) (pus: The wound was infected and full of matter.) der Eiter
2. verb
(to be important: That car matters a great deal to him; It doesn't matter.) bedeuten

- academic.ru/45646/matter-of-fact">matter-of-fact
- be the matter
- a matter of course
- a matter of opinion
- no matter
- no matter who
- what
- where
* * *

mat·ter

[ˈmætəʳ, AM -t̬ɚ]

I. n

1. no pl (material) Materie f; SCI [Grund-]Stoff m, Substanz f

organic \matter organische Stoffe pl

printed \matter Gedrucktes nt, Drucksache[n] f[pl]

reading \matter Lesestoff m

vegetable \matter pflanzliche Stoffe pl

waste \matter MED Schlacken pl

\matter in suspension Schwebstoffe pl

\matter constant TECH Materialkonstante f

2. (affair) Angelegenheit f, Sache f

that's a different \matter das ist eine andere Sache

it's a \matter of complete indifference to me das ist mir völlig egal

this is a \matter for the police das sollte man der Polizei übergeben

the \matter in [or AM at] hand die Angelegenheit [o Sache], um die es geht

to get to the heart of the \matter zum Kern der Sache vordringen

the truth [or fact] of the \matter is... in Wirklichkeit...

a \matter of urgency etwas Dringendes

to be no easy \matter doing sth nicht einfach sein, etw zu tun

family \matters Familienangelegenheiten pl

financial \matters pl Geldangelegenheiten pl, Geldsachen pl

money \matters pl Geldangelegenheiten pl

a personal \matter eine persönliche Angelegenheit [o Sache]

in the \matter of... was... angeht

the British are given pre-eminence in the \matter of tea was Tee angeht, da haben die Briten die Nase vorn

3. no pl (question) Frage f

it's simply a \matter of following the recipe/learning the rules man muss einfach nur das Rezept befolgen/die Regeln erlernen

as a \matter of course selbstverständlich

a \matter of fact eine Tatsache

as a \matter of fact (by the way) übrigens, im Übrigen; (expressing agreement or disagreement) in der Tat

have you got his address? — as a \matter of fact, I have hast du seine Adresse? — ja, die hab ich tatsächlich

I suppose you're leaving soon? — no, as a \matter of fact, I'll be staying for another two weeks ich nehme an, Sie reisen bald ab? — keineswegs, in der Tat habe ich vor, noch zwei Wochen zu bleiben

a \matter of form eine Formsache

as a \matter of interest aus Interesse, interessehalber

just as a \matter of interest, how much did you pay for it? ich frage nur aus Interesse, aber wie viel hast du dafür bezahlt?

it's a \matter of life and [or or] death es geht um Leben und Tod

that's a \matter of opinion das ist Ansichtssache

a \matter of principle eine Frage des Prinzips

a \matter of record eine Tatsache

it's a \matter of record that... es ist allgemein bekannt, dass...

a \matter of taste eine Geschmacksfrage

a \matter of time eine Frage der Zeit

4. no pl (topic) Thema nt

the subject \matter of the book das Thema des Buches

it's no laughing \matter das ist nicht zum Lachen

that's another \matter das ist etwas anderes

that's another \matter altogether [or quite another \matter] das ist [wieder] etwas völlig [o ganz] anderes

to let the \matter drop etwas auf sich beruhen lassen; (in a conversation) das Thema fallenlassen

5. (problem)

is anything the \matter? stimmt etwas nicht?

there's nothing the \matter es ist alles in Ordnung

what's the \matter with you? was ist los mit dir?

what's the \matter with asking for a pay rise? was ist so schlimm daran, um eine Gehaltserhöhung zu bitten?

no \matter das macht nichts, [das ist] kein Problem

no \matter, I'll go myself kein Problem, ich gehe selbst

no \matter what was auch [immer] passiert

we've got to get to the airport on time, no \matter what wir müssen pünktlich zum Flughafen kommen, egal wie

no \matter what/when/who... ganz gleich [o egal], was/wann/wer...

no \matter what you say, I won't leave him was du auch sagst, ich werde ihn nicht verlassen

to pretend that nothing is the \matter so tun, als ob nichts wäre

6.

▪ \matters pl (state of affairs) die Situation [o Lage]

that's how \matters stand at the moment so sieht es im Moment aus

\matters came to a head with her resignation mit ihrem Rücktritt spitzte sich die Lage dann noch zu

to help \matters/make \matters worse die Lage verbessern/verschlimmern

to make \matters worse, it then started to rain heavily zu allem Überfluss fing es auch noch an, in Strömen zu regnen

to take \matters into one's own hands die Dinge selbst in die Hand nehmen

7. no pl (amount)

in a \matter of seconds he was by her side es dauerte nur Sekunden bis er bei ihr war

it was all over in a \matter of minutes nach wenigen Minuten war alles vorbei

it's only a \matter of a few dollars es geht nur um ein paar Dollars

and then there's the little \matter of the 80 euros you owe me und dann ist da noch die Kleinigkeit von 80 Euro, die du mir schuldest

8. LAW

\matter of fact Tatfrage f

\matter of law Rechtsfrage f

9. TYPO Satzspiegel m fachspr

10.

▶ not to mince \matter kein Blatt vor den Mund nehmen

▶ for that \matter eigentlich

I don't like him, nor does Ann, for that \matter ich mag ihn nicht, und Ann mag ihn im Grunde auch nicht

▶ what \matter? ( dated) was macht das schon?

II. vi

1. (be of importance) von Bedeutung sein

to him, animals \matter more than human beings ihm sind Tiere wichtiger als Menschen

what \matters now is that... worauf es jetzt ankommt, ist, dass...

that's the only thing that \matters das ist das Einzige, was zählt

it really \matters to me das bedeutet mir wirklich etwas, das ist wirklich wichtig für mich

▪ it \matters that... es macht etwas aus, dass...

▪ it doesn't \matter das ist nicht wichtig

I've spilt something on the carpet — it doesn't \matter ich habe etwas auf dem Teppich verschüttet — das macht nichts

would you rather go on Wednesday or Thursday — it doesn't \matter möchten Sie lieber am Mittwoch oder am Donnerstag fahren — das ist mir egal

it doesn't \matter what the guests wear es spielt keine Rolle, wie die Gäste angezogen sind

it didn't \matter anything to them es war ihnen völlig egal

▪ it doesn't \matter if/that... es macht nichts [o fam ist egal], wenn/dass...

it doesn't \matter how long your hair is as long as it's tidy es spielt keine Rolle, wie lang deine Haare sind, solange sie gepflegt sind

people who \matter Leute von Einfluss

2. ( rare) wound eitern

* * *
['mtə(r)]
1. n

1) (= substance, not mind) die Materie

organic/inorganic matter — organische/anorganische Stoffe pl

2) (particular kind) Stoff m

advertising matter — Reklame f, Werbung f

printed matter — Büchersendung f

colouring matter — Farbstoff(e) m(pl)

vegetable matter — pflanzliche Stoffe pl

3) (MED: pus) Eiter m

4) (TYP) (= copy) Manuskript nt; (= type set up) Satz m

5) (= content) Inhalt m

the main matter of his speech was... — (der) Hauptgegenstand seiner Rede war...

6) (= question, affair) Sache f, Angelegenheit f; (= topic) Thema nt, Stoff m

can I talk to you on a matter of great urgency? — kann ich Sie in einer äußerst dringenden Angelegenheit sprechen?

this is a matter I know little about — darüber weiß ich wenig

in the matter of... — was... (+acc) anbelangt, hinsichtlich... (+gen)

in the matter of clothes etc — in puncto Kleidung etc

there's the matter of my expenses —

it's no great matter — das macht nichts, das ist nicht so wichtig

that's quite another matter — das ist etwas (ganz) anderes

that's another matter altogether, that's a very different matter — das ist etwas völlig anderes

it will be no easy matter (to)... — es wird nicht einfach sein, zu...

it's a serious matter — das ist eine ernste Angelegenheit, die Sache ist ernst

the matter is closed — die Sache or der Fall ist erledigt

7) pl Angelegenheiten pl

business matters — geschäftliche Angelegenheiten or Dinge pl, Geschäftliche(s) nt

as matters stand — wie die Dinge liegen

to make matters worse — zu allem Unglück (noch)

8)

for that matter — eigentlich

I haven't seen him for weeks, nor for that matter has anybody else —

he wants to complain about it and for that matter, so do I — er will sich darüber beschweren und ich eigentlich auch

9)

a matter of — eine Frage (+gen), eine Sache von

it's a matter of form/time — das ist eine Formsache/Zeitfrage or Frage der Zeit

it's a matter of taste/opinion — das ist Geschmacks-/Ansichtssache

it's a matter of adjusting this part exactly — es geht darum, dieses Teil genau einzustellen

it will be a matter of a few weeks — es wird ein paar Wochen dauern

it's a matter of 10 miles from... —

it's a matter of a couple of hours — das ist eine Sache von ein paar Stunden

if it's just a matter of another 10 minutes, then I'll wait — wenn es sich nur noch um 10 Minuten handelt, dann warte ich solange

in a matter of minutes — innerhalb von Minuten

it's a matter of great concern to us — die Sache ist für uns von großer Bedeutung

it's not just a matter of increasing the money supply — es ist nicht damit getan, die Geldzufuhr zu erhöhen

it's just a matter of trying harder — man muss sich ganz einfach etwas mehr anstrengen

as a matter of course — selbstverständlich

it's a matter of course with us — für uns ist das eine Selbstverständlichkeit

you should always take your passport with you as a matter of course — es sollte für Sie eine Selbstverständlichkeit sein, stets Ihren Pass bei sich zu haben

earthquakes happen as a matter of course in that part of the world — Erdbeben sind in der Gegend an der Tagesordnung

10)

no matter! — macht nichts

I've decided to leave tomorrow, no matter what — ich gehe morgen, egal was passiert

no matter how/what/when/where etc... — egal, wie/was/wann/wo etc...

no matter how you do it — wie du es auch machst, egal, wie du es machst

no matter how hot it was — auch or selbst bei der größten Hitze

no matter how hard he tried — so sehr er sich auch anstrengte

11)

sth is the matter with sb/sth — etw ist mit jdm/etw los; (ill) etw fehlt jdm

what's the matter? — was ist (denn) los?, was ist (denn)?

what's the matter with you this morning? – nothing's the matter — was hast du denn heute Morgen? – gar nichts

what's the matter with having a little fun? — was ist denn schon dabei, wenn man ein bisschen Spaß hat?

something's the matter with the lights — mit dem Licht ist irgendetwas nicht in Ordnung

as if nothing was the matter — als ob nichts (los) wäre

2. vi

it doesn't matter — (es or das) macht nichts, ist schon gut

what does it matter? — was macht das schon?

I forgot it, does it matter? – yes, it does matter —

does it matter to you if I go? — macht es dir etwas aus, wenn ich gehe?

doesn't it matter to you at all if I leave you? — macht es dir denn gar nichts aus, wenn ich dich verlasse?

why should it matter to me? — warum sollte mir das etwas ausmachen?

why should it matter to me if people are starving? — was geht es mich an, wenn Menschen verhungern?

it doesn't matter to me what you do — es ist mir (ganz) egal, was du machst

some things matter more than others — es ist aber nicht alles gleich wichtig

the things which matter in life — was im Leben wichtig ist or zählt

poverty matters — Armut geht jeden etwas an

* * *

matter [ˈmætə(r)]

A s

1. Materie f ( auch PHIL, PHYS), Material n, Substanz f, Stoff m:

organic matter organische Substanz;

gaseous matter gasförmiger Körper; → foreign 3

2. a) PHYSIOL Substanz f: → gray matter

b) MED Eiter m

3. Sache f ( auch JUR), Angelegenheit f:

this is a serious matter;

this is an entirely different matter das ist etwas ganz anderes;

the matter in ( oder at) hand die vorliegende Angelegenheit;

a matter of convention eine Frage des Anstandes;

a matter of course eine Selbstverständlichkeit;

as a matter of course selbstverständlich, natürlich;

a matter of discretion eine Ermessensfrage;

a matter of fact

a) eine Tatsache,

b) JUR bes US eine (strittige) Tatfrage;

as a matter of fact tatsächlich, eigentlich, ehrlich gesagt;

a matter of form eine Formsache;

as a matter of form der Form halber;

matter in issue JUR Streitgegenstand m, Streitsache f;

it is a matter of life and death es geht um Leben und Tod;

as a matter of principle grundsätzlich, prinzipiell;

it is a matter of finishing in time es geht darum, rechtzeitig fertig zu werden;

a matter of taste (eine) Geschmackssache;

a matter of time eine Frage der Zeit, eine Zeitfrage;

for that matter eigentlich;

in the matter of

a) hinsichtlich (gen),

b) JUR in Sachen (A. gegen B.); → conscience Bes Redew, fact 1, laughing B 2, opinion 1

