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


mucous membrane
Thin skin lining all animal body cavities and canals that come into contact with the air (for example, eyelids, breathing and digestive passages, genital tract). It contains goblet cells that secrete mucus, a moistening, lubricating, and protective fluid. In the air passages mucus captures dust and bacteria. In the gut it helps food slip along, and...

mutualism
Association between two organisms of different species whereby both profit from the relationship; see symbiosis

multiple birth
In humans, the production of more than two babies from one pregnancy. Multiple births can be caused by more than two eggs being produced and fertilized (often as the result of hormone therapy to assist pregnancy), or by a single fertilized egg dividing more than once before implantation. See also twi...

muscle
Click images to enlargeContractile animal tissue that produces locomotion and power and maintains the movement of body substances. Muscle contains very specialized animal cells – long cells – that can contract to between one-half and one-third of their relaxed length. Muscle tissue is sometimes found in ...

multistage rocket
Click images to enlargeRocket launch vehicle made up of several rocket stages (often three) joined end to end. The bottom, or first, stage fires first, boosting the vehicle to high speed, then it falls away. The second stage fires, thrusting the now lighter vehicle even faster. The remaining stages fire and fall away in t...

multiplier
In economics, the theoretical concept, formulated by John Maynard Keynes, of the effect on national income or employment by an adjustment in overall demand. For example, investment by a company in a new plant will stimulate new income and expenditure, which will in turn generate new investment, and so on, so that the actual increase in national inc...

multinational corporation
Company or enterprise operating in several countries, usually defined as one that has 25% or more of its output capacity located outside its country of origin. The world's four largest multinationals in 2000, were Exxon Mobil, Wal-Mart Stores, General Motors, and Ford Motor – their joint revenues were more than the combined gross n...

Muybridge, Eadweard
English-born US photographer. He made a series of animal locomotion photographs in the USA in the 1870s and proved that, when a horse trots, there are times when all its feet are off the ground. He also explored motion in birds and humans

Muse
In Greek mythology, one of the nine inspiring deities of the creative arts: Clio, Euterpe, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Erato, Polyhymnia, Urania, and Calliope; daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, goddess of memory. Reputedly born in Pieria, at the foot of Mount Olympus, they were originally only three in number, but became nine from the ti...

Mugabe, Robert
(Gabriel) Zimbabwean politician, prime minister from 1980 and executive president from 1987. He was detained and imprisoned in Rhodesia (as Zimbabwe was then known) for nationalist activities 1964–74, then carried on guerrilla warfare from Mozambique as leader of ZANU (Zimbabwe African Na...

mushroom
Click images to enlargeFruiting body of certain fungi (see fungus), consisting of an upright stem and a spore-producing cap with radiating gills on the undersurface. There are many edible species belonging to the genus Agaricus, including the field mushroom (A. campestris). See al...

musk
In botany, perennial plant whose small oblong leaves give off the musky scent from which it takes its name; it is also called monkey flower. The name `musk` is also given to several other plants with a similar scent, including the musk mallow (Malva moschata) and the musk rose (Rosa moschata). (&l...

mustard
Any of several annual plants belonging to the cress family, with seed-bearing pods and sweet-smelling yellow flowers. Brown and white mustard are cultivated as an accompaniment to food in Europe and North America. The seeds of brown mustard (B. juncea) and white mustard (Sinapis alba) are used in the pr...

mutation
(biology) In biology, a change in the genes produced by a change in the DNA that makes up the hereditary material of all living organisms. It can be a change in a single gene or a change that affects sections of chromosomes. In the process of DNA replication, which takes place before any cell ...

mutual induction
In physics, the production of an electromotive force (emf) or voltage in an electric circuit caused by a changing magnetic flux in a neighbouring circuit. The two circuits are often coils of wire, as in a transformer, and the size of the induced emf depends on the numbers of turns of wire in each of the coils

Mumbai
(city) Indian city, industrial port, and commercial centre; population (2001 est) 11,914,400; metropolitan area (2001 est) 16,368,100. Previously known as Bombay, the city was once the capital of Bombay Presidency and Bombay State and in 1960 became the capital of Maharashtra, a newly ...

multicultural education
Education aimed at preparing children to live in a multiracial society by giving them an understanding of the culture and history of different ethnic groups. The initiative for multicultural teaching in the UK rose out of the Swann Report (1985) against racism and racial disadvantage in schools

music theatre
Staged performance of vocal music that deliberately challenges, in style and subject matter, traditional operatic pretensions

mummers' play
British folk drama enacted in dumb show by a masked cast, performed on Christmas Day to celebrate the death of the old year and its rebirth as the new year. The plot usually consists of a duel between St George and an infidel knight, in which one of them is killed but later revived by a doctor. Mummers' plays are still performed in some parts o...

