# General Information (T)

Taal
Taal was the language spoken by the Dutch settlers in South Africa. It was a degeneration of Dutch, the alphabet containing only twenty letters and the language few grammatical rules.

Tabaret
Tabaret is an upholstery fabric with alternate satin and watered-silk stripes.

Tabernacle
A tabernacle is a temporary or slightly built dwelling, such as a hut, booth or tent.

Tabes
Tabes is a slow progressive emaciation.

Tablier
Historically, a tablier was the apron-like part of a woman's dress.

Taboo
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.

Tabor
A tabor is a small drum, usually plaed with one stick, in accompaniment to the pipe, both instruments often being played by the same performer.

Tabu
see "Taboo"

Tachograph
A tachograph is a device fitted to a motor vehicle which records its speed and distances travelled. Tachographs are often called the spy in the cab by lorry drivers who are restricted in how long they may drive for by law.

Tachometer
A tachometer is a device for measuring the velocity of machines or the rate of flow of liquids.

Tack
A tack is a small sharp nail, usually with a large flat head. They are used for fitting a light or thin object to a more solid one, such as carpet to the floor.

Tackle
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.

Tact
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.

Tael
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.

Taffeta
see "Taffety"

Taffety
Taffety (taffeta) was a name originally applied to plain woven silks introduced into England in the 14th century. Later the name was applied to a light thin silk of lustre or gloss and to various mixtures of silk and wool.

Taffy
Taffy is a colloquial nickname for a Welshman. It derives from the supposed Welsh pronunciation of the name Davy.

Taille
The taille was a form of income tax imposed on unpriviledged classes, especially peasant farmers, in France. It was considered unjust and was abolished by the French Revolution.

Tailor
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.

Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal is a white marble mausoleum built at Agra by Shah Jehan in memory of his favourite wife who died in 1629. It took 20000 men 20 years to build, and was finished in 1649.

Tali and Tessera
Tali and Tessera was a game played with dice by the Romans.

Tallage
Tallage was a Norman tax imposed on the towns and demesne lands of the crown in England. It was last levied in 1332 and abolished in 1340.

Tallow
Tallow is the fat of animals, especially sheep and ox, separated from the connective tissue by melting and clarifying and used for making soap, candles and other things. It is composed of the glycerol esters of stearic and oleic, as well as some palmitic acids.

Tally
Originally, a tally was a piece of wood scored across with notches representing an amount of debt or payment. The wood was then split in half lengthways and each party kept half. An early document records the manner of using a tally thus: 'Let a hazel stick have cut transversely into it as many notches as there are figures tobe recorded. To distinguish 1d, 1s, œ1, or any multiple thereof, the notches are cut of different breadths. Let the stick then split down the middle through all the notches. One half of the stick is then held by one party to the transaction, the corresponding half by the other.'

Tally System
The tally system was a forerunner of hire-purchase and modern credit agreements. It was a mode of dealing practised in London around 1900 by which customers were supplied with articles, mostly drapery, furniture or hardware, on credit under agreement to pay the stipulated price by fixed installments weekly or monthly. The tally system evolved into the easy hire system, which in turn became hire-purchase.

Talma
A talma was a long cape or cloak worn by both men and women during the early part of the 19th century.

Talmud
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.

Tam-o-shanter
A tam-o-shanter is a round woollen or cloth cap with a flat baggy top much wider than the head band. It is named after the hero of Burn's poem 'Tam o' Shanter'.

Tambour
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.

Tambourine
A tambourine is a musical percussion instrument.

Tambourine
A tambourine is a long narrow drum used in music.

Tamil
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken in northern Sri Lanka through the Madras region of India.

Tammany Society
The Tammany Society was founded in the USA in 1789 for the purpose of preserving democratic ideas against Alexander Hamilton's aristocratic doctrine.

Tammy
Tammy is a fine woollen or wool and cotton textile fabric often with a glazed finish.

Tampion
A tampion is a plug for the top of an organ pipe or a cover for the muzzle of a gun.

Tampon
A tampon is a plug inserted into a wound or body orifice to absorb secretions or stop haemorrhaging.

Tandem
A tandem is a bicycle with two or more seats one behind the other.

Tang
A tang is a projection of a knife or other metal tool by which it is secured to its handle.

Tanghinin
Tanghinin is a poison acting on the heart. It is obtained from the almons of Tanghinia veneifera and is used in Madagascar for trial by ordeal.

Tango
The tango was a dance from central Africa which was taken to Central America by African slaves and from there it became popular in Argentina where it was influenced by European rhythms and developed into a fashionable ballroom dance in around 1910.

Tangram
A tangram is a Chinese geometrical puzzle comprised of a square which is divided into 5 triangles, a square and a rhomboid which can then be fitted together to form many figures.

Tankard
A tankard is a large, one-handled drinking vessel.

Tanner
Tanner is an old English slang expression for a sixpence. More properly, a tanner is someone who tans hides.

Tannery
A tannery is a place where hides are tanned.

Tannin
Tannin is a substance used to tan hides, that is convert them into leather. Tannin is extracted from oak-galls and various barks.

Tantalum
Tantalum is a rare silvery-looking metal element with the symbol Ta. It is found chiefly in tantalite and obtained by reducing to potassium fluoro-tantalate by means of sodium followed by fusion in vacuo. Tantalum is used as a wire in electric lamps.

Taoism
Taoism is an ancient Chinese system of philosophy.

Taper
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.

Tapestry
A tapestry is a thick hand-woven fabric, usually of wool, with a pictorial or ornamental design formed by the weft-threads.

Tappet
A tappet is an arm, collar or cam within a machine which imparts intermittent motion.

Tapu
see "Taboo"

Tar
Tar is a thick viscid inflammable black liquid obtained by the distillation of wood, coal or other organic substances. It is used for preserving timber amongst other purposes.

Tarantass
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.

Tarantella
Tarantella is a swift, whirling Italian dance in six-eight measure.

Tarboosh
A tarboosh is a man's brimless cap resembling a fez and worn alone or as part of a turban by Muslims in some eastern Mediterranean countries.

Tarbrush
Tarbrush is an alternative name for a fez.

Tare
In merchandising, tare is the weight of any packaging of a merchantisable item. When this is deducted from the weight of the item, what is left is the net weight.

Tariff
A tariff is a list of articles upon which duties are charged when exported or imported.

Tarlatan
Tarlatan was a thin and fine fabric of cotton mostly used for making women's ball dresses around 1900. It was cheap, but did not withstand washing.

Tarn
A tarn is a small moorland or mountain lake.

Tarocchi
Tarocchi or taroc is a card game played with a deck of tarot cards (as opposed to ordinary playing cards).

Tarok
Tarok is a card game for three persons played with a tarot deck of 78 cards. It is a trick taking game, where the primary emphasis is on winning the last trick with one of five designated cards (known as winning Ultimo), and there is secondary emphasis on winning many tricks and winning counting cards in the tricks. To play well, players need to form alliances during the play, to keep track of the cards that have been played, and to be able to play according to a well chosen plan.

Tarot Cards
Tarot cards (tarots, atouts, atutti or triomphes) are a deck of cards comprising 22 emblematic and 56 ordinary cards, divided into four suits of 14 cards each. Originally they were used for playing games like ordinary playing cards, however during the 1920s the notion that tarot cards were in fact used for divination and were the forerunner of ordinary playing cards (which they are not, they are a different type of deck) became popular.

Tarots
see "Tarot Cards"

Tarsia-work
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.

Tarta Emetic
see "Potassium antimonyl tartrate"

Tartan
Tartan is a woollen cloth with stripes of various colours crossing at right angles especially in the distinctive pattern of a Highland clan.

