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A T square is a draughtsman's ruler with a crosspiece or head at one end, used for drawing parallel horizontal lines. It gets its name from its shape. It is laid on a drawing board and guided by the crosspiece, which is pressed against the straight edge of the board. Sometimes the head is arranged to be set at different angles.
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TVR is a British specialist sports car company producing 'Super Cars'. TVR was established in 1947 by Trevor Wilkinson producing special cars using the drivelines from existing production cars, tuned and installed in a lightweight chassis of TVR's own making with minimal bodywork so as to maximise the agility and power-to-weight ratio of the finished vehicle. Until the early 1990's, TVR used engines from other manufacturers in their cars, albeit retuned by TVR. In 1995 TVR produced their V8 engine - the Speed Eight or AJP8 as iyt was also known - which became the world's first racing engine to be de-tuned and installed in a road car: the TVR Cerbera, which as a result could go from standing till to 100 mph in nine seconds. All TVR cars are hand-built in Blackpool to the customer's specifications.
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Tabaret is an upholstery fabric with alternate satin and watered-silk stripes.
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A tabellion was a secretary or notary under the Roman empire and also, a similar officer in France during the old monarchy.
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Tabes is a slow progressive emaciation.
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In Parliament, the term table refers to postponing, by means of a formal vote, the consideration of a bill, motion, or the like, until called for, or indefinitely.
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Taboo (tabu, tapu) is a Polynesian word meaning 'thou shall not....'. It is a system of prohibitions and an elaborate code of things which may not be done, touched or approached.
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A tabouret is a seat without arms or back, cushioned and stuffed, so called from its resemblance to a drum.
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In old English Law, tac was a customary payment made by a tenant.
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Tachygraphy (stenography) is the art or practice of rapid writing or shorthand writing.
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Tacking is a legal doctrine of a union of securities given at different times, all of which must be redeemed before an intermediate purchaser can interpose his claim.
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Tackle is a term used to describe the equipment used in a sport, especially fishing. In nautical terms, tackle refers to ropes and pulleys used for hoisting weights, sails etc.
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Tact is the intuitive perception of what is correct or fitting especially in the context of knowing the right thing to say or how to behave in a situation.
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Tael (also called liang) is a Chinese weight. It was based upon the weight of a non-existent silver coin and was used in commerce between China and foreign countries around the turn of the century.
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Taffy is a colloquial nickname for a Welshman. It derives from the supposed Welsh pronunciation of the name Davy.
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A tailboard is the board at the rear end of a cart, wagon or other vehicle, which can be removed or let down, for convenience in loading or unloading.
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In mining terminology, tailing (also known as the tails) is the refuse part of stamped ore, which is thrown behind the tail of the buddle or washing apparatus. It is dressed over again to secure whatever metal may exist in it.
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A tailor is a maker of men's outer garments or of women's garments which have similar characteristics such as coats, suits and riding-clothes. Originally the name was applied to someone who made any sort of clothes, but became restricted over time. In the 19th century in Britain the tailor trade passed predominantly into the hands of the Jewish community and sweating became rife in the industry resulting in tailoring being one of the four industries put under the trade boards when they were introduced into Great Britain and Ireland in 1910.
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In printing, a tailpiece is an ornament placed at the bottom of a short page to fill up the space, or at the end of a book.
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In mining a tailrace is a channel in which tailings, suspended in water, are conducted away. In a water wheel, the tailrace is the part of the channel below the wheel. A channel above the wheel being known as a headrace.
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Tale of Two Cities is a novel written by Charles Dickens, and first published as a serial in 'All the Year Round' between April the 30th and November the 26th 1859 and concurrently in eight monthly parts. The plot moves between London and Paris during the French Revolution, and revolves around Sydney Carton, a dissipated barrister who gives his life so that Charles Darnay, his rival for the affections of Lucie Manette, may live.
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Tale of a Tub is the title of a comedy written by Ben Jonson in 1633.
Tale of a Tub is a satirical poem written by Jonathan Swift in 1696, and first published anonymously in 1704. The satire is directed against church divisions and deals with three brothers: Peter (the Church of Rome), Martin (Luther) and Jack (Calvin). It is generally accepted that the poem prevented Jonathan Swift's preferment to a bishopric.
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Tales of a Grandfather is a series of stories on Scottish and French history, inspired by J W Crocker's Stories for Children from English History, published in 1817, and written by Sir Walter Scott for his grandson, John Lochkart, and published between 1828 and 1830.
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The Talgai skull is a fossil human cranium found in 1884 in the Darling Downs squatting district near Talgai, South Queensland, Australia. The fossil attracted no attention until the Sydney meeting of the British Association in 1914. A report presented by Dr S A Smith of Sydney to the Royal Society in 1918 showed the skull to belong to a male of about sixteen years old who was contemporary with Pleistocene marsupials now extinct. The skull's brain capacity was larger than that of modern Australian aborigines, and the enormous palate, while resembling that of the anthropoids more closely than any human jaw yet discovered, most closely resembled the palate of the recently extinct Tasmanians. In 1920 Dubois reported that two skulls found by him in Java in 1890, more primitive than the Australoid, supported the Queensland evidence that early man migrated from Asia into the Australian region in the distant past.
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A tallboy is a double chest of drawers, placed one above the other, the upper chest usually being narrower and recessed. Tallboys were popular during the reign of Queen Anne.
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The Tallow Chandlers' Company was a London city livery company founded in 1426. It was granted arms in 1456 and obtained its first charter in 1462. The company's hall in Dowgate Hill was destroyed in the Great Fire, and was rebuilt in 1672 and restored in 1871. The Tallow Chandlers' Company had special privileges in the city and suburbs with regard to tallow, oils &c.
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Tally-ho! Is the old Norman hunting cry meaning 'to the coppice!', and was used when a stag was spotted running for the cover of the trees.
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The Talmud is the collection of oral works, containing the laws and ceremonies of Rabbinical Judaism together with commentaries, put into writing between the 2nd and 6th centuries.
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In locksmithing a talon is the shoulder of the bolt of a lock on which the key acts to shoot the bolt.
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A tambour is a device used in embroidery. It is comprised of two hoops which fit closely one inside the other. Fabric is stretched over the tambour which then holds it fast so that it may be embroidered.
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In 1789 William Mooney, an Irish-American politician, founded in New York City, the Columbian Order, a secret society, which in 1805 was incorporated as the Tammany Society, named after the Indian Tammany, and wearing Indian insignia, especially a buck's tail.
The Tammany Society was reputedly founded for the purpose of preserving democratic ideas against Alexander Hamilton's aristocratic doctrine.
In 1800, by careful work under Aaron Burr, the order controlled New York City politics. Next, under Daniel Tompkins, it became the administration wing of the Democratic party in New York City, upholding Madison and opposing the Clintons. The Bucktails and the Albany Regency controlled the State for a long period. In 1822 the power over the society had gone into the hands of its general committee. Stricter and stricter organization followed, and the Tammany Society developed into a machine for securing success in elections and power and plunder for its chieftains. Always indifferent to principles, it grew worse after the influx of foreigners into the city, until after the American Civil War its corruption culminated in the scandalous performances of the Tweed Ring. Since the defeat of the Tweed Ring in 1871, the Tammany Society, under the control of John Kelly, Richard Croker and others, was famous for strict control over a large body of voters, strict devotion to the spoils-system, looseness of allegiance to the Democratic party, and indifference to the welfare and interests of New York City which it had almost constantly ruled.
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A tampion is a plug for the top of an organ pipe or a cover for the muzzle of a gun.
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A tampon is a plug inserted into a wound or body orifice to absorb secretions or stop haemorrhaging.
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The 'Tamworth Two' was a name given to two juvenile Tamworth pigs which escaped from Newman's Abattoir on Monday the 6th of January 1998 and went on the run. The pair, a brother and sister, belonged to a road cleaner, Armaldo Diiulio, who had intended to sell them for 40 pounds each to the abattoir to be slaughtered and butchered. The escaping pigs swam across the River Avon and hid in a thicket on a wooded hillside near Malmesbury Abbey. The story was reported by Wendy Best of the 'Western Daily Press', a local newspaper, and then the national newspapers heard about the story and the 'Daily Mail' dispatched a freelance reporter to find the pigs, who they christened 'Butch' and 'Sundance', and rescue them. The story gripped public attention for a week while the search for the pair continued until they were caught, and bought by the 'Daily Mail' for an alleged sum of 15,000 pounds. The newspaper then housed the two pigs at a Rare Breeds Centre in Kent where they were cared for and six years later were still living, fully
grown by then and very content.
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A tandem is a bicycle with two seats one behind the other. Other multi-person bicycles include the triplet, with three seats, the quadrupet with four and the quintet with five.
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A tangram is a Chinese geometrical puzzle comprised of a square which is divided into five triangles, a square and a rhomboid which can then be fitted together to form many figures.
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A tankard is a large, one-handled drinking vessel.
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Taoism is an ancient Chinese system of philosophy.
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A taper is a slender wax candle. The term is often used for a long wax coated or wooden wick used to light candles or fires at a safe distance.
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A tapestry is a thick hand-woven fabric, usually of wool, with a pictorial or ornamental design formed by the weft-threads.
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The Tappan Patent was a grant of land in what is now Orange County, New York, made in 1686 by Governor Dongan, of New York, to six Dutch patentees, The land was to be held in free and common socage of King James II.
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A tappit-hen was a large pewter measuring pot holding at least three English quarts.
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A tarantass was a large covered travelling carriage without springs, but balanced on long poles which served instead, and without seats. Tarantass were used a lot in Russia around the beginning of the 20th century.
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Targums are Aramaic versions of the Hebrew scriptures. In course of time Hebrew as a language understood by the mass of the Jewish people was supplanted by Aramaic. Consequently, when the Hebrew scriptures were read in the synagogues, the services of a translator were required. When the translations were later committed to writing they were called Targums.
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A tarn is a small moorland or mountain lake.
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Tarnishing is the formation of a film of discolouration on the exposed face of a metal, destroying the lustre. Some metals are very susceptible to tarnishing, silver being notorious in this respect.
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Tarpaulin is a heavy weather-proof cloth manufactured chiefly in Scotland and used for protecting goods and seaman's hats and similar defences against the weather. Tarpaulin is made from hemp, flax, cotton or jute treated with tar or similar substances.
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Tarring and feathering is an ancient British practise of humiliating punishment. It first occurred in 1189, and Richard I decreed that any robber sailing with the Crusaders would have his head shaved, boiling pitch poured over his head and a mass of feathers shaken over the head before the robber was put ashore at the next available place.
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Tarsia-work was a kind of marquetry popular in 15th century Italy. It consisted of pieces of different coloured woods inlayed into a panel of walnut so as to represent landscapes, figures, fruits etc.
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Tasmanite is a translucent, reddish-brown fossil resin found in Tasmania.
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A tassel is a tuft of loosely hanging threads or cords designed as an ornament for a cushion, cap or other object.
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Tate Gallery is a popular name for the National Gallery of British Art at Millbank, London. The gallery was opened in August 1897 and was a gift from Sir Henry Tate, along with 65 pictures by then modern British artists.
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Tatting is a type of knotted lace made from sewing-thread with a small flat shuttle-shaped instrument.
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A tatty is a cuscus grass mat which is hung in a doorway, or window and kept wet to cool the air in the building.
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Taxation no Tyranny was a famous pamphlet against the cause of the American colonies, written by Dr. Samuel Johnson, and published in London in 1775.
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Taxi is the term applied to a hackney-carriage provided with a taximeter. In London, regulations for motor taxicabs were first issued in January 1907.
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The Tay Bridge Disaster was the collapse of the original railway bridge over the Firth of Tay on December the 28th 1879 during a night gale. While a train was crossing the bridge, thirteen of the main central spans gave way and the train fell ninety feet into the river. The disaster marked the loss of one third of the bridge which had only been built a year earlier.
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Tazzas were Tudor-period small dishes or drinking vessels, not unlike a champagne glass, with a wide, shallow bowl standing upon a baluster stem, the whole standing perhaps six inches tall. In the centre of the bowl was usually mounted a medallion bearing an armed Roman head. Many surviving tazzas were given to churches where they were used as patens.
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Teak is the timber of the teak tree (Tectona grandis), and mainly comes from Myanmar (Burma). Teak is a moderately heavy, hard wood that is easily worked and tends not to shrink, warp or swell. Teak timber is resistant to termites and contains natural oils that retard decaying of the timber.
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A teetotum is a top spun with the fingers, rather than a whip or cord.
A teetotum was a type of Victorian British working-man's club at which all intoxicants were prohibited.
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The Tehuantepec winds (Papagayo winds) are strong winds analogous to the mistral and bora, experienced on the Pacific side of Central America. They blow from the north-east and the north-north-east on the coasts of Nicaragua and Guatemala.
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Telegony is the supposed appearance in offspring characteristics derived not from the father of the offspring, but from a previous father to whom the mother has borne offspring.
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Teleology is the explanation by reference to ends, purposes, or function, as in, 'Why do you have such big teeth, Grandmama?' - 'All the better to eat you with, my dear!' Aristotle considered teleological explanations to be a particularly illuminating kind of causal explanation, and contrasted them with explanations citing efficient causes, the prior state of affairs that brings something about. In Aristotle the value of teleological explanations rests on his metaphysical doctrine of forms, the fundamental kinds into which all things fall, and which define their proper ends. Without some such metaphysical underpinning, the use of such explanations is hard to justify; in particular, the mechanistic world-view characteristic of much of modern science emphasises efficient causation and seems to leave little room for purposefulness. The great achievement of Darwin's theory of evolution was to show how some teleological explanations in biology could be rested on a mechanistic foundation. How far this kind of reconciliation is possible is a live issue in the philosophy of science. Perhaps the most famous teleological argument is that for the existence of God, which takes our observations of the regularity and coherence of the world around us and our experience of the conjunction of regularity and design, to conclude that there must be a designer.