4. pl (ohne Artikel) die Sache, die Dinge pl:

make matters worse

a) die Sache schlimmer machen,

b) (Redew) was die Sache noch schlimmer macht;

carry matters too far es zu weit treiben;

as matters stand wie die Dinge liegen, nach Lage der Dinge;

matters were in a mess es war eine verfahrene Geschichte

5. the matter die Schwierigkeit:

what’s the matter? was ist los?, wo fehlts?;

what’s the matter with it (with him)? was ist (los) damit (mit ihm)?;

what’s the matter with having the occasional glass of wine? was ist (schon) dabei, wenn man ab und zu ein Glas Wein trinkt?;

what’s the matter now? was ist denn jetzt schon wieder los?;

there’s nothing the matter nichts ist los;

no matter! es hat nichts zu sagen!, nichts von Bedeutung!;

it’s no matter whether … es spielt keine Rolle, ob …;

no matter what he says was er auch sagt; ganz egal, was er sagt;

no matter who … gleichgültig oder ganz egal, wer …;

it made no matter to him that … es machte ihm nichts aus, dass …

6. (mit verblasster Bedeutung) Sache f:

it’s a matter of £5 es kostet 5 Pfund;

in a matter of weeks in ein paar Wochen;

a matter of three weeks ungefähr drei Wochen;

it is only a matter of minutes till … es kann nur ein paar Minuten dauern, bis …;

it was a matter of 5 minutes es dauerte nur 5 Minuten;

in a matter of minutes in Minutenschnelle;

in a matter of seconds in Sekundenschnelle;

it’s a matter of common knowledge es ist allgemein bekannt

7. Anlass m, Veranlassung f ( beide:

for zu):

a matter for reflection etwas zum Nachdenken

8. (Ggs äußere Form)

a) Stoff m, Thema n, (behandelter) Gegenstand, Inhalt m (eines Buches etc)

b) (innerer) Gehalt, Substanz f:

strong in matter but weak in style inhaltlich stark, aber stilistisch schwach;

matter and manner Gehalt und Gestalt

9. Literaturgeschichte: Sagenstoff m, -kreis m:

matter of France matière de France (um Karl den Großen);

matter of Britain Bretonischer Sagenkreis (um König Arthur)

10. Material n, Stoff m, Unterlagen pl ( alle:

for für, zu):

matter for a biography

11. Logik: Inhalt m (eines Satzes)

12. Postsache f: → print A 3

13. TYPO

a) Manuskript n

b) (Schrift)Satz m: → dead A 23, live² A 13

B v/i

1. von Bedeutung sein (to für), darauf ankommen ( to sb jemandem):

it doesn’t matter es macht nichts (aus), es tut nichts;

it didn’t matter to them es machte ihnen nichts aus;

it hardly matters to me es macht mir nicht viel aus;

it little matters es spielt kaum eine Rolle, es ist ziemlich einerlei

2. MED eitern

* * *
1. noun
1) (affair) Angelegenheit, die

matters — die Dinge

money matters — Geldangelegenheiten od. -fragen

raise an important matter — einen wichtigen Punkt ansprechen

that's another or a different matter altogether or quite another matter — das ist etwas ganz anderes

and to make matters worse... — und was die Sache noch schlimmer macht/machte,...

2) (cause, occasion)

a/no matter for or of... — ein/kein Grund od. Anlass zu...

it's a matter of complete indifference to me — es ist mir völlig gleichgültig

3) (topic) Thema, das; Gegenstand, der

matter on the agenda — Punkt der Tagesordnung

4)

a matter of... — (something that amounts to) eine Frage (+ Gen.)...; eine Sache von...

it's a matter of taste/habit — das ist Geschmack- / Gewohnheitssache

[only] a matter of time — [nur noch] eine Frage der Zeit

it's just a matter of working harder — man muss sich ganz einfach [bei der Arbeit] mehr anstrengen

in a matter of minutes — in wenigen Minuten

Do you know him? - Yes, as a matter of fact, I do — Kennst du ihn? - Ja, ich kenne ihn tatsächlich

5)

what's the matter? — was ist [los]?

is something the matter? — stimmt irgendetwas nicht?; ist [irgend]was (ugs.) ?

6)

for that matter — eigentlich

7)

no matter! — [das] macht nichts!

no matter how/who/what/why — etc. ganz gleich od. egal (ugs.), wie/wer/was/warum usw.

8) (material, as opposed to mind, spirit, etc.) Materie, die

[in]organic/solid/vegetable matter — [an]organische/feste/pflanzliche Stoffe
2. intransitive verb
etwas ausmachen

what does it matter? — was macht das schon?; was macht's? (ugs.)

what matters is that... — worum es geht, ist...

not matter a damn — vollkommen egal sein

doesn't matter — [das] macht nichts (ugs.)

it doesn't matter how/when — etc. es ist einerlei, wie/wann usw.

does it matter to you if...? — macht es dir etwas aus, wenn...?

the things which matter in life — [das,] worauf es im Leben ankommt

* * *

n.

Angelegenheit f.

Gegenstand m.

Grund ¨-e m.

Materie -n f.

Sache -n f.

English-german dictionary > matter
6 peña

Del verbo penar: ( conjugate penar) \ \
pena es: \ \
3ª persona singular (él/ella/usted) presente indicativo

2ª persona singular (tú) imperativo
Multiple Entries: pena penar peña
pena sustantivo femenino 1
a) ( tristeza):

◊ tenía/sentía mucha peña he was o felt very sad;
me da peña verlo it upsets me o it makes me sad to see it; a mí la que me da peña es su mujer it's his wife I feel sorry for; está que da peña she's in a terrible state
b) ( lástima) pity, shame;

◊ ¡qué peña! what a pity o shame!;
es una peña que … it's a pity (that) …; vale or merece la peña it's worth it; vale la peña leerlo/visitarlo it's worth reading/a visit 2
◊ penas sustantivo femenino plural

a) ( problemas) sorrows (pl);

◊ ahogar las peñas to drown one's sorrows;
me contó sus peñas he told me his troubles; a duras peñas ( apenas) hardly; ( con dificultad) with difficulty
b) ( penalidades) hardship
3 (Der) sentence;
◊ la peña máxima the maximum sentence;
peña capital or de muerte death penalty 4 (AmL exc CS) ( vergüenza) embarrassment;
◊ ¡qué peña! how embarrasing!;
me da mucha peña pedírselo I'm too embarrassed to ask him
peña sustantivo femenino 1 ( roca) crag, rock 2
a) ( grupo) circle, group;

◊ peña taurina bullfighting club

b) (AmL) tb

◊ peña folklórica folk club

pena sustantivo femenino
1 (castigo) punishment, penalty: fue condenado a pena de muerte, he was sentenced to death
2 (tristeza) grief, sorrow, sadness: es una pena que no vengas, it's a pity you're not coming
3 (dificultad) hardships pl, trouble Locuciones: estar hecho una pena, to be in a terrible state
merecer o valer la pena, to be worth: no merece la pena que lo hagas, it's not worth doing it
a duras penas, hardly
sin pena ni gloria, almost unnoticed
peña sustantivo femenino
1 rock, crag
2 (de socios, de amigos) club
3 fam (gente) people (pandilla) gang ' peña' also found in these entries: Spanish: ay - cáliz - capital - cicatrizar - compensar - condonar - conmutar - dar - desgarrador - desgarradora - garrote - horda - lamentable - lastimosa - lastimoso - merecer - mortificar - mortificarse - pena - pesar - rebajar - sentimiento - so - valer - aliviar - castigar - causar - consumir - dolor - enorme - gemido - grande - herida - hondo - imponer - indultar - indulto - inmenso - lástima - mal - mitigar - presidio - prisión - severidad - suspirar English: bother - capital punishment - carry - dear - death penalty - grief - grieve - hassle - heart - jail - mope about - mope around - numb - opposed - pay - pay off - penalty - prostrate - remission - retribution - sentence - shame - sorrow - term - trouble - try - wail - worth - worthwhile - against - ashamed - broken - capital - community - death - effort - embarrassed - embarrassing - embarrassment - hurt - mortified - painfully - pity - sort - suspended - well

English-spanish dictionary > peña
7 pena

Del verbo penar: ( conjugate penar) \ \
pena es: \ \
3ª persona singular (él/ella/usted) presente indicativo

2ª persona singular (tú) imperativo
Multiple Entries: pena penar peña
pena sustantivo femenino 1
a) ( tristeza):

◊ tenía/sentía mucha pena he was o felt very sad;
me da pena verlo it upsets me o it makes me sad to see it; a mí la que me da pena es su mujer it's his wife I feel sorry for; está que da pena she's in a terrible state
b) ( lástima) pity, shame;

◊ ¡qué pena! what a pity o shame!;
es una pena que … it's a pity (that) …; vale or merece la pena it's worth it; vale la pena leerlo/visitarlo it's worth reading/a visit 2
◊ penas sustantivo femenino plural

a) ( problemas) sorrows (pl);

◊ ahogar las penas to drown one's sorrows;
me contó sus penas he told me his troubles; a duras penas ( apenas) hardly; ( con dificultad) with difficulty
b) ( penalidades) hardship
3 (Der) sentence;
◊ la pena máxima the maximum sentence;
pena capital or de muerte death penalty 4 (AmL exc CS) ( vergüenza) embarrassment;
◊ ¡qué pena! how embarrasing!;
me da mucha pena pedírselo I'm too embarrassed to ask him
peña sustantivo femenino 1 ( roca) crag, rock 2
a) ( grupo) circle, group;

◊ pena taurina bullfighting club

b) (AmL) tb

◊ pena folklórica folk club

pena sustantivo femenino
1 (castigo) punishment, penalty: fue condenado a pena de muerte, he was sentenced to death
2 (tristeza) grief, sorrow, sadness: es una pena que no vengas, it's a pity you're not coming
3 (dificultad) hardships pl, trouble Locuciones: estar hecho una pena, to be in a terrible state
merecer o valer la pena, to be worth: no merece la pena que lo hagas, it's not worth doing it
a duras penas, hardly
sin pena ni gloria, almost unnoticed
peña sustantivo femenino
1 rock, crag
2 (de socios, de amigos) club
3 fam (gente) people (pandilla) gang ' pena' also found in these entries: Spanish: ay - cáliz - capital - cicatrizar - compensar - condonar - conmutar - dar - desgarrador - desgarradora - garrote - horda - lamentable - lastimosa - lastimoso - merecer - mortificar - mortificarse - peña - pesar - rebajar - sentimiento - so - valer - aliviar - castigar - causar - consumir - dolor - enorme - gemido - grande - herida - hondo - imponer - indultar - indulto - inmenso - lástima - mal - mitigar - presidio - prisión - severidad - suspirar English: bother - capital punishment - carry - dear - death penalty - grief - grieve - hassle - heart - jail - mope about - mope around - numb - opposed - pay - pay off - penalty - prostrate - remission - retribution - sentence - shame - sorrow - term - trouble - try - wail - worth - worthwhile - against - ashamed - broken - capital - community - death - effort - embarrassed - embarrassing - embarrassment - hurt - mortified - painfully - pity - sort - suspended - well

English-spanish dictionary > pena
8 Caetano, Marcello José das Neves Alves

(19061980)

   Marcello Caetano, as the last prime minister of the Estado Novo, was both the heir and successor of Antônio de Oliveira Salazar. In a sense, Caetano was one of the founders and sustainers of this unusual regime and, at various crucial stages of its long life, Caetano's contribution was as important as Salazar's.

   Born in Lisbon in 1906 to a middle-class family, Caetano was a member of the student generation that rebelled against the unstable parliamentary First Republic and sought answers to Portugal's legion of troubles in conservative ideologies such as integralism, Catholic reformism, and the Italian Fascist model. One of the most brilliant students at the University of Lisbon's Law School, Caetano soon became directly involved in government service in various ministries, including Salazar's Ministry of Finance. When Caetano was not teaching full-time at the law school in Lisbon and influencing new generations of students who became critical of the regime he helped construct, Caetano was in important government posts and working on challenging assignments. In the 1930s, he participated in reforms in the Ministry of Finance, in the writing of the 1933 Constitution, in the formation of the new civil code, of which he was in part the author, and in the construction of corporativism, which sought to control labor-management relations and other aspects of social engineering. In a regime largely directed by academics from the law faculties of Coimbra University and the University of Lisbon, Caetano was the leading expert on constitutional law, administrative law, political science, and colonial law. A prolific writer as both a political scientist and historian, Caetano was the author of the standard political science, administrative law, and history of law textbooks, works that remained in print and in use among students long after his exile and death.

   After his apprenticeship service in a number of ministries, Caetano rose steadily in the system. At age 38, he was named minister for the colonies (1944 47), and unlike many predecessors, he "went to see for himself" and made important research visits to Portugal's African territories. In 1955-58, Caetano served in the number-three position in the regime in the Ministry of the Presidency of the Council (premier's office); he left office for full-time academic work in part because of his disagreements with Salazar and others on regime policy and failures to reform at the desired pace. In 1956 and 1957, Caetano briefly served as interim minister of communications and of foreign affairs.

   Caetano's opportunity to take Salazar's place and to challenge even more conservative forces in the system came in the 1960s. Portugal's most prominent law professor had a public falling out with the regime in March 1962, when he resigned as rector of Lisbon University following a clash between rebellious students and the PIDE, the political police. When students opposing the regime organized strikes on the University of Lisbon campus, Caetano resigned his rectorship after the police invaded the campus and beat and arrested some students, without asking permission to enter university premises from university authorities.