Tartar
Tartar (potassium tartrate) is a white crust deposited in wine casks during fermentation. The purified crystals are used in cooking, and often called cream of tartar. The term is also used for the concretion deposited upon teeth from saliva and comprised of phosphate of lime.

Tartaric Acid
Tartaric Acid is a popular name for dihydroxysuccinic acid. It occurs in many plants, particularly in the grape and is easily obtained from tartar.

Tartrate
Tartrate is a salt of tartaric acid.

Tasmanite
Tasmanite is a translucent, reddish-brown fossil resin found in Tasmania.

Tassel
A tassel is a tuft of loosely hanging threads or cords designed as an ornament for a cushion, cap or other object.

Tatting
Tatting is a type of knotted lace made from sewing-thread with a small flat shuttle-shaped instrument.

Tatty
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.

Tavla
Tavla is the national game of Turkey. It is called backgammon in Europe.

Taxi
see "Hackney Coach"

Taxidermy
Taxidermy is the art of preparing and mounting the skins of animals in a lifelike manner. In colloquial terms, stuffing dead animals.

Taximeter
A taximeter is an apparatus by means of which the legal fare is shown to passengers in a taxi.

TB
see "Tuberculosis"

Technetium
Technetium is an artificial element with the symbol Tc.

Tectonics
Tectonics is the study of rock movements.

Teetotum
A teetotum is a top spun with the fingers, rather than a whip or cord.

Tehuantepec Winds
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.

Teinds
Teinds were a Scottish tithe where by one tenth of the produce of the land was claimed by the clergy.

Telautograph
The telautograph was a form of telegraph (the originator of the modern fax machine) whereby a message or drawing produced at the transmitter was instantly reproduced at the distant receiver.

Telegony
Telegony is the theory of pre-paternal influence on offspring. That is, that a previous male mate may pass characteristics to an offspring conceived by the same mother, but a different father. No evidence has been furnished to support the theory, but never the less, it was a popular belief amongst animal breeders.

Telegraphy
Originally the term telegraphy refered to any form of signalling. With the advent of electronic telegraph systems the term became more specific to electronic signalling, and more recently to the transmission of data, as distinct from telephony which signals voice, electronically. E.G.: Morse code by radio wave or through a telephone line. The first telegraph was a system of optical signalling using the shutter system between London and the English channel in the late 18th century. The first electric telegraph was described in the Scots Magazine in 1753 by Charles Morrison, and involved separate wires for each letter of the alphabet. In 1835 Wheatstone invented a five wire telegraph, which he later refined to a two wire system.

Telephone
The telephone is an instrument for reproducing speech at a distance from the source. It was invented (or rather patented) by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. Long distance telephony was developed in the 1920s following the experiments of Dr H. W. Nichols, with links between major cities in the continents introduced in 1927.

Telephony
Telephony refers to the reproduction of speech at a distance from the source. Telephony may occur with the use of a telephone, or through wireless apparatus such as radio equipment.

Telescope
A telescope is an instrument which magnifies distant objects. The telescope was first invented in 1609 and in 1610 Galileo using his own made telescope discovered the satellites of Jupiter.

Television
Television is a system for seeing distant objects through the intermediary of electro-magnetic waves transmitted through space or over wires. It was first developed during the 1920s.

Tellurium
Tellurium is a semi-metallic element with the symbol Te.

Telpherage
Telpherage is a system of traction by aerial ropeway used for the conveyance of minerals over rough country. A stout steel cable supported on poles forms the track and on this are hung small trolleys with wheels running on the cable. A second cable conveys electric current to the trolleys which are driven by motors.

Telugu
Telugu is one of the Dravidian languages of India, spoken by the inhabitants of the area between Madras, Bellary and Orissa.

Tempera
Tempera is a process of spreading a mixture of paint and a glutinous material on a flat surface. It is a process which was popular with early Italian artists.

Tempering
Tempering is the process of heating up steel until red hot and then suddenly cooling it in water. The result is to harden the steel.

Temple
A temple is a building dedicated to the service of a deity or deities.

Tempo
Tempo is the pace at which a piece of music is played.

Tendril
A tendril is a slender, thread-like organ or appendage of a plant which stretches out and attaches itself to some other object so as to support the plant.

Tenor
Tenor is the name given to the highest natural singing voice of the adult male. It is also applied to instruments which play tenor parts.

Tenpin Bowling
Tenpin Bowling is an indoor game for individuals or teams in which the players aim to knockdown with a ball ten pins placed in a triangle, the apex of which is 60 feet away at the end of a lane of smooth polished wood.

Tenure
Tenure is the right or title by which property is held.

Teocalli
A Teocalli is an Aztec or other early Mexican temple. They are usually built in the form of a pyramid.

Tepee
A tepee is a conical tent, hut or wigwam used by North American Indians.

Teratology
Teratology is the science concerned with the occurrence of monstrosity in organic life.

Terbium
Terbium is a metal element with the symbol Tb belonging to the series known as rare earths.

Terpene
Terpene is a chemistry term for any of a large group of cyclic hydrocarbons which form the chief constituents of the volatile oils obtained by distilling plant material (Turpentine).

Terpenes
Terpenes are an important group of hydrocarbons with the formula C10H16. Many occur naturally in the essential oils of various plants.

Terra Cotta
Terra Cotta is a baked clay, or burned earth material similar to that from which pottery is made. It was extensively used in ancient times. Terra Cotta consists of potters' clay and fine powdered silica.

Terra di Sienna
see "Burnt Sienna"

Terrine
A terrine is an earthenware vessel sold containing some table delicacy such as pate.

Terziglio
see "Calabresella"

Tessera
A tessera was a Greek or Roman small tablet (of wood or Ivory) used as a token or tally.

Test Act
The Test Act of 1672 and its successors disabled Roman Catholics from holding public office or sitting in Parliament, and all officials were required to make a declaration against transubstantiation and to take the sacrament. The Roman Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 removed these disabilities, but still prevented Roman Catholic priests from sitting in the House of Commons, something they can now do.

Tester
A tester is the canopy over a four-poster bed.

Tetra-Ethyl-Lead
Tetra-Ethyl-Lead is an organo-metalic compound widely used as an anti-knock agent in leaded petrol.

Tetrachloroethane
1,1,2,2-Tetrachloroethane is a man-made colourless or pale yellow dense liquid with a penetrating, sweet chloroform-like odour. The only major use for it is as a feedstock in the production of trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, and 1,2-dichloroethylene. It may also be used as a solvent; in cleaning and degreasing metals; in paint and rust removers, varnishes and lacquers; in photographic films; and as an extractant for oils and fats. It was once an ingredient in an insect repellent, but registration was cancelled in the late 1970s. Due to its toxicity and new processes for manufacturing chlorinated ethylenes, the manufacture and use of 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane now appears to be very limited. 1,1,2,2-Tetrachloroethane does not burn easily, but produces poisonous gases in a fire, including phosgene and hydrogen chloride. It is soluble in alcohol and ether. It is also known as acetylene tetrachloride; di-chloro-2,2-dichloroethane; s-tetrachloroethane; TCE tetrachloroethane; and sym-tetrachloroethane.

Tetrahedron
A tetrahedron is a geometric solid figure with four triangular faces.

Tetrode
A tetrode is an electronic amplifying valve with 4 main electrodes.