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Telepathy is the communication between two minds apart from the ordinary sense channels. It was Sir W F Barrett who first drew attention to the supposed phenomena of telepathy in 1876.
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Telescopium, the Telescope, is a constellation of the southern sky, between Ara and Sagittarius, named by the 18th-century French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. Its brightest stars are of only fourth magnitude and it is devoid of interesting objects apart from a few faint galaxies, an unremarkable globular cluster, and a small planetary nebula.
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Telesto is a small satellite of Saturn. Telesto moves in an almost circular orbit of radius 294,660 km in a period of 1.888 days. Two other Saturnian satellites, Tethys and Calypso, have very similar orbits. Telesto is not spherical but rather ellipsoidal, with a mean diameter of 30 km.
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Tempera is a mode or process of painting, the term especially being applied to early Italian painting, in which egg and glue were used to bind the colours.
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In the early years of manufactures the working day sometimes extended to thirteen or fourteen hours. After the passage of the ten-hour law in England in 1847, the working classes in America also demanded a similar law. In 1853, the manufacturing companies in Lowell, Lawrence and Fall River, America voluntarily reduced the working day to eleven hours. In 1874, Massachusetts enacted a law prescribing a ten-hour day for all females and all males under eighteen years of age employed in textile factories. Similar laws were later passed elsewhere in the US.
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The Tennessee Bond Cases were seventeen causes decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1885, wherein it was held that the statutory lien upon railroads (railways) created by an act of the Tennessee Legislature in 1852, was for the benefit of the State and not of the holders of State bonds issued under that act.
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The Tennis Court Oath was a dramatic incident which took place at Versailles in the first stage of the French Revolution. On the 17th of June 1789 the Third Estate of the States-General under the presidency of Jean Bailly, a representative of Paris, declared themselves the National Assembly, claiming that they were the only Estate properly accredited and that the First and Second Estates must join them. On 20 June they found their official meeting- place closed and moved to the Tennis Court, a large open hall nearby. The Oath bound them not to separate until they had given France a constitution.
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A tenter is a framework on which serge, milled or printed cloth is stretched so that it can dry without shrinking or losing its shape.
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Tenure is the right or title by which property is held.
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Tenure by Divine Service was a species of tenure, now obsolete, by which the tenant held the land on condition of performing some divine service, such as saying so many masses, distributing a certain amount in alms, etc.
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In the USA, by the Constitution the Senate is associated with the President in the making of appointments to office. But it was concluded in 1789 that removals were entirely in the discretion .of the President. This remained the rule until 1867, when Congress, in the course of its quarrel with President Johnson, passed over his veto the Tenure of Office Act. This act provided that, with certain exceptions, every officer appointed with the concurrence of the Senate should retain his office until a successor should be in like manner appointed. During the recess of the Senate the President might, for specified causes, suspend an officer until the Senate could act. If the Senate approved, the officer might then be removed, otherwise not. Johnson's ignoring of the act in the case of Secretary Stanton, in 1868, led to his impeachment. The act was repealed in 1887.
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Tephramancy is a form of divination by means of ashes.
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In law a term is a fixed period of time; a prescribed duration; as: (a) The limitation of an estate; or rather, the whole time for which an estate is granted, as for the term of a life or lives, or for a term of years. (b) A space of time granted to a debtor for discharging his obligation. (c) The time in which a court is held or is open for the trial of causes. In England, there were formerly four terms in the year, during which the superior courts were open: Hilary term, beginning on the 11th and ending on the 31st of January; Easter term, beginning on the 15th of April, and ending on the 8th of May; Trinity term, beginning on the 22nd of May, and ending on the 12th of June; Michaelmas term, beginning on the 2nd and ending on the 25th of November. The rest of the year was called vacation. But this division has been practically abolished by the Judicature Acts of 1873 and 1875, which provided for the more convenient arrangement of the terms and vacations.
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A terrine is an earthenware vessel sold containing some table delicacy such as pate.
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Terrorism is the systematic use of violence and intimidation to coerce a government or a community into adopting certain specific political ends, such as national independence for a region, or reunification or self-government, or even the adoption of a political system more sympathetic to another country's economic interests. The term terrorism was first coined in England referring to the French revolution, the agents of which were called 'terrorists' by the hostile English press, particularly the Daily Telegraph. Terrorism is so called because of the employment of 'terror' tactics, typically the bombing of property and the murder of civilians which leads to general unrest and pressure from the public onto a government or encourages the public to remove a leader. Within this definition, resistance fighters - civilians who take up arms against another country's uniformed soldiers occupying their country - are not terrorists, but a country which bullies another country with threats of war unless political changes occur within the country, perhaps the adoption of a government more sympathetic to the bullying country's economic interests, clearly is an example of terrorism. Recent examples of terrorism included the Republican terrorists of northern Ireland which sought reunification with the Republic of Ireland through making attacks on the British people in an attempt to coerce the British government into agreeing to their terms. The Islamic fundamentalist attack on the Twin Towers on September the 11th 2001 were not seeking a stated political end, and as such were not a terrorist attack, but were a criminal act of murder and destruction. America's threats to the country of Iraq unless they change their leader - President Saddam Hussein - could be construed as terrorism as the alternative for the Iraqi people is clearly all out war, in which many civilians would be killed and lose their property. A clear use of intimidation for political ends.
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A tertiary colour is a colour produced by mixing two secondary colours.
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Terza rima is an Italian form of verse in which the lines are iambic, having eleven syllables in Italian and ten in English. The rhyme scheme is aba bcb cdc ded etc, continuing indefinitely. An example of terza rima is Shelley's 'The Triumph of Life'.
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The Test Act of 1673 decreed that all who held public offices in England must receive the Church of England sacrament and renounce Transubstantiation. It thus excluded Nonconformists and Roman Catholics. The act was repealed in May 1828.
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A tester is the canopy over a four-poster bed.
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Tethys is a satellite of Saturn. It was discovered by Giovanni Domenico Cassini in 1684. It has a nearly circular equatorial orbit at 294,660 km from the planet's centre. Its diameter is 1,060 km and its density is 1,200 kg/m3, indicating a predominantly icy composition. All parts of its surface are heavily cratered. Two outstanding topographic features are the giant Odysseus crater, 400 km in diameter, and a trench or large valley, Ithaca Chasma, about 100 km in width and several kilometres deep.
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A tetragrammaton is a sacred name of four letters. Specifically the term is applied to the Hebrew JHVH which was employed by the ancient Jews as a mystical symbol for Jehovah.
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A tetrahedron is a geometric solid figure with four triangular faces.
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A tetrarch was originally a ruler of one of four parts of a region. Over time the word tetrarch came to lose its original meaning and was applied to minor rulers generally, especially to the princes of Syria under the Roman emperors.
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The Teutonic Order was an order of knighthood established in 1198. The order originated in the charity of some German merchants who established a hospital during the Siege of Acre in 1990. The order was formally constituted in 1198 at Jerusalem. Membership was confined to Germans, and it was in Germany that the order carried out most of its work, including the conquest and conversion of Prussia.
Acquiring political importance, the order ruled large areas on the borders of Poland and Russia, owing allegiance to no power except the pope. The headquarters of the order were moved from Acre to Marienburg in 1308. The order was finally defeated by the Poles under Ladislas at Tannenberg in 1410.
Following the defeat of the order, its subjects revolted and in 1440 The Prussian League was formed and in 1466 it helped Poland to take west Prussia from the Teutonic Order by the treaty of Thorn. This treaty gave the knights of the Teutonic Order control of East Prussia as vassal of Poland, and half the knights were to be Polish. The Teutonic Order remained in this state for sixty years until in 1526 its grand master Albert of Brandenburg became a protestant and made the territories an hereditary grand duchy. The Teutonic Order continued to exist with its headquarters at Mergentheim until 1809. It was revived as an Austrian order of knighthood in 1834.
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The Texas Gazette and Brazoria Advertiser was the first newspaper published in Texas. It was established at Brazoria in 1830. On September the 4th, 1832, it was merged in the Constitutional Advocate and Texas Public Advertiser which was itself suspended in 1833.
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A textile is a woven fabric. The manufacture of textiles is one of the oldest human arts already well developed before history began, with loom weights and combs found with the remains of Iron Age Man.
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Thalweg is a term of German origin signifying the lowest contour line of a valley, and therefore the natural direction of a stream or dried watercourse.
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The Thames Conservancy Board is a body, appointed in 1857 as the Thames Conservancy, to look after all matters affecting the river Thames, including its fishing, locks and navigation. In 1909 it handed over part of its work to the Port of London Authority.
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Thanksgiving is an annual festival in the USA, celebrated on the last Thursday in November, since it was so fixed by President Lincoln in 1864. The custom dates from the thanksgiving day set aside by the Mayflower Pilgrims after their first harvest in 1621, and was later adopted by the various colonies and States.
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A thaumatrope is a card or disc with two different figures drawn one each side. These images apparently merge when the card or disk is rotated rapidly. Thaumatropes are used to demonstrate the persistence of visual impressions.
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The Thaw Case was an American murder trial. The trial centred around the accusation that on the night of the 23rd of June 1906, in New York, Harry K Thaw, the son of a Pittsburgh millionaire, deliberately shot and murdered the leading architect Stanford White because he had insulted Thaw's wife. The trials lasted from January 1907 until July 1915, causing a world-wide sensation for its revelations of life among a certain class of New Yorkers, and for the long legal battle to save the life of the murderer on the grounds that he was insane at the time of the killing. Released on the 17th of July 1915, having supposedly recovered from his insanity, Thaw was re-arrested in 1917 and confined to a lunatic asylum.
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a novel written in 1876 by American author Mark Twain. It describes the childhood escapades of Tom Sawyer and his friends Huckleberry Finn and Joe Harper in a small Mississippi community before the Civil War. It, and its sequel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn published in 1885, are remarkable for their rejection of the high moral tone prevalent in 19th-century children's literature.
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The Arena was an American monthly magazine founded in 1889 in Boston, by B O Flower, and devoted to serious interests.
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The Bold And The Beautiful is an American romantic drama television soap opera set in the world of fashion, and following the adventures of the Forrester family. The Bold And The Beautiful was created by Lee Philip Bell and William J Bell and was first aired in 1987.
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The Bottle Boys was a British situation comedy television show written by Vince Powell, starring Robin Askwith and David Auker, about the exploits of a milkman. The Bottle Boys was produced by London Weekend Television and aired from 1984 to 1985.
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The Bounder was a British situation comedy about a con-man released from jail, moving in with his brother-in-law and proceeding to make his life a misery. The Bounder was written by Eric Chappel and produced by Yorkshire Television. The Bounder starred Peter Bowles, George Cole and Isla Blair. The Bounder ran from 1982 to 1983.
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The Bright Side was a British situation comedy starring Paula Wilcox in a story about a woman struggling to cope after her husband is sent to prison. The Bright Side was written by Willis Hall and screened by Channel 4 during 1985.
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In December 1914 the British Government appointed a committee to consider and advise on the evidence as to outrages alleged to have been committed by German troops during the European War. The committee collected evidence from Belgian refugees, wounded Belgian soldiers, and British officers and soldiers. The report issued in May 1915 (The Bryce Report) stated that there was conclusive evidence that in many parts of Belgium deliberate and systematically organised massacres of the civil population had occurred and that the rules and usages of war were frequently broken and the red cross and white flag were abused.
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The Builder is an English illustrated weekly newspaper founded in 1842 as the organ of builders and contractors. Its first editor was J A Hansom, the inventor of the Hansom Cab.
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The Court of Criminal Appeal is an English court with jurisdiction to hear appeals by persons convicted on indictment, criminal information, coroner's inquisitions and by persons dealt with at Quarter Sessions as incorrigible rogues. It was established in 1907.
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The Damned were are a British punk rock band. They started life in 1975 as 'The London SS' with Mick Jones, Tony James and Brian James under the management of Bernie Rhodes. Chris Millar joined during the winter of 1975 as a drummer and was christened 'Rat Scabies' by Brian James. The London SS folded as Bernie Rhodes and Mick Jones formed the Clash and the remaining band members met Dave Vanian and Ray Burns who had worked with Chris Millar cleaning toilets. The Damned were born and played their first concert at the 100 club supporting the Sex Pistols in 1976.
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The Economist is a magazine dealing with financial matters. It was started in 1843 as a London weekly journal.
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The Edinburgh Review was a quarterly review established in 1802. It had an immediate and striking success, the brilliancy and vigour of its articles being much above the periodical literature of that time. In politics it was Whig, and did good service to the party. The Review was founded by a knot of young men living in Edinburgh, the more prominent of whom were Brougham, Jeffrey, Sydney Smith, and E Horner. It was edited from 1803 to 1829 by Jeffrey, under whom it was very successful.
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The Engineer was a British journal founded in 1856 and devoted to the interests of the engineering profession.
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The Field is a country gentleman's weekly magazine (originally a paper) devoted to natural history, sports etc. and first published in January 1853.
