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 Talk Talk - Communication terms
Category: General technical and industrial
Date & country: 28/05/2010, UK
Words: 18630


Midi-Pyrénées
Region of southwest France, comprising the départements of Ariège, Aveyron, Haute-Garonne, Gers, Lot, Hautes-Pyrénées, Tarn, and Tarn-et-Garonne; the capital is Toulouse; area 45,348 sq km/17,509 sq mi; population (1999 est) 2,551...

Middlesbrough
Industrial port and administrative centre of Middlesbrough unitary authority in northeast England, on the estuary of the River Tees, 35 km/22 mi south of Sunderland; population (2001) 142,700. The modern town only started to develop in the early 19th century after it was decided to extend the railway to reach deeper anchorage on the river&#...

MIDAS
Acronym for Missile Defence Alarm System

Middle Kingdom
Period of Egyptian history embracing the 11th and 12th dynasties (roughly 2040–1640 BC); Chinese term for China and its empire until 1912, describing its central position in the Far East

micrometre
One-millionth of a metre

microscope
Click images to enlargeInstrument for forming magnified images with high resolution for detail. Optical and electron microscopes are the ones chiefly in use; other types include acoustic, scanning tunnelling, and atomic force microscopes. The optical microscope usually has two sets of glass lenses and an eyepiece. The...

Mickiewicz, Adam Bernard
Polish revolutionary poet. His Pan Tadeusz (1832–34) is Poland's national epic. He died in Constantinople while raising a Polish corps to fight against Russia in the Crimean War

Micah
In the Old Testament, a Hebrew prophet whose writings denounced the oppressive ruling class of Judah and demanded justice

Michelangelo
Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet. Active in his native Florence and in Rome, his giant talent dominated the High Renaissance. The marble David (1501–04; Accademia, Florence) set a new standard in nude sculpture. His massive figure style was translated into fresco on the ceiling (1508–12) and altar wall...

Mizoram
State of northeast India, lying between Bangladesh and Myanmar; area 21,087 sq km/8,142 sq mi; population (2001 est) 891,100. The capital is Aizawl. The state features north–south ranges in the east that rise to over 2,000 m/6,500 ft. The state is densely forested. Agriculture, including shifting cultivation, is the main econom...

mistral
Cold, dry, northerly wind that occasionally blows during the winter on the Mediterranean coast of France, particularly concentrated along the Rhône valley. It has been known to reach a velocity of 145 kph/90 mph

Missolonghi
Town in western central Greece, on the north shore of the Gulf of Patras; population (2001 est) 8,500. It was several times under siege by the Turks in the wars of 1822–26 and it was here that the British poet Byron died. The Missolonghi wetland is an important breeding ground for the endangered Dalmatian pelican. In 1993 the wetlands were...

Mississippi
(river) River in the USA, the main arm of the great river system draining the USA between the Appalachian and the Rocky mountain ranges. The length of the Mississippi is 3,778 km/2,348 mi; with its tributary the Missouri it totals 6,020 km/3,740 mi. It has the second largest draina...

missal
In the Roman Catholic Church, a service book containing the complete office of Mass for the entire year. A simplified missal in the vernacular was introduced in 1969 (obligatory from 1971): the first major reform since 1570

mission
(religion) Organized attempt to spread a religion. Throughout its history, Christianity has been the most assertive of missionary religions. Islam also has a history of militant missionizing, and the original Islamic conquests initiated by Muhammad justified the use of a holy war, jihad, as a ...

Mishnah
Collection of commentaries on written Hebrew law, consisting of discussions between rabbis, handed down orally from their inception in AD 70 until about 200 when they were committed to writing. The Mishnah advises Jews how to apply the rules of the Torah, given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai. Together with the Gemara, it forms the Talmud, a compila...