   When Salazar became incapacitated in September 1968, President Américo Tomás named Caetano prime minister. His tasks were formidable: in the midst of remarkable economic growth in Portugal, continued heavy immigration of Portuguese to France and other countries, and the costly colonial wars in three African colonies, namely Angola, Guinea- Bissau, and Mozambique, the regime struggled to engineer essential social and political reforms, win the wars in Africa, and move toward meaningful political reforms. Caetano supported moderately important reforms in his first two years in office (1968-70), as well as the drafting of constitutional revisions in 1971 that allowed a slight liberalization of the Dictatorship, gave the opposition more room for activity, and decentrali zed authority in the overseas provinces (colonies). Always aware of the complexity of Portugal's colonial problems and of the ongoing wars, Caetano made several visits to Africa as premier, and he sought to implement reforms in social and economic affairs while maintaining the expensive, divisive military effort, Portugal's largest armed forces mobilization in her history.

   Opposed by intransigent right-wing forces in various sectors in both Portugal and Africa, Caetano's modest "opening" of 1968-70 soon narrowed. Conservative forces in the military, police, civil service, and private sectors opposed key political reforms, including greater democratization, while pursuing the military solution to the African crisis and personal wealth. A significant perspective on Caetano's failed program of reforms, which could not prevent the advent of a creeping revolution in society, is a key development in the 1961-74 era of colonial wars: despite Lisbon's efforts, the greater part of Portuguese emigration and capital investment during this period were directed not to the African colonies but to Europe, North America, and Brazil.

   Prime Minister Caetano, discouraged by events and by opposition to his reforms from the so-called "Rheumatic Brigade" of superannuated regime loyalists, attempted to resign his office, but President Américo Tomás convinced him to remain. The publication and public reception of African hero General Antônio Spinola's best-selling book Portugal e Futuro (Portugal and the Future) in February 1974 convinced the surprised Caetano that a coup and revolution were imminent. When the virtually bloodless, smoothly operating military coup was successful in what became known as the Revolution of 25 April 1974, Caetano surrendered to the Armed Forces Movement in Lisbon and was flown to Madeira Island and later to exile in Brazil, where he remained for the rest of his life. In his Brazilian exile, Caetano was active writing important memoirs and histories of the Estado Novo from his vantage point, teaching law at a private university in Rio de Janeiro, and carrying on a lively correspondence with persons in Portugal. He died at age 74, in 1980, in Brazil.

    See also Empire, Portuguese overseas.

Historical dictionary of Portugal > Caetano, Marcello José das Neves Alves
9 Historical Portugal

   Before Romans described western Iberia or Hispania as "Lusitania," ancient Iberians inhabited the land. Phoenician and Greek trading settlements grew up in the Tagus estuary area and nearby coasts. Beginning around 202 BCE, Romans invaded what is today southern Portugal. With Rome's defeat of Carthage, Romans proceeded to conquer and rule the western region north of the Tagus, which they named Roman "Lusitania." In the fourth century CE, as Rome's rule weakened, the area experienced yet another invasion—Germanic tribes, principally the Suevi, who eventually were Christianized. During the sixth century CE, the Suevi kingdom was superseded by yet another Germanic tribe—the Christian Visigoths.

   A major turning point in Portugal's history came in 711, as Muslim armies from North Africa, consisting of both Arab and Berber elements, invaded the Iberian Peninsula from across the Straits of Gibraltar. They entered what is now Portugal in 714, and proceeded to conquer most of the country except for the far north. For the next half a millennium, Islam and Muslim presence in Portugal left a significant mark upon the politics, government, language, and culture of the country.

   Islam, Reconquest, and Portugal Created, 714-1140

   The long frontier struggle between Muslim invaders and Christian communities in the north of the Iberian peninsula was called the Reconquista (Reconquest). It was during this struggle that the first dynasty of Portuguese kings (Burgundian) emerged and the independent monarchy of Portugal was established. Christian forces moved south from what is now the extreme north of Portugal and gradually defeated Muslim forces, besieging and capturing towns under Muslim sway. In the ninth century, as Christian forces slowly made their way southward, Christian elements were dominant only in the area between Minho province and the Douro River; this region became known as "territorium Portu-calense."

   In the 11th century, the advance of the Reconquest quickened as local Christian armies were reinforced by crusading knights from what is now France and England. Christian forces took Montemor (1034), at the Mondego River; Lamego (1058); Viseu (1058); and Coimbra (1064). In 1095, the king of Castile and Léon granted the country of "Portu-cale," what became northern Portugal, to a Burgundian count who had emigrated from France. This was the foundation of Portugal. In 1139, a descendant of this count, Afonso Henriques, proclaimed himself "King of Portugal." He was Portugal's first monarch, the "Founder," and the first of the Burgundian dynasty, which ruled until 1385.

   The emergence of Portugal in the 12th century as a separate monarchy in Iberia occurred before the Christian Reconquest of the peninsula. In the 1140s, the pope in Rome recognized Afonso Henriques as king of Portugal. In 1147, after a long, bloody siege, Muslim-occupied Lisbon fell to Afonso Henriques's army. Lisbon was the greatest prize of the 500-year war. Assisting this effort were English crusaders on their way to the Holy Land; the first bishop of Lisbon was an Englishman. When the Portuguese captured Faro and Silves in the Algarve province in 1248-50, the Reconquest of the extreme western portion of the Iberian peninsula was complete—significantly, more than two centuries before the Spanish crown completed the Reconquest of the eastern portion by capturing Granada in 1492.

   Consolidation and Independence of Burgundian Portugal, 1140-1385

   Two main themes of Portugal's early existence as a monarchy are the consolidation of control over the realm and the defeat of a Castil-ian threat from the east to its independence. At the end of this period came the birth of a new royal dynasty (Aviz), which prepared to carry the Christian Reconquest beyond continental Portugal across the straits of Gibraltar to North Africa. There was a variety of motives behind these developments. Portugal's independent existence was imperiled by threats from neighboring Iberian kingdoms to the north and east. Politics were dominated not only by efforts against the Muslims in

   Portugal (until 1250) and in nearby southern Spain (until 1492), but also by internecine warfare among the kingdoms of Castile, Léon, Aragon, and Portugal. A final comeback of Muslim forces was defeated at the battle of Salado (1340) by allied Castilian and Portuguese forces. In the emerging Kingdom of Portugal, the monarch gradually gained power over and neutralized the nobility and the Church.

   The historic and commonplace Portuguese saying "From Spain, neither a good wind nor a good marriage" was literally played out in diplomacy and war in the late 14th-century struggles for mastery in the peninsula. Larger, more populous Castile was pitted against smaller Portugal. Castile's Juan I intended to force a union between Castile and Portugal during this era of confusion and conflict. In late 1383, Portugal's King Fernando, the last king of the Burgundian dynasty, suddenly died prematurely at age 38, and the Master of Aviz, Portugal's most powerful nobleman, took up the cause of independence and resistance against Castile's invasion. The Master of Aviz, who became King João I of Portugal, was able to obtain foreign assistance. With the aid of English archers, Joao's armies defeated the Castilians in the crucial battle of Aljubarrota, on 14 August 1385, a victory that assured the independence of the Portuguese monarchy from its Castilian nemesis for several centuries.

   Aviz Dynasty and Portugal's First Overseas Empire, 1385-1580

   The results of the victory at Aljubarrota, much celebrated in Portugal's art and monuments, and the rise of the Aviz dynasty also helped to establish a new merchant class in Lisbon and Oporto, Portugal's second city. This group supported King João I's program of carrying the Reconquest to North Africa, since it was interested in expanding Portugal's foreign commerce and tapping into Muslim trade routes and resources in Africa. With the Reconquest against the Muslims completed in Portugal and the threat from Castile thwarted for the moment, the Aviz dynasty launched an era of overseas conquest, exploration, and trade. These efforts dominated Portugal's 15th and 16th centuries.

   The overseas empire and age of Discoveries began with Portugal's bold conquest in 1415 of the Moroccan city of Ceuta. One royal member of the 1415 expedition was young, 21-year-old Prince Henry, later known in history as "Prince Henry the Navigator." His part in the capture of Ceuta won Henry his knighthood and began Portugal's "Marvelous Century," during which the small kingdom was counted as a European and world power of consequence. Henry was the son of King João I and his English queen, Philippa of Lancaster, but he did not inherit the throne. Instead, he spent most of his life and his fortune, and that of the wealthy military Order of Christ, on various imperial ventures and on voyages of exploration down the African coast and into the Atlantic. While mythology has surrounded Henry's controversial role in the Discoveries, and this role has been exaggerated, there is no doubt that he played a vital part in the initiation of Portugal's first overseas empire and in encouraging exploration. He was naturally curious, had a sense of mission for Portugal, and was a strong leader. He also had wealth to expend; at least a third of the African voyages of the time were under his sponsorship. If Prince Henry himself knew little science, significant scientific advances in navigation were made in his day.

   What were Portugal's motives for this new imperial effort? The well-worn historical cliche of "God, Glory, and Gold" can only partly explain the motivation of a small kingdom with few natural resources and barely 1 million people, which was greatly outnumbered by the other powers it confronted. Among Portuguese objectives were the desire to exploit known North African trade routes and resources (gold, wheat, leather, weaponry, and other goods that were scarce in Iberia); the need to outflank the Muslim world in the Mediterranean by sailing around Africa, attacking Muslims en route; and the wish to ally with Christian kingdoms beyond Africa. This enterprise also involved a strategy of breaking the Venetian spice monopoly by trading directly with the East by means of discovering and exploiting a sea route around Africa to Asia. Besides the commercial motives, Portugal nurtured a strong crusading sense of Christian mission, and various classes in the kingdom saw an opportunity for fame and gain.

   By the time of Prince Henry's death in 1460, Portugal had gained control of the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeiras, begun to colonize the Cape Verde Islands, failed to conquer the Canary Islands from Castile, captured various cities on Morocco's coast, and explored as far as Senegal, West Africa, down the African coast. By 1488, Bar-tolomeu Dias had rounded the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa and thereby discovered the way to the Indian Ocean.

   Portugal's largely coastal African empire and later its fragile Asian empire brought unexpected wealth but were purchased at a high price. Costs included wars of conquest and defense against rival powers, manning the far-flung navel and trade fleets and scattered castle-fortresses, and staffing its small but fierce armies, all of which entailed a loss of skills and population to maintain a scattered empire. Always short of capital, the monarchy became indebted to bankers. There were many defeats beginning in the 16th century at the hands of the larger imperial European monarchies (Spain, France, England, and Holland) and many attacks on Portugal and its strung-out empire. Typically, there was also the conflict that arose when a tenuously held world empire that rarely if ever paid its way demanded finance and manpower Portugal itself lacked.

   The first 80 years of the glorious imperial era, the golden age of Portugal's imperial power and world influence, was an African phase. During 1415-88, Portuguese navigators and explorers in small ships, some of them caravelas (caravels), explored the treacherous, disease-ridden coasts of Africa from Morocco to South Africa beyond the Cape of Good Hope. By the 1470s, the Portuguese had reached the Gulf of Guinea and, in the early 1480s, what is now Angola. Bartolomeu Dias's extraordinary voyage of 1487-88 to South Africa's coast and the edge of the Indian Ocean convinced Portugal that the best route to Asia's spices and Christians lay south, around the tip of southern Africa. Between 1488 and 1495, there was a hiatus caused in part by domestic conflict in Portugal, discussion of resources available for further conquests beyond Africa in Asia, and serious questions as to Portugal's capacity to reach beyond Africa. In 1495, King Manuel and his council decided to strike for Asia, whatever the consequences. In 1497-99, Vasco da Gama, under royal orders, made the epic two-year voyage that discovered the sea route to western India (Asia), outflanked Islam and Venice, and began Portugal's Asian empire. Within 50 years, Portugal had discovered and begun the exploitation of its largest colony, Brazil, and set up forts and trading posts from the Middle East (Aden and Ormuz), India (Calicut, Goa, etc.), Malacca, and Indonesia to Macau in China.

   By the 1550s, parts of its largely coastal, maritime trading post empire from Morocco to the Moluccas were under siege from various hostile forces, including Muslims, Christians, and Hindi. Although Moroccan forces expelled the Portuguese from the major coastal cities by 1550, the rival European monarchies of Castile (Spain), England, France, and later Holland began to seize portions of her undermanned, outgunned maritime empire.

   In 1580, Phillip II of Spain, whose mother was a Portuguese princess and who had a strong claim to the Portuguese throne, invaded Portugal, claimed the throne, and assumed control over the realm and, by extension, its African, Asian, and American empires. Phillip II filled the power vacuum that appeared in Portugal following the loss of most of Portugal's army and its young, headstrong King Sebastião in a disastrous war in Morocco. Sebastiao's death in battle (1578) and the lack of a natural heir to succeed him, as well as the weak leadership of the cardinal who briefly assumed control in Lisbon, led to a crisis that Spain's strong monarch exploited. As a result, Portugal lost its independence to Spain for a period of 60 years.