TeX
TeX is an extremely powerful macro-based computer text formatter written by Donald E. Knuth, very popular in the computer-science community. Knuth began TeX because he had become annoyed at the declining quality of the typesetting in volumes I--III of his monumental `Art of Computer Programming'. In a manifestation of the typical hackish urge to solve the problem at hand once and for all, he began to design his own typesetting language. He thought he would finish it on his sabbatical in 1978; he was wrong by only about 8 years. The language was finally frozen around 1985. Though well-written, TeX is so large (and so full of cutting edge technique) that it is said to have unearthed at least one bug in every Pascal it has been compiled with.

Texas Forty-two
Texas Forty-two is a trick taking game played with dominoes. It is especially popular in Texas, USA. There are basically two forms of 42: it can be played for points or for marks. There are four players in fixed partnerships - players sit opposite their partner. A double-six set of dominoes is used - that is 28 dominoes, one for each possible pair of numbers from 0 (blank) to 6. A domino with the same number at each end is called a double.
There are 7 suits: blanks, ones, twos, threes, fours, fives and sixes. The highest domino of each suit is the double. Normally one suit is trumps. Every domino containing that number is exclusively a trump, and apart from the double, they rank in order of the other number on the domino.

Textile
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.

Thalamus
In botany, the thalamus is the receptacle or terminal part of the axis of a flower. Sometimes the thalamus extends beyond the carpels as a fleshy mass, as in the strawberry; or as a cone round which the fleshy carpels cluster, as in the raspberry; or as a beak as in geraniums.

Thallium
Thallium is a metal element with the symbol Tl.

Thalweg
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.

Thanksgiving
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.

Thatch
A thatch is a roof made by thatching.

Thatching
Thatching is a method of roofing used to protect buildings and ricks. The material most commonly used is straw, but bracken, gorse, heather and reeds may serve a similar purpose.

Thaumatrope
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.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
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.

The Arena
The Arena was an American monthly magazine founded in 1889 in Boston, by B O Flower, and devoted to serious interests.

The Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge is a hardware/software package that lets the user link two PCs through their serial or parallel ports to perform file transfers and share DOS devices. Through a master/slave relationship, the two computers are completely integrated, and you can access the disk drives and other DOS devices of one computer from the other. The package allows the transfer of files serially at speeds up to 115,200 bps, or up to 500,000 through the parallel ports. The Brooklyn Bridge gives users the option of operating the program through DOS commands, Brooklyn Bridge utilities, or menus. The latter two methods include a context-sensitive help facility. Once installed, the software requires only 5K of memory. The Brooklyn Bridge operates as a DOS device driver, transparently linking two computers to make the remote system's drives appear as the next available drive letters on the machine you are using. For example, a PC with two disk drives and one hard disk occupies drives A:, B:, and C:. The disk drives of a laptop PC are seen as D: and E:. A file is also included to rename the designators of the remote devices so as not to conflict with those of the local PC. For example, if you have LPT1 defined on both the local and remote PC, you can rename the remote LPT1 to LPT2, so both can be accessed from the local PC. Installed as a DOS device driver, The Brooklyn Bridge becomes more than just a device for file transfers between two computers; it becomes a small network. The Brooklyn Bridge allows the user to read and write to diskette drives and hard disks, and use printers, plotters, clock, calendar and other DOS devices.

The Bryce Report
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 occured and that the rules and usages of war were frequently broken and the red cross and white flag were abused.

The Builder
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.

The Court of Criminal Appeal
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.

The Damned
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.

The Economist
The Economist is a magazine dealing with financial matters. It was started in 1843 as a London weekly journal.

The Fair Maid of Perth
The Fair Maid of Perth is an opera written by Bizet. It was first performed in Manchester in 1912.

The Field
The Field is a country gentleman's weekly magazine (originally a paper) devoted to natural history, sports etc. and first published in January 1853.

The Five Mile Act
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 5 miles from their usual place of abode.

The Gentleman's Magazine
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.

The Gracie Fields
The Gracie Fields was a paddle-steamer used as an Isle of Wight ferry during the 1930s until she was lost during the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940.

The Great Fire Of London
The Great Fire Of London broke out in Pudding Lane, near London Bridge on September 2nd 1666 and raged until September 6th destroying London from the Tower to the Temple and from the Thames to Smithfield.

The John Bull
The John Bull was a Tory newspaper supported by Theodore Hook and published from 1820 to 1892.

The London Charivari
see "Punch"

The Spectator
The Spectator was a journal founded in 1711 by Sir Richard Steele and contributed to largely by Addison. It lapsed in 1714 but the title was resuscitated in 1828 by Robert Rintoul. At first the journal was non-political, then during the 19th century it adopted Liberal tendencies.

The Sphere
The Sphere was an English illustrated weekly founded in 1900 by Clement Shorter representing the latest developments in the art of illustration. It had its own special artists at the front during the Boer War.

The Strand Magazine
The Strand Magazine was founded in 1891 by Sir George Newnes and was immediately popular not least for its Sherlock Holmes stories which it carried written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

The Test Act
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.

The Times
The Times is a daily newspaper. It started in 1788 when the Daily Universal Register (bought previously in 1785 by John Walter) was changed in name to The Times and Daily Universal Register. The Times earned its reputation under John Walter the second, who took over the paper on the death of his father in 1812, through its foreign correspondence.

The Tropics
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.

The Vikings of Helgeland
The Vikings of Helgeland is a play by Henrik Ibsen written in 1858. It is a drama, based on Scandinavian history.

The Wedding
The Wedding is a play by Anton Chekhov, written in 1890. It is an early one-act farce.

The Woman-Hater
The Woman-Hater is a broad satirical play by Francis Beaumont written in 1606.

The Wood Demon
The Wood Demon is a play by Anton Chekhov, written in 1889.

The Words Upon The Window-pane
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.

Theatre of the Absurd
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.

Thebaine
Thebaine is an alkaloid present in opium. It is coloured red by concentrated sulphuric acid and is very poisonous, causing severe convulsions by its action on the spinal cord.

Theine
Theine is an alternative name for caffeine.

Theobromine
Theobromine (dimethyl-xanthine) is the active principal of the cacao or cocoa bean. It is a crystalline powder with a bitter taste closely resembling caffeine and sometimes used as a diuretic.

Theodolite
A theodolite is an instrument used in surveying for measuring horizontal and vertical angles.

Theogony
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.

Theology
Theology is a science dealing with ascertainable truths about God and his relations with the world and mankind.

Theosophy
Theosophy is an intuitive or ecstatic mode of enunciating doctrines.

Therese Raquin
Therese Raquin is a drama play by Emile Zola written in 1867.

Thermion
A thermion is an electrically charged particle emitted from a heated body.

Thermionics
Thermionics is a branch of physics dealing with the emission of ions by hot bodies. The first thermionic observation, though not understood at the time, was made by Edison, and is known as the Edison effect.

Thermistor
A thermistor is a type of semi-conductor in which the resistance decreases as the temperature rises.

Thermit
Thermit is a mixture of coarsely powdered aluminium and magnetic oxide of iron which when ignited reacts by producing iron and aluminium oxide at an intensely high temperature approaching 3000 degrees Celsius. It was developed for making welding repairs in situ, and adopted by the army for use in incendiary bombs.

Thermite Process
The Thermite Process (Goldschmidt Process) is the method of obtaining liquid metal by reduction of the oxide with aluminium powder.

Thermo-Chemistry
Thermo-Chemistry is the branch of physical chemistry which deals with the relationship between chemical energy and heat.

Thermo-Electricity
Thermo-Electricity is the phenomena of electricity being produced when a circuit of two different metals is heated, and heat is produced when electrical current is passed through a circuit of two different metals.

Thermodynamics
Thermodynamics is a science dealing with the relationship between heat and work.