Mishima, Yukio
Japanese novelist. His work often deals with sexual desire and perversion, as in Confessions of a Mask (1949) and The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (1956). He committed hara-kiri (ritual suicide) as a protest against what he saw as the corruption of the nation and the loss of the samurai warrior tradition

Minuteman
In weaponry, a US three-stage intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with a range of about 8,000 km/5,000 mi. In US history the term was applied to members of the citizens' militia in the 1770s. These volunteer soldiers had pledged to be available for battle at a `minute's notice` during the American Revolution

Minton, Thomas
English potter. After an apprenticeship as an engraver for transfer printing at Caughley and working for the potter Josiah Spode, he established himself at Stoke-on-Trent as an engraver of designs in 1789. The Chinese-style blue and white `willow pattern` was reputedly originated by Minton. In 1796 he founded a pottery, produc...

mint
(economics) In economics, a place where coins are made under government authority. In Britain, the official mint is the Royal Mint. The Royal Mint also manufactures coinages, official medals, and seals for Commonwealth and foreign countries. For centuries in the Tower of London, the Royal Mint...

minster
In the UK, a church formerly attached to a monastery or forming part of it. Originally the term meant a monastery, and in this sense it is often preserved in place names, such as Westminster. The name is now applied in England to certain large churches or cathedrals, such as Beverley and York Minster

Minsk
Industrial city and capital of Belarus (also capital of the Minsk oblast); population (2004 est) 1,741,400. Motor vehicles, machinery, textiles, leather are produced here; Minsk is also a centre of the computer industry. The city's large pre-war Jewish community, which comprised over half of its inhabitants, was deported and murdere...

minor
Legal term for those under the age of majority, which varies from country to country but is usually between 18 and 21. In the USA (from 1971 for voting, and in some states for nearly all other purposes) and certain European countries (in Britain since 1970) the age of majority is 18. Most civic and legal rights and duties only accrue at the age of ...

Minoan civilization
Bronze Age civilization on the Aegean island of Crete. The name is derived from Minos, the legendary king of Crete. The civilization is divided into three main periods: early Minoan, about 3000–2000 BC; middle Minoan, about 2000–1550 BC; and late Minoan, about 1550–1050 BC....

Minnesinger
Any of a group of 12th- to 14th-century German lyric poets and musicians. They represent a continuation of the French troubadour tradition, their songs dealing mainly with the theme of courtly love, but their musical and literary styles diverged. Many were of noble birth, unlike the later Meistersingers (German `master singers`) w...

Minerva
In Roman mythology, the goddess of wisdom and war, and of handicrafts and the arts, equivalent to the Greek Athena. From the earliest days of ancient Rome, there was a temple to her on the Capitoline Hill, near the Temple of Jupiter

mineralogy
Study of minerals. The classification of minerals is based chiefly on their chemical composition and the kind of chemical bonding that holds their atoms together. The mineralogist also studies their crystallographic and physical characters, occurrence, and mode of formation. The systematic study of minerals began in the 18th century, with the divis...

Mindanao
Second-largest island of the Philippines. The indigenous peoples are the Lumad and Moro; area 94,627 sq km/36,536 sq mi; population (2000) 18,133,900. Towns and cities include Davao and Zamboanga. Industries include pineapples, coffee, rice, coconut, rubber, hemp, timber, nickel, gold, steel, chemicals, and fertilizer. The island is...

minaret
Slender turret or tower attached to a Muslim mosque or to buildings designed in that style. It has one or more balconies, from which the muezzin calls the people to prayer five times a day. See also Islamic architecture

mind
In philosophy, the presumed mental or physical being or faculty that enables a person to think, will, and feel; the seat of the intelligence and of memory; sometimes only the cognitive or intellectual powers, as distinguished from the will and the emotions. Mind may be seen as synonymous with the merely random chemical reactions within the ...

Mills, John
(Lewis Ernest Watts) English actor. A very versatile and prolific performer, he appeared in films such as In Which We Serve (1942), The Rocking Horse Winner (1949), The Wrong Box (1966), and Oh! What a Lovely War (...