   Portugal under Spanish Rule, 1580-1640

   Despite the disastrous nature of Portugal's experience under Spanish rule, "The Babylonian Captivity" gave birth to modern Portuguese nationalism, its second overseas empire, and its modern alliance system with England. Although Spain allowed Portugal's weakened empire some autonomy, Spanish rule in Portugal became increasingly burdensome and unacceptable. Spain's ambitious imperial efforts in Europe and overseas had an impact on the Portuguese as Spain made greater and greater demands on its smaller neighbor for manpower and money. Portugal's culture underwent a controversial Castilianization, while its empire became hostage to Spain's fortunes. New rival powers England, France, and Holland attacked and took parts of Spain's empire and at the same time attacked Portugal's empire, as well as the mother country.

   Portugal's empire bore the consequences of being attacked by Spain's bitter enemies in what was a form of world war. Portuguese losses were heavy. By 1640, Portugal had lost most of its Moroccan cities as well as Ceylon, the Moluccas, and sections of India. With this, Portugal's Asian empire was gravely weakened. Only Goa, Damão, Diu, Bombay, Timor, and Macau remained and, in Brazil, Dutch forces occupied the northeast.

   On 1 December 1640, long commemorated as a national holiday, Portuguese rebels led by the duke of Braganza overthrew Spanish domination and took advantage of Spanish weakness following a more serious rebellion in Catalonia. Portugal regained independence from Spain, but at a price: dependence on foreign assistance to maintain its independence in the form of the renewal of the alliance with England.

   Restoration and Second Empire, 1640-1822

   Foreign affairs and empire dominated the restoration era and aftermath, and Portugal again briefly enjoyed greater European power and prestige. The Anglo-Portuguese Alliance was renewed and strengthened in treaties of 1642, 1654, and 1661, and Portugal's independence from Spain was underwritten by English pledges and armed assistance. In a Luso-Spanish treaty of 1668, Spain recognized Portugal's independence. Portugal's alliance with England was a marriage of convenience and necessity between two monarchies with important religious, cultural, and social differences. In return for legal, diplomatic, and trade privileges, as well as the use during war and peace of Portugal's great Lisbon harbor and colonial ports for England's navy, England pledged to protect Portugal and its scattered empire from any attack. The previously cited 17th-century alliance treaties were renewed later in the Treaty of Windsor, signed in London in 1899. On at least 10 different occasions after 1640, and during the next two centuries, England was central in helping prevent or repel foreign invasions of its ally, Portugal.

   Portugal's second empire (1640-1822) was largely Brazil-oriented. Portuguese colonization, exploitation of wealth, and emigration focused on Portuguese America, and imperial revenues came chiefly from Brazil. Between 1670 and 1740, Portugal's royalty and nobility grew wealthier on funds derived from Brazilian gold, diamonds, sugar, tobacco, and other crops, an enterprise supported by the Atlantic slave trade and the supply of African slave labor from West Africa and Angola. Visitors today can see where much of that wealth was invested: Portugal's rich legacy of monumental architecture. Meanwhile, the African slave trade took a toll in Angola and West Africa.

   In continental Portugal, absolutist monarchy dominated politics and government, and there was a struggle for position and power between the monarchy and other institutions, such as the Church and nobility. King José I's chief minister, usually known in history as the marquis of Pombal (ruled 1750-77), sharply suppressed the nobility and the

   Church (including the Inquisition, now a weak institution) and expelled the Jesuits. Pombal also made an effort to reduce economic dependence on England, Portugal's oldest ally. But his successes did not last much beyond his disputed time in office.

   Beginning in the late 18th century, the European-wide impact of the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon placed Portugal in a vulnerable position. With the monarchy ineffectively led by an insane queen (Maria I) and her indecisive regent son (João VI), Portugal again became the focus of foreign ambition and aggression. With England unable to provide decisive assistance in time, France—with Spain's consent—invaded Portugal in 1807. As Napoleon's army under General Junot entered Lisbon meeting no resistance, Portugal's royal family fled on a British fleet to Brazil, where it remained in exile until 1821. In the meantime, Portugal's overseas empire was again under threat. There was a power vacuum as the monarch was absent, foreign armies were present, and new political notions of liberalism and constitutional monarchy were exciting various groups of citizens.

   Again England came to the rescue, this time in the form of the armies of the duke of Wellington. Three successive French invasions of Portugal were defeated and expelled, and Wellington succeeded in carrying the war against Napoleon across the Portuguese frontier into Spain. The presence of the English army, the new French-born liberal ideas, and the political vacuum combined to create revolutionary conditions. The French invasions and the peninsular wars, where Portuguese armed forces played a key role, marked the beginning of a new era in politics.

   Liberalism and Constitutional Monarchy, 1822-1910

   During 1807-22, foreign invasions, war, and civil strife over conflicting political ideas gravely damaged Portugal's commerce, economy, and novice industry. The next terrible blow was the loss of Brazil in 1822, the jewel in the imperial crown. Portugal's very independence seemed to be at risk. In vain, Portugal sought to resist Brazilian independence by force, but in 1825 it formally acknowledged Brazilian independence by treaty.

   Portugal's slow recovery from the destructive French invasions and the "war of independence" was complicated by civil strife over the form of constitutional monarchy that best suited Portugal. After struggles over these issues between 1820 and 1834, Portugal settled somewhat uncertainly into a moderate constitutional monarchy whose constitution (Charter of 1826) lent it strong political powers to exert a moderating influence between the executive and legislative branches of the government. It also featured a new upper middle class based on land ownership and commerce; a Catholic Church that, although still important, lived with reduced privileges and property; a largely African (third) empire to which Lisbon and Oporto devoted increasing spiritual and material resources, starting with the liberal imperial plans of 1836 and 1851, and continuing with the work of institutions like the Lisbon Society of Geography (established 1875); and a mass of rural peasants whose bonds to the land weakened after 1850 and who began to immigrate in increasing numbers to Brazil and North America.

   Chronic military intervention in national politics began in 19th-century Portugal. Such intervention, usually commencing with coups or pronunciamentos (military revolts), was a shortcut to the spoils of political office and could reflect popular discontent as well as the power of personalities. An early example of this was the 1817 golpe (coup) attempt of General Gomes Freire against British military rule in Portugal before the return of King João VI from Brazil. Except for a more stable period from 1851 to 1880, military intervention in politics, or the threat thereof, became a feature of the constitutional monarchy's political life, and it continued into the First Republic and the subsequent Estado Novo.

   Beginning with the Regeneration period (1851-80), Portugal experienced greater political stability and economic progress. Military intervention in politics virtually ceased; industrialization and construction of railroads, roads, and bridges proceeded; two political parties (Regenerators and Historicals) worked out a system of rotation in power; and leading intellectuals sparked a cultural revival in several fields. In 19th-century literature, there was a new golden age led by such figures as Alexandre Herculano (historian), Eça de Queirós (novelist), Almeida Garrett (playwright and essayist), Antero de Quental (poet), and Joaquim Oliveira Martins (historian and social scientist). In its third overseas empire, Portugal attempted to replace the slave trade and slavery with legitimate economic activities; to reform the administration; and to expand Portuguese holdings beyond coastal footholds deep into the African hinterlands in West, West Central, and East Africa. After 1841, to some extent, and especially after 1870, colonial affairs, combined with intense nationalism, pressures for economic profit in Africa, sentiment for national revival, and the drift of European affairs would make or break Lisbon governments.

   Beginning with the political crisis that arose out of the "English Ultimatum" affair of January 1890, the monarchy became discredtted and identified with the poorly functioning government, political parties splintered, and republicanism found more supporters. Portugal participated in the "Scramble for Africa," expanding its African holdings, but failed to annex territory connecting Angola and Mozambique. A growing foreign debt and state bankruptcy as of the early 1890s damaged the constitutional monarchy's reputation, despite the efforts of King Carlos in diplomacy, the renewal of the alliance in the Windsor Treaty of 1899, and the successful if bloody colonial wars in the empire (1880-97). Republicanism proclaimed that Portugal's weak economy and poor society were due to two historic institutions: the monarchy and the Catholic Church. A republic, its stalwarts claimed, would bring greater individual liberty; efficient, if more decentralized government; and a stronger colonial program while stripping the Church of its role in both society and education.

   As the monarchy lost support and republicans became more aggressive, violence increased in politics. King Carlos I and his heir Luís were murdered in Lisbon by anarchist-republicans on 1 February 1908. Following a military and civil insurrection and fighting between monarchist and republican forces, on 5 October 1910, King Manuel II fled Portugal and a republic was proclaimed.

   First Parliamentary Republic, 1910-26

   Portugal's first attempt at republican government was the most unstable, turbulent parliamentary republic in the history of 20th-century Western Europe. During a little under 16 years of the republic, there were 45 governments, a number of legislatures that did not complete normal terms, military coups, and only one president who completed his four-year term in office. Portuguese society was poorly prepared for this political experiment. Among the deadly legacies of the monarchy were a huge public debt; a largely rural, apolitical, and illiterate peasant population; conflict over the causes of the country's misfortunes; and lack of experience with a pluralist, democratic system.

   The republic had some talented leadership but lacked popular, institutional, and economic support. The 1911 republican constitution established only a limited democracy, as only a small portion of the adult male citizenry was eligible to vote. In a country where the majority was Catholic, the republic passed harshly anticlerical laws, and its institutions and supporters persecuted both the Church and its adherents. During its brief disjointed life, the First Republic drafted important reform plans in economic, social, and educational affairs; actively promoted development in the empire; and pursued a liberal, generous foreign policy. Following British requests for Portugal's assistance in World War I, Portugal entered the war on the Allied side in March 1916 and sent armies to Flanders and Portuguese Africa. Portugal's intervention in that conflict, however, was too costly in many respects, and the ultimate failure of the republic in part may be ascribed to Portugal's World War I activities.

   Unfortunately for the republic, its time coincided with new threats to Portugal's African possessions: World War I, social and political demands from various classes that could not be reconciled, excessive military intervention in politics, and, in particular, the worst economic and financial crisis Portugal had experienced since the 16th and 17th centuries. After the original Portuguese Republican Party (PRP, also known as the "Democrats") splintered into three warring groups in 1912, no true multiparty system emerged. The Democrats, except for only one or two elections, held an iron monopoly of electoral power, and political corruption became a major issue. As extreme right-wing dictatorships elsewhere in Europe began to take power in Italy (1922), neighboring Spain (1923), and Greece (1925), what scant popular support remained for the republic collapsed. Backed by a right-wing coalition of landowners from Alentejo, clergy, Coimbra University faculty and students, Catholic organizations, and big business, career military officers led by General Gomes da Costa executed a coup on 28 May 1926, turned out the last republican government, and established a military government.

   The Estado Novo (New State), 1926-74

   During the military phase (1926-32) of the Estado Novo, professional military officers, largely from the army, governed and administered Portugal and held key cabinet posts, but soon discovered that the military possessed no magic formula that could readily solve the problems inherited from the First Republic. Especially during the years 1926-31, the military dictatorship, even with its political repression of republican activities and institutions (military censorship of the press, political police action, and closure of the republic's rowdy parliament), was characterized by similar weaknesses: personalism and factionalism; military coups and political instability, including civil strife and loss of life; state debt and bankruptcy; and a weak economy. "Barracks parliamentarism" was not an acceptable alternative even to the "Nightmare Republic."

   Led by General Óscar Carmona, who had replaced and sent into exile General Gomes da Costa, the military dictatorship turned to a civilian expert in finance and economics to break the budget impasse and bring coherence to the disorganized system. Appointed minister of finance on 27 April 1928, the Coimbra University Law School professor of economics Antônio de Oliveira Salazar (1889-1970) first reformed finance, helped balance the budget, and then turned to other concerns as he garnered extraordinary governing powers. In 1930, he was appointed interim head of another key ministry (Colonies) and within a few years had become, in effect, a civilian dictator who, with the military hierarchy's support, provided the government with coherence, a program, and a set of policies.

   For nearly 40 years after he was appointed the first civilian prime minister in 1932, Salazar's personality dominated the government. Unlike extreme right-wing dictators elsewhere in Europe, Salazar was directly appointed by the army but was never endorsed by a popular political party, street militia, or voter base. The scholarly, reclusive former Coimbra University professor built up what became known after 1932 as the Estado Novo ("New State"), which at the time of its overthrow by another military coup in 1974, was the longest surviving authoritarian regime in Western Europe. The system of Salazar and the largely academic and technocratic ruling group he gathered in his cabinets was based on the central bureaucracy of the state, which was supported by the president of the republic—always a senior career military officer, General Óscar Carmona (1928-51), General Craveiro Lopes (1951-58), and Admiral Américo Tómaz (1958-74)—and the complicity of various institutions. These included a rubber-stamp legislature called the National Assembly (1935-74) and a political police known under various names: PVDE (1932-45), PIDE (1945-69),

   and DGS (1969-74). Other defenders of the Estado Novo security were paramilitary organizations such as the National Republican Guard (GNR); the Portuguese Legion (PL); and the Portuguese Youth [Movement]. In addition to censorship of the media, theater, and books, there was political repression and a deliberate policy of depoliticization. All political parties except for the approved movement of regime loyalists, the União Nacional or (National Union), were banned.

