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rum

(Encyclopedia)rum, spirituous liquor made from fermented sugarcane products. Prepared by fermentation, distillation, and aging, it is made from the molasses and foam that rise to the top of boiled sugarcane juice. ...

Spartacus

(Encyclopedia)Spartacus spärˈtəkəs [key], d. 71 b.c., leader in an ancient Italian slave revolt, b. Thrace. He broke out (73 b.c.) of a gladiators' school at Capua and fled to Mt. Vesuvius, where many fugitives...

ideal gas

(Encyclopedia)ideal gas: see gas laws; kinetic-molecular theory of gases. ...

labor law

(Encyclopedia)labor law, legislation dealing with human beings in their capacity as workers or wage earners. The Industrial Revolution, by introducing the machine and factory production, greatly expanded the class ...

Charondas

(Encyclopedia)Charondas kərŏnˈdəs [key], 6th cent. b.c., Sicilian lawgiver, a native of Catana. His laws, which were admired by Aristotle, were used by the cities of Chalcidian foundation in Sicily and Italy. ...

Leovigild

(Encyclopedia)Leovigild lēŏvˈĭgĭldˌ, lēōˈ– [key], d. 586, Visigothic king of Spain (568–86), brother and successor of Athanagild. He was joint ruler to 573 with his brother Liuva. He reorganized the ad...

Magnus VI

(Encyclopedia)Magnus VI (Magnus the Law Mender), 1238–80, king of Norway (1263–80), son of Haakon IV. A man of peace, he brought an end to the Scottish war by ceding (1266) the Hebrides and the Isle of Man to A...

kosher

(Encyclopedia)kosher [Heb.,=proper, i.e., fit for use], in Judaism, term used in rabbinic literature to mean what is ritually correct, but most widely applied to food that is in accordance with dietary laws based o...

Freedom of Information Act

(Encyclopedia)Freedom of Information Act (1966), law requiring that U.S. government agencies release their records to the public on request, unless the information sought falls into a category specifically exempted...

kinetic-molecular theory of gases

(Encyclopedia)kinetic-molecular theory of gases, physical theory that explains the behavior of gases on the basis of the following assumptions: (1) Any gas is composed of a very large number of very tiny particles ...