Millet, Jean François
French artist. A leading member of the Barbizon School, he painted scenes of peasant life and landscapes. The Angelus (1859; Musée d'Orsay, Paris) and The Gleaners (1857; Louvre, Paris) were widely reproduced in his day. Born in Normandy of a peasant family, he went to Paris to study in 1837. A...

Millais, John Everett
English painter, a founder member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848. Among his best known works are Ophelia (1852; National Gallery, London) and Autumn Leaves (1856; City Art Galleries, Manchester). By the late 1860s he had left the Brotherhoo...

Mill, John Stuart
English philosopher and economist who wrote Principles of Political Economy (1848), On Liberty (1859), and Utilitarianism (1863), which promoted a version of the `greatest happiness for the greatest number` principle in ethics. Throughout the last half of the 19th century, right up ...

Milky Way
Faint band of light crossing the night sky, consisting of stars in the plane of our Galaxy. The name Milky Way is often used for the Galaxy itself. It is a spiral galaxy, 100,000 light years in diameter and 2,000 light years thick, containing at least 100 billion stars. The Sun is in one of its spiral arms, about 27,000 light years from the centre,...

militia
Body of civilian soldiers, usually with some military training, who are on call in emergencies, distinct from professional soldiers. In Switzerland, the militia is the national defence force, and every able-bodied man is liable for service in it. In the UK the Territorial Army and in the USA the National Guard have supplanted earlier voluntary ...

Milankovitch hypothesis
Combination of factors governing the occurrence of ice ages proposed in 1930 by the Yugoslav geophysicist M Milankovitch (1879–1958). These include the variation in the angle of the Earth's axis, and the geometry of the Earth's orbit around the Sun

Miles, Bernard James, Baron Miles
English actor and producer. He appeared on stage as Briggs in Thunder Rock (1940) and Iago in Othello (1942), and his films include Great Expectations (1947). He founded a trust that in 1959 built the City of London's first new theatre for 300 years, the Mermaid, which presents a mixed cl...

Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig
German architect. A leading exponent of the international style, he practised in the USA from 1937. He succeeded Walter Gropius as director of the Bauhaus 1929–33. He designed the bronze-and-glass Seagram building in New York City 1956–59 and numerous apartment buildings

midwifery
Assistance of women in childbirth. Traditionally, it was undertaken by experienced specialists; in modern medical training it is a nursing speciality for practitioners called midwives. (See also obstetrics.) The English physician William Harvey's 1653 work on generation contained an influential chapter on labour. Dr Peter Chamberlen II (156...

Midrash
Medieval Hebrew commentaries on the Hebrew Bible, in the form of sermons, in which allegory and legendary illustration are used. They were compiled mainly in Palestine between AD 400 and 1200, and form part of the Haggadah, the narrative tradition of the Talmud

Middle East
Indeterminate area now usually taken to include Egypt and the Arab states of the eastern Mediterranean and Arabian Peninsula, sometimes extended to the states of northwest Africa, Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan

Middleton, Thomas
English dramatist. He produced numerous romantic plays, tragedies, and realistic comedies, both alone and in collaboration, including A Fair Quarrel (1617), The Changeling (1622), and The Spanish Gypsy (1623) with William Rowley; The Roaring Girl (1611) with Thomas Dekk...

Midas
In Greek mythology, a king of Phrygia who was granted the ability to convert all he touched to gold by Dionysus, god of wine and excess; the gift became a curse when his food and drink also turned to metal. In another story he was given ass's ears by Apollo for preferring the music of Pan in a contest between the two gods

microphone
Primary component in a sound-reproducing system, whereby the mechanical energy of sound waves is converted into electrical signals by means of a transducer. In one type, a diaphragm is attached to a coil of wire placed between two poles of a permanent magnet. Sound waves cause the diaphragm to vibrate, which in turn causes the coil of wire to m...

microbe
Another name for micro-organism

microbiological warfare
Use of harmful micro-organisms as a weapon. See biological warfare

micrometer
(instrument) Instrument for measuring minute lengths or angles with great accuracy; different types of micrometer are used in astronomical and engineering work. The type of micrometer used in astronomy consists of two fine wires, one fixed and the other movable, placed in the focal plane o...

