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digital versatile disc

(Encyclopedia)digital versatile disc or digital video disc (DVD), a small plastic disc used for the storage of digital data. The successor media to the compact disc (CD), a DVD can have more than 100 times the stor...

poison gas

(Encyclopedia)poison gas, any of various gases sometimes used in warfare or riot control because of their poisonous or corrosive nature. These gases may be roughly grouped according to the portal of entry into the ...

Japanese

(Encyclopedia)Japanese jăpˌənēzˈ [key], language of uncertain origin that is spoken by more than 125 million people, most of whom live in Japan. There are also many speakers of Japanese in the Ryukyu Islands, ...

criminal law

(Encyclopedia)criminal law, the branch of law that defines crimes, treats of their nature, and provides for their punishment. A tort is a civil wrong committed against an individual; a crime, on the other hand, is ...

African languages

(Encyclopedia)African languages, geographic rather than linguistic classification of languages spoken on the African continent. Historically the term refers to the languages of sub-Saharan Africa, which do not belo...

Netanyahu, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Netanyahu, Benjamin or Binyamin bēnˈyəmēnˌ nĕtənyäˈho͞o [key], 1949–, Isr...

London Company

(Encyclopedia)London Company, corporation composed of stockholders residing in and about London, which, together with the Plymouth Company (see Virginia Company), was granted (1606) a charter by King James I to fou...

monopoly

(Encyclopedia)monopoly mənōpˈəlē [key], market condition in which there is only one seller of a certain commodity; by virtue of the long-run control over supply, such a seller is able to exert nearly total con...

Romance languages

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Romance languages, group of languages belonging to the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Italic languages). Also called Romanic, they are spoken by about 670 millio...

ventilation

(Encyclopedia)ventilation, process of supplying fresh air to an enclosed space and removing from it air contaminated by odors, gases, or smoke. Proper ventilation requires also that there be a movement or circulati...