Thermograph
A thermograph is a device for recording fluctuations in air temperature.

Thermometer
A thermometer is a device used to measure temperature. It was invented by Galileo in 1592. The graduation and inclusion of fixed points was added by Sanctorio who used snow and the heat of a candle, dividing the range obtained into degrees. The first sealed thermometer was made by Ferdinand II, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, in 1654. He filled the bulb and part of the tube with alcohol and then melted the glass tip, thereby sealing the tube. In England, Boyle, at the request of the Royal Society, made experiments on thermometers, his lectures on cold being published in 1665. Mercurial thermometers were first employed by the Academia del Climento of Florence in 1657. In 1694 renaldini suggested the boiling-point of water as the upper limit of the scale. In 1706 Fahrenheit made improvements to the thermometer. In 1714 he made his Fahrenheit thermometer with three fixed points. He arrived at his zero by taking a mixture of ice water and sal ammoniac; the second point he obtained by mixing ice and water - this point he called 32 degrees, or freezing point, his third mark was blood heat and was obtained by placing the thermometer in the mouth of a healthy man and holding it there until it reached the body temperature. He then divided the distance between the melting point of ice - 32 degrees - and the boiling point of water - 212 degrees - into 180 degree marks. Celsius invented his own scale with the boiling point of water at zero and the freezing point of water at 100 degrees, this scale has now been inverted.

Thermostat
A thermostat is a device which automatically maintains temperature at a constant value or gives notice of an undue change in temperature.

Thermotaxis
Thermotaxis is the physiology term for the regulation of an organisms body heat.

Thesmophoria
Thesmophoria was a festival in honour of Demeter, celebrated by women only, in various parts of Greece. It commemorated the institution of laws and civilization, which were attributed to Demeter. At Athens the festivl was held in October.

Thespian
A thespian is an actor or actress.

Theurgy
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.

Thiamine
Thiamine is vitamin b1 a deficiency of which causes beri beri.

Thiazine
The thiazines are compounds containing a ring of one nitrogen, one sulphur, and four carbon atoms.

Thicket
A thicket is a dense growth of shrubs, bushes or small trees forming a thick coppice.

Thickets
see "Thicket"

Thio-derivative
A thio-derivative is a compound in which sulphur has replaced an equivalent amount of oxygen, such as potassium thio-cyanate, KCNS, in which the sulphur has replaced the oxygen in potassium cyanate, KCNO.

Thiocyanate
see "Sulphocyanate"

Thiophene
Thiophene is a colourless, volatile liquid closely resembling benzene. It occurs in coal-tar and is extracted by shaking with concentrated sulphuric acid. Thiophene is a parent substance of a number of derivatives.

Thirlage
Thirlage is a servitude, once very common in Scotland, under which the possessors of certain lands were 'thirled', thralled, or astricted to carry the grain produced on those lands to a certain mill, and to pay, by way of 'multure' a certain proportion of the grain ground towards the expense of the erection and maintenance of the mill.

Thole
A thole is a pin in the gunwale of a boat used as a fulcrum for an oar. There are usually two tholes between which the oar rests.

Thomism
Thomism is a system of theology and philosophy taught by St Thomas Aquinas.

Thong
A thong is a narrow strip of leather used as a lace or strap.

Thorazine
Thorazine is a tradename for Chlorpromazine hydrochloride.

Thorium
Thorium is radioactive metal element of the tin group with the symbol Th. It occurs principally in thorite and other rare minerals. It was formerly isolated by displacement by potassium fluothorate. It burns brightly in oxygen.

Three in One
Three in One is an American twentieth century version of the ancient European card game Poch; it is sometimes also known as Michigan Rummy. In the USA the equipment for the game is sold under the name TRIPOLEY. The game is in three stages: in the first stage, the holders of particular cards collect the relevant stakes; the second stage is similar to Poker, and the final stage is a Stops game similar to Michigan or Boodle.

Three Thirteen
Three Thirteen is a variant of the card game rummy, for two or more players and is played with normal playing cards. One 52-card deck for two players, and two decks for three or four people.

Three-Day Event
The Three-Day Event is an equestrian competition designed to test the all-round ability of horse and rider. It is also known as horse trials, and originating as a test for officers' charges militaire. The event consists of three distinct parts which test the horse in dressage, then speed, endurance and cross-country, and finally show jumping, the parts take place on three separate days, hence the name Three-Day Event.

Threshing
Threshing is an agricultural term for separating the grain from the ear or the seeds from the pods of various crops.

Threshold
In architecture, a threshold is a piece of stone or timber lying below the bottom of a doorway.

Thulium
Thulium is a metal element with the symbol Tm.

Thunder
Thunder is a loud noise which accompanies lightning, but appears to follow it due to the difference at which sound and light travel. Thunder is the noise which occurs due to the sudden violent disturbance of the air by the electrical discharge.

Thurible
A thurible is a censer or vessel in which aromatic spices are burned.

Thurifer
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.

Thursday
Thursday is the fourth day of the week.

Thwart
A thwart is a seat across a boat on which the rower sits.

Thymol
Thymol (methyl-propylphenol) is a white crystalline phenol obtained from the oil of thyme. It has a pleasant aromatic smell and is used as an antiseptic.

Thyroxin
Thyroxin is a white crystalline substance which is secreted by the thyroid gland.

Thyroxine
Thyroxine is a hormone which is the active principle of the thyroid gland.

Tiara
A tiara was an ancient Persian head-dress. It is also the name of a jewelled coronet worn by women.

Tichborne Case
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 barnoet, was born in 1829 and in 1853 sailed to Valparaiso and the next year to Rio de Janeiro in the Bella which foundered at sea with all hands. the baronetcy and estates passed to his brother, Alfred. Alone of the family his mother, clinging to hope, advertissed. A butcher in Australia 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. The two trials cost about œ200,000 and cheated the estate out of over œ90,000.

Tide
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.

Tidesman
A tidesman (tidewaiter) was a custom-house official who attended ships to prevent breaches of revenue laws. The post had become obsolete by 1900.

Tidewaiter
see "Tidesman"

Tien Gow
Tien Gow (meaning "Sky Nine") is a trick taking game for four players using a single set of Chinese dominoes. The set consists of all pairs of numbers from 1-1 to 6-6, with the following eleven tiles duplicated: 6-6, 6-5, 6-4, 6-1, 5-5, 5-1, 4-4, 3-3, 3-1, 2-2, 1-1.

Tieng Len
Tieng Len is the national card game of Vietnam; the name of the game means something like Speak Up; Tieng Len has spread to some parts of the USA, where it is usually called Viet Cong or just VC or Thirteen;
This is a climbing game (a bit like Zheng Shangyou or President), in which the aim is to get rid of your cards as soon as possible by beating combinations of cards played by the other players.
The game is for four players. A standard 52-card deck is used; there are no Jokers and no wild cards. It is possible for two or three to play. It can also be played by more than four players, using two 52-card packs shuffled together.
The game is normally dealt and played clockwise, but can be played anticlockwise instead if the players agree in advance to do so. The ranking of the cards is: Two (highest), Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three (lowest). Within each rank there is also an order of suits: Hearts (highest), Diamonds, Clubs, Spades (lowest). So the 3 of Spades is the lowest card in the pack, and the 2 of Hearts is the highest. Rank is more important than suit, so for example the 8 beats the 7.

Tiki
A tiki is a Maori large wooden or small ornamental greenstone image of the creator of man or an ancestor.

Tilbury
A tilbury was a light open two-wheeled carriage which was fashionable during the first half of the 19th century.