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The Five Mile Act was a statute of 1592, repealed in 1844 after a long period of disuse, forbidding popish recusants convicted of not going to church from moving above five miles from their usual place of abode.
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The Gentleman's Magazine was the first magazine produced. It was a monthly publication founded in 1731 by Edward Cave and survived in its original form until 1868. It contained historical and biographical articles.
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The John Bull was a Tory newspaper supported by Theodore Hook and published from 1820 to 1892.
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The King's Ellwand was a former name for Orion's Belt, the three bright stars in the constellation of Orion.
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The Observer is the oldest Sunday newspaper, dating back to 1791.
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The Professionals was a British television series of 1977 following the adventures of 'Bodie' and 'Doyle', two top agents of Britain's fictious 'CI5' criminal investigation police force.
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The Rocket was a steam-driven locomotive built by George Stephenson in the 1820's. The Rocket operated along the Stockton and Darlington line at a usual speed of 16 mph.
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The serpentine is an artificial sheet of water in Hyde Park, London, constructed in 1730 to 1733 at the instance of Queen Caroline, consort of George II.
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The Song Of The Shirt is a poem by Thomas Hood, first published in Punch magazine at Christmas 1843. The poem tells of a widowed needlewoman struggling to keep herself and two children on a paltry seven shillings a week. The poem was written to effect social change, and had a profound effect upon its publication.
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The Spaniards is a public house dating from the 18th century at the junction of Spaniards Road and Hampstead Heath in north-west London. It was at the pub that the Gordon Rioters were delayed while on their way to destroy Lord Mansfield's house at Ken Wood. The pub also features in Charles Dickens story 'The Pickwick Papers'.
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The Spectator was a journal founded in 1711 by Sir Richard Steele and contributed to largely by Joseph Addison. The Spectator was issued daily until December 1712 and was then in 1714 and was issued thrice weekly until the end of that year. The Spectator was contributed to by a number of authors, but all writing under the title of 'Mr Spectator'.
The title was resuscitated in 1828 by Robert Rintoul as a London weekly review, its features including a summary of the week's news, political and social articles, literary criticism and correspondence. The new Spectator was noted for its independence and exercised great influence on the politics of the 19th century.
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The Sphere was an English illustrated weekly founded in 1900 by Hugh Spottiswoode and Clement Shorter, who edited the newspaper, representing the latest developments in the art of illustration for which it was highly acclaimed. It had its own special artists at the front during the Boer War.
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The Sporting Life is a British daily newspaper devoted entirely to sport. The Sporting Life first appeared as 'The Penny Bell's Life' on March the 24th 1859, and was then edited by Henry M Feist, a month later changing its title to The Sporting Life, and was then a weekly publication. The Sporting Life became a daily newspaper in 1883 and in 1886 incorporated the newspaper 'Bell's Life'.
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The Squire was a famous drama of rural life by Arthur Pinero. It was first produced on December the 29th 1881 at the St James' Theatre, London, where it subsequently ran for 170 performances.
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The Standard was a London daily newspaper established by Charles Baldwin in 1827 as a Tory evening paper, and edited by Dr Giffard with Alaric Watts. In 1857 The Standard was acquired by James Johnstone, who published it in both the morning and evening. The Standard saw its most popular period between 1876 and 1900 when it was managed by WH Mudford. In 1916 the morning edition was offered for sale by auction, but no buyer was found and publication was suspended. The evening edition continued later becoming known as the 'Evening Standard'.
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The Sullivans was an Australian soap-opera television series following the lives of a fictional suburban Australian family and their friends during the Second World War. The Sullivans was created by Jack Blair and Ian Jones and ran from 1976 to 1983.
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The Three Musketeers is a romance by Alexandre Dumas in collaboration with Auguste Maquet. The story was first published in 1844, and is based upon the Memoires d'Artagnan by Courtels de Sandras, and is a 17th century court story centring around the witty and resourceful figure of D'Artagnan, who with his three friends the musketeers, Athos, Porthos and Aramis, engages in stupendous adventures. The Three Musketeers has a sequel in 'Le Vicomte de Bragelonne'.
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The Times is a leading English daily newspaper. It was founded in 1785 as the London Daily Universal Register by John Walter and then sold for 3d an issue. The publication changed its name to The Times (with the subtitle London Daily Universal Register) in 1788, in 1790 raising the cover price to 4d. The Times earned its reputation under John Walter the second, who was appointed manager in 1803 and took over the paper on the death of his father in 1812, through its foreign correspondence and independent criticism of the government. The Times further enhanced its public reputation when, in 1841, it exposed a conspiracy hatched in Belgium to defraud the principal banking houses of Europe.
John Walter the second recognised the importance of foreign correspondents. Previously newspapers had relied upon the government to supply them with news of foreign events. Under John Walters the second, the Times employed its own foreign correspondents, and reported the news of the Battle of Waterloo before the government was aware of it.
The Times under John Walter the third revolutionised the methods newspapers were printed, and the steam powered Walters Press first used in 1869 formed the basis for improvements in newspaper printing that subsequently followed.
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The Tribune was a short-lived London newspaper published between 1906 and 1908 by Franklin Thomasson, and edited by William Hill and L T Hobhouse.
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The Tropics are the region between 23 degrees 30 minutes north and 23 degrees 30 minutes south of the equator at which the sun's rays are vertical at noon.
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The Vikings of Helgeland is a play by Henrik Ibsen written in 1858. It is a drama, based on Scandinavian history.
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The War Of The Worlds is a novel written by H. G. Wells, first published in the 1890's, about an invasion of earth by creatures from the planet Mars - who are defeated not by Man, but by earth bacteria. The novel has been adapted as a radio play and as a film and was most famously adapted as a musical by Jeff Wayne and released on a double-album record in 1978. The musical version of the novel featured Richard Burton, Julie Covington, David Essex, Justin Hayward, Phil Lynott, Jo Partridge and Chris Thompson.
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The Wedding is a play by Anton Chekhov, written in 1890. It is an early one-act farce.
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The Woman-Hater is a broad satirical play by Francis Beaumont written in 1606.
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The Wood Demon is a play by Anton Chekhov, written in 1889.
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The Words Upon The Window-pane is a one-act play about the last days of Jonathan Swift. It was written by W B Yeats in 1930.
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The Young Ones was an anarchic British comedy television show about four very different students ('Rick' 'the classic example of an only child', 'Vivyan' a psychotic punk medical student, 'Neil' a hippy and 'Mike' the spiv) sharing a house. The Young Ones was produced by the BBC and ran from 1982 to 1984.
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The Theatines were a Roman Catholic religious order for men founded in 1524 by Giovanni Caraffa, who was at the time bishop of Theatre, near Naples, afterwards to become Pope Paul IV. The object of the Theatines was the extirpation of heresy and the reformation of the lives of the clergy.
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The Theatre of the Absurd was a movement in the 1940s to 1960s that expressed existentialist philosophy through theatrical style. Absurdist plays are filled with non-sensical dialogue and plot, which convey the inability of people to communicate with each other and the irrationality of existence. Principal figures in absurdist theatre were Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco and Jean Genet.
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The Theogony is a poem by Hesiod which describes the origin of the powers of nature, and the manner of the birth of the [Greek] gods.
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Theology is a science dealing with ascertainable truths about God and his relations with the world and mankind.
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Theophilanthropism was a species of naturalistic religion started by French deists in Paris around 1776 during the French Revolution. It aimed at superseding Christianity with a form of faith and worship, whose main features were to be love to God and man. The movement had four 'saints' whose festivals were observed, these were: Socrates, St Vincent de Paul, Rousseau and Washington. The movement was suppressed in 1801 and died out shortly afterwards.
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Theosophy is an intuitive or ecstatic mode of enunciating doctrines.
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Therese Raquin is a drama play by Emile Zola written in 1867.
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Theriolatry is the worship of animals or animal gods.
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Thermidor was the eleventh month of the year as rearranged during the French Revolution. The month of Thermidor began on July the 19th or 20th.
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A thesaurus is a form of dictionary or encyclopaedia in which generally words are arranged in a list or groups according to their sense. In North America the term thesaurus is often given to a dictionary of synonyms.
A
thesaurus is a treasury. The term is especially applied to the treasury of a temple.
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A thespian is an actor or actress.
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Theurgy was a system of magic practised by the Neoplatonists intended to procure communication with spirits for personal benefit and to produce miraculous effects with their assistance.
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Thimble-rig is a common con in which a conjuror challenges members of the public to place best on finding a pea which has been placed under one of several cups or thimbles, which have then been shuffled around on a table. The cheat lies in the fact that the pea is palmed and not placed under the cup at all, allowing the conjuror to win even when the correct cup has been identified.
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The Third International (Comintern) was an organisation founded in Moscow in 1919 by delegates from twelve countries to promote Communism and support the Russian Revolution. It was dissolved in 1943.
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In old Scots law, thirlage was a term applied to a tenure of land, the holder of which was obliged to have his grain ground at a specified mill, paying therefore a certain proportion of the flour.
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The Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England are a statement of the particular points of doctrine, thirty-nine in number, maintained by the English Church. They were first promulgated by a convocation held in London in 1562-63, and confirmed by royal authority and were founded on and superseding an older code issued in the reign of Edward VI. The five first articles contain a profession of faith in the Trinity; the incarnation of Jesus Christ, his descent to hell, and his resurrection; the divinity of the Holy Ghost. The three following relate to the canon of the Scripture. The eighth article declares a belief in the Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian creeds. The ninth and following articles contain the doctrine of original sin, of justification by faith alone, of predestination, etc. The nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first declare the church to be the assembly of the faithful; that it can decide nothing except by the Scriptures. The twenty-second rejects the doctrine of purgatory, indulgences, the adoration of images, and the invocation of saints. The twenty-third decides that only those lawfully called shall preach or administer the sacraments. The twenty-fourth requires the liturgy to be in English. The twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth declare the sacraments effectual signs of grace (though administered by evil men), by which God excites and confirms our faith. They are two: baptism and the Lord's supper. Baptism, according to the twenty-seventh article, is a sign of regeneration, the seal of our adoption, by which faith is confirmed and grace increased. In the Lord's supper, according to article twenty-eighth, the bread is the communion of the body of Christ, the wine the communion of his blood, but only through faith (article twenty-ninth); and the communion must be administered in both kinds (article thirty). The twenty-eighth article condemns the doctrine of transubstantiation, and the elevation and adoration of the host; the thirty-first rejects the
crifice of the mass as blasphemous; the thirty-second permits the marriage of the clergy; the thirty-third maintains the efficacy of excommunication. The remaining articles relate to the supremacy of the king, the condemnation of Anabaptists, etc. They were ratified anew in 1604 and 1628. All candidates for ordination must subscribe these articles. This formulary is now accepted by the Episcopalian Churches of Scotland, Ireland, and America.
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Thomism is a system of theology and philosophy taught by St Thomas Aquinas.
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Thread is a measure of cotton equivalent to fifty-four inches (137 cm).
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The Three Years' Service Bill was a measure passed by the French parliament in July 1913 as a response to the superior German army, and requiring young men to spend three years in the army. The measure roused angry opposition in France, and a number of amendments were proposed but failed. The Three Years' Service Bill came into force in Autumn 1913, replacing the earlier two years' service.
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Threshing is an agricultural term for separating the grain from the ear or the seeds from the pods of various crops.
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A throstle was a drawing-frame machine used in the manufacture of cotton, succeeding the spinning-jenny in around 1885. The throstle was used for attenuating slivers of fibre by passing them through consecutive pairs of rollers, each pair in the succession revolving at a higher speed than its predecessor. The specific difference between the action of the throstle and the mule was that the throstle had a continuous action, drawing, twisting and winding; while the mule had an alternative action, drawing and twisting and then winding.
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The thumb-screw or thumbscrew (also known as thumbikins) was an old instrument of torture designed to slowly break the victim's thumb joint. Thumb-screws were much used by the Spanish Inquisition and in Scotland during the persecutions of the Covenanters for extracting confessions or recantations. Macaulay reports that a thumb-screw was often effective in wringing confessions when a bootikin had failed.
The last person in Britain to be officially tortured with thumb-screws was Principal Carstairs who suffered for half an hour at Holyrood by order of the Scotch Privy Council before writing a confession of the secrets of the Argyll and Monmouth parties.
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A thurible is a censer or vessel in which aromatic spices are burned.
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A thurifer is the incense-bearer at mass, vespers, etc. In the Roman Catholic Church the office belongs to the acolyte, one of the minor orders of the Latin Church.
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Thursday is the fourth day of the week. Thursday is named after the Scandinavian god Thor, and also corresponds to the Roman god Jove - the Roman name for Thursday being Dies Jovis or day of Jove.
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Tic-tac is a method of signalling in use on racecourses. Its chief object is to communicate the betting movements in Tattersall's to book-makers in the smaller rings and on the course itself when outside betting is permitted.
The tic-tac is operated in a triangular manner, the betting movements in Tattersall's being communicated by one of the operators to a second stationed on the grandstand, who passes on the message to a third person, who in turn, communicates the information to the bookmaker for whom he works.
The signals are made by touching various parts of the head, arms and body, and although more or less universally used, are varied at times to deceive outsiders by introducing what is colloquially called the 'twist', i.e. the signs are made the reverse way and the numbers assigned to horses on the race cards are reversed or otherwise altered.