   The most vigorous and more popular period of the New State was 1932-44, when the basic structures were established. Never monolithic or entirely the work of one person (Salazar), the New State was constructed with the assistance of several dozen top associates who were mainly academics from law schools, some technocrats with specialized skills, and a handful of trusted career military officers. The 1933 Constitution declared Portugal to be a "unitary, corporative Republic," and pressures to restore the monarchy were resisted. Although some of the regime's followers were fascists and pseudofascists, many more were conservative Catholics, integralists, nationalists, and monarchists of different varieties, and even some reactionary republicans. If the New State was authoritarian, it was not totalitarian and, unlike fascism in Benito Mussolini's Italy or Adolf Hitler's Germany, it usually employed the minimum of violence necessary to defeat what remained a largely fractious, incoherent opposition.

   With the tumultuous Second Republic and the subsequent civil war in nearby Spain, the regime felt threatened and reinforced its defenses. During what Salazar rightly perceived as a time of foreign policy crisis for Portugal (1936-45), he assumed control of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From there, he pursued four basic foreign policy objectives: supporting the Nationalist rebels of General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) and concluding defense treaties with a triumphant Franco; ensuring that General Franco in an exhausted Spain did not enter World War II on the Axis side; maintaining Portuguese neutrality in World War II with a post-1942 tilt toward the Allies, including granting Britain and the United States use of bases in the Azores Islands; and preserving and protecting Portugal's Atlantic Islands and its extensive, if poor, overseas empire in Africa and Asia.

   During the middle years of the New State (1944-58), many key Salazar associates in government either died or resigned, and there was greater social unrest in the form of unprecedented strikes and clandestine Communist activities, intensified opposition, and new threatening international pressures on Portugal's overseas empire. During the earlier phase of the Cold War (1947-60), Portugal became a steadfast, if weak, member of the US-dominated North Atlantic Treaty Organization alliance and, in 1955, with American support, Portugal joined the United Nations (UN). Colonial affairs remained a central concern of the regime. As of 1939, Portugal was the third largest colonial power in the world and possessed territories in tropical Africa (Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, and São Tomé and Príncipe Islands) and the remnants of its 16th-century empire in Asia (Goa, Damão, Diu, East Timor, and Macau). Beginning in the early 1950s, following the independence of India in 1947, Portugal resisted Indian pressures to decolonize Portuguese India and used police forces to discourage internal opposition in its Asian and African colonies.

   The later years of the New State (1958-68) witnessed the aging of the increasingly isolated but feared Salazar and new threats both at home and overseas. Although the regime easily overcame the brief oppositionist threat from rival presidential candidate General Humberto Delgado in the spring of 1958, new developments in the African and Asian empires imperiled the authoritarian system. In February 1961, oppositionists hijacked the Portuguese ocean liner Santa Maria and, in following weeks, African insurgents in northern Angola, although they failed to expel the Portuguese, gained worldwide media attention, discredited the New State, and began the 13-year colonial war. After thwarting a dissident military coup against his continued leadership, Salazar and his ruling group mobilized military repression in Angola and attempted to develop the African colonies at a faster pace in order to ensure Portuguese control. Meanwhile, the other European colonial powers (Britain, France, Belgium, and Spain) rapidly granted political independence to their African territories.

   At the time of Salazar's removal from power in September 1968, following a stroke, Portugal's efforts to maintain control over its colonies appeared to be successful. President Americo Tomás appointed Dr. Marcello Caetano as Salazar's successor as prime minister. While maintaining the New State's basic structures, and continuing the regime's essential colonial policy, Caetano attempted wider reforms in colonial administration and some devolution of power from Lisbon, as well as more freedom of expression in Lisbon. Still, a great deal of the budget was devoted to supporting the wars against the insurgencies in Africa. Meanwhile in Asia, Portuguese India had fallen when the Indian army invaded in December 1961. The loss of Goa was a psychological blow to the leadership of the New State, and of the Asian empire only East Timor and Macau remained.

   The Caetano years (1968-74) were but a hiatus between the waning Salazar era and a new regime. There was greater political freedom and rapid economic growth (5-6 percent annually to late 1973), but Caetano's government was unable to reform the old system thoroughly and refused to consider new methods either at home or in the empire. In the end, regime change came from junior officers of the professional military who organized the Armed Forces Movement (MFA) against the Caetano government. It was this group of several hundred officers, mainly in the army and navy, which engineered a largely bloodless coup in Lisbon on 25 April 1974. Their unexpected action brought down the 48-year-old New State and made possible the eventual establishment and consolidation of democratic governance in Portugal, as well as a reorientation of the country away from the Atlantic toward Europe.

   Revolution of Carnations, 1974-76

   Following successful military operations of the Armed Forces Movement against the Caetano government, Portugal experienced what became known as the "Revolution of Carnations." It so happened that during the rainy week of the military golpe, Lisbon flower shops were featuring carnations, and the revolutionaries and their supporters adopted the red carnation as the common symbol of the event, as well as of the new freedom from dictatorship. The MFA, whose leaders at first were mostly little-known majors and captains, proclaimed a three-fold program of change for the new Portugal: democracy; decolonization of the overseas empire, after ending the colonial wars; and developing a backward economy in the spirit of opportunity and equality. During the first 24 months after the coup, there was civil strife, some anarchy, and a power struggle. With the passing of the Estado Novo, public euphoria burst forth as the new provisional military government proclaimed the freedoms of speech, press, and assembly, and abolished censorship, the political police, the Portuguese Legion, Portuguese Youth, and other New State organizations, including the National Union. Scores of political parties were born and joined the senior political party, the Portuguese Community Party (PCP), and the Socialist Party (PS), founded shortly before the coup.

   Portugal's Revolution of Carnations went through several phases. There was an attempt to take control by radical leftists, including the PCP and its allies. This was thwarted by moderate officers in the army, as well as by the efforts of two political parties: the PS and the Social Democrats (PPD, later PSD). The first phase was from April to September 1974. Provisional president General Antonio Spínola, whose 1974 book Portugal and the Future had helped prepare public opinion for the coup, met irresistible leftist pressures. After Spinola's efforts to avoid rapid decolonization of the African empire failed, he resigned in September 1974. During the second phase, from September 1974 to March 1975, radical military officers gained control, but a coup attempt by General Spínola and his supporters in Lisbon in March 1975 failed and Spínola fled to Spain.

   In the third phase of the Revolution, March-November 1975, a strong leftist reaction followed. Farm workers occupied and "nationalized" 1.1 million hectares of farmland in the Alentejo province, and radical military officers in the provisional government ordered the nationalization of Portuguese banks (foreign banks were exempted), utilities, and major industries, or about 60 percent of the economic system. There were power struggles among various political parties — a total of 50 emerged—and in the streets there was civil strife among labor, military, and law enforcement groups. A constituent assembly, elected on 25 April 1975, in Portugal's first free elections since 1926, drafted a democratic constitution. The Council of the Revolution (CR), briefly a revolutionary military watchdog committee, was entrenched as part of the government under the constitution, until a later revision. During the chaotic year of 1975, about 30 persons were killed in political frays while unstable provisional governments came and went. On 25 November 1975, moderate military forces led by Colonel Ramalho Eanes, who later was twice elected president of the republic (1976 and 1981), defeated radical, leftist military groups' revolutionary conspiracies.

   In the meantime, Portugal's scattered overseas empire experienced a precipitous and unprepared decolonization. One by one, the former colonies were granted and accepted independence—Guinea-Bissau (September 1974), Cape Verde Islands (July 1975), and Mozambique (July 1975). Portugal offered to turn over Macau to the People's Republic of China, but the offer was refused then and later negotiations led to the establishment of a formal decolonization or hand-over date of 1999. But in two former colonies, the process of decolonization had tragic results.

   In Angola, decolonization negotiations were greatly complicated by the fact that there were three rival nationalist movements in a struggle for power. The January 1975 Alvor Agreement signed by Portugal and these three parties was not effectively implemented. A bloody civil war broke out in Angola in the spring of 1975 and, when Portuguese armed forces withdrew and declared that Angola was independent on 11 November 1975, the bloodshed only increased. Meanwhile, most of the white Portuguese settlers from Angola and Mozambique fled during the course of 1975. Together with African refugees, more than 600,000 of these retornados ("returned ones") went by ship and air to Portugal and thousands more to Namibia, South Africa, Brazil, Canada, and the United States.

   The second major decolonization disaster was in Portugal's colony of East Timor in the Indonesian archipelago. Portugal's capacity to supervise and control a peaceful transition to independence in this isolated, neglected colony was limited by the strength of giant Indonesia, distance from Lisbon, and Portugal's revolutionary disorder and inability to defend Timor. In early December 1975, before Portugal granted formal independence and as one party, FRETILIN, unilaterally declared East Timor's independence, Indonesia's armed forces invaded, conquered, and annexed East Timor. Indonesian occupation encountered East Timorese resistance, and a heavy loss of life followed. The East Timor question remained a contentious international issue in the UN, as well as in Lisbon and Jakarta, for more than 20 years following Indonesia's invasion and annexation of the former colony of Portugal. Major changes occurred, beginning in 1998, after Indonesia underwent a political revolution and allowed a referendum in East Timor to decide that territory's political future in August 1999. Most East Timorese chose independence, but Indonesian forces resisted that verdict until

   UN intervention in September 1999. Following UN rule for several years, East Timor attained full independence on 20 May 2002.

   Consolidation of Democracy, 1976-2000

   After several free elections and record voter turnouts between 25 April 1975 and June 1976, civil war was averted and Portugal's second democratic republic began to stabilize. The MFA was dissolved, the military were returned to the barracks, and increasingly elected civilians took over the government of the country. The 1976 Constitution was revised several times beginning in 1982 and 1989, in order to reempha-size the principle of free enterprise in the economy while much of the large, nationalized sector was privatized. In June 1976, General Ram-alho Eanes was elected the first constitutional president of the republic (five-year term), and he appointed socialist leader Dr. Mário Soares as prime minister of the first constitutional government.

   From 1976 to 1985, Portugal's new system featured a weak economy and finances, labor unrest, and administrative and political instability. The difficult consolidation of democratic governance was eased in part by the strong currency and gold reserves inherited from the Estado Novo, but Lisbon seemed unable to cope with high unemployment, new debt, the complex impact of the refugees from Africa, world recession, and the agitation of political parties. Four major parties emerged from the maelstrom of 1974-75, except for the Communist Party, all newly founded. They were, from left to right, the Communists (PCP); the Socialists (PS), who managed to dominate governments and the legislature but not win a majority in the Assembly of the Republic; the Social Democrats (PSD); and the Christian Democrats (CDS). During this period, the annual growth rate was low (l-2 percent), and the nationalized sector of the economy stagnated.

   Enhanced economic growth, greater political stability, and more effective central government as of 1985, and especially 1987, were due to several developments. In 1977, Portugal applied for membership in the European Economic Community (EEC), now the European Union (EU) since 1993. In January 1986, with Spain, Portugal was granted membership, and economic and financial progress in the intervening years has been significantly influenced by the comparatively large investment, loans, technology, advice, and other assistance from the EEC. Low unemployment, high annual growth rates (5 percent), and moderate inflation have also been induced by the new political and administrative stability in Lisbon. Led by Prime Minister Cavaco Silva, an economist who was trained abroad, the PSD's strong organization, management, and electoral support since 1985 have assisted in encouraging economic recovery and development. In 1985, the PSD turned the PS out of office and won the general election, although they did not have an absolute majority of assembly seats. In 1986, Mário Soares was elected president of the republic, the first civilian to hold that office since the First Republic. In the elections of 1987 and 1991, however, the PSD was returned to power with clear majorities of over 50 percent of the vote.

   Although the PSD received 50.4 percent of the vote in the 1991 parliamentary elections and held a 42-seat majority in the Assembly of the Republic, the party began to lose public support following media revelations regarding corruption and complaints about Prime Minister Cavaco Silva's perceived arrogant leadership style. President Mário Soares voiced criticism of the PSD's seemingly untouchable majority and described a "tyranny of the majority." Economic growth slowed down. In the parliamentary elections of 1995 and the presidential election of 1996, the PSD's dominance ended for the time being. Prime Minister Antônio Guterres came to office when the PS won the October 1995 elections, and in the subsequent presidential contest, in January 1996, socialist Jorge Sampaio, the former mayor of Lisbon, was elected president of the republic, thus defeating Cavaco Silva's bid. Young and popular, Guterres moved the PS toward the center of the political spectrum. Under Guterres, the PS won the October 1999 parliamentary elections. The PS defeated the PSD but did not manage to win a clear, working majority of seats, and this made the PS dependent upon alliances with smaller parties, including the PCP.

   In the local elections in December 2001, the PSD's criticism of PS's heavy public spending allowed the PSD to take control of the key cities of Lisbon, Oporto, and Coimbra. Guterres resigned, and parliamentary elections were brought forward from 2004 to March 2002. The PSD won a narrow victory with 40 percent of the votes, and Jose Durão Barroso became prime minister. Having failed to win a majority of the seats in parliament forced the PSD to govern in coalition with the right-wing Popular Party (PP) led by Paulo Portas. Durão Barroso set about reducing government spending by cutting the budgets of local authorities, freezing civil service hiring, and reviving the economy by accelerating privatization of state-owned enterprises. These measures provoked a 24-hour strike by public-sector workers. Durão Barroso reacted with vows to press ahead with budget-cutting measures and imposed a wage freeze on all employees earning more than €1,000, which affected more than one-half of Portugal's work force.