Timber
Timber is wood prepared for building, or trees which provide wood suitable for building with.

Timber hitch
The timber hitch is a knot.

Timbrel
A timbrel was a type of tambourine used around biblical times.

Time
Time are an English PC assembler and retailer. They were established during the 1980s and have grown into a nationwide organisation with showrooms over the whole country. They assemble and supply a range of standard Pcs aimed at the retail market.

Timeslips Plus
Timeslips Plus is a computer program designed to keep track of billable time. It is ideal for law offices or consultants, or for Information Centres that use a charge-back system. Timeslips Plus can be run memory-resident so you can access it while running other applications. When you begin a billable task such as a client phone call, call up a time slip and start the timer. When you stop the timer, you see how much time has elapsed. (If you prefer, you can input time manually without using the automatic timer.) Timeslips Plus also prepares professional-looking invoices in minutes which can be easily customised. The product lets you determine what information appears on the invoice and how it will be presented. Options include Bill, No Charge, Do Not Bill, Summary, and Work in Process. In addition, you can set minimum, maximum, or absolute fees for a project or case, no matter how many bills are sent. You can customise bills for each client to show as much detail as appropriate. The product lets you create expense slips for out-of-pocket expenses. Through a menu-driven interface, Timeslips Plus allows you to print a report that evaluates performance based on the variance between actual and estimated time. Many other business and financial reports can be generated, along with more than 30 graphs and charts. Timeslips Plus can be customised to your particular application needs. Main headings default to User, Account, and Activity, but you can rename them as desired. The product can accommodate up to 250 individual users, 250 billable activities, and up to 3,400 accounts.

Timology
Timology is a philosophical term of a doctrine of values.

Timolol maleate
Timolol maleate is a beta blocker used in the treatment of angina, hypertension and glaucoma.

Tin
Tin is a white metal element with the symbol Sn. It occurs commonly in the ore cassiterite, which is found in Malaysia, Indonesia, Bolivia, Zaire, Nigeria and Cornwall. Tin is often used to plate iron to protect it from rusting.

Tin-plate
Tin-plate is thin sheet iron or steel coated with pure metallic tin. Iron and steel are coated with tin to prevent rusting.

Tincal
Tincal is a crude form of borax found in lake-deposits in parts of Asia.

Tine
A tine is a projecting sharp point such as of a fork, harrow or stag's antler.

Tinker
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.

Tinplate
Tinplate is a sheet of wrought iron or mild steel that has received a thin coating of two or three percent of tin by immersion in the molten metal to protect it from rust. Tinplate is used in cans for food and drink.

Tinsel
Tinsel is a shining metallic material used in thin strips or threads to give a sparkling effect in decorations.

Tintack
A tintack is a short nail made of tin plated iron or steel.

Tippet
A tippet was a woman's small cape or collar made of fur, or silk usually with two ends hanging down in front.

Tippling Act
The Tippling Act of 1751 decreed that no debt under twenty shillings for spirituous liquers was recoverable unless it was contracted at one time. A person taking a pledge for such a debt was liable to a fine of 40 shillings, half to go to a common informer. An amendment to the act in 1862 made spirits sold in quantities of not less than one pint, to be drunk off the premises exempt.

Tipstaff
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.

Tironian system
The Tironian system was a Roman system of shorthand which was still in use in England during the mediaeval times.

Tissue
In biological terms, tissue is an organised mass of cells, such as any part of an animal's body or a plant's structure.

Tissues
see "Tissue"

Tit-Bits
Tit-bits is a weekly goosip style light entertainment magazine. It was founded in 1881 by the then George Newnes (later Sir George Newnes) in Manchester, serving up interesting items of information on all sorts of subjects, interspersed with humorous anecdotes, short stories and articles on popular subjects. In 1883 it transfered to London.

Titan
Titan is the sixth satellite (or moon) of Saturn. It was discovered in 1655 by Huygens.

Titanic
The Titanic was a supposedly unsinkable British ocean liner. She was a White Star liner, and the largest ship of her time. On her maiden voyage from Queenstown to New York she struck an iceberg near Cape Race (14th April, 1912) and sank. The Carpathia arrived in time to save 712 of the 2201 persons on board. As a result of the inquiry which followed new regulations concerning life-saving appliances on ships were made.

Titanium
Titanium is a metal element with the symbol Ti.

Titans
see "Titan"

Titration
Titration is the analysis or determination of the concentration of a solution by adding measured amounts of a standard solution of a suitable reagent until the chemical reaction between the two solutions is completed.

Titular
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.

Toboggan
A toboggan is a hand-sleigh used for sliding down snow or ice slopes.

Toby
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.

Toga
A toga was an outer garment worn by citizens of ancient Rome. It was a flowing cloak covering the entire body except the right arm.

Toleration Act
The toleration act of parliament in 1689 gave the right to freedom of worship in England.

Toll
A toll is a tax or duty chargeable for selling goods, setting up a stall, or travelling along a public road, bridge or ferry or for transporting goods by railway.

Toluene
Toluene (methyl-benzene) is a colourless liquid derived from petroleum and coal-tar.

Toluene trichloride
see "Benzotrichloride"

Toluidine
Toluidine (Methyl-aniline) is a substance prepared from toluene.

Tom and Jerry
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..
A tom-tom is a native east Indian drum usually beaten with the hands.

Tom Jones
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.

Tombac
Tombac is a kind of brass containing 86% copper and 14% zinc.

Ton
The ton is a unit of measurement of the avoirdupois scale equivalent to 20 hundredweight, 2240 pounds or 1.016 tonnes.

Tonality
In music, tonality is a sense of key orientation in relation to form, for example the step pattern of a dance as expressed by corresponding changes of direction from a tonic or 'home' key to a related key. Most popular and folk music worldwide recognizes an underlying tonality or reference pitch against which the movement of a melody can be clearly heard. The opposite of tonality is atonality.

Tondo
A tondo is a painting or carving in relief within a circular shape.

Tone
In music, tone is the quality of sound. For instance, different strings of a violin may be able to sound the same note (pitch) given certain fingerings, but each string has a different tone.

Tong
A tong is a Chinese association. The term is especially applied to Chinese secret organisations.

Tonic Sol-fa
Tonic Sol-fa is a system of musical notation dating back to 1812 when it was developed by a Miss Glover of Norwich to teach music to children who were having difficulty with learning.

Tonite
Tonite is an explosive formed by mixing barium nitrate with gun-cotton.

Tonka Bean
The tonka bean is the fruit of a Guiana shrub, used in perfumery.

Tonnage
Tonnage was a duty on wine first imposed in 1346 and abolished in 1787.

Tonnage and poundage
Tonnage and poundage duties were levied by Charles I in 1626 without parliamentary consent, provoking controversy.

Tonsure
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.

Tontine
Tontine is a system of life assurance and purchasing property in which the advantage lies with the longest-lived of a stated number of individuals, who may either receive absolutely the gross amount of the capital contributed by all the subscribers who have predeceased him, or only the interest upon the sum. The idea was first put forward by an Italian banker, Lorenzo Tonti, in 1653 and was first put into practice by Louis XIV in 1689.

Tony award
The Tony award is an annual award by the League of New York Theaters to dramatists, performers, and technicians in Broadway plays. It is named after the American actress and producer Antoinette Perry.

Topanol A
Topanol A is a tradename for 2,4 dimethyl-6-tertiary butyl phenol.

Topanol M
Topanol M is a tradename for butyl-phenylene-diamine.