Muzorewa, Abel
(Tendekayi) Zimbabwean politician and Methodist bishop. He was president of the African National Council 1971–85 and prime minister of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe 1979–80. He was detained for a year in 1983–84. Muzorewa was leader of the minority United Africa National Council, which ...

Mujahedin
Islamic fundamentalist guerrillas of contemporary Afghanistan and Iran

MU
In economics, abbreviation for monetary unit

multilateralism
Trade among more than two countries without discrimination over origin or destination. Unlike bilateralism, multilateralism does not require the trade flow between countries to be of the same value

mutual fund
Another name for unit trust, used in the USA

muezzin
(Arabic) a person whose job is to perform the call to prayer five times a day from the minaret of a Muslim mosque

Mungo, St
Another name for St Kentigern, first bishop of Glasgow

Muckrakers, the
Movement of US writers and journalists about 1880–1914 who aimed to expose political, commercial, and corporate corruption, and record frankly the age of industrialism, urban poverty, and conspicuous consumption. Novelists included Frank Norris, Theodore Dreiser, Jack London, and Upton Sinclair. The muckrakers were closely associated with Prog...

mudstone
Fine-grained sedimentary rock made up of clay- to silt-sized particles (up to 0.0625 mm/0.0025 in)

Museveni, Yoweri Kaguta
Ugandan soldier and politician, president from 1986. He led the opposition to Idi Amin's brutal and autocratic regime 1971–79, and became minister of defence 1979–80. As president, Museveni sought national reconciliation and developed a `no-party` state, in which political party activity and political gatherings were ban...

Murdoch,
(Keith) Australian-born US media magnate, founder and head of News Corporation, formed in 1979, with worldwide interests. In the USA, his company owns 20th Century Fox film studios (from 1985), and Fox Broadcasting (from 1987), one of the four leading US TV networks. He publishes the
mutiny
Organized act of disobedience or defiance by two or more members of the armed services. In naval and military law, mutiny has always been regarded as one of the most serious of crimes, punishable in wartime by death

mucus
Lubricating and protective fluid, secreted by mucous membranes in many different parts of the body. In the gut, mucus smooths the passage of food and keeps potentially damaging digestive enzymes away from the gut lining. In the lungs, it traps airborne particles so that they can be expelled

multitasking
In computing, a system in which one processor appears to run several different programs (or different parts of the same program) at the same time. All the programs are held in memory together and each is allowed to run for a certain period. For example, one program may run while other programs are waiting for a peripheral device to work or for inpu...

mutagen
Any substance that increases the rate of gene mutation. A mutagen may also act as a carcinogen

multiple proportions, law of
In chemistry, the principle that if two elements combine with each other to form more than one compound, then the ratio of the masses of one of them that combine with a particular mass of the other is a small whole number

mute
In music, any device used to dampen the vibration of an instrument and so affect the tone. Orchestral strings apply a form of clamp to the bridge – the change is used to dramatic effect by Bartók in the opening bars of Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta (1936). Brass instruments use the hand or a plug of metal o...

muscovite
White mica, KAl2Si3AlO10(OH,F)2, a common silicate mineral. It is colourless to silvery white with shiny surfaces, and like all micas it splits into thin flakes along its one perfect cleavage. Muscovite is a metamorphic mineral occurring mainly in schists...