Michaelmas Day
In Christian church tradition, the festival of St Michael and all angels, observed 29 September

Michelson, Albert Abraham
German-born US physicist. With his colleague Edward Morley, he performed in 1887 the Michelson–Morley experiment to detect the motion of the Earth through the postulated ether (a medium believed to be necessary for the propagation of light). The failure of the experiment indicated the nonexistence of the ether, and led Albert Einstein to h...

Michael
(of Romania) King of Romania 1927–30 and 1940–47. The son of Carol II, he succeeded his grandfather as king in 1927 but was displaced when his father returned from exile in 1930. In 1940 he was proclaimed king again on his father's abdication, overthrew in 1944 the fascist dictat...

mistletoe
Parasitic evergreen plant, native to Europe. It grows on trees as a small bush with translucent white berries. Used in many Western countries as a Christmas decoration, it also featured in the pagan religion Druidism. (Viscum album, family Loranthaceae.) The seeds of the European mistletoe are dispersed by birds, but the dwarf mi...

microbiology
Study of micro-organisms, mostly viruses and single-celled organisms such as bacteria, protozoa, and yeasts. The practical applications of microbiology are in medicine (since many micro-organisms cause disease); in brewing, baking, and other food and beverage processes, where the micro-organisms carry out fermentation; and i...

micro-organism
Living organism invisible to the naked eye but visible under a microscope. Micro-organisms include viruses and single-celled organisms such as bacteria and yeasts. The term has no significance in taxonomy and classifies organisms purely by their size. Thus, yeasts are fungi, but other fungi are often big enough to see with the naked eye and...

mitosis
In biology, the process of cell division by which one parent cell produces two genetically identical `daughter` cells. The genetic material of eukaryotic cells is carried on a number of chromosomes. During mitosis the DNA is duplicated and the chromosome number doubled – identical copi...

mica
Any of a group of silicate minerals that split easily into thin flakes along lines of weakness in their crystal structure (perfect basal cleavage). They are glossy, have a pearly lustre, and are found in many igneous and metamorphic rocks. Their good thermal and electrical insulation qualities make them valuable in industry. Their chemical composit...

mineral
Naturally formed inorganic substance with a particular chemical composition and a regularly repeating internal structure. Either in their perfect crystalline form or otherwise, minerals are the constituents of rocks. In more general usage, a mineral is any substance economically valuable for mining (including coal and oil, despite their organic ori...

miracle play
Another name for mystery play

microwave radiation
Electromagnetic waves with wavelengths in the range 0.3 cm to 30 cm/0.1 in to 12 in, or 300–300,000 megahertz (between radio waves and infrared radiation). Microwaves are used in radar, in radio broadcasting, in satellite communications, and in microwave heating and cooking. In microwave cooking, microwaves are used to transfer energy to f...

mirror
Any polished surface that reflects light; often made from `silvered` glass (in practice, a mercury-alloy coating of glass). A plane (flat) mirror produces a same-size, erect `virtual` image located behind the mirror at the same distance from it as the object is in fron...

microwave heating
Heating by means of microwaves. Microwave ovens use this form of heating for the rapid cooking or reheating of foods, where heat is generated throughout the interior of the food. If food is not heated completely, there is a danger of bacterial growth that may lead to food poisoning. This method is useful for rapid cooking of frozen and pre-prep...

microform
Generic name for media on which text or images are photographically reduced. The main examples are microfilm (similar to the film in an ordinary camera) and microfiche (flat sheets of film, generally 105 mm/4 in × 148 mm/6 in, holding the equivalent of 420 standard pages). Microform has the advantage of low reproduction and storage cos...

