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allegiance

(Encyclopedia)allegiance, in political terms, the tie that binds an individual to another individual or institution. The term usually refers to a person's legal obligation of obedience to a government in return for...

Gulf War syndrome

(Encyclopedia)Gulf War syndrome, popular name for a variety of ailments experienced by veterans after the Persian Gulf War. Symptoms reported include nausea, cramps, rashes, short-term memory loss, fatigue, difficu...

gynecology

(Encyclopedia)gynecology gīnˌəkŏlˈəjē [key], branch of medicine specializing in the disorders of the female reproductive system. Modern gynecology deals with menstrual disorders, menopause, infectious diseas...

handedness

(Encyclopedia)handedness, habitual or more skillful use of one hand as opposed to the other. Approximately 90% of humans are thought to be right-handed. It was traditionally argued that there is a slight tendency t...

Székely

(Encyclopedia)Székely sāˈkəlē [key], ethnic group of Transylvania and of present-day Romania. Except in a few isolated communities, where the ancient customs of the Székely have survived, there is little diff...

Breton literature

(Encyclopedia)Breton literature brĕtˈən [key], in the Celtic language of Brittany. Although there are numerous allusions in other literatures of the 12th to 14th cent. to the “matter of Brittany,” which incl...

Agent Orange

(Encyclopedia)Agent Orange, herbicide used by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War to expose enemy guerrilla forces in forested areas. Agent Orange contains varying amounts of dioxin. Exposure to the defoliant has be...

Pocahontas

(Encyclopedia)Pocahontas pōkəhŏnˈtəs [key], c.1595–1617, Native North American woman, daughter of Chief Powhatan. Pocahontas, meaning “playful one” (her birth name was Amonute, and her family called her ...

Besant, Annie

(Encyclopedia)Besant, Annie bĕzˈant [key], 1847–1933, English social reformer and theosophist, b. Annie Wood. She steadily grew away from Christianity and in 1873 separated from her husband, a Protestant clergy...

spectrum

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Dispersion of white light by a triangular prism spectrum, arrangement or display of light or other form of radiation separated according to wavelength, frequency, energy, or some other propert...