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mks system

(Encyclopedia)mks system, system of units of measurement based on the metric system and having the meter of length, the kilogram of mass, and the second of time as its fundamental units. Other mks units include the...

manorial system

(Encyclopedia)manorial system sēnyôrˈēəl [key], economic and social system of medieval Europe under which peasants' land tenure and production were regulated, and local justice and taxation were administered. ...

Mariinsk System

(Encyclopedia)Mariinsk System: see Volga-Baltic Waterway. ...

Bach system

(Encyclopedia)Bach system: see Bach, Alexander.

borstal system

(Encyclopedia)borstal system bôrˈstəl [key], rehabilitation method formerly used in Great Britain for delinquent boys aged 16 to 21. The idea originated (1895) with the Gladstone Committee as an attempt to refor...

bicameral system

(Encyclopedia)bicameral system bīkămˈərəl [key], governmental system dividing the legislative function between two chambers, an “upper,” such as the U.S. Senate and the British House of Lords, and a “low...

binary system

(Encyclopedia)binary system, numeration system based on powers of 2, in contrast to the familiar decimal system, which is based on powers of 10. In the binary system, only the digits 0 and 1 are used. Thus, the fir...

Bertillon system

(Encyclopedia)Bertillon system bərtĭlˈyən [key], first scientific method of criminal identification, developed by the French criminologist Alphonse Bertillon (1853–1914). The system, based on the classificati...

sweating system

(Encyclopedia)sweating system, method of exploiting labor by supplying materials to workers and paying by the piece (see piecework) for work done on those materials in the workers' homes or in small workshops (swea...

spoils system

(Encyclopedia)spoils system, in U.S. history, the practice of giving appointive offices to loyal members of the party in power. The name supposedly derived from a speech by Senator William Learned Marcy in which he...