   In June 2004, Durão Barroso was invited by Romano Prodi to succeed him as president of the European Commission. Durão Barroso accepted and resigned the prime ministership in July. Pedro Santana Lopes, the leader of the PSD, became prime minister. Already unpopular at the time of Durão Barroso's resignation, the PSD-led government became increasingly unpopular under Santana Lopes. A month-long delay in the start of the school year and confusion over his plan to cut taxes and raise public-sector salaries, eroded confidence even more. By November, Santana Lopes's government was so unpopular that President Jorge Sampaio was obliged to dissolve parliament and hold new elections, two years ahead of schedule.

   Parliamentary elections were held on 20 February 2005. The PS, which had promised the electorate disciplined and transparent governance, educational reform, the alleviation of poverty, and a boost in employment, won 45 percent of the vote and the majority of the seats in parliament. The leader of the PS, José Sôcrates became prime minister on 12 March 2005. In the regularly scheduled presidential elections held on 6 January 2006, the former leader of the PSD and prime minister, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, won a narrow victory and became president on 9 March 2006. With a mass protest, public teachers' strike, and street demonstrations in March 2008, Portugal's media, educational, and social systems experienced more severe pressures. With the spreading global recession beginning in September 2008, Portugal's economic and financial systems became more troubled.

    Contemporary Portugal

   Owing to its geographic location on the southwestern most edge of continental Europe, Portugal has been historically in but not of Europe. Almost from the beginning of its existence in the 12th century as an independent monarchy, Portugal turned its back on Europe and oriented itself toward the Atlantic Ocean. After carving out a Christian kingdom on the western portion of the Iberian peninsula, Portuguese kings gradually built and maintained a vast seaborne global empire that became central to the way Portugal understood its individuality as a nation-state. While the creation of this empire allows Portugal to claim an unusual number of "firsts" or distinctions in world and Western history, it also retarded Portugal's economic, social, and political development. It can be reasonably argued that the Revolution of 25 April 1974 was the most decisive event in Portugal's long history because it finally ended Portugal's oceanic mission and view of itself as an imperial power. After the 1974 Revolution, Portugal turned away from its global mission and vigorously reoriented itself toward Europe. Contemporary Portugal is now both in and of Europe.

   The turn toward Europe began immediately after 25 April 1974. Portugal granted independence to its African colonies in 1975. It was admitted to the European Council and took the first steps toward accession to the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1976. On 28 March 1977, the Portuguese government officially applied for EEC membership. Because of Portugal's economic and social backwardness, which would require vast sums of EEC money to overcome, negotiations for membership were long and difficult. Finally, a treaty of accession was signed on 12 June 1985. Portugal officially joined the EEC (the European Union [EU] since 1993) on 1 January 1986. Since becoming a full-fledged member of the EU, Portugal has been steadily overcoming the economic and social underdevelopment caused by its imperial past and is becoming more like the rest of Europe.

   Membership in the EU has speeded up the structural transformation of Portugal's economy, which actually began during the Estado Novo. Investments made by the Estado Novo in Portugal's economy began to shift employment out of the agricultural sector, which, in 1950, accounted for 50 percent of Portugal's economically active population. Today, only 10 percent of the economically active population is employed in the agricultural sector (the highest among EU member states); 30 percent in the industrial sector (also the highest among EU member states); and 60 percent in the service sector (the lowest among EU member states). The economically active population numbers about 5,000,000 employed, 56 percent of whom are women. Women workers are the majority of the workforce in the agricultural and service sectors (the highest among the EU member states). The expansion of the service sector has been primarily in health care and education. Portugal has had the lowest unemployment rates among EU member states, with the overall rate never being more than 10 percent of the active population. Since joining the EU, the number of employers increased from 2.6 percent to 5.8 percent of the active population; self-employed from 16 to 19 percent; and employees from 65 to 70 percent. Twenty-six percent of the employers are women. Unemployment tends to hit younger workers in industry and transportation, women employed in domestic service, workers on short-term contracts, and poorly educated workers. Salaried workers earn only 63 percent of the EU average, and hourly workers only one-third to one-half of that earned by their EU counterparts. Despite having had the second highest growth of gross national product (GNP) per inhabitant (after Ireland) among EU member states, the above data suggest that while much has been accomplished in terms of modernizing the Portuguese economy, much remains to be done to bring Portugal's economy up to the level of the "average" EU member state.

   Membership in the EU has also speeded up changes in Portuguese society. Over the last 30 years, coastalization and urbanization have intensified. Fully 50 percent of Portuguese live in the coastal urban conurbations of Lisbon, Oporto, Braga, Aveiro, Coimbra, Viseu, Évora, and Faro. The Portuguese population is one of the oldest among EU member states (17.3 percent are 65 years of age or older) thanks to a considerable increase in life expectancy at birth (77.87 years for the total population, 74.6 years for men, 81.36 years for women) and one of the lowest birthrates (10.59 births/1,000) in Europe. Family size averages 2.8 persons per household, with the strict nuclear family (one or two generations) in which both parents work being typical. Common law marriages, cohabitating couples, and single-parent households are more and more common. The divorce rate has also increased. "Youth Culture" has developed. The young have their own meeting places, leisure-time activities, and nightlife (bars, clubs, and discos).

   All Portuguese citizens, whether they have contributed or not, have a right to an old-age pension, invalidity benefits, widowed persons' pension, as well as payments for disabilities, children, unemployment, and large families. There is a national minimum wage (€385 per month), which is low by EU standards. The rapid aging of Portugal's population has changed the ratio of contributors to pensioners to 1.7, the lowest in the EU. This has created deficits in Portugal's social security fund.

   The adult literacy rate is about 92 percent. Illiteracy is still found among the elderly. Although universal compulsory education up to grade 9 was achieved in 1980, only 21.2 percent of the population aged 25-64 had undergone secondary education, compared to an EU average of 65.7 percent. Portugal's higher education system currently consists of 14 state universities and 14 private universities, 15 state polytechnic institutions, one Catholic university, and one military academy. All in all, Portugal spends a greater percentage of its state budget on education than most EU member states. Despite this high level of expenditure, the troubled Portuguese education system does not perform well. Early leaving and repetition rates are among the highest among EU member states.

   After the Revolution of 25 April 1974, Portugal created a National Health Service, which today consists of 221 hospitals and 512 medical centers employing 33,751 doctors and 41,799 nurses. Like its education system, Portugal's medical system is inefficient. There are long waiting lists for appointments with specialists and for surgical procedures.

   Structural changes in Portugal's economy and society mean that social life in Portugal is not too different from that in other EU member states. A mass consumption society has been created. Televisions, telephones, refrigerators, cars, music equipment, mobile phones, and personal computers are commonplace. Sixty percent of Portuguese households possess at least one automobile, and 65 percent of Portuguese own their own home. Portuguese citizens are more aware of their legal rights than ever before. This has resulted in a trebling of the number of legal proceeding since 1960 and an eight-fold increase in the number of lawyers. In general, Portuguese society has become more permissive and secular; the Catholic Church and the armed forces are much less influential than in the past. Portugal's population is also much more culturally, religiously, and ethnically diverse, a consequence of the coming to Portugal of hundreds of thousands of immigrants, mainly from former African colonies.

   Portuguese are becoming more cosmopolitan and sophisticated through the impact of world media, the Internet, and the World Wide Web. A prime case in point came in the summer and early fall of 1999, with the extraordinary events in East Timor and the massive Portuguese popular responses. An internationally monitored referendum in East Timor, Portugal's former colony in the Indonesian archipelago and under Indonesian occupation from late 1975 to summer 1999, resulted in a vote of 78.5 percent for rejecting integration with Indonesia and for independence. When Indonesian prointegration gangs, aided by the Indonesian military, responded to the referendum with widespread brutality and threatened to reverse the verdict of the referendum, there was a spontaneous popular outpouring of protest in the cities and towns of Portugal. An avalanche of Portuguese e-mail fell on leaders and groups in the UN and in certain countries around the world as Portugal's diplomats, perhaps to compensate for the weak initial response to Indonesian armed aggression in 1975, called for the protection of East Timor as an independent state and for UN intervention to thwart Indonesian action. Using global communications networks, the Portuguese were able to mobilize UN and world public opinion against Indonesian actions and aided the eventual independence of East Timor on 20 May 2002.

   From the Revolution of 25 April 1974 until the 1990s, Portugal had a large number of political parties, one of the largest Communist parties in western Europe, frequent elections, and endemic cabinet instability. Since the 1990s, the number of political parties has been dramatically reduced and cabinet stability increased. Gradually, the Portuguese electorate has concentrated around two larger parties, the right-of-center Social Democrats (PSD) and the left-of-center Socialist (PS). In the 1980s, these two parties together garnered 65 percent of the vote and 70 percent of the seats in parliament. In 2005, these percentages had risen to 74 percent and 85 percent, respectively. In effect, Portugal is currently a two-party dominant system in which the two largest parties — PS and PSD—alternate in and out of power, not unlike the rotation of the two main political parties (the Regenerators and the Historicals) during the last decades (1850s to 1880s) of the liberal constitutional monarchy. As Portugal's democracy has consolidated, turnout rates for the eligible electorate have declined. In the 1970s, turnout was 85 percent. In Portugal's most recent parliamentary election (2005), turnout had fallen to 65 percent of the eligible electorate.

   Portugal has benefited greatly from membership in the EU, and whatever doubts remain about the price paid for membership, no Portuguese government in the near future can afford to sever this connection. The vast majority of Portuguese citizens see membership in the EU as a "good thing" and strongly believe that Portugal has benefited from membership. Only the Communist Party opposed membership because it reduces national sovereignty, serves the interests of capitalists not workers, and suffers from a democratic deficit. Despite the high level of support for the EU, Portuguese voters are increasingly not voting in elections for the European Parliament, however. Turnout for European Parliament elections fell from 40 percent of the eligible electorate in the 1999 elections to 38 percent in the 2004 elections.

   In sum, Portugal's turn toward Europe has done much to overcome its backwardness. However, despite the economic, social, and political progress made since 1986, Portugal has a long way to go before it can claim to be on a par with the level found even in Spain, much less the rest of western Europe. As Portugal struggles to move from underde-velopment, especially in the rural areas away from the coast, it must keep in mind the perils of too rapid modern development, which could damage two of its most precious assets: its scenery and environment. The growth and future prosperity of the economy will depend on the degree to which the government and the private sector will remain stewards of clean air, soil, water, and other finite resources on which the tourism industry depends and on which Portugal's world image as a unique place to visit rests. Currently, Portugal is investing heavily in renewable energy from solar, wind, and wave power in order to account for about 50 percent of its electricity needs by 2010. Portugal opened the world's largest solar power plant and the world's first commercial wave power farm in 2006.

   An American documentary film on Portugal produced in the 1970s described this little country as having "a Past in Search of a Future." In the years after the Revolution of 25 April 1974, it could be said that Portugal is now living in "a Present in Search of a Future." Increasingly, that future lies in Europe as an active and productive member of the EU.

Historical dictionary of Portugal > Historical Portugal
10 capital

I
1. 'kæpitl noun
1) (the chief town or seat of government: Paris is the capital of France.) capital

2) ((also capital letter) any letter of the type found at the beginning of sentences, proper names etc: THESE ARE CAPITAL LETTERS / CAPITALS.) mayúscula

3) (money (for investment etc): You need capital to start a new business.) capital

2. adjective
1) (involving punishment by death: a capital offence.) capital, pena de muerte

2) (excellent: a capital idea.) excelente, brillante

3) ((of a city) being a capital: Paris and other capital cities.) capital

•

- capitalism
- capitalist
- capitalist
- capitalistic
II 'kæpitl noun
(in architecture, the top part of a column of a building etc.) capitel

capital n capital

capital adjetivo ‹ importancia› cardinal, prime; ‹ influencia› seminal (frml); ‹ obra› key, seminal (frml) ■ sustantivo masculino
a) (Com, Fin) capital

b) (recursos, riqueza) resources (pl)
■ sustantivo femenino ( de país) capital; ( de provincia) provincial capital, ≈ county seat ( in US), ≈ county town ( in UK);
◊ Valencia capital the city of Valencia

capital
I sustantivo femenino capital: la orquesta tocará en las principales capitales europeas, the orchestra will play in all the main European capitals
II sustantivo masculino Fin capital
capital activo/social, working/share capital
III adjetivo capital, main
pena capital, capital punishment ' capital' also found in these entries: Spanish: capitel - caudal - ciudad - inmovilizar - mayúscula - plusvalía - provincia - retener - retención - social - versal - versalita - villa - ampliación - ampliar - antiguo - capitalino - divisa - doblar - fuga - ganancia - inmediaciones - invertir - mayúsculo - México - Panamá - pecado - pena - sangría English: archives - capital - capital gains tax - capital punishment - capital reserves - district - drain - equity - injection - major - movement - opposed - principal - share capital - tie up - up - working capital - against - big - caps - flow - inject - put

capital

tr['kæpɪtəl]

noun

1 SMALLARCHITECTURE/SMALL capitel nombre masculino

————————

capital

tr['kæpɪtəl]

noun

1 (of country etc) capital nombre femenino

■ what's the capital of Greece? ¿cuál es la capital de Grecia?