Murchison, Roderick Impey
Scottish geologist responsible for naming the Silurian period, the subject of his book The Silurian System (1839). Expeditions to Russia 1840–45 led him to define another worldwide system, the Permian, named after the strata of the Perm region. He was knighted in 1846, and became a baronet in 1866

music therapy
Use of music as an adjunct to relaxation therapy, or in psychotherapy to elicit expressions of suppressed emotions by prompting patients to dance, shout, laugh, cry, or other, in response. Music therapists are most frequently called upon to help the mentally or physically disabled; for instance, patients suffering from speech difficulties or au...

Munda
Any one of several groups living in northeastern and central India, numbering about 5 million (1983). Their most widely spoken languages are Santali and Mundari, languages of the Munda group, an isolated branch of the Austro-Asiatic family. The Mundas were formerly nomadic hunter-gatherers, but now practise shifting cultivation. They are Hi...

Murakami, Haruki
Japanese novelist and translator. He is one of Japan's best-selling writers, influenced by 20th-century US writers and popular culture. His dreamy, gently surrealist novels include A Wild Sheep Chase (1982), Norwegian Wood (1987), and Sputnik Sweetheart (2000)

multiplexer
In telecommunications, a device that allows a transmission medium to carry a number of separate signals at the same time – enabling, for example, several telephone conversations to be carried by one telephone line, and radio signals to be transmitted in stereo. In frequency-division multiplexing, signals of different frequency, each carryi...

multi-user
In computing, an operating system that enables several users to access centrally stored data and programs simultaneously over a network. Each user has a terminal, which may be local (connected directly to the computer) or remote (connected to the computer via a modem and a telephone line). The growth of the internet has given rise to new forms of a...

multimedia
Click images to enlargeComputerized method of presenting information by combining audio and video components using text, sound, and graphics (still, animated, and video sequences). For example, a multimedia database of musical instruments may allow a user not only to search and retrieve text about a particular instrument ...

multiple
Any number that is the product of a given number. For example, the sequences 5, 10, 15, 20, 25... are multiples of 5; and 2, 4, 6, 8, 10... are multiples of 2. These sequences form multiplication tables. Some multiples are common to several multiplication tables. In the sequence 10, 20, 30... all are multiples of 2, 5, and 10. The lowest of thi...

multiplication
One of the four basic operations of arithmetic, usually written in the form a × b or ab, and involving repeated addition in the sense that a is added to itself b times. Multiplication obeys the associative law (for example, a ×...

mutually exclusive
In probability theory, describing two events that cannot happen together. For example, it is not possible to throw a 6 and a prime number on the same die at the same time. The probability that both events will happen is zero. The probability that either one or the other of two mutually exclusive events will happen is the sum of their separate proba...

muon
Elementary particle similar to the electron except for its mass which is 207 times greater than that of the electron. It has a half-life of 2 millionths of a second, decaying into electrons and neutrinos. The muon was originally thought to be a meson but is now classified as a lepton. See also tau

Murray, Les(lie) A(llan)
Australian poet. His adventurous, verbally inventive, and deeply serious poetry has appeared in collections such as The Vernacular Republic: Poems 1961–1981 (1982), Translations from the Natural World (1993), and Poems the Size of Photographs (2002). His writing extols the virtues an...

Muir, Edwin
Scottish poet. He drew mystical inspiration from his Orkney childhood. First Poems (1925) was published after an extended period of travel and residence in Europe, which also resulted in translations from German of Franz Kafka and Lion Feuchtwanger, in collaboration with his wife, the novelist Willa Anderson (1890–1970). Dre...

Mulligan, Gerry
(Gerald) US jazz saxophonist, arranger, and composer. Spanning the bebop and cool jazz movements, he worked with trumpeter Miles Davis on the important Birth of the Cool album (1950) and led his own quartet from 1951, which featured Chet Baker on trumpet and was original bec...

Mucha, Alphonse Maria
Czech painter and designer, one of the leading figures of art nouveau. His posters and decorative panels brought him international fame, presenting idealized images of young women with long, flowing hair, within a patterned flowered border. His early theatre posters were done for the actor Sarah Bernhardt, notably the lithograph Gismonda&l...