Topanol OF
Topanol OF is a tradename for butylated hydroxy toluene (BHT) 3,5 - ditertiary butyl - 4 hydroxy toluene

Tope
A tope (stupa, chorten) is a structure erected by Buddhist monks for the preservation of sacred relics. Topes are built of solid masonry in some cases, and of loose stones in others; have sometimes a spherical base, in other instances a polygonal one, though a few are circular. They abhound in Central India, in Kashmir and the Indus Valley and in Sri Lanka where they are called 'dagobas'.

Topee
A topee is a light pith helmet.

Topiary
Topiary is the art of clipping and trimming shrubs into ornamental designs.

Topology
Topology is a branch of mathematics which studies geometric objects from the point of view of their general shape rather than their precise measurements.

Toponymy
Toponymy is the study of a region's place names.

TOPS-10
TOPS-10 was DEC's proprietary OS for the fabled PDP-10 computer, long a favourite of hackers but now effectively extinct.

Toque
A toque is a small brimless hat made of folded or swathed material.

Tor
A tor is a craggy or rocky hill or peak. The term is most used in Cornwall and Devon.

Torchon
Torchon is a strong, coarse linen bobbin-lace.

Toreador
A toreador is a mounted bullfighter.

Torero
Torero is the term used for someone who fights bulls for a living.

Torinal
see "Methaqualone"

Tornado
A tornado is a violent storm with heavy rain in which the wind rotates or constantly changes direction.

Torque
A torque was a necklace or collar of twisted metal worn by ancient Britons and Gauls.

Torsel
In building, a torsel is a block of stone or piece of wood or iron set in a wall to support a beam or joist.

Torsion Balance
A torsion balance is an instrument which was invented by Coulomb for measuring electric and magnetic attraction. A fine silver wire supports, at its centre of gravity, a horizontal carrier with bodies of known electric charge at each end, or a magnet of known strength. The deflection of the carrier determines the strength of the attractive force when the source of attraction is placed at a known distance from it.

Torso
A torso is a statue or mutilated human body lacking a head and limbs.

Tort
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.

Tortoise-shell
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.

Torture
Torture, in a legal sense, means the application of bodily pain in order 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.

Torus
In architecture, a torus is a large convex moulding, usually at the base of a column.

Totem
Totem is an Ojibway word describing an animal or plant related to an individual by totemism.

Totemism
Totemism is a widespread belief amongst primitive peoples of blood-kinship or association with an animal or plant. For example, an individual may have the bison as his totem.

Toucan
Toucan is a southern constellation located by Bayer in 1603 to the south of Phoenix.

Touchstone
A touchstone is a device for roughly ascertaining the purity of gold alloys. It consists of a smooth strip of hard black stone, on which a corner of the alloy is rubbed so as to leave a streak, which is then moistened with an acid composed of 78.4 per cent nitric acid, 1.6 per cent hydrochloric acid and 20 per cent water. By comparing the effect with that produced on streaks made with alloys of known compositions, an approximation to the gold content of the alloy is found.

Toupee
A toupee was originally a top-knot of hair crowning a wig. Today the term is used to describe any false hair piece.

Tourmente
A tourmente is a sudden snow-storm that occurs from time to time in the Alps.

Tournament
A tournament was an equestrian contest between military knights and others armed with lances which were common in the Middle Ages. They were introduced to England by the Normans.

Tower
A tower is a tall structure.

Tower of Babel
see "babel"

Tower of London
The Tower of London was built as a fortress by William The Conqueror. It was a royal palace in the Middle Ages, and was later used as a garrison and prison. The Crown Jewels are kept at the Tower of London.

Toxophily
Toxophily is the practice of, or addiction to archery.

Tracery
Tracery is the stone framework in the head of Gothic windows, formed by a continuation of the mullions, bent, as it were, into ornamental designs. It was at first confined to circles and other geometric forms; but later the lines were free and more flowing except in the Perpendicular style, in which the mullions were carried right through in straight lines.

Tracheid
Tracheid is the water conducting component in the wood of vascular plants.

Tract
A tract is a short argumentative treatise. It was a type of literature employed and developed by Luther.

Tract Societies
Tract Societies are organizations first formed in the late 17th century for the purpose of indoctrinating the masses in the teachings of the Christian faith.

Tractarian Movement
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.

Tractor
A tractor is a power-driven machine adapted to haul other machines or vehicles over roads or rough ground.

Tractory
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.

Trade
Trade is the general name given to the process of exchanging commodities either for other commodities, which is called barter, or for money, which in more advanced communities serves as a medium of exchange.

Trade Mark
A trade mark is a mark used in connection with goods to indicate that they are the goods of a particular proprietor.

Trade Union
A trade union is an organisation consisting of a combination of wage-earners engaged in the same industry or trade, usually to provide negotiating power with the employer and as a mutual self-help group for employees when they need financial assistance or legal assistance connected with their employment.

Trade Wind
Trade Winds are winds which blow a steady course. The trade wind north of the equator blows almost constantly from the north-east, while the prevailing direction of the trade wind south of the equator is south-east.

Trade Winds
The Trade Winds are the winds permanently blowing from the tropics towards the equator.

Tragacanth
Tragacanth is a kind of gum derived from the Asiatic leguminous plants of the Astragalus genus. It is used in calico printing, pills and lozenges.

Tragacanth gum
Tragacanth gum is a partly water-soluble gum exuded by the tree Astragalus verus and used as an adhesive and in medicine for the preparation of emulsions.

Tragedy
In the theatre, a tragedy is a play dealing with a serious theme.

Tram
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.

Trammel
A trammel is a 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.

Tramontano
The tramontano is a cool northerly wind felt along the shores of the Adriatic.

Trampoline
A trampoline is a canvas sheet attached to a horizontal metal framework by springs to provide a resilient platform for acrobats.

Trance
A trance is a sleep-like state from which the patient cannot be roused, and which arises spontaneously without gross brain lesion such as cerebral haemorhage, or toxic cause such as opium poisoning.

Transcaspian Railway
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.

Transducer
A transducer is a device which takes in power from one part of a system and emits power of a different kind to another part.

Transept
Transepts are the cross aisles of a church, projecting at right angles from the nave or choir.

Transformer
A transformer is a device used for converting an alternating electric current from one voltage to another, depending upon electro-magnetic induction. The first transformer was made by Faraday in 1831.

Transformismo
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.

Transistor
A transistor is an electronic component made of a semiconductor material and three or more electrodes.

Transmutation
Transmutation is a biological term whereby one species transforms into another through an evolutionary process.

Transom
A transom is a cross bar separating a door from the fan light above it.

Transportation
Transportation was the British policy of sending convicts abroad. The first convicts so punished were the mosstroopers of Northumberland in 1666. The convicts were sent to Australia with a view to colonising the country. However, the colonial government there complained and convicts were from 1840 sent to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). The system was abolished in 1853 in favour of penal servitude, by the Penal Servitude Act.

Transuranic
Transuranic is a chemical term referring to artificially manufactured elements which have an atomic number higher than uranium.

Transvestite
A transvestite is a person who dresses in the clothes of the opposite sex.

Trapeze
A trapeze is a horizontal bar suspended by two ropes and used as a piece of apparatus by acrobats.

Trapezoid
A trapezoid is a quadrilateral shape in which none of the sides are parallel.

Traversone
see "Ciapano"

Trawler
A trawler is a fishing ship which catches fish by trawling, that is with a net dragged along the bottom of the sea.

Trawling
Trawling is the process of dragging the sea-bottom for fish by a flat conical shaped net.

Treadle
A treadle is a foot operated lever used to impart motion to a machine, such as a sewing machine or lathe for example.

Treadmill
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 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.