Customarily the signs used run from the right shoulder, over to the left shoulder, and up either arm, a few of them being as follows: One, right shoulder touched with right hand; two, right ear with right hand; three, right side top of head with right hand; six, left shoulder with left hand; ten, both hands placed together; 7-to-4 against, tips of left hand fingers, with right hand; 5-to-2 against, breast pocket with right hand.
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The Tichborne case was a long and famous case in English history. Tichborne is an estate in Hampshire. Roger Charles Tichborne, eldest son of James, afterwards tenth baronet, was born in 1829 and in 1853 sailed to Valparaiso and the next year to Rio de Janeiro in the Bella which subsequently left Rio de Janeiro for Jamaica and was never seen, nor heard from again. The baronetcy and estates passed to his brother, Alfred. Alone of the family his mother, clinging to hope, advertised world wide for information regarding her son. A butcher in Australia, one Tom Castro, seeing the advert claimed to be the lost Sir Roger, saved from the Bella, and as such was received by the infatuated mother. The claim was opposed on behalf of a son of Sir Alfred and on March the 6th, 1872, 103 days into the case, the claimant was non-suited and arrested at Orton on a charge of perjury. he was brought to trial and on the 188th day of the case sentenced to fourteen years imprisonment with hard labour. The two trials cost about 200,000 pounds and cheated the estate out of over 90,000 pounds spent defending the case.
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Ticking is a strong, twilled linen or cotton cloth, often white with blue or pink stripes. It was formerly used for mattresses, tents and awnings and was sometimes used as a ground for embroidery.
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Ticonderoga is a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson.
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Tide is a term applied to the alternate rising and falling of the sea, twice in each lunar day, to the attraction of the moon and the sun. The movement is most marked on shores which shelve gradually. The average interval between successive high tides is twelve hours and twenty-five minutes, half the time between successive passages of the moon across a given meridian. The height of the tide varies rhythmically. The highest, or spring, tides gradually change to the lowest, or neap, tides. The interval between successive spring tides is half a lunar month. Usually spring tides occur at or near the time when the moon is new or full, and neap tides when the moon is in the first or third quarter. This fact leading to an early realisation of the moon being the main cause of the tide.
The mass of the moon attracts the oceanic waters, which, being fluid, make a little peak pointing directly from the earth's centre to the centre of the moon; this peak is held on the line of centres while the earth rotates beneath it. To observers on the earth the peak of water appears to move. At the antipodes of this peak, on the side of the earth remote from the moon, a second peak occurs, because the distant water is again attracted to the line of centers. These peaks are the successive high tides.
The lunar attraction is coupled with a similar attraction due to the sun, but only of about just under one half the magnitude. When the line of centers of the earth and the moon approximates to the line of centers of the earth and the sun, i.e. at full and new moon, the combined solar and lunar tides produce the spring tides. When the two lines of centers are at right angles, at the first and third quarters, the solar attraction reduces the lunar effect, and produces the neap tides. The neap tides are, on average, 5:13 of the spring tides.
The above explanation of the outstanding tidal features merely explains the phenomena as they would occur upon an earth with a uniform film of water and without land mass. The interposition of the great land masses, and the differences in the oceanic depths, causes variations in the tides along the coasts.
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In weaving, the term tie describes any method of connecting the threads in a Jacquard loom to produce a desired pattern. The term is also applied to the arrangements of threads thus produced.
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A tierce was an Irish measure of beef equivalent to 38 pieces or 304 lbs, in use during the 19th
century.
A tierce was a British measure of coffee equivalent to between 5 and 7 hundred weight, in use during the 19th century.
A tierce is a cask containing 42 gallons.
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A tiki is a Maori large wooden or small ornamental greenstone image of the creator of man or an ancestor.
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A tilbury was a light open two-wheeled carriage which was fashionable during the first half of the 19th century.
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Timber is a general term for wood prepared for building or making furniture etc, or trees which provide wood of a suitable size for building with, or making furniture etc.
For the purposes of producing timber, trees grown closely together in woods are best as the constant striving for light results in uniformly straight, long trunks without side branches.
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On March the 3rd, 1873, the US Congress passed the Timber Culture Act, granting to settlers 160 acres of treeless lands for the encouragement of tree culture. An act of June the 3rd, 1878, authorized the sale at $2.50 per acre of forest lands on the Pacific Coast, and at the same time prohibited timber depredations on the public lands.
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The timber hitch is a knot.
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A timepiece is an instrument used for measuring time. A timepiece differs from a 'clock' in that it doesn't chime, and from a 'watch' in that a timepiece is designed to be stationary, perhaps mounted on a wall or sitting on a desk, though clocks and watches are specific forms of timepiece. The clepsydra as introduced to the Romans from the east around 158 BC by Seipio Nasica, and around 140 BC Ctesibius applied toothed wheels to them. Caesar reportedly discovered timepieces in Britain when he invaded in 55 BC. Alfred The Great of England used wax tapers as timepieces. The pendulum was applied to timepieces by Galileo around 1639, and in England the first pendulum timepiece was erected at St Paul's in Covent Garden by Richard Harris in 1641. Repeating timepieces were invented by Barlow in 1676, and the spiral pendulum spring by Robert Hooke in 1658. In 1905 the first timepiece actuated by radium was constructed.
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Timology is a philosophical term of a doctrine of values.
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Tincture is a tinge or shade of colour. In medicine the term refers to a solution based upon alcohol.
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A tine is a projecting sharp point such as of a fork, harrow or stag's antler.
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A tinker is a person who mends things, the term especially applies to someone who mends pots, pans and kettles. In Scotland and Northern Ireland the term is often applied to Romanys.
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The Tinplate Workers' Company is a city of London livery company. It was originally associated with the Wire workers and Pinners, with whom it combined with the Girdlers in 1569, and was granted a charter in 1671.
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Tinsel is a shining metallic material used in thin strips or threads to give a sparkling effect in decorations.
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A tintack is a short nail made of tin plated iron or steel.
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A tip pointed knife is a basic knife design in which both the cutting edge and back of the blade are slightly curved, tapering to a point. This type of knife is capable of rolling off the item being cut, and is suited for swaying cutting movements, such as carving a joint of meat, and the tip is suitable for larding, separating tendons and similar fine details.
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In mining, a tippler is a device for emptying coal tubs. The coal tub after being weighed is run into a cage, the tippler, which turns on an axis so that during the first half of the rotation the tub is emptied, and during the second half it is returned to its original position ready to be moved to the pit head.
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A tipstaff is a metal-tipped staff which is a symbol of a Sheriff's office. The tipstaff was an officer of the High Court, whose duty it was to arrest and take into custody persons committed to prison by the court.
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The Tironian system was a Roman system of shorthand which was still in use in England during the mediaeval times.
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Tishri is the seventh month of the Jewish sacred year, and the first month of the civil year. It corresponds approximately with October. The first day of Tishri is observed as Rosh Hashanah, or feast of the New Year; the day of Atonement is on the 10th; and the feast of Tabernacles, or harvest festival, on the 15th.
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Tit-bits is a weekly gossip style light entertainment magazine. It was founded in 1881 by the then George Newnes (later Sir George Newnes) in Manchester - where its founder started a vegetarian restaurant to get the capital necessary to launch it. Serving up interesting items of information on all sorts of subjects, interspersed with humorous anecdotes, short stories and articles on popular subjects Tit-Bits was an instant success, it was the first paper to insure purchasers against railway accidents. Galloway Fraser succeeded Sir George Newnes as editor. In 1883 Tit-Bits transferred to London.
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Titan is the sixth satellite (or moon) of Saturn. It was discovered in 1655 by Huygens.
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Tithe maps, were produced in Britain for the majority of places as a result of an Act passed in 1836 to convert into money rents the payments formerly made by landholders in kind to the Church authorities. A large scale plan showed each individual titheable plot (omitting those which were exempted), numbered to correspond with entries in an Apportionment or register which stated the owner and occupier of the land, the area and the current land use. Copies of Enclosure and Tithe Awards were deposited in each parish, usually in the parish chest kept in church or vicarage, with duplicates in the office of an official known as the Clerk of the Peace.
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In old English law, tithing was a group of ten householders and their dependents regarded as acting together for purposes of ensuring peace and good behaviour under a system of frankpledge. The individual members of a tithing were held as surety for the good conduct of the others. The chief of the unit was known as the tithing-man, a title which survived for an elected police official in the early New England colonies.
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In English law, title is the right of ownership, especially in regard to property in land. The purchaser of such must see that his title to the property is a good one, i.e. that he cannot be molested in its possession. To secure this, various documents are examined and further documents conveying the land are drawn up. To obviate this cumbersome proceeding, the registration of title to land by the state was suggested and to some extent adopted. In England, land can be registered at the land transfer office, and after a time an absolute title is secured for it. Title deeds embrace all those deeds and documents by which the owner proves his ownership, a mortgagee his mortgage, a lessee his lease, and the like. The Larceny Act of 1916, made it a felony for anyone, with fraudulent intent, to destroy, obliterate, cancel, or alter any document of title to land.
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Titular is a term applied to those who hold the title pertaining to an office without the occupation of the office itself, as in the case of the English monarchs, who assumed the title of kings of France from the time of Henry VI to 1800.
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A toboggan is a hand-sleigh used for sliding down snow or ice slopes.
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A toby is a mug or small jug used for ale. They are made in various forms, but originally they were in the form of a stout man wearing a long full- skirted coat and a three-cornered hat.
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The Toby jug or fillpot, is a small jug or mug shaped like the head of a famous character, or traditionally in the form of a somewhat stout man wearing a cocked hat, the three corners of which form the spouts. Toby jugs were originally used for holding beer, and were introduced into England early in the 18th century.
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Toiletries is a general term for articles, cosmetics, or products used in washing, dressing, etc. The term generally includes soaps, bubble-bath, body lotions, deodorants, anti-perspirants, bath salts and the like.
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Originally a tolbooth was the booth at a fair in which dues were collected and offenders against fair regulations were detained. Later the term was applied to a town prison, particularly in Scotland.
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The Toledo War was a boundary controversy between Ohio and Michigan, USA, which came to a head in 1835, just previous to Michigan's application for admission to the Union. The controversy was over that territory which contained the city of Toledo, and its history may be traced back to the ordinance of 1787 respecting the division of the Northwest Territory. In 1835 Ohio proposed to assume control of the disputed tract. Michigan responded by making such action highly penal, and appealed to the Federal Government. An armed collision seemed imminent. Finally it was agreed that Michigan should be admitted to the Union and awarded certain territory in the north, provided she would give up her clearly rightful claim to the Toledo country.
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Toledoth Jeshu (Generations of Jesus) was a mediaeval Jewish lampoon of Christianity centering around a Life of Christ and poking fun at all aspects of Christian beliefs. It was written in revenge for the persecution the Jews were suffering at the time at the hands of the Christians. In 1681 it was translated into Latin by Wagenseil.
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Toleration is a term applied to state recognition of the right to private judgement, especially in regard to religious doctrine and forms of divine worship.
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The Toleration Act of parliament in 1689 gave a degree of right to freedom of worship in England. The act did not grant general toleration to disenters from the Church of England, but enabled those Protestant nonconformists who accepted the doctrine of the Trinity and were willing to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy to hold religious services without molestation, providing they were conducted with open doors. In effect then, the act simplky repealed the Conventicle Act of 1664.
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In gold mining,a tom is a kind of cradle used for gold washing, chiefly found in use in China. One end consists of a perforated plate, underneath which is a box in which the particles of gold collect. The other and lower end of the tom is a sluice.
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Tom Brown's Schooldays is a story by Thomas)Hughes, first published in 1857. It is a story of life at Rugby school under Arnold, and is one of the most successful of all school stories, and proves valuable for its faithful picture of English public school life at the period. In 1861 a sequel, Tom Brown at Oxford, was published but proved less popular.
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Tom Jones (The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling) is a novel written in 1749 by Henry Fielding. The story tells of a foundling, Tom Jones, led astray by the impetuousness of his own nature. He has many adventures, which take him through scenes of uproarious 18th-century life, until he is finally redeemed by his own good heart and the love of the beautiful Sophia Western.
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Tom and Jerry are cartoon-film characters that were created in 1939 by American animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. The typically violent scenarios show Jerry the mouse getting the better of Tom the cat. A total of 154 short cartoon films were made, three of which won Academy Awards, and a full length film was also made.
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The ton is a unit of measurement of the avoirdupois scale equivalent to 20 hundredweight, 2240 pounds or 1.016 tonnes.
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Tonbridge School is an English public school. The school was founded in 1553 by Sir Andrew Judd, lord mayor of London as a grammar school for boys of the neighbourhood. Owning property in London, the school became very wealthy with the increase of property prices and in the 19th century developed into a large public school.
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A tondo is a painting or carving in relief within a circular shape.
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A tong is a Chinese association. The term is especially applied to Chinese secret organisations.
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Tonsure is the religious practice of having the head shaved before entering the priesthood or becoming a monk. Until 1973 in the Roman Catholic Church, the crown was shaved (leaving a surrounding fringe to resemble Jesus' crown of thorns); in the Eastern Orthodox Church the hair is merely shorn close. For Buddhist monks, the entire head is shaved except for a topknot.
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The Tony award is an annual award by the League of New York Theatres to dramatists, performers, and technicians in Broadway plays. It is named after the American actress and producer Antoinette Perry.
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On October the 23rd, 1855, a constitutional convention, representing the anti-slavery population of Kansas, met at Topeka. This convention adopted the boundaries set by the Kansas-Nebraska bill, prohibited slavery after July, 1857, and conferred the right of suffrage on 'white male citizens' and on 'every civilized male Indian who has adopted the habits of the white man'. This free State convention was dispersed by Federal troops. The bill to admit Kansas to the Union under the provisions of the Topeka constitution passed the House, but failed in the Senate.