2 SMALLFINANCE/SMALL capital nombre masculino

■ starting capital capital inicial

3 (letter) mayúscula

■ write it in capitals escríbelo con mayúsculas

adjective

1 SMALLLAW/SMALL (offence) capital

2 (letter) mayúscula

■ capital A A mayúscula

3 (very serious) grave

4 (primary, chief, principal) primordial, capital

\

SMALLIDIOMATIC EXPRESSION/SMALL

to make capital out of something sacar provecho de algo, sacar partido de algo

capital city capital nombre femenino

capital expenditure / capital investment inversión nombre femenino de capital

capital goods bienes nombre masculino plural de equipo

capital stock capital nombre masculino social

capital transfer tax impuesto sobre sucesiones

capital ['kæpət̬əl] adj

1) : capital

capital punishment: pena capital

2) : mayúsculo (dícese de las letras)

3) : de capital

capital assets: activo fijo

capital gain: ganancia de capital, plusvalía

4) excellent: excelente, estupendo

capital n

1) or capital city : capital f, sede f del gobierno

2) wealth: capital m

3) or capital letter : mayúscula f

4) : capitel m (de una columna)

capital (Finance)

n.

• capital s.m. (Government)

n.

• capital s.f. (Letter)

n.

• mayúscula s.f.

adj.

• capital adj.

• capitel (Arquitectura) adj.

• excelente adj.

• mayúscula adj.

• versal adj.

n.

• capitel s.m.

• fondo s.m.

• versal s.m.

I 'kæpətḷ, 'kæpɪtḷ
noun

1) c ( city) capital f

2) c ( letter) mayúscula f

3) u ( Fin) capital m

to make capital (out) of something — sacar* provecho or partido de algo; (before n)

capital expenditure/investment — gasto m/inversión f de capital

capital gains tax — impuesto m sobre la plusvalía

II

adjective

1) ( Law) < offense> que está sancionado con la pena de muerte

capital punishment — pena f capital or de muerte

2)

a) ( major) primordial

b) (Geog, Pol)

capital city — capital f

3) ( Print) < letter> mayúscula

he's into art with a capital A — ( iro) le interesa el Arte con mayúscula

['kæpɪtl]
1. ADJ

1) (Jur) capital

2) (=chief) capital

3) (=essential) capital, primordial

of capital importance — de capital importancia

4) [letter] mayúsculo

capital Q — Q f mayúscula

he's Conservative with a capital C — es conservador con mayúscula

5) † * (=splendid) magnífico, estupendo

capital! — ¡magnífico!, ¡estupendo!

2. N

1) (also: capital letter) mayúscula f

capitals — (large) mayúsculas fpl, versales fpl ; (small) versalitas fpl

please write in capitals — escribir en letras de imprenta

2) (also: capital city) capital f

3) (Econ) capital m

to make capital out of sth — (fig) sacar provecho de algo

4) (Archit) capitel m

3.

CPD

capital account N — cuenta f de capital

capital allowance N — desgravación f sobre bienes de capital

capital assets NPL — activo msing fijo

capital equipment N — bienes mpl de equipo

capital expenditure N — inversión f de capital

capital formation N — formación f de capital

capital gain(s) N (PL) — plusvalía f

capital gains tax N — impuesto m sobre las plusvalías

capital goods NPL — bienes mpl de equipo

capital growth N — aumento m del capital

capital investment N — inversión f de capital

capital levy N — impuesto m sobre el capital

capital offence, capital offense (US) N — delito m capital

capital outlay N — desembolso m de capital

capital punishment N — pena f de muerte

capital reserves NPL — reservas fpl de capital

capital sentence N — condena f a la pena de muerte

capital ship N — acorazado m

capital spending N — capital m adquisitivo

capital stock N — (=capital) capital m social or comercial; (=shares) acciones fpl de capital

capital sum N — capital m

capital transfer tax N — (Brit) impuesto m sobre plusvalía de cesión

* * *

I ['kæpətḷ, 'kæpɪtḷ]
noun

1) c ( city) capital f

2) c ( letter) mayúscula f

3) u ( Fin) capital m

to make capital (out) of something — sacar* provecho or partido de algo; (before n)

capital expenditure/investment — gasto m/inversión f de capital

capital gains tax — impuesto m sobre la plusvalía

II

adjective

1) ( Law) < offense> que está sancionado con la pena de muerte

capital punishment — pena f capital or de muerte

2)

a) ( major) primordial

b) (Geog, Pol)

capital city — capital f

3) ( Print) < letter> mayúscula

he's into art with a capital A — ( iro) le interesa el Arte con mayúscula

English-spanish dictionary > capital
11 a weak sister

амер.; разг.; пренебр.

1) человек, на которого нельзя положиться, ненадёжный человек; слабак; "баба"

My sister married Gerald Baldwin... I was opposed to the match with Gerald. He looked to me like a weak sister and a chaser. (E. S. Gardner, ‘Fools Die on Friday’, ch. 19) — Моя сестра вышла замуж за Джералда Болдуина... Я был против этого брака. Я считал его человеком ненадежным и порядочным бабником.

You're a weak sister, Johnnie, and I can't trust you any more... (E. O'Connor, ‘The Last Hurrah’, ch. X) — Ты баба, Джонни, я тебе больше не доверяю...

2) изнеженный, беспомощный, неприспособленный к жизни человек; кисейная барышня; маменькин сынок

...my Uncle Jimmy was always yelling at them, that he wasn't going to have any of his family grow up to be slobs or weak sisters. (E. O'Connor, ‘All in the Family’, ch. III) —...мой дядя Джимми ругал своих сыновей и говорил им, что он не потерпит, чтобы у него в семье росли разгильдяи и маменькины сынки.

...he said, ‘You and your Administration are weak sisters... and many people in Texas and the Southwest think that you are riding Caroline's tricycle.’ (W. Man chester, ‘The Death of a President’, ‘Prologue’) — Обращаясь к президенту, Дили сказал: "Вы и ваше правительство - кисейные барышни... Вам бы на детских велосипедиках кататься".

Large English-Russian phrasebook > a weak sister
12 Miguel I, king

(1802-1866)

   The third son of King João VI and of Dona Carlota Joaquina, Miguel was barely five years of age when he went to Brazil with the fleeing royal family. In 1821, with his mother and father, he returned to Portugal. Whatever the explanation for his actions, Miguel always took Carlota Joaquina's part in the subsequent political struggles and soon became the supreme hope of the reactionary, clerical, absolutist party against the constitutionalists and opposed any compromise with liberal constitutionalism or its adherents. He became not only the symbol but the essence of a kind of reactionary messianism in Portugal during more than two decades, as his personal fortunes of power and privilege rose and fell. With his personality imbued with traits of wildness, adventurism, and violence, Miguel enjoyed a life largely consumed in horseback riding, love affairs, and bull- fighting.

   After the independence of Brazil (1822), Miguel became the principal candidate for power of the Traditionalist Party, which was determined to restore absolutist royal power, destroy the constitution, and rule without limitation. Miguel was involved in many political conspiracies and armed movements, beginning in 1822 and including the coups known to history as the "Vila Francada" (1823) and the "Abrilada" (1824), which were directed against his father King João VI, in order to restore absolutist royal power. These coup conspiracies failed due to foreign intervention, and the king ordered Miguel dismissed from his posts and sent into exile. He remained in exile for four years. The death of King João VI in 1826 presented new opportunities in the absolutist party, however, and the dashing Dom Miguel remained their great hope for power.

   His older brother King Pedro IV, then emperor of Brazil, inherited the throne and wrote his own constitution, the Charter of 1826, which was to become the law of the land in Portugal. However, his daughter Maria, only seven, was too young to rule, so Pedro, who abdicated, put together an unusual deal. Until Maria reached her majority age, a regency headed by Princess Isabel Maria would rule Portugal. Dom Miguel would return from his Austrian exile and, when Maria reached her majority, Maria would marry her uncle Miguel and they would reign under the 1826 Charter. Miguel returned to Portugal in 1828, but immediately broke the bargain. He proclaimed himself an absolutist King, acclaimed by the usual (and last) Cortes of 1828; dispensed with Pedro's Charter; and ruled as an absolutist. Pedro's response was to abdicate the emperorship of Brazil, return to Portugal, defeat Miguel, and place his young daughter on the throne. In the civil war called the War of the Brothers (1831-34), after a seesaw campaign on land and at sea, Miguel's forces were defeated and he went into exile, never to return to Portugal.

Historical dictionary of Portugal > Miguel I, king
13 Pedro of Avis, prince

(1392-1449)

   One of the many talented sons of King João I and Philippa of Lancaster, regent and older brother of Prince Henry of Aviz (Prince Henry the Navigator). Pedro's life and work were important in consolidating an independent Portuguese monarchy and in promoting the maritime discoveries and explorations down the coast of Africa. Well-educated for a member of royalty in his day, Infante Dom Pedro was present as a warrior at the auspicious conquest of Ceuta in Morocco in 1415, and was named Duke of Coimbra that same year. From 1425 to 1428, he traveled and studied in Europe, including in England, Germany, Hungary, Italy, and Aragon and Castile. He returned from his travels with a copy of Marco Polo's famous book and introduced this to his country.

   Among royalty and nobility, Prince Pedro's views were cautious regarding further Portuguese expansion in Morocco, and during the troubled times of 1436-38, he opposed the planned but ill-fated attack on the Moroccan city of Tangier; he called for the surrender later of Ceuta, in order to ransom the life of Prince Fernando, a prisoner in Moroccan hands. Following the death of King Duarte in 1438 and the subsequent succession crisis, including a civil war among factions, Prince Pedro acted as regent until 1446, when Prince Afonso reached his majority and was acclaimed King Afonso V, called "The African" (r. 1446-81).

   After Prince Pedro's powers were given up finally in 1448, his formerly exiled enemies returned to Portugal and vowed vengeance against him. Warfare ensued and, with the defeat of his army at the battle of Alfarrobeira in 1449, Prince Pedro was killed. His many accomplishments and talents off the battlefields were forgotten over the generations. Beginning in the late 19th century, the memory of his distinction and greatness was increasingly obscured by the growing fame, legend, and myth of his younger brother, Prince Henry of Aviz (Prince Henry the Navigator). An effort to rehabilitate the memory and public knowledge of Prince Pedro began in the early 1960s among a handful of foreign scholars, and was carried on by Portuguese scholars in the 1990s, but it appeared to have little effect against the pervasive cult of Prince Henry the Navigator.

Historical dictionary of Portugal > Pedro of Avis, prince
14 Form

subs.

Shape: P. and V. εἶδος, τό, ἰδέα, ἡ, μορφή, ἡ (Plat.), σχῆμα, τό, σχέσις, ἡ, τύπος, ὁ, φύσις, ἡ. V. μόρφωμα, τό.

Fashion: P. and V. τρόπος, ὁ, σχῆμα, τό, σχέσις, ἡ, εἶδος, τό, ἰδέα, ἡ.

Kind: P. and V. γένος, τό, εἶδος, τό, ἰδέα, ἡ.

Every conceivable form of death: P. ἰδέα πᾶσα ὀλέθρου (Thuc. 7, 29).

Appearance: P. and V. ὄψις, ἡ. V. πρόσοψις, ἡ.

Apparition: P. and V. φάσμα, τό, εἰκών, ἡ, εἴδωλον, τό, φάντασμα, τό, V. σκιά, ἡ, ὄψις, ἡ, δόκησις, ἡ.

Outward show ( as opposed to reality): P. and V. σχῆμα, τό.

Organisation: P. and V. κατάστασις, ἡ; see also Arrangement.

Form of government: P. κόσμος πολιτείας, ὁ, or τάξις πολιτείας, ἡ.

Inspiration is a form of madness: P. μανία τις ὁ ἐνθουσιασμός.

According to the usual forms: P. κατὰ τὰ νομιζόμενα.

Seat, bench: P. and V. βάθρον, τό.

——————

v. trans.

Mould, shape: P. and V. πλάσσειν, P. τυποῦν (Plat.); see also Make.

Arrange: P. and V. τάσσειν, συντάσσειν, κοσμεῖν, P. διατάσσειν, διακοσμεῖν. Ar. and P. διατιθέναι.

Form ( a plan): P. and V. μηχανᾶσθαι, τεχνᾶσθαι, συντιθέναι, τεκταίνεσθαι, βουλεύειν; see Devise.

Form plots ( against): P. and V. ἐπιβουλεύειν (absol. or dat.).

Train, instruct: P. and V. παιδεύειν; see Instruct.

Appoint: P. and V. καθιστάναι; see Appoint.

Draw up (troops, etc.): P. and V. τάσσειν, συντάσσειν, Ar. and P. παρατάσσειν.

Constitute, be: P. and V. εἶναι, καθεστηκέναι (perf. act. of καθιστάναι), ὑπάρχειν.

The houses of the suburb being supplied with battlements themselves formed a defence: P. αἱ οἰκίαι τοῦ προαστείου ἐπάλξεις λαμβάνουσαι αὐταὶ ὑπῆρχον ἔρυμα (Thuc. 4, 69).

Form up ( of troops).

v. intrans.: P. and V. τάσσεσθαι, συντάσσεσθαι, Ar. and P. παρατάσσεσθαι.