midnight sun
Constant appearance of the Sun (within the Arctic and Antarctic circles) above the horizon during the summer

Mitterrand, François
French socialist politician. After a successful ministerial career under the Fourth Republic, holding posts in 11 governments 1947–58, Mitterrand joined the new Parti Socialiste (PS; English Socialist Party) in 1971, establishing it as the most popular party in France before winning two successive terms as president, 1981–88 and 1988&...

minuet
French country dance in three time adapted as a European courtly dance of the 17th century. The music was later used as the third movement of a classical four-movement symphony where its gentle rhythm provides a foil to the slow second movement and fast final movement

microeconomics
The division of economics concerned with the study of individual decision-making units within an economy: a consumer, firm, or industry. Unlike macroeconomics, it looks at how individual markets work and how individual producers and consumers make their choices and with what consequences. For simplicity, microeconomics begins by analysing a...

minimum lending rate
In the UK, the minimum rate of interest at which the Bank of England would lend to the money market from 1972 until it was replaced by the base rate in 1981

misdemeanour
In US law, an offence less serious than a felony. A misdemeanour is an offence punishable by a relatively insevere penalty, such as a fine or short term in prison or a term of community service, while a felony carries more severe penalties, such as a term of imprisonment of a year or more up to the death penalty

millibar
Unit of pressure, equal to one-thousandth of a bar

millilitre
One-thousandth of a litre (ml), equivalent to one cubic centimetre (cc)

Micronesia
(group of islands) Group of islands in the Pacific Ocean lying north of Melanesia

Mill, James
Scottish philosopher and political thinker who developed the theory of utilitarianism. He is remembered for his political articles, and for the rigorous education he gave his son John Stuart Mill. Born near Montrose on the east coast, Mill moved to London 1802. Associated for most of his working life with the East India Company, he wrote a vast <...

micro-
Prefix denoting a one-millionth part (10-6). For example, a micrometre, μm, is one-millionth of a metre

mineral water
Water with mineral constituents gathered from the rocks with which it comes in contact, and classified by these into earthy, brine, and oil mineral waters; also water with artificially added minerals and, sometimes, carbon dioxide. Many people believe that mineral waters have curative powers, the types of these medicinal waters being alkaline (...

mining
(industry) Click images to enlargeExtraction of minerals from under the land or sea for industrial or domestic uses. Exhaustion of traditionally accessible resources has led to the development of new mining techniques, for example extract...

mi
Symbol for mile

min.
Abbreviation for minute (time); minimum

MIRV
Abbreviation for multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicle, used in nuclear warfare

migrant labour
People who move from place to place to work. Economic or political pressures often cause people to leave their homelands to earn wages in this way, but some families live this way for several generations. As economic development has taken place at different rates in different countries, the supplies of and need for labour have been uneven. Migratio...

military-industrial complex
Conjunction of the military establishment and the arms industry, both inflated by Cold War demands. The phrase was first used by US president and former general Dwight D Eisenhower in 1961 to warn Americans of the potential misplacement of power

Missouri Compromise
In US history, the solution by Congress (1820–21) of a sectional crisis caused by the request from Missouri for admission to the Union as a slave state, despite its proximity to existing nonslave states. The compromise was the admission of Maine as a nonslave state to keep the same ratio. In addition, slavery was forbidden in the other areas o...

Middle Way
The path to enlightenment, taught by the Buddha, which avoids the extremes of indulgence and asceticism

MIDI
Manufacturers' standard allowing different pieces of digital music equipment used in composing and recording to be freely connected. The information-sending device (any electronic instrument) is called a controller, and the reading device (such as a computer) the sequencer. Pitch, dynamics, decay rate, and stereo position can all be transmi...