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Topiary is the art of clipping, cutting and trimming trees and shrubs into ornamental designs and regular forms, human figures, animals, cups and saucers, peacocks, etc. Modern custom confines topiary work to solitary specimens, often grown in tubs, and specially trained; but at some country mansions, notably Levens Hall in Westmorland, and Elvaston in Derbyshire, whole topiary gardens of mature trees, in some instances over one hundred years old, are maintained. The trees which lend themselves most readily to clipping are box, yew, and holly. Topiary clipping needs an accurate eye and a steady hand, as a false move of the shears will often spoil the symmetry of a tree for a whole season.
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Topology is a branch of mathematics which studies geometric objects from the point of view of their general shape rather than their precise measurements.
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A toponymist is someone who studies the science and origins of place-names (toponymy).
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Toponymy is the science of place-names.
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A tor is a striking and sometimes fantastic tabular or pillow-shaped craggy or rocky hill or peak. Tors frequently occur in granite regions which have been exposed to long periods of weathering The term is most used in Cornwall and Devon, with over 170 tors on Dartmoor the highest being High Wilhays and Yes Tor.
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Torchon is a strong, coarse linen bobbin-lace.
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In geometry a tore is the surface described by the circumference of a circle revolving about a straight line in its own plane. The term is also applied to the solid enclosed by such a surface.
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A toreador is a mounted bullfighter.
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Torero is the term used for someone who fights bulls for a living.
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A toret was a ring for fastening a hawk's leash to the jesses. The term was also applied to a ring affixed to the collar of a dog, etc. Although mentioned by Chaucer, the term has fallen into disuse.
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A tornado is a violent storm with heavy rain in which the wind rotates or constantly changes direction.
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The Toronto Globe is a Canadian daily newspaper. The Toronto Globe was founded in 844 by George Brown at a time when Ontario, then known as Upper Canada, was in a transitory stage of political development. The Toronto Globe had Liberal political leanings and was a factor in the accomplishment of the union of 1867. More recently the Toronto Globe has become known simply as 'The Globe'.
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The Torrens Act was an Act dealing with the transfer of land, passed by the legislature of New South Wales in 1857. Introduced by Sir Robert Torrens, it provided for the conveyance of property by registration instead of the cumbersome methods then in vogue, the owner holding a certificate instead of deeds, and having his title guaranteed by the state. It is important because it introduced a principle which was afterwards widely adopted.
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A torso is a statue or mutilated human body lacking a head and limbs.
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Tort is an English legal term for a civil wrong which violates a general duty and not merely a breach of contract arising out of a particular relationship between the parties. But a tort may also be a breach of contract and a crime. It may relate either to persons or to property.
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Tortoise-shell is the horny shield which covers the carapace of the hawk's- bill turtle (Chelone imbricata). Each scale is beautifully marked, but is very thin so for the purposes of manufacture several must be welded together. This is done by heating in oil or by boiling, when the scales soften they can be welded or moulded.
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Torture, in a legal sense, means the application of bodily pain so as to force evidence from witnesses, or confessions from persons accused of crimes. It was applied to slaves in Athens and the Athenian and Rhodian laws allowed it to be applied even to citizens and freemen. In popular terms, torture is also the infliction of pain as a punishment. Torture is simultaneously universally condemned and practised. In Norway following the Second World War during the late 1940s and 1950s the children of unmarried Norwegian mothers and German soldiers were forcibly detained in mental institutions, one survivor recounting how she was forced to sleep in a straight jacket every night for three years. Following the American war against Afghanistan in 2001, the subsequent prisoners of war were held shackled, in small cages and in 2005 the USA was scandalised by the revelation that the American government operated secret prison camps around the world where 'suspects' - many of them kidnapped - were taken and tortured, contrary to American and international law.
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John Coustos was accused of the crime of freemasonry and in 1743 was imprisoned by the Inquisition of Lisbon, surviving the ordeal he documented what occurred. Refusing to divulge the secrets of his order, Coustos was taken to the torture chamber. Stripped of everything but his underpants, he was fixed on his back on the rack, his neck enclosed in an iron collar, and his feet attached to two rings. Two ropes the size of a man's little finger were wound around each arm and leg and passed through holes made for the purpose in the rack. The ropes were drawn tight by the executioners, cutting through the flesh to the bone, and causing blood to gush out from the wounds made. According to Coustos the 'executioners bent their strength to the task four different times' and at the fourth time their victim fainted through the loss of blood and pain.
After he was allowed to recuperate for six weeks, Coustos was again brought to the torture chamber. This time the procedure was somewhat different. He was made to stretch out his arms with the palms of his hands turned outwards. His wrists were tied, and then a machine gradually drew his hands together behind him until the backs of them touched. This was repeated twice more, and in the process his shoulders were dislocated and blood gushed from his mouth. He was taken back to his dungeon, and his bones were set by surgeons. Two months later Coustos was back in the torture chamber. This time a thick iron chain was passed twice around his body, crossing over his stomach. The chain terminated in rings which were fastened to his wrists. He was then placed against a thick wooden partition, at each end of which was a pulley. Ropes were fastened to the rings on his wrists and run through the pulleys, the other ends being fixed to a roller. This roller being set in motion, the ropes gradually tightened, pulling the chain tighter across his stomach until it bit into his flesh and pulled his wrists out of joint and dislocated his shoulders. The surgeons again set his bones, and after the wounds had healed Coustos was tortured the same way again. Through it all Coustos remained silent. Failing to get answers from him, the Inquisition sentenced Coustos to four years service as a galley- slave and banished him from the country.
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The rack was an apparatus of torture employed by the Inquisition, varying somewhat in its construction in different countries, though its principle was the same in all. The rack stood about one metre from the ground and consisted of a stout wooden framework with sticks across it in the manner of a ladder. The victim was stretched upon this frame, his wrists and ankles being attached with strong cords to two rollers, one at each end of the rack. These rollers were operated by levers which moved in opposite directions to each other. When the victim was securely fastened on the rack, the questions to which answers were desired were put to him.
Failure to reply satisfactorily was the signal for the two executioners to commence operating the levers. The result was the stretching of the victim's limbs and body. If persisted in, this was bound to cause dislocation of the joints or to drag off the members. In some cases the limbs were stretched in much the same manner as on the rack but by means of ropes and pulleys attached to rings or staples in the walls. Occasionally the tortures of the rack were varied or increased by the use of cords in addition to the stretching mechanism. The arms and legs were bound to the sides of the rack with thin but strong cords. These cords were wound around each limb three times, and a stick was inserted in each. When all was ready for the torture to commence, the executioners twisted these sticks, thus gradually tightening the cords and causing them to cut into the flesh until the bones were reached, inflicting terrible wounds.
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Totem is an Ojibway word describing an animal or plant related to an individual by totemism.
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Totemism is a widespread belief among primitive peoples of blood-kinship or association with an animal or plant. For example, an individual may have the bison as his totem.
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Toucan is a southern constellation located by Bayer in 1603 to the south of Phoenix.
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A tourbillion or 'Catherine Wheel' is a type of firework so constructed as to rotate in flight forming spiral curves. The firework is mounted to a stake by a pin through its center and spins when ignited.
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A tourmente is a sudden snow-storm that occurs from time to time in the Alps.
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A tournament was originally an exhibition of combat between mounted men. Named from the tournament, or quick turning of the horses, it appeared in Europe in the 11th century, and quickly grew in popularity, both in France and England, where, in the reign of Henry II, it became necessary to prohibit tournaments owing to extravagant indulgence in them by the younger nobility. Later, tournaments were allowed to be held under royal licence, und a classic account of one in the time of Richard I is given in the book Ivanhoe, in which the customs and rules of such assemblies are graphically indicated. Froissart is also a mine of information regarding tournaments.
The essential feature of a tournament was the single combat of knight with knight, each striving to unhorse or incapacitate his opponent, the usual weapon being the lance. Sometimes, however, one body of knights fought against another body. They took place on most occasions of rejoicing.
Participation in tournaments was usually reserved for those of noble birth, and about the end of the 13th century a new set of rules was embodied in a statute of arms for tournaments, which laid down, among other provisions, that disputes arising out of a tournament were to be settled by a court of honour composed of princes and earls. By the 16th century the tournament had degenerated until it was merely a form of pageant. The term is now applied to many kinds of athletic contests.
In the 18th century novel Ivanhoe, the author, Walter Scott describes the arena and audience of a fictional 12th century tournament as follows:
On the verge of a wood, which approached to within a mile of the town of Ashby, was an extensive meadow, of the finest and most beautiful green turf, surrounded on one side by the forest, and fringed on the other by straggling oak-trees, some of which had grown to an immense size. The ground, as if fashioned on purpose for the martial display which was intended, sloped gradually down on all sides to a level bottom, which was enclosed for the lists with strong palisades, forming a space of a quarter of a mile in length, and about half as broad. The form of the enclosure was an oblong square, save that the corners were considerably rounded off, in order to afford more convenience for the spectators. The openings for the entry of the combatants were at the northern and southern extremities of the lists, accessible by strong wooden gates, each wide enough to admit two horsemen riding abreast. At each of these portals were stationed two heralds, attended by six trumpets, as many pursuivants, and a strong body of men-at-arms for maintaining order, and ascertaining the quality of the knights who proposed to engage in this martial game.
On a platform beyond the southern entrance, formed by a natural elevation of the ground, were pitched five magnificent pavilions, adorned with pennons of russet and black, the chosen colours of the five knights challengers. The cords of the tents were of the same colour. Before each pavilion was suspended the shield of the knight by whom it was occupied, and beside it stood his squire, quaintly disguised as a salvage or silvan man, or in some other fantastic dress, according to the taste of his master, and the character he was pleased to assume during the game. The central pavilion, as the place of honour, had been assigned to Brian be Bois-Guilbert, whose renown in all games of chivalry, no less than his connexions with the knights who had undertaken this Passage of Arms, had occasioned him to be eagerly received into the company of the challengers, and even adopted as their chief and leader, though he had so recently joined them. On one side of his tent were pitched those of Reginald Front-de-Boeuf and Richard de Malvoisin, and on the other was the pavilion of Hugh de Grantmesnil, a noble baron in the vicinity, whose ancestor had been Lord High Steward of England in the time of the Conqueror, and his son William Rufus. Ralph de Vipont, a knight of St John of Jerusalem, who had some ancient possessions at a place called Heather, near Ashby-de-la-Zouche, occupied the fifth pavilion. From the entrance into the lists, a gently sloping passage, ten yards in breadth, led up to the platform on which the tents were pitched. It was strongly secured by a palisade on each side, as was the esplanade in front of the pavilions, and the whole was guarded by men-at-arms. The northern access to the lists terminated in a similar entrance of thirty feet in breadth, at the extremity of which was a large enclosed space for such knights as might be disposed to enter the lists with the challengers, behind which were placed tents containing refreshments of every kind for their
tion, with armourers, tarriers, and other attendants, in readiness to give their services wherever they might be necessary.
The exterior of the lists was in part occupied by temporary galleries, spread with tapestry and carpets, and accommodated with cushions for the convenience of those ladies and nobles who were expected to attend the tournament. A narrow space, betwixt these galleries and the lists, gave accommodation for yeomanry and spectators of a better degree than the mere vulgar, and might be compared to the pit of a theatre. The promiscuous multitude arranged themselves upon large banks of turf prepared for the purpose, which, aided by the natural elevation of the ground, enabled them to overlook the galleries, and obtain a fair view into the lists. Besides the accommodation which these stations afforded, many hundreds had perched themselves on the branches of the trees which surrounded the meadow; and even the steeple of a country church, at some distance, was crowded with spectators.
It only remains to notice respecting the general arrangement, that one gallery in the very centre of the eastern side of the lists, and consequently exactly opposite to the spot where the shock of the combat was to take place, was raised higher than the others, more richly decorated, and graced by a sort of throne and canopy, on which the royal arms were emblazoned. Squires, pages, and yeomen in rich liveries, waited around this place of honour, which was designed for Prince John and his attendants. Opposite to this royal gallery was another, elevated to the same height, on the western side of the lists; and more gaily, if less sumptuously decorated, than that destined for the Prince himself. A train of pages and of young maidens, the most beautiful who could be selected, gaily dressed in fancy habits of green and pink, surrounded a throne decorated in the same colours. Among pennons and flags bearing wounded hearts, burning hearts, bleeding hearts, bows and quivers, and all the commonplace emblems of the triumphs of Cupid, a blazoned inscription informed the spectators, that this seat of honour was designed for 'La Royne de las Beaulte et des Amours'. But who was to represent the Queen of Beauty and of Love on the present occasion no one was prepared to guess.
Meanwhile, spectators of every description thronged forward to occupy their respective stations, and not without many quarrels concerning those which they were entitled to hold. Some of these were settled by the men-at-arms with brief ceremony; the shafts of their battle-axes, and pummels of their swords, being readily employed as arguments to convince the more refractory. Others, which involved the rival claims of more elevated persons, were determined by the heralds, or by the two marshals of the field, William de Wyvil, and Stephen de Martival, who, armed at all points, rode up and down the lists to enforce and preserve good order among the spectators.