Woodhouse English-Greek dictionary. A vocabulary of the Attic language > Form
15 Galilei, Galileo

SUBJECT AREA: Photography, film and optics

[br]

b. 15 February 1564 Pisa, Italy

d. 8 January 1642 Arcetri, near Florence, Italy

[br]

Italian mathematician, astronomer and physicist who established the principle of the pendulum and was first to exploit the telescope.

[br]

Galileo began studying medicine at the University of Pisa but soon turned to his real interests, mathematics, mechanics and astronomy. He became Professor of Mathematics at Pisa at the age of 25 and three years later moved to Padua. In 1610 he transferred to Florence. While still a student he discovered the isochronous property of the pendulum, probably by timing with his pulse the swings of a hanging lamp during a religious ceremony in Pisa Cathedral. He later designed a pendulum-controlled clock, but it was not constructed until after his death, and then not successfully; the first successful pendulum clock was made by the Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens in 1656. Around 1590 Galileo established the laws of motion of falling bodies, by timing rolling balls down inclined planes and not, as was once widely believed, by dropping different weights from the Leaning Tower of Pisa. These and other observations received definitive treatment in his Discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche intorno a due nuove scienzi attenenti alla, meccanica (Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences…) which was completed in 1634 and first printed in 1638. This work also included Galileo's proof that the path of a projectile was a parabola and, most importantly, the development of the concept of inertia.

In astronomy Galileo adopted the Copernican heliocentric theory of the universe while still in his twenties, but he lacked the evidence to promote it publicly. That evidence came with the invention of the telescope by the Dutch brothers Lippershey. Galileo heard of its invention in 1609 and had his own instrument constructed, with a convex object lens and concave eyepiece, a form which came to be known as the Galilean telescope. Galileo was the first to exploit the telescope successfully with a series of striking astronomical discoveries. He was also the first to publish the results of observations with the telescope, in his Sidereus nuncius (Starry Messenger) of 1610. All the discoveries told against the traditional view of the universe inherited from the ancient Greeks, and one in particular, that of the four satellites in orbit around Jupiter, supported the Copernican theory in that it showed that there could be another centre of motion in the universe besides the Earth: if Jupiter, why not the Sun? Galileo now felt confident enough to advocate the theory, but the advance of new ideas was opposed, not for the first or last time, by established opinion, personified in Galileo's time by the ecclesiastical authorities in Rome. Eventually he was forced to renounce the Copernican theory, at least in public, and turn to less contentious subjects such as the "two new sciences" of his last and most important work.

[br]

Bibliography

1610, Sidereus nuncius (Starry Messenger); translation by A.Van Helden, 1989, Sidereus Nuncius, or the Sidereal Messenger; Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

1623, Il Saggiatore (The Assayer).

1632, Dialogo sopre i due massimi sistemi del mondo, tolemaico e copernicano (Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Ptolemaic and Copernican); translation, 1967, Berkeley: University of California Press.

1638, Discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche intorno a due nuove scienzi attenenti alla

meccanica (Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences…); translation, 1991, Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books (reprint).

Further Reading

G.de Santillana, 1955, The Crime of Galileo, Chicago: University of Chicago Press; also 1958, London: Heinemann.

H.Stillman Drake, 1980, Galileo, Oxford: Oxford Paperbacks. M.Sharratt, 1994, Galileo: Decisive Innovator, Oxford: Blackwell.

J.Reston, 1994, Galileo: A Life, New York: HarperCollins; also 1994, London: Cassell.

A.Fantoli, 1994, Galileo: For Copemicanism and for the Church, trans. G.V.Coyne, South Bend, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press.

LRD

Biographical history of technology > Galilei, Galileo
16 Smith, Sir Francis Pettit

SUBJECT AREA: Ports and shipping

[br]

b. 9 February 1808 Copperhurst Farm, near Hythe, Kent, England

d. 12 February 1874 South Kensington, London, England

[br]

English inventor of the screw propeller.

[br]

Smith was the only son of Charles Smith, Postmaster at Hythe, and his wife Sarah (née Pettit). After education at a private school in Ashford, Kent, he took to farming, first on Romney Marsh, then at Hendon, Middlesex. As a boy, he showed much skill in the construction of model boats, especially in devising their means of propulsion. He maintained this interest into adult life and in 1835 he made a model propelled by a screw driven by a spring. This worked so well that he became convinced that the screw propeller offered a better method of propulsion than the paddle wheels that were then in general use. This notion so fired his enthusiasm that he virtually gave up farming to devote himself to perfecting his invention. The following year he produced a better model, which he successfully demonstrated to friends on his farm at Hendon and afterwards to the public at the Adelaide Gallery in London. On 31 May 1836 Smith was granted a patent for the propulsion of vessels by means of a screw.

The idea of screw propulsion was not new, however, for it had been mooted as early as the seventeenth century and since then several proposals had been advanced, but without successful practical application. Indeed, simultaneously but quite independently of Smith, the Swedish engineer John Ericsson had invented the ship's propeller and obtained a patent on 13 July 1836, just weeks after Smith. But Smith was completely unaware of this and pursued his own device in the belief that he was the sole inventor.

With some financial and technical backing, Smith was able to construct a 10 ton boat driven by a screw and powered by a steam engine of about 6 hp (4.5 kW). After showing it off to the public, Smith tried it out at sea, from Ramsgate round to Dover and Hythe, returning in stormy weather. The screw performed well in both calm and rough water. The engineering world seemed opposed to the new method of propulsion, but the Admiralty gave cautious encouragement in 1839 by ordering that the 237 ton Archimedes be equipped with a screw. It showed itself superior to the Vulcan, one of the fastest paddle-driven ships in the Navy. The ship was put through its paces in several ports, including Bristol, where Isambard Kingdom Brunel was constructing his Great Britain, the first large iron ocean-going vessel. Brunel was so impressed that he adapted his ship for screw propulsion.

Meanwhile, in spite of favourable reports, the Admiralty were dragging their feet and ordered further trials, fitting Smith's four-bladed propeller to the Rattler, then under construction and completed in 1844. The trials were a complete success and propelled their lordships of the Admiralty to a decision to equip twenty ships with screw propulsion, under Smith's supervision.

At last the superiority of screw propulsion was generally accepted and virtually universally adopted. Yet Smith gained little financial reward for his invention and in 1850 he retired to Guernsey to resume his farming life. In 1860 financial pressures compelled him to accept the position of Curator of Patent Models at the Patent Museum in South Kensington, London, a post he held until his death. Belated recognition by the Government, then headed by Lord Palmerston, came in 1855 with the grant of an annual pension of £200. Two years later Smith received unofficial recognition when he was presented with a national testimonial, consisting of a service of plate and nearly £3,000 in cash subscribed largely by the shipbuilding and engineering community. Finally, in 1871 Smith was honoured with a knighthood.

[br]

Principal Honours and Distinctions

Knighted 1871.

Further Reading

Obituary, 1874, Illustrated London News (7 February).

1856, On the Invention and Progress of the Screw Propeller, London (provides biographical details).

Smith and his invention are referred to in papers in Transactions of the Newcomen Society, 14 (1934): 9; 19 (1939): 145–8, 155–7, 161–4, 237–9.

LRD

Biographical history of technology > Smith, Sir Francis Pettit
17 Stephenson, Robert

SUBJECT AREA: Land transport, Railways and locomotives

[br]

b. 16 October 1803 Willington Quay, Northumberland, England

d. 12 October 1859 London, England

[br]

English engineer who built the locomotive Rocket and constructed many important early trunk railways.

[br]

Robert Stephenson's father was George Stephenson, who ensured that his son was educated to obtain the theoretical knowledge he lacked himself. In 1821 Robert Stephenson assisted his father in his survey of the Stockton \& Darlington Railway and in 1822 he assisted William James in the first survey of the Liverpool \& Manchester Railway. He then went to Edinburgh University for six months, and the following year Robert Stephenson \& Co. was named after him as Managing Partner when it was formed by himself, his father and others. The firm was to build stationary engines, locomotives and railway rolling stock; in its early years it also built paper-making machinery and did general engineering.

In 1824, however, Robert Stephenson accepted, perhaps in reaction to an excess of parental control, an invitation by a group of London speculators called the Colombian Mining Association to lead an expedition to South America to use steam power to reopen gold and silver mines. He subsequently visited North America before returning to England in 1827 to rejoin his father as an equal and again take charge of Robert Stephenson \& Co. There he set about altering the design of steam locomotives to improve both their riding and their steam-generating capacity. Lancashire Witch, completed in July 1828, was the first locomotive mounted on steel springs and had twin furnace tubes through the boiler to produce a large heating surface. Later that year Robert Stephenson \& Co. supplied the Stockton \& Darlington Railway with a wagon, mounted for the first time on springs and with outside bearings. It was to be the prototype of the standard British railway wagon. Between April and September 1829 Robert Stephenson built, not without difficulty, a multi-tubular boiler, as suggested by Henry Booth to George Stephenson, and incorporated it into the locomotive Rocket which the three men entered in the Liverpool \& Manchester Railway's Rainhill Trials in October. Rocket, was outstandingly successful and demonstrated that the long-distance steam railway was practicable.

Robert Stephenson continued to develop the locomotive. Northumbrian, built in 1830, had for the first time, a smokebox at the front of the boiler and also the firebox built integrally with the rear of the boiler. Then in Planet, built later the same year, he adopted a layout for the working parts used earlier by steam road-coach pioneer Goldsworthy Gurney, placing the cylinders, for the first time, in a nearly horizontal position beneath the smokebox, with the connecting rods driving a cranked axle. He had evolved the definitive form for the steam locomotive.

Also in 1830, Robert Stephenson surveyed the London \& Birmingham Railway, which was authorized by Act of Parliament in 1833. Stephenson became Engineer for construction of the 112-mile (180 km) railway, probably at that date the greatest task ever undertaken in of civil engineering. In this he was greatly assisted by G.P.Bidder, who as a child prodigy had been known as "The Calculating Boy", and the two men were to be associated in many subsequent projects. On the London \& Birmingham Railway there were long and deep cuttings to be excavated and difficult tunnels to be bored, notoriously at Kilsby. The line was opened in 1838.

In 1837 Stephenson provided facilities for W.F. Cooke to make an experimental electrictelegraph installation at London Euston. The directors of the London \& Birmingham Railway company, however, did not accept his recommendation that they should adopt the electric telegraph and it was left to I.K. Brunel to instigate the first permanent installation, alongside the Great Western Railway. After Cooke formed the Electric Telegraph Company, Stephenson became a shareholder and was Chairman during 1857–8.

Earlier, in the 1830s, Robert Stephenson assisted his father in advising on railways in Belgium and came to be increasingly in demand as a consultant. In 1840, however, he was almost ruined financially as a result of the collapse of the Stanhope \& Tyne Rail Road; in return for acting as Engineer-in-Chief he had unwisely accepted shares, with unlimited liability, instead of a fee.

During the late 1840s Stephenson's greatest achievements were the design and construction of four great bridges, as part of railways for which he was responsible. The High Level Bridge over the Tyne at Newcastle and the Royal Border Bridge over the Tweed at Berwick were the links needed to complete the East Coast Route from London to Scotland. For the Chester \& Holyhead Railway to cross the Menai Strait, a bridge with spans as long-as 460 ft (140 m) was needed: Stephenson designed them as wrought-iron tubes of rectangular cross-section, through which the trains would pass, and eventually joined the spans together into a tube 1,511 ft (460 m) long from shore to shore. Extensive testing was done beforehand by shipbuilder William Fairbairn to prove the method, and as a preliminary it was first used for a 400 ft (122 m) span bridge at Conway.

In 1847 Robert Stephenson was elected MP for Whitby, a position he held until his death, and he was one of the exhibition commissioners for the Great Exhibition of 1851. In the early 1850s he was Engineer-in-Chief for the Norwegian Trunk Railway, the first railway in Norway, and he also built the Alexandria \& Cairo Railway, the first railway in Africa. This included two tubular bridges with the railway running on top of the tubes. The railway was extended to Suez in 1858 and for several years provided a link in the route from Britain to India, until superseded by the Suez Canal, which Stephenson had opposed in Parliament. The greatest of all his tubular bridges was the Victoria Bridge across the River St Lawrence at Montreal: after inspecting the site in 1852 he was appointed Engineer-in-Chief for the bridge, which was 1 1/2 miles (2 km) long and was designed in his London offices. Sadly he, like Brunel, died young from self-imposed overwork, before the bridge was completed in 1859.

[br]

Principal Honours and Distinctions

FRS 1849. President, Institution of Mechanical Engineers 1849. President, Institution of Civil Engineers 1856. Order of St Olaf (Norway). Order of Leopold (Belgium). Like his father, Robert Stephenson refused a knighthood.

Further Reading

L.T.C.Rolt, 1960, George and Robert Stephenson, London: Longman (a good modern biography).

J.C.Jeaffreson, 1864, The Life of Robert Stephenson, London: Longman (the standard nine-teenth-century biography).

M.R.Bailey, 1979, "Robert Stephenson \& Co. 1823–1829", Transactions of the Newcomen Society 50 (provides details of the early products of that company).

J.Kieve, 1973, The Electric Telegraph, Newton Abbot: David \& Charles.

See also: Pihl, Carl Abraham; Seguin, Marc

PJGR

Biographical history of technology > Stephenson, Robert

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