Mitre, Bartólomé
Argentine president 1862–68. In 1852 he helped overthrow the dictatorial regime of Juan Manuel de Rosas, and in 1861 helped unify Argentina. Mitre encouraged immigration and favoured growing commercial links with Europe. He is seen as a symbol of national unity

millimetre of mercury
Unit of pressure, used in medicine for measuring blood, pressure defined as the pressure exerted by a column of mercury one millimetre high, under the action of gravity

Michigan, Lake
Lake in north-central USA, the third largest of the Great Lakes and the only one lying entirely within the USA, it is bordered by Michigan to the north and east, Indiana to the south, and Wisconsin and Illinois to the west; area 58,000 sq km/22,390 sq mi. The lake is 517 km/321 mi long, 190 km/118 mi at its widest point, has a m...

Micronesian
Any of the indigenous Australoid and Polynesian peoples of Micronesia, including Pacific islands north of the Equator, such as the Caroline, Marshall, Mariana, and Gilbert islands. Their languages belong to the Austronesian family

Minangkabau
An Indonesian people of western Sumatra. In addition to approximately 3 million Minangkabau in western Sumatra, there are sizeable communities in the major Indonesian cities. The Minangkabau language belongs to the Austronesian family

Minas Gerais
Inland federal unit (state) of southeast Brazil; area 586,624 sq km/226,,495 sq mi; population (1991) 16,956,900; capital Belo Horizonte. The region is rich in mineral deposits (iron ore, manganese, bauxite, nickel) and is the centre of the country's iron ore, coal, diamond, and gold mining industries. Cattle are raised in the n...

mineral salt
In nutrition, simple inorganic chemicals that are required, as nutrients, by living organisms. Plants usually obtain their mineral salts from the soil, while animals get theirs from their food. Important mineral salts include iron salts (needed by both plants and animals), magnesium salts (needed mainly by plants, to make chlorophyll), and calcium ...

Minnelli, Liza
(May) US actor and singer. The daughter of Judy Garland and the director Vincente Minnelli, she achieved stardom in the Broadway musical Flora, the Red Menace (1965) and in the film Cabaret (1972; Academy Award). Her subsequent films include N...

Minnelli, Vincente
US film director. His colourfully stylish musicals include Meet Me in St Louis (1944), An American in Paris (1951), and Gigi (1958; Academy Award for best direction). He also directed a number of powerful dramas, including The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), The ...

mirage
Illusion caused by refraction of light in various atmospheric conditions. Mirages include the appearance of pools of water in the desert or on hot roads, or of places beyond the horizon apparently floating above it. When there are hot layers of air near the ground, light rays from the sky near the horizon bend as they pass through them, so that the...

Miranda, Carmen
Portuguese dancer and singer. She lived in Brazil from childhood, moving to Hollywood in 1939. Her Hollywood musicals include Down Argentine Way (1940) and The Gang's All Here (1943). Her hallmarks were extravagant costumes and headgear adorned with tropical fruits, a staccato singing voice, and fiery tempe...

Miloševic, Slobodan
Serbian communist-nationalist politician; president of Serbia 1989–97, and president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 1997–2000. Leader of the Socialist Party of Serbia from 1986, he fanned Serbian nationalist sentiment that helped provoke the break-up of Yugoslavia and led to civil war in Bosnia-Herzegovina 1992–...

microfiche
Sheet of film on which printed text is photographically reduced. See microform

mips
In computing, a measure of the speed of a processor. It does not equal the computer power in all cases

microtubules
Tiny tubes found in almost all cells with a nucleus. They help to define the shape of a cell by forming scaffolding for cilia and they also form the fibres of mitotic spindle (see mitosis)

minute
Unit of time consisting of 60 seconds; also a unit of angle equal to one sixtieth of a degree

mixture
(chemistry) In chemistry, a substance containing two or more elements or compounds that still retain their separate physical and chemical properties. There is no chemical bonding between them and they can be separated from each other by physical means (compare compound). The separation of mixt...