Gradually the galleries became filled with knights and nobles, in their robes of peace, whose long and rich-tinted mantles were contrasted with the gayer and more splendid habits of the ladies, who, in a greater proportion than even the men themselves, thronged to witness a sport, which one would have thought too bloody and dangerous to afford their sex much pleasure. The lower and interior space was soon filled by substantial yeomen and burghers, and such of the lesser gentry, as, from modesty, poverty, or dubious title, durst not assume any higher place. It was of course amongst these that the most frequent disputes for precedence occurred.
Walter Scott goes on to describe the rules of the tournament, which he says were imparted to the audience by the monarch:
First, the five challengers were to undertake all comers.
Secondly, any knight proposing to combat, might, if he pleased, select a special antagonist from among the challengers, by touching his shield. If he did so with the reverse of his lance, the trial of skill was made with what were called the arms of courtesy, that is, with lances at whose extremity a piece of round flat board was fixed, so that no danger was encountered, save from the shock of the horses and riders. But if the shield was touched with the sharp end of the lance, the combat was understood to be at 'outrance', that is, the knights were to fight with sharp weapons, as in actual battle.
Thirdly, when the knights present had accomplished their vow, by each of them breaking five lances, the Prince was to declare the victor in the first day's tourney, who should receive as prize a warhorse of exquisite beauty and matchless strength; and in addition to this reward of valour, it was now declared, he should have the peculiar honour of naming the Queen of Love and Beauty, by whom the prize should be given on the ensuing day.
Fourthly, it was announced, that, on the second day, there should be a general tournament, in which all the knights present, who were desirous to win praise, might take part; and being divided into two bands of equal numbers, might fight it out manfully, until the signal was given by Prince John to cease the combat. The elected Queen of Love and Beauty was then to crown the knight whom the Prince should adjudge to have borne himself best in this second day, with a coronet composed of thin gold plate, cut into the shape of a laurel crown. On this second day the knightly games ceased. But on that which was to follow, feats of archery, of bull-baiting, and other popular amusements, were to be practised, for the more immediate amusement of the populace.
Walter Scott describes a jousting combat between the champions of the same tournament thus:
At the flourish of clarions and trumpets, they started out against each other at full gallop; and such was the superior dexterity or good fortune of the challengers, that those opposed to Bois-Guilbert, Malvoisin, and Front-de-Boeuf, rolled on the ground. The antagonist of Grantmesnil, instead of bearing his lance-point fair against the crest or the shield of his enemy, swerved so much from the direct line as to break the weapon athwart the person of his opponent - a circumstance which was accounted more disgraceful than that of being actually unhorsed; because the latter might happen from accident, whereas the former evinced awkwardness and want of management of the weapon and of the horse. The fifth knight alone maintained the honour of his party, and parted fairly with the Knight of St John, both splintering their lances without advantage on either side.
The shouts of the multitude, together with the acclamations of the heralds, and the clangour of the trumpets, announced the triumph of the victors and the defeat of the vanquished. The former retreated to their pavilions, and the latter, gathering themselves up as they could, withdrew from the lists in disgrace and dejection, to agree with their victors concerning the redemption of their arms and their horses, which, according to the laws of the tournament, they had forfeited. The fifth of their number alone tarried in the lists long enough to be greeted by the applauses of the spectators, amongst whom he retreated, to the aggravation, doubtless, of his companions' mortification.
During intervals of the tournament it appears that heralds inspired the contestants and audience by announcements and chants inspiring chivalry and bravery such as:
'Love of ladies, splintering of lances! stand forth gallant knights, fair eyes look upon your deeds!'
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The tower and sword is a Portuguese order of knighthood. The order was founded in Brazil in 1808 by John, afterwards King John VI, who wished to revive the order of the sword dating from 1459. The order was transferred to Portugal, and was remodelled in 1832. The order has five classes of member.
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Town was the name given to a village which was surrounded by a delimiting and protective hedge. The word town derives from the Anglo-Saxon word tun, meaning a hedge or enclosure.
Later the term town came to mean a large or important settlement, as distinct from a smaller or less important village, though the term was still indistinct and not defined.
In the USA the term township is interchangeable with the English term town, meaning the primary subdivision of the county, a large area, rural or urban. In the Middle colonies and the South it meant, as in England, an incorporated municipality of greater or less size. Thus in Massachusetts nearly all the territory of the colony was occupied with towns, while in the South there were a few towns here and there. As to the origin of the New England town various theories have been held. To some it has seemed an original creation of the early settlers, to others an imitation of the English parish.
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Historically, in the USA, a town-meeting was the meeting of all freemen of a town in primary assembly for the discussion of local affairs and the election of local officers. This was one of the most characteristic of the New England institutions, and one of the most valuable, because of the education it afforded in politics. Jefferson on this account wished that something similar might be introduced into Virginia. In the type of local government which has been instituted in the northernmost row of Western States, the township usually had a town-meeting. In the row of States west of the Middle States, this was not usual.
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The Towneley Plays or Towneley Mysteries are a collection of thirty-two early dramatic pieces, probably written around the end of the 14th century. They were preserved in the library of Towneley Hall in Lancashire. The plays depict the bible stories from the creation through to the Doomsday ina familiar and sometimes light-hearted or even humourous fashion. They were sold at Sotheby's in 1922 to an American for 3500 pounds.
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The Townshend Acts were two acts proposed in Parliament, on April the 16th, 1767, at the instance of Charles Townshend, then Chancellor of the Exchequer. They were to go into effect on November the 20th. They provided for the appointment of commissioners to enforce more effectually the laws of trade with the colonies; granted duties on glass, paper, colours and tea, and legalized writs of assistance. The revenue was to defray the charge of the administration of justice and support the civil government in the provinces. The people of Massachusetts opposed them by renewing their non-importation agreements.
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Toys are items intended for amusement, rather than practical use. The term is especially applied to items intended for children, though in this sense the use of the term 'toy' is ironic as children's play things serve an essential part in a child's learning and development. A low quality, plastic microscope marketed for children as a child's toy may at first glance be considered of too low quality for research use, but for a child may provide a great deal of education in discovering the microworld. The toy microscope may, then, be perceived by an adult scientist as a worthless item fit only for amusement, but such a perception should be bigoted and incorrect. In the context of fostering, stimulating and developing a young child's imagination, curiosity and research skills a toy microscope may be as fit for purpose as a professional research microscope may be for the purpose to which a forensic scientist wishes to put it.
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A tract is a short argumentative treatise. It was a type of literature employed and developed by Luther.
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Tract Societies are organisations first formed in the late 17th century for the purpose of indoctrinating the masses in the teachings of the Christian faith.
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The Tractarian Movement (The Oxford Movement) was a literary movement started in 1833, in a controversy which arose in the Church of England regarding the position the church would occupy in the event of its disestablishment, by Newman, Keble and Pusey. It was conducted by means of publication of Tracts for the Times, ninety in all, from which the movement got its name.
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Tractory is the curve in which a heavy particle moves when dragged at the end of an inextensible string by a body moving in a straight line.
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Trade Winds are persistent winds blowing towards the equator, from the north-east in the northern hemisphere and the south-east in the southern hemisphere. Trade winds occur in the Atlantic Ocean and in the Pacific Ocean near the west coast of America.
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In theology, traducianism is the doctrine that the soul of a child is produced by the soul of the parents as an act of natural generation. The opposite doctrine is creationism, according to which a soul is created by god for every human being immediately at birth.
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In the theatre, a tragedy is a play dealing with a serious theme.
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A tram is a passenger vehicle, similar to a bus, which runs along rails on public roads. The rails are flush with the road's surface allowing other motor vehicles to also use the roads at the same time.
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A trammel or trammel net is a kind of fishing net consisting of a fine net hung loosely between vertical walls of a coarser net so that fish passing through the coarse net carry some of the finer net through with them and are caught in the resulting pocket.
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The tramontano is a cool northerly wind felt along the shores of the Adriatic.
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A trampoline is a canvas sheet attached to a horizontal metal framework by springs to provide a resilient platform for acrobats.
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The Transcaspian Railway is a railway built by the Russian government from Krasnovodsk on the east side of the Caspian Sea, along the south side of the Kara-kum desert to the oasis of Merv. The line was opened in 1886 and has since been extended with branch lines.
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Transcendentalism is a movement that derived its name from the German philosophy of Schelling, and signified the philosophy of those who deemed the objective realities of the world to be best studied by interrogating the subjective consciousness. The school of the transcendentalists prevailed in New England, especially at Concord, Massachusetts, in and after 1830. Emerson was its leader, but many of his followers were unpractical and visionary men, whose philosophy was of little value to the actual world. The movement exercised great influence on Unitarian religion, on various reforms and especially on the anti-slavery cause.
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Transformismo was a political system introduced in Italy in 1884 when Depretis was Prime minister. Under Transformismo, the members of the ministry do not necessarily belong to one political party, but are selected from all parties, on account of their individual influence and the votes that they can command in the chamber.
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Translucent is a term applied to a substance or material which although not transparent, allows light to pass through it.
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Generally the term transparent is understood to mean that something is see-through, that is that light can pass through it so that objects beyond are clearly visible - like for example a standard window. The term is also applied to objects which allow the passage of radiant heat, other specific types of radiation or sound waves to pass through them. The opposite of transparent is opaque.
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Transportation is the policy of punishing crime by removing offenders to some penal settlement abroad for a period of years or life. In England the Vagrancy Act of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I first empowered justices to order that certain classes of offenders might be sent beyond the seas, and by the reign of Charles II convicts were regularly transported to America where they were forced to work on plantations. Transportation to the American colony ended with the American War of Independence, and in 1788 the first batch of convicts landed at Botany Bay in New South Wales. The convicts sent to Australia were sent with a view to colonising the country. However, in 1835 a party was formed with the view of abolishing the transportation of convicts into Australia and from 1840 convicts were instead sent to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) where penal settlements already existed.
The system of transportation was abolished in Britain in 1853 in favour of penal servitude, by the Penal Servitude Act.
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A transvestite is a person who dresses in the clothes of the opposite sex.
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The Transylvania Company was a colonization company, organized in North Carolina in 1775. Its grants were obtained directly from the crown, no colonial government being permitted to issue land warrants.
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In mining a trapdoor or weather door is a door in a level used for regulating the ventilating current.
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A trapeze is a horizontal bar suspended by two ropes and used as a piece of apparatus by acrobats.
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A trapezoid is a quadrilateral shape in which none of the sides are parallel.
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Traprain Law is a conical hill some 220 metres tall in East Lothian, Scotland. In May 1919 excavations of the hill revealed an imprtant treasure of ancient silverwork comprising vessels bearing classical pagan designs, and church plate with biblical scenes and Christian emblems, beside Roman imperial coins and Teutonic ornaments. The hoard is believed to have been a robbers cache hidden during the 5th century and looted from religious and secular establishments along the Gallic coast.
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A trave is a wooden frame used to confine an unruly horse or ox while shoeing.
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In wheelwrighting, a traveller was a tool consisting of a wheel, twenty-four inches in diameter, on a handle which was used to measure the circumference of the wooden wheel prior to making an iron tyre to fit the wheel.
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A treadmill is a mill consisting of a large wooden cylinder with steps on the outside. It is worked by persons treading on the steps, their weight causing the cylinder to revolve. The treadmill was invented in China and originally used for raising water. The treadmill employed in British prisons as an instrument of torture or punishment was invented by Sir William Cubitt. The first penal treadmill was erected in Brixton Jail in 1817. The 'hard labour' of prison discipline was formerly the treadmill.
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Treason is the breach of the duty of allegiance owed by a subject to the State and its sovereign.
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The Treason Act was passed in 1534 by Henry VIII making it high treason to question the King's title or imagine or practise any harm to him.
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Treasure Island is an adventure story by Robert Louis Stevenson. It was first published as a serial in the paper 'Young Folks' and was later published as a book in 1883. The story is set in the 18th century and tells of a search for buried treasure by murderous pirates.
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Treasure-trove is a legal term for coins, gold and silver articles found buried in the earth or secreted in other places for which no owner can be found. In England, treasure-trove belongs to the crown, and to conceal it is punishable with a fine or imprisonment.
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The Treaty of Morfortaine is a name sometimes given to the convention negotiated on September the 30th, 1800, between the United States and the French Republic, which had then recently come under the rule of the first consul, Bonaparte. It was negotiated by Ellsworth, Murray and Davie for the United States, and Joseph Bonaparte for France. It provided for the restoration of captured ships and property, and more liberal rules respecting neutrals, but postponed the French spoliation claims.
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The Treaties of Westphalia were treaties signed in 1648 by the Holy Roman Empire, France, Sweden and the Protestant States of the Empire, ending the Thirty Years' War. Under the treaties France gained Alsace, Sweden gained the western parts of Pomerania, Switzerland and the United Netherlands were recognised as independent and religious toleration was extended to the Calvinists.
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The Treaty Of Breda was a treaty concluded between Britain, France, Netherlands and Denmark and signed at Breda in 1667. The treaty included the restoration of Acadia (Nova Scotia) to France by England, England secured her claims to the West Indies and retained New Netherlands (New York) from the Netherlands.
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The Treaty of Ghent was a treaty of peace concluded between British and American commissioners, assembled at Ghent in 1814. Clay, Adams, Gallatin, Bayard and Russell represented the United States. The treaty was concluded on December the 24th, 1814, and was ratified early in 1815. It provided for universal peace between the belligerents; the mutual restoration of territory, property and archives; a cessation of hostilities immediately upon ratification; a restoration of prisoners of war; an establishment of the disputed north-eastern boundary by construction of the treaty of 1783, with possible final reference to some friendly power; other boundary questions to be disposed of in a similar manner; and a mutual promotion of the abolition of the slave trade. Nothing was said of the impressment of seamen, the search of American vessels, and the oppressive decrees respecting neutral commerce the three grievances which mainly caused the War of 1812.
