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fire fighting

(Encyclopedia)fire fighting, the use of strategy, personnel, and apparatus to extinguish, to confine, or to escape from fire. Ancient Rome is known to have had a fire department consisting by the 1st cent. of app...

prisoner of war

(Encyclopedia)prisoner of war, in international law, person captured by a belligerent while fighting in the military. International law includes rules on the treatment of prisoners of war but extends protection onl...

dance

(Encyclopedia)dance [Old High Ger. danson=to drag, stretch], the art of precise, expressive, and graceful human movement, traditionally, but not necessarily, performed in accord with musical accompaniment. Dancing ...

Charles II, king of England, Scotland, and Ireland

(Encyclopedia)Charles II, 1630–85, king of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1660–85), eldest surviving son of Charles I and Henrietta Maria. Charles was a ruler of considerable political skill. His reign was m...

insurance

(Encyclopedia)insurance or assurance, device for indemnifying or guaranteeing an individual against loss. Reimbursement is made from a fund to which many individuals exposed to the same risk have contributed certai...

virus

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Structure of a tobacco mosaic virus, an RNA-containing virus virus, parasite with a noncellular structure composed mainly of nucleic acid within a protein coat. Most viruses are too small (100...

Sumerian and Babylonian art

(Encyclopedia)Sumerian and Babylonian art, works of art and architecture created by the Sumerian and Babylonian peoples of ancient Mesopotamia, civilizations which had an artistic tradition of remarkable antiquity,...

censorship

(Encyclopedia)censorship, official prohibition or restriction of any type of expression believed to threaten the political, social, or moral order. It may be imposed by governmental authority, local or national, by...

Pennsylvania

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Pennsylvania pĕnsəlvāˈnyə [key], one of the Middle Atlantic states of the United States. It is bordered by New Jersey, across the Delaware River (E), Delaware (SE), Maryland (S), West Virg...

Middle English literature

(Encyclopedia)Middle English literature, English literature of the medieval period, c.1100 to c.1500. See also English literature and Anglo-Saxon literature. The 15th cent. is not distinguished in English let...