Treason
Treason is the breach of the duty of allegiance owed by a subject to the State and its sovereign.

Treason Act
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.

Treasure-trove
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.

Treaty of Dardanelles
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.

Treaty of Trianon
The Treaty of Trianon took place on June 4th 1920 between the Allies and Hungary at the end of the Great War. By the treaty Hungary was considerably reduced in size, and lost about 3 million Magyars.

Treenail
A treenail is a nail made of hard wood, as opposed to steel or iron.

Trellis
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.

Tremolo
Tremolo is a musical term indicating that the notes are to be played rapidly and reiterated during their time values, instead of being played as sustained sounds, hence the term applies to an unsteady or wavering voice.

Trencher
A trencher is a flat slab of wood or metal upon which meat is cut.

Trental
In the Roman Catholic church, trental is a set of 30 requiem masses said daily or all on one day.

Tret
In merchandising, tret is an allowance of weight made for dust etc in merchantable goods.

Trews
Trews were close-fitting trousers or breeches combined with stockings worn by Scottish highlanders and the Irish.

Triac
A triac is a bi-directional thyristor used in A.C. control circuitry.

Triad
A triad is a Chinese secret society. Originally a Buddhist cult they are now crime organisation.

Trial by Battle
Trial 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. 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 1819.

Triangulation
Triangulation is a technique employed in surveying. A base-line is set out in a convenient and level situation and measured with great accuracy. A theodolite is then set up at each end of the base-line, and readings are taken on some prominent point or beacon, giving the angular displacement of the beacon relative to the base-line. A triangle is thus formed, of which the size of the angles and the length of one side are known, and therefore the length of the remaining sides may be calculated.

Triassic
The Triassic was the ninth geological period, 170,000,000 years ago.

Tribology
Tribology is the study of friction, wear, lubrication and bearing design.

Tribune
A tribune was an ancient Roman administrative officer.

Trichloroethane
1,1,2-Trichloroethane is a colourless, sweet-smelling man-made liquid that is predominantly used where 1,1- dichloroethane (vinylidene chloride) is manufactured. It may also be formed in landfills when 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane is broken down. 1,1,2-Trichloroethane is used as a solvent where its high solvency is needed, such as for chlorinated rubbers. It may be used as a solvent for fats, oils, waxes, and resins. 1,1,2-Trichloroethane may be found in some consumer products. 1,1,2-Trichloroethane will not burn and has a higher boiling point than water. When it is released into the environment, it eventually ends up in the atmosphere or groundwater. Reaction in both the atmosphere and groundwater is very slow. In the air, half of the chemical is expected to degrade in 49 days and will disperse far from where it is released before degrading. There is no breakdown of 1,1,2-trichloroethane below the soil surface in groundwater within 16 weeks; some experiments suggest that it will persist for years. 1,1,2-Trichloroethane is soluble in alcohol, ether, and chloroform. 1,1,2-trichloroethane is also known as ethane trichloride; trichloroethane; vinyl trichloride; and 1,2,-trichloriethane.

Trichloroethylene
Trichloroethylene is a colourless liquid at room temperature with an odour similar to ether or chloroform. It is a man-made chemical that does not occur naturally in the environment. Trichloroethylene is mainly used as a solvent to remove grease from metal parts. It is used as a solvent in other ways, too, and is used as a chemical building block to make other chemicals.

Triclinium
A triclinium was a Roman couch which ran around three sides of a table, leaving one end free for serving.

Tricorn
A tricorn is a three-cornered cocked hat.

Tricycle
A tricycle is a three-wheeled vehicle, comparable in design with the bicycle, and like it propelled by pedals geared by means of a chain to the rear axle. It was invented by James Starley around 1870.

Triduum
In The Roman Catholic religion, a triduum is three days of prayer in preparation for a feast or other solemn occasion.

Triennial Act
The Triennial Act was passed in 1641 to ensure that Parliament should meet at least every 3 years. It was repealed in 1664 and replaced in 1694 by another enacting that no Parliament should sit for more than 3 years without a general election.

Triethanolamine
Triethanolamine is normally used as an auxiliary emulsifying agent after in situ reaction with a fatty acid in the preparation of cosmetic emulsion products such as creams and lotions. It has several disadvantages not least that of discolouring easily in the presence of trace metal contaminants and even on simple exposure to air.

Triglyph
A triglyph is a three-grooved tablet repeated at regular intervals in a Doric frieze, the intervening spaces being filled with metopes.

Trigonometry
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.

Trihydroxy-benzoic Acid
see "Gallic Acid"

Trilby
A trilby is a soft felt hat with a narrow brim and an indented crown.

Trimaran
A trimaran is a boat similar to a catamaran, but with three hulls side by side.

Trimethylamine
Trimethylamine is a tertiary amine, that occurs in herring brine and the blossoms of hawthorn. It is chiefly obtained as a product of the distillation of the nitrogenous residue left in the preparation of sugar from beetroot. It is a gas with a fishy ammoniacal odour and a strong alkaline reaction. When heated with hydrogen chloride it yields methyl chloride.

Trinitrate
In chemistry, a trinitrate is a compound formed from three molecules of nitric acid by the replacement of the 3 hydrogen atoms by a trivalent element or radicle.

Trinitrotoluene
Trinitrotoluene (TNT) is a high explosive.

Trinity House
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.

Trinity Sunday
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.

Triode
A triode is an electronic amplifying valve with three main electrodes (anode, cathode and grid).

Triolet
A triolet is a poem of fixed form consisting of an 8-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.

Triomphes
see "tarot Cards"

Trioxide
In chemistry, a trioxide is a compound with three atoms of oxygen with an element or radical.

Triptych
Originally, a triptych was a writing tablet of three leaves. The term is also applied to a work of art which consists of three panels in juxtaposition.

Tritium
Tritium is an unstable isotope of hydrogen.

Trocar
A trocar is a surgical stylet with a triangular point enclosed in a metal tube and used for withdrawing fluid from a cavity.

Troff
Troff is a UNIX formatting and phototypesetting program, written originally in PDP-11 assembler and then in barely-structured early C by the late Joseph Ossanna, modelled after the earlier ROFF which was in turn modelled after Multics' RUNOFF by Jerome Saltzer (that name came from the expression "to run off a copy"). A companion program, `nroff', formats output for terminals and line printers. In 1979, Brian Kernighan modified TROFF so that it could drive phototypesetters other than the Graphic Systems CAT. The success of TeX and desktop publishing systems have reduced troff's relative importance.

Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument of the brass family. Sounds of different pitch are achieved by lengthening and shortening the tube.

Tron
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.

Trona
Trona is a naturally occurring hydrous sodium carbonate found in north Africa and America.

Troposphere
The troposphere is the layers of the atmosphere in which, up to a certain height, the temperature falls with increasing altitude.

Trowel
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.

Truc
Truc is a fairly simple card game played in Catalonia, the north-eastern part of Spain. It is closely related to the old English game of Put, which was described by Cotton in "The Compleat Gamester" (1674). Truc is also played, with slight differences, in some places in the South of France, and it is the basis of the more elaborate game Truco which is popular in several South American countries. Truc is a game for four players in fixed partnerships; it can also be played by two, but the two player game is considerably less interesting. As usual you sit opposite your partner. It's played anticlockwise to a final score of twelve points and each hand is worth from one to three points, depending on the bets.

Truck Acts
The Truck Acts of 1831, 1887 and 1896 made it illegal in Britain for an employer to pay his workmen other than in the current coin, or to impose any condition as to where the wages would be spent. Servants in husbandry were exempt from the act, and an employer could pay them in accomodation, food and non-intoxicating drink.