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The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was negotiated between the USA and Mexico by Nicholas Trist for the United States in 1848, at the conclusion of the Mexican War. By this treaty Mexico ceded to the United States the territory of Texas, New Mexico and Upper California, and agreed upon the Rio Grande River as the boundary between herself and Texas. The United States agreed to pay Mexico $15,000,000 and to assume all claims of its citizens against Mexico arising before the treaty. It reserved to Mexicans in the ceded territory the option to remove or remain and assured protection of their rights of property.
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The Treaty of Berlin was signed on the 13th of July, 1878, at the close of the Berlin Congress, which was constituted by the representatives of the six Great Powers and Turkey. The Treaty of San Stefano, previously concluded between Turkey and Russia, was modified by the Berlin Treaty, which resulted In the division of Bulgaria into two parts, Bulgaria proper and Eastern Rumelia, the cession of parts of Armenia to Russia and Persia, the independence of Rumania, Serbia, and Montenegro, the transference of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Austrian administration, and the retrocession of Bessarabia to Russia. Greece was also to have an accession of territory. The British representatives were Beaconsfield, Salisbury, and Lord Odo Russell. By a separate arrangement previously made between Britain and Turkey, the former got Cyprus to administer.
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The Treaty of Dardanelles was signed in 1841 between England, France, Russia and Turkey and confirmed the convention of 1840, limiting Mehemet Ali to Egypt and Acre, and closing the Dardanelles to all ships of war unless with the consent of the Sultan.
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The Treaty of Madrid was an agreement, signed in 1670, between Spain and England to revoke all letters of marque and to abstain from pillage. The agreement also saw Spain recognise England's possessions in the West Indies, most notably Jamaica.
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The 1763 Treaty of Paris was a treaty concluded between Great Britain, France, Spain and Portugal. By the treaty, France ceded to Great Britain: Canada, Cape Breton and the islands and coasts of the St Lawrence. The Mississippi River from its source to the Iberville and a line thence through Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain to the Gulf of Mexico were to bound the Spanish and British possessions. Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain. England renounced her pretensions to Cuba in favour of Spain and surrendered her forts in Spanish America.
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The Treaty of Ryswick was signed in 1697 and ended the war which, in Europe, was called the War of the Grand Alliance; in America, King William's War.
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The Treaty of San Ildefonso was a secret treaty between France and Spain, signed on October the 1st, 1800, by which Louisiana was retroceded by Spain to France in consideration of an agreement advantageous to the royal family of Spain relative to Tuscany. This treaty was directly instrumental in bringing about the purchase of Louisiana by the United States in 1803.
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The Treaty of Tilsit was a peace agreement signed between France and the allies of Russia and Prussia after the defeat of the Russians at Friedland. The treaty was signed upon a raft in the middle of the River Memel at Tilsit on June the 25th 1807. The treaty left Russia a free hand in Sweden and Turkey, provided Russia maintain the continental system. Prussia lost her possessions west of the Elbe and the part of Poland she had obtained in the partition of 1793 - 1795. Prussia also had a heavy indemnity imposed upon her and her standing army reduced to 42000 men.
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The Treaty of Troyes was concluded between Henry V of England, Charles VI of France and the Burgundians in May 1420. Under the terms of the treaty Henry V gave up the title of king of France, but was to marry Charles' daughter Catherine, have the title of regent and heir of France and succeed to the throne of France on Charles' death. Normandy and all Henry's conquests were to be restored to France on Henry's accession to the French throne. The Dauphin was to be disinherited.
A second Treaty of Troyes was signed in 1564, after the English surrender of Havre. By it France undertook to pay England 120,000 crowns and free trade was to be allowed between the two countries.
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The Treaty of Utrecht (also known as the Peace of Utrecht) was a series of treaties concluded between France, Great Britain, Portugal, Prussia, Savoy and Holland in 1713 and 1715, which ended the War of the Spanish Succession, called in America 'Queen Anne's War'.
After a preliminary' agreement in London in 1711, a congress met at Utrecht in January, 1712. Great Britain, France, Savoy, Portugal, the Emperor, Prussia, and the Dutch Republic were represented, and later Spain. In March and April, 1713, the main treaties were signed. Others followed, that between Spain and Portugal being delayed until 1715.
France ceded Newfoundland, Acadia or Nova Scotia, the district around Hudson Bay, and St Kitt's to Great Britain, which had conquered them. From Spain Great Britain acquired Gibraltar and Minorca, as well as the monopoly of the slave trade with Spanish America, called the Asiento. Louis XIV recognized the Protestant succession, and promised to give no further aid to the Stuarts. Great Britain and France also concluded a commercial treaty.
The crown of Spain, with its American possessions, was given to the French claimant, Philip V. It was stipulated, however, that the same person should never be king of both France and Spain. Philip's Austrian rival, the emperor Charles, was consoled with Naples, Milan, Sardinia, and the Spanish, henceforward called the Austrian, Netherlands. All these had been Spanish. Prussia was recognized as a kingdom, and received part of Gelder-land, while France promised to secure the title of king for the duke of Savoy, who received Sicily.
The Treaty of Utrecht was bitterly denounced in England by the Whigs, and four of those responsible for it were impeached.
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The Treaty of Versailles was a treaty of peace concluded at Versailles between commissions representing the United States and Great Britain. It was arranged in 1782, and was formally ratified on September the 3rd,1783. Jay, Adams, Franklin and Laurens formed the American Commission. By this treaty the absolute independence of the United States was recognized. Florida was returned to Spain; the Americans relinquished their pretensions to the territory north of Lake Brie; the St Lawrence river system, from the western end of Lake Superior to the forty-fifth parallel, was made the boundary; from the forty-fifth parallel to the sea, the boundary followed the highlands after an uncertain fashion, and was long a matter of bitter dispute; British right of navigation of the Mississippi was yielded, England according in return the American right of fishing on the Canadian and Newfoundland coasts; Loyalists and Tories were to be protected in America; English troops were to be withdrawn without destroying any property, or taking away any negro slaves belonging to Americans. This treaty was in reality signed in Paris, but is generally known by the above name, which properly belongs only to the treaty between England and France.
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The Treaty of Washington was ratified in 1871 and proclaimed in force, on July the 4th, of that year, after thirty-four meetings of commissioners, representing England and the United States, and assembled at Washington. It provided for arbitration as to the Alabama Claims; as to claims of British subjects against the United States; as to fisheries, and as to the settlement of the Northwest boundary question. The arbitrators upon the Alabama Claims were to be five in number and were to be appointed by the President of the United States, the Queen of England, the King of Italy, the President of the Swiss Confederation, and the Emperor of Brazil. Their sessions were to be held at Geneva.
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The Treaty of Westminster was negotiated in 1674 and concluded a war between England and the Netherlands. Under the provisions of the treaty, New Netherland in the USA, which had been taken from England by the Dutch, was restored.
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A treenail is a nail made of hard wood, as opposed to steel or iron.
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A trellis is a structure of light bars crossing each other with open squares or diamond-shaped spaces between them. Trellis are used as screens and to support climbing plants.
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A trencher is a flat slab of wood upon which bread, meat or other food is cut. Originally trenchers were square, but afterwards round trenchers were introduced. Except for use as a bread board they fell into disuse when earthenware became generally available. In the 1920's the students at Winchester College still ate from square trenchers.
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The Trent Affair was an incident of the American Civil War. Towards the end of 1861 two commissioners named J M Mason and John Slidell, dispatched by the Confederacy, embarked at Havana in a British ship, the Trent, bound for England. The Trent was stopped on the high seas by a Federal man-of-war, and the two commissioners were taken prisoner. Popular sentiment in America approved of the action, but President Abraham Lincoln recognised that a breach of international law had been committed, and in response to the British Government's formal demand, restored the prisoners to liberty, thereby averting the threat of war with Britain.
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In the Roman Catholic church, trental is a set of 30 requiem masses said daily or all on one day.
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A triad is an association of three kindred or correlated deities. In ancient Egypt, cycles of this type usually arose out of the association with the chief local god of other deities; in some instances the members were deemed to stand in the relationship of father, mother and child. Such were the Theban triad of Amen, Nut and Khons; the Memphite of Ptah, Sekhet and Nefertum; and the Osiris-Isis-Horus triad, which, n the Alexandrian form, comprised Serapis, Isis and Harpocrates.
In Babylonia, triads were derived from early conceptions of a cosmic trinity, such as Anu, Enlil and Ea representing sky, earth and water: and shin, Shamash and Ishtar, representing sun, moon and star. Early Aryan thought moved in the same direction in the Vedic triad of Agni, Indra and Surya, representing fire, wind and sun. out of this emerged the Brahman Trimurti, or three aspects, portrayed as a three-headed image in a famous sculpture at Elephanta, and comprising Brahma, the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Siva the destroyer.
Buddhism adopted the principle in the Triratna, or three jewels, which were at first the Sangha or monastic order, portrayed as a man holding a lotus, the Buddha, and the Dharma, or sacred law.
The Triad Society of China, denoting the union of heaven, earth and man arose in the 18th century and became a powerful anti-dynastic movement.
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Trial By Jury is an operetta by Gilbert and Sullivan, the first piece in which Gilbert and Sullivan collaborated, and was first produced on March the 25th 1875 at the Royalty Theatre, London where it ran for 128 performances. It was later revived at the prince's Theatre between 1921 and 1922.
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Trial by Battle also known as Wager by Battle, was a Norman innovation by which some civil actions and trials for felony at the private suit of the persons wronged might be decided by personal combat. A woman, a priest, a peer, or a person physically incapable of fighting could refuse such a trial. In civil cases men were usually hired to fight the duel, but in cases of felony or murder accuser and accused fought personally until one was slain. If the accused gave in, he was put to death: if he killed his opponent or the fight lasted from sunrise to sunset, he was acquitted. The last trial by battle was waged in the court of common please, Westminster in 1571; in the court of chivalry in 1631; and in the court of Durham in 1639. In the case of Ashford v. Thornton in 1818, the accused in a trial for murder pleaded 'Not guilty; and I am ready to defend the same by my body.' The plea was held good, and the accused set free, as the accuser would not fight. Trial by Battle was abolished by statute in 1818.
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In astronomy Triangulum is a small, inconspicuous constellation between Perseus and Andromeda. Its brightest star is of the third magnitude, and it contains a number of double and variable stars and the nebulae 33 Mesier.
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In astronomy Triangulum Australe is a southern constellation placed by Bayer on the edge of the Milky Way. Its three principal stars make a diamond with AlphaCentauri. Its brightest star is of the second magnitude, and the constellation contains a number of short period variable and double stars.
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The Trianon Decree was a secret decree issued at the palace of the Trianon, France, on August the 5th, 1810, by Napoleon, ordering the immediate confiscation of all American vessels and merchandise brought in previous to May the 1st, 1810, and ordering that, until November 1st, American vessels were to be allowed to enter French ports, but not to unload without his permission. At the same time he offered to revoke the Milan and Berlin decrees on November the 1st. This was a ruse to entrap American vessels, and it succeeded admirably.
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The term tribe describes a social group having a common speech, cultural level, and body of customs, occupying a circumscribed food-producing area, and claiming a common ancestry. As thus used in ethnology the term tribe denotes the simplest socio-political unit, based on endogamy, marriage outside the tribe being discouraged, but often comprising two or more exogamous phatries or clans.
Government is effected by means of tribal or customary law, maintained either by public opinion expressed through elders, or by headship, elective or hereditary. Among the Australian aborigines, whose physical environment offered no incentive to the development of warfare, tribal cohesion was maintained by the initiation ceremonies and other periodic gatherings. In aboriginal America the tribal organisation passed through every stage, from the simplest (Fuegians), to such complex unions as the Iroquois confederacy. Negro and Bantu Africa were traditionally essentially tribal, the latter having developed a high level of kingship for the direction of warfare. Similarly nomadism usually leads to tribal autocracy.
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Tribology is the study of friction, wear, lubrication and bearing design.
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A tribune was an ancient Roman administrative officer. Military tribunes were originally commanders of the tribes. Six were appointed for each legion, being elected from 207 BC by vote of the people. When more than two armies took the field, those which were not commanded by consuls were placed under military tribunes with consular power. Tribunes of the treasury were paymasters of the army.
More important were the tribunes of the people or plebs. When Rome established the republic in 509 BC the plebeians shared in the 'comitia centuriata' or national assembly, but the magistracies, the high offices of state, were confined to the patricians. In 494 BC the plebeians obtained the right to appoint from among themselves two tribunes authorised to intervene for the protection of plebeians against arbitrary actions on the part of the magistrates. The numbers were raised to five and then in 457 to ten. In 287 the exclusively plebeian assembly, the 'comitia tributa', became an independent legislative body, while the tribunes individually had the power of initiating legislation, and of imposing a veto upon the enactment of proposed laws and of prohibiting administrative acts on the part of the magistrates.
The later powers of the tribunate were suddenly developed when Tiberius Gracchus was elected as a tribune in 133. Hitherto democratic legislation had been held in check because the senate could always count on procuring one tribune willing to impose his veto upon obnoxious proposals. But Tiberius Gracchus formally deposed an antagonistic tribune by the vote of the comitia tributa. Sulla's legislation in 81 BC temporarily deprived the tribunate of some of its powers, which were again partially restored in 75 and 70.
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A triclinium was a Roman couch which ran around three sides of a table, leaving one end free for serving.
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Tricolor is a name generally applied to the blue, white and red national flag of France. The tricolor originated in the early days of the French revolution and was a blending of the colours of the National Guard of Paris who bore cockades of the city colours, red and blue, and of the royalist troops who bore white cockades. These colours were grouped in a flag of three perpendicular stripes of equal width, the blue being placed beside the pole, next the white and the red on the outside. The tricolor was for a time replaced by the red ensign of the Commune before being finally adopted as the national flag, and under Napoleon, led the Republic and then the imperial troops to victory. Louis XVIII and Charles X replaced the tricolor with the Bourbon white flag with its three golden fleur-de-lis, but with Louis-Philippe the tricolor was reinstated.
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A tricycle is a three-wheeled machine used for riding. Tricycles were an adaptation of the velocipede, and were first introduced around about 1878 as a substitute for the high bicycle. Most tricycles are steered directly by one wheel in front, though some have been made with two steering wheels abreast and driven by a single wheel behind. Tricycles operate on the same principle as the bicycle but by the 1920s were very little used in Britain except in special forms, such as those propelled by hand for use by people unable to use their legs, and the carrier-tricycle which was fitted with a box for the delivery of goods from shops etc. Later, tricycles were revived for use by children.
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TRICYCLE
A tricycle is a three-wheeled machine used for riding. Tricycles were an adaptation of the velocipede, and were first introduced around about 1878 as a substitute for the high bicycle. Most tricycles are steered directly by one wheel in front, though some have been made with two steering wheels abreast and driven by a single wheel behind. Tricycles operate on the same principle as the bicycle but by the 1920s were very little used in Britain except in special forms, such as those propelled by hand for use by people unable to use their legs, and the carrier-tricycle which was fitted with a box for the delivery of goods from shops etc. Later, tricycles were revived for use by children.
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In The Roman Catholic religion, a triduum is three days of prayer in preparation for a feast or other solemn occasion.
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In English history there have been two Acts of parliament each called the Triennial Act, both dealing with the duration of Parliament. In 1641 the Long Parliament passed a Triennial Act declaring that more than years must not elapse without a Parliament being called.
The second triennial Act, passed in 1694, fulfilled a very different purpose, ordaining than no Parliament should last longer than three years. The second Triennial Act was practically repealed by the Septennial Act of 1716.
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Trigonometry is the branch of mathematics which treats of the relation of the sides and angles of triangles, with the methods of deducing from certain parts the parts required.
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Trilby was a novel written by George Du Maurier and originally published serially in Harper's Magazine in 1894. The story is based around the heroine, Trilby O'Ferall, an artist's model in love with a man whom she considers above her station, and hence she breaks off the romance and disappears only to reappear later as a singer under the hypnotic control of a Jewish adventurer called Svengali. In 1895 a dramatised version of the novel was performed at the Haymarket in London.
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Trimilki was the Anglo-Saxon name for the month we now call May.
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Trinity College is the largest of the colleges of Cambridge University. It was founded by Henry VIII in 1546 by the amalgamation of nine earlier foundations including Michaelhouse, founded by Hervey de Stanton in 1324, and King's Hall founded by Edward III in 1337.
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Trinity College is an Irish university in Dublin. It was founded in 1591 and was for a long time confined to members of the Anglican church, before in 1873 religious tests were abolished and it was opened to all.
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Trinity College is a college of Oxford University. It was founded in 1555 by Sir Thomas Pope.
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Trinity Hall is a college of Cambridge University. It was founded in 1350 by William Batelam, bishop of Norwich, for the study of canon and civil law.
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Trinity House was founded at Deptford, Kent and received a royal charter in 1514. It was composed of skilled mariners, and had charge of the naval dockyard under Henry VIII. Under Elizabeth I it began its work of lighting the coasts of England. Today it is responsible for light houses, buoys etc.
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Trinity Sunday, the octave of Pentecost, is a feast of very early institution. The name
Trinity Sunday is found in the English Breviary and missal since the time of St Oswald.
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A triolet is a poem of fixed form consisting of an eight-line stanza rhymed upon two rhymes in the manner ABAAABAB. The fourth line is a repetition of the first and the seventh and eight of the first two. Triolets originated in mediaeval France.
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A triple alliance is an agreement or understanding made between three countries. One of the most famous triple alliances was the one made between Germany, Austria and Italy in 1882 and renewed several times until it was broken in 1914 when Italy refused to join the war against France, Russia and Great Britain.
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Originally, a triptych was a writing tablet of three leaves. The term is also applied to a work of art which consists of three painted or carved panels in juxtaposition, hinged so that the two outer panes fold over the centre one. Triptychs are often found used as an altarpiece in Christian churches.
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A triskelion (or triskele) is a symbol consisting of three bent limbs or lines radiating from a centre, as per the devices of the Sicily and the Isle of Man
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The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gent is a novel by Laurence Sterne published in nine volumes between 1759 and 1767.
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A troitska or troika is a Russian sleigh mounted on runners and drawn by three horses abreast.
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Trojan satellites are small bodies orbiting in the vicinity of the triangular Lagrangian points of a planet- satellite system. Three such satellites have been discovered by the Voyager probes in the Saturnian system: two (Telesto, Calypso) orbiting 60 degrees behind and ahead of Tethys and one (Helene) 60 degrees ahead of Dione. All these bodies have nearly circular orbits in the plane of Saturn's equator. They are around 10 km in diameter and are probably icy fragments.
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A tron was a wooden pillar or post erected in a market square and supporting a horizontal beam from which were suspended the town scales used for weighing wool and other commodities. From this is derived the tron weight formerly in use in Scotland for wool, cheese and butter, the pound ranging in various counties from 21 to 28 ounces, the tron stone containing sixteen pounds.
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The tropic of Cancer (latitude 23.5 degrees North) and the tropic of Capricorn (latitude 23.5 degrees South) are, respectively the northernmost and southernmost lines on which the sun's rays shine vertically.
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In building, a trowel is a flat bladed tool with a short handle used for spreading mortar. A gardener's trowel is a scoop shaped tool with a short handle.
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Troy weight is a system of weight consisting of a pound comprising twelve ounces, introduced into Europe around 1095 by the Crusaders, and first adopted at the French city of Troyes. The Troy weight is used for precious metals and gem stones.
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A trug is a shallow garden basket made of wooden strips and with a handle extending from side to side.
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The Trullan councils were two church councils held in Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 680 and 692. The name is derived from the domed hall in the imperial palace where the councils were held. The first was the 6th oecumenical council, and condemned the Monothelite heresy. The second council, also called the Quinsext Council, was not acknowledged by the western Church. It issued 102 canons and permitted the marriage of priests.
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A truss was a bundle of hay or straw. In England a truss was equivalent to 56 lbs of old and 60 lbs of new hay; a truss of straw was 36 lbs.
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A tsunami or tidal wave as they are popularly known, is a seismic sea wave originating from any one of several submarine geological phenomena, such as volcanic explosions or earthquakes. They travel in the open ocean at speeds up to 640 kmh. On Boxing Day 2004, (the 26th December 2004) an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter Scale occurred under the sea off the coast of Sumatra. The resultant tsunami or tidal waves killed over 125,000 people throughout the entire Indian Ocean area extending from Burma, Indonesia and Malaysia in the east, west to Sri Lanka, India, the Maldives, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania and the Seychelles.
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A tub was a British measure of butter equivalent to 84 lbs, in use during the 19th century.
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Tuesday is the second day of the week. The day is named after the ancient Norse god Tyr.
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The Tugenbund (league of virtue) was a society founded at Konigsberg in 1808 by the Prussian minister Stein, with the ostensible purpose of reviving patriotism and morality, promoting education and reorganising the army, but really with the object of driving the French out of Germany. Frederick William III was compelled by Napoleon to dissolve it in 1809.
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The tullianum was a subterranean prison of ancient Rome, on the Capitoline Hill. It was here that the captives of victorious generals were put to death after thr triumph and criminals were executed. In the Middle Ages the tullianum became known as the Mamertine Prison.
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Originally, a tumbler was a drinking-vessel with a rounded or tapering base which mean that it was unable to stand upright unsupported. Today, the term is applied to a cylindrical glass drinking vessel without handles or a foot but with a heavy flat base.
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A tumbrel is a type of cart, formerly used for carrying dung and prisoners to the guillotine during the French Revolution.
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The tun was a measure of liquid capacity containing 252 gallons of wine. The name tun was also given to a barrel with a caapcity for 2000 pounds of water. A tun of sweet oil was 236 gallons.
Tun was an old term for any drinking vessel, whether a cup or a goblet.
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Tunding was a thrashing carried out with sticks of ash by a prefect or monitor at Winchester School on a fellow student for breaching discipline.
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In law, turbary is the right to go up on another's land or to dig turf upon it. The term is also used to describe ground upon which turf is dug.
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Turnberry Castle is a ruined castle in Ayrshire, Scotland. It stands on the coast nprth of Girvan and was in earlier times a stronghold of the earls of Carrick, one of whom was Robert the Bruce.
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A turnpike was a gate across a road to prevent the passage of vehicles or pedestrians until a toll had been paid. The term turnpike was also applied to the toll road itself.
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Turnpike roads were, formerly, roads in Britain vested in trustees by acts of Parliament with powers to levy tolls for their upkeep. The system proved inconvenient and by 1870 had been abolished, with the 1878 Highways and Locomotives (Amendment) Act the former turnpike roads were declared to be main roads and the cost and management of them was transferred to the county councils. Later the cost and management was transferred to central government. In 2003 the City of London re-established the principal with the introduction of a 'congestion charge' for the use of roads within central London. The charge was levied among widespread scepticism of its success in an attempt to reduce traffic levels within the designated area. Contrary to popular belief, the system proved successful at reducing traffic levels and much less unpopular than had been predicted.
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Turnsole was a violet-blue or purple substance obtained from a Mediterranean plant (Chrozophora tinctoria) of the spurge family formerly much used for colouring jellies, confectionery, wines, etc, and as a pigment.
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Turnspit was the name given to a dog kept for walking in a treadmill so as to keep a roasting-spit turning. The term was also applied to a servant employed to turn a roasting-spit.
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A turnstile is a gate for admission or exit, consisting of horizontally revolving arms fixed to a vertical post. Turnstiles were originally designed to prevent passage by horse riders etc, while allowing pedestrians access. In modern terms a turnstile is a gate used to allow people on foot to pass through one by one, thus greatly slowing down the flow of traffic. Turnstiles are typically found at locations where an entrance fee is to be paid, such as sports stadiums.
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A turret clock is a large clock adapted for an elevated position, as in the tower of a church.
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The Tweed Ring was a corrupt political movement headed by William Tweed which controlled city government in New York from 1860 to 1871. The ring was composed of William Tweed, A Oakey Hall, Peter Sweeney and Richard Connolly. These men, through bribery and influence among the lower classes, particularly the foreign element, having first gained control of Tammany Hall, so manipulated the mayoralty election of 1865 as to secure the city government. In 1866, Hall was elected mayor; Sweeney was made city and county treasurer; Tweed, superintendent of the street department; and Connolly, city comptroller. They carried into effect a new city charter which gave them absolute control of fiscal appropriations. When the Ring was finally overthrown in 1871, through publications of its frauds on the taxpayers, and the untiring efforts of Samuel Tilden, a prominent Democrat, it was discovered that the city debt had increased from $20,000,000 to $101,000,000. William Tweed died in prison; Sweeney and Connolly went into exile, and Hall also left the country.
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A tweezer is a small pair of tongs used for picking up small objects.
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Twelfth Day is the festival of Epiphany, being the twelfth day after Christmas, it is kept as the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. It was formerly the occasion for festivities in commemoration of the visit of the three kings to the infant Jesus. A king (the beanking) of the feast was chosen by a bean hidden in the twelfth Cake.
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Twelfth Night is the eve of Epiphany (twelfth day) and is the last night of Christmas festivities.
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The Twelve Tables was the original Roman code of law drawn up around 450 BC by a body of 10 Decemviri who had been sent to Greece to examine into foreign laws and institutions. They consisted partly of laws transcribed from the institutions of other nations, partly of such as were altered and accommodated to the manners of the Romans, partly of new provisions, and mainly, perhaps, of laws and usages under their ancient kings. They were written in ancient Latin on copper tablets and was set up in the forum of Rome.
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Twilight is a faint illumination of the earth by sunlight reflected from the atmosphere after sunset and before sunrise.
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Twins is the name applied for two human bodies produced at a birth. Twins may be identical which often occurs as a result of a single ovum, or different in the case of multiple ova being fertilised.
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In printing, a tympan is a frame covered with parchment or cloth, on which the blank sheets are put, so as to be laid on the form to be impressed.
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In printing, a tympan sheet is a sheet of paper of the same size as that to be printed, pasted on the tympan, serving as a guide in laying the sheets evenly for printing.
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Tynwald is the parliament in the Isle of Man.
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A typhoon is a tropical cyclone or hurricane of the western Pacific and China Sea.
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Typography is the art of composing the layout and appearance of printed work, including the selection of typefaces, line spacing, word spacing and the positioning of illustrations. In recent times the term has largely been replaced with 'publishing'.
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Tyromancy is divination by watching cheese coagulate.
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