Trug
A trug is a shallow garden basket made of wooden strips and with a handle extending from side to side.

Trumpet
The trumpet is a musical instrument of the brass family. The trumpet is the earliest known brass wind instrument, and consists of a tube of about 1.5 meters long curved twice to form three lengths. One end widens into a bell and the other end is mounted with a cupped mouthpiece. The pitch of notes is altered by way of key operated valves.

Tschausepp
see "Crazy Eights"

Tsunami
A tsunami is a seismic sea wave originating from any one of several submarine geological phenomena, such as volcanic explosions. They travel in the open ocean at speeds up to 640 kmph.

Tuazole
see "Methaqualone"

Tuazolone
see "Methaqualone"

Tuba
The tuba is a musical instrument of the brass family.

Tuber
A tuber is a thickened, fleshy or scaly portion of a plant's underground stem which serves as a store-house for starch and other plant food.

Tuesday
Tuesday is the second day of the week.

Tug
A tug is a boat used for towing other ships.

Tugenbund
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 reorganizing 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.

Tuileries
The Tuileries was a former imperial palace in Paris. Construction was started by Catherine de'Medici in 1564 and completed by Louis XIV. It suffered severely at the hands of the mob in 1792, 1830 and 1848 being burned in 1871. In 1883 it was removed, except two wings connecting with the Louvre.

Tumbrel
A tumbrel is a type of cart, formerly used for carrying dung and prisoners to the guillotine during the French Revolution.

Tun
A tun is a large cask for holding liquids, especially wine, ale or beer. A tun is also a measure of capacity, equivalent to 252 wine gallons. In London a tun of beer was two butts.

Tungsten
Tungsten is a grey-white, heavy, high-melting, ductile, hard, polyvalent metallic element that resembles chromium and molybdenum in most of it's properties and is used especially for electrical purposes and in hardening steel. It has the symbol W.

Tunic
A tunic was an ancient Greek and then Roman short-sleeved body garment reaching to the knees. Today the term applies more generally to a close-fitting short coat of a police or military uniform.

Tuning-fork
A tuning-fork is a small percussion instrument of definite and permanent pitch, which is used to indicate the correct pitch of some particular note in the musical scale. It consists of two vibrating steel prongs, which spring from a tapered base.

Tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway.

Tupenu
The tupenu is a wrap round, skirt like cloth worn by Tongan males for all formal occasions. The tupenu is the normal work attire and is also worn to church. It is ideal for the Tongan climate.

Turbine
A turbine is a type of engine. Steam turbines often propel ships and power stations. Gas turbines are also used.

TurboCAD
TurboCAD is a Computer-Aided Design (CAD) program by IMSI Limited for professionals and corporate design departments, but promising ownership costs similar to conventional Office applications such as spreadsheets and databases. The program includes features like extensive customising capabilities and hooks to external database programs. IMSI also hopes to capitalise on AutoCAD's widespread support industry, with a new programming interface which offers compatibility with AutoCAD add-ons.

Turnbull's Blue
Turnbull's Blue is a pigment produced by the action of a ferrous salt on potassium ferri-cyanide.

Turpentine
Turpentine is the resinous exudation of various coniferous plants.

Tute
Tute is one of the most popular card games of Spain, and also in some Latin American countries. It is a point-trick game with trumps of the "marriage" type played with a standard Spanish 40-card deck. There are several versions, all with the same basic structure of trick taking and card values, but adapted for different numbers of players, and in some cases with the extra complication of bidding. The game for four players in two fixed partnerships will be described first, then versions for other numbers of players.

Tutenag
Tutenag is an alloy of copper, nickel and zinc used at one time for domesticware and fire-grates.

Tutu
A tutu is a dancer's short skirt made of layers of stiffened frills.

Tuxedo
A tuxedo is a man's evening dress or dinner-jacket.

Tweed
Tweed is a woolen fabric, largely manufactured in Scotland, and formerly extensively worn by men although today it is more common amongst less fashionable middle-aged, middle class women.

Tweezer
A tweezer is a small pair of tongs used for picking up small objects.

Twelfth Day
Twelfth Day is the festival of Epithany, being the twelfth day after Christmas, it is kept as the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. It was formerly the occassion 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.

Twelve Tables
The Twelve Tables was the original Roman code of law drawn up around 450 BC by a body of 10 Decemviri. It was written in ancient Latin on copper tablets and was set up in the forum of Rome.

Twenex
Twenex was the TOPS-20 operating system by DEC - the second proprietary OS for the PDP-10. TOPS-20 began in 1969 as Bolt, Beranek & Newman's TENEX operating system using special paging hardware. By the early 1970s, almost all of the systems on the ARPANET ran TENEX. DEC purchased the rights to TENEX from BBN and began work to make it their own. The first in-house code name for the operating system was VIROS; when customers started asking questions, the name was changed to SNARK so DEC could truthfully deny that there was any project called VIROS. When the name SNARK became known, the name was briefly reversed to become KRANS; this was quickly abandoned when someone objected that `krans' meant `funeral wreath' in Swedish (though some Swedish speakers have since said it means simply `wreath'; this part of the story may be apocryphal). Ultimately DEC picked TOPS-20 as the name of the operating system, and it was as TOPS-20 that it was marketed. The hacker community, mindful of its origins, quickly dubbed it TWENEX (a contraction of `twenty TENEX'), even though by this point very little of the original TENEX code remained (analogously to the differences between AT&T V6 UNIX and BSD). DEC people cringed when they heard "TWENEX", but the term caught on nevertheless (the written abbreviation `20x' was also used). TWENEX was successful and very popular; in fact, there was a period in the early 1980s when it commanded as fervent a culture of partisans as UNIX or ITS but DEC's decision to scrap all the internal rivals to the VAX architecture and its relatively stodgy VMS OS killed the DEC-20 and put a sad end to TWENEX's brief day in the sun. DEC attempted to convince TOPS-20 hackers to convert to VMS, but instead, by the late 1980s, most of the TOPS-20 hackers had migrated to UNIX.

Twilight
Twilight is a faint illumination of the earth by sunlight reflected from the atmosphere after sunset and before sunrise.

Twill
Twill is a textile fabric with a surface of parallel diagonal ribs produced by passing weft-threads over one and under two or more warp-threads.

Twins
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.

Tympanum
Tympanum is an archaeological term for the space at the back of a pediment.

Tyndall Effect
The Tyndall Effect is the scattering of light by fine suspended particles. If a beam of white light is passed through a colloidal suspension of a substance such as mastic in water, light will be emitted at right angles to the beam.

Tynwald
Tynwald is the parliament in the Isle of Man.

Typewriter
The typewriter is a machine for printing letters singly on paper which is traversed and moved forward so as to allow writing to be performed. The first patent for a typewriter was filed in 1714 by Henry Milne.

Typhon
A typhon is a naval signal horn operated by compressed air or steam. It is so named after the mythical Typhon.

Typhoon
A typhoon is a tropical cyclone or hurricane of the western Pacific and China Sea.

Typhus
Typhus is an acute contagious fever transmitted to man by body-lice and rat-fleas infected by Rickettsia prowazekii. Typhus is characterised by the eruption of rose-coloured spots, extreme prostration and often delirium.

Typography
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'.

Tyrian dye
Tyrian dye was a purple dye derived from animal juice in the shell-fish murex. It was used in ancient times. Since only small quantities could be obtained, it's use was limited to the great and the wealthy, hence purple became the colour associated with majesty.

Copyright 1997,1998 Servile Software Enquiries to Matthew Probert

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