Museum of Modern Art, New York
Leading US art museum devoted to art of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Opened in 1929, it has amassed an exceptional collection of modern works, including collections of films and photographs

Muluzi, Bakili
Malawi politician, president 1994–2004. Muluzi formed the United Democratic Front (UDF) in 1992 when President Banda agreed to end one-party rule, and went on to win almost half of the presidential votes in May 1994. After taking office, he applied his business experience to the task of liberalizing trade and reviving the economy. He was r...

Murayama, Tomiichi
Japanese trade unionist and politician, leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDPJ) 1993–96, prime minister 1994–96. At the age of 70, Murayama, who had held no previous political office, became Japan's first socialist prime minister for more than 40 years. His emergence as a major figure followed months of virtual chaos in Japanese ...

Munster plantation
In Irish history, a major confiscation of native Irish lands in counties Cork, Kerry, Limerick, and Waterford by the English crown in 1586, following the death in rebellion of Gerald Fitzgerald, 14th and last Earl of Desmond (c. 1533–1583). Originally estimated at some 245,000 ha/600,000 acres, the surveys and claims wer...

Muralitharan, Muttiah
Sri Lankan cricketer. A right-arm off-spin bowler, capable of turning the ball at sharp angles, he made his Test debut in 1992 and holds the record for the most wickets taken in Test cricket. He became the first Sri Lankan to reach 100 wickets in Test cricket, and only the second bowler ever to take 700 Test wickets. He broke Courtney Walsh...

musique concrète
Music created by reworking natural sounds recorded on disk or tape. It was developed in 1948 by Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry in the drama studios of Paris Radio. The term was used to differentiate the process from electronic music, which used synthesized tones and sounds. From the mid-1950s the two techniques were usually combined, and the...

murti
In Hinduism, the form of a god in which it appears. Hindus believe that the one God, Brahman is the soul of the universe, but is beyond description and cannot be seen directly. It is easier to worship God when God's qualities can be brought to mind. All the different aspects of God's nature are represented by the different forms, or murtis,...

Muqdisho
Alternative name for Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia

myelin sheath
Insulating layer that surrounds nerve cells in vertebrate animals. It serves to speed up the passage of nerve impulses. Myelin is made up of fats and proteins and is formed from up to a hundred layers, laid down by special cells, the Schwann cells

myrtle
Any of a group of Old World evergreen shrubs belonging to the myrtle family. The commonly cultivated Mediterranean myrtle (M. communis) has oval opposite leaves and white flowers followed by purple berries, all of which are fragrant. (Genus Myrtus, family Myrtaceae.)

myrrh
Gum resin produced by several small trees belonging to the bursera family, especially C. myrrha, found in Ethiopia and Arabia. In ancient times it was used for incense and perfume and in embalming dead bodies. (Genus Commiphora, family Burseraceae.)

mynah
Any of various tropical starlings found in Southeast Asia. The glossy black hill mynah (Gracula religiosa) of India can realistically mimic sounds and human speech. It is up to 40 cm/16 in long with yellow wattles (loose folds of skin) on the head, and a yellow bill and legs. (Family Sturnidae, order Passeriformes.)

mycelium
Interwoven mass of threadlike filaments or hyphae, forming the main body of most fungi. The reproductive structures, or `fruiting bodies`, grow from the mycelium

myasthenia gravis
In medicine, an uncommon condition characterized by loss of muscle power, especially in the face and neck. The muscles tire rapidly and fail to respond to repeated nervous stimulation. Autoimmunity is the cause

Mycenaean civilization
Bronze Age civilization that flourished in Crete, Cyprus, Greece, the Aegean Islands, and western Anatolia about 3000–1000 BC. During this period, magnificent architecture and sophisticated artefacts were produced. Mycenean civilization was strongly influenced by the Minoan from Crete, from about 1600 BC. It continued to thrive, with its centr...

myopia
Defect of the eye in which a person can see clearly only those objects that are close up. It is caused either by the eyeball being too long or by the cornea and lens system of the eye being too powerful, both of which cause the images of distant objects to be formed in front of the retina instead of on it. Nearby objects are sharply perceived. Myop...

Myron
Greek sculptor. A late contemporary of Phidias, he is known to have made statues of the athletes Timanthes (456 BC) and Lycinus (448 BC), excelling in the representation of movement. His bronze Discobolus/Discus-Thrower and Athene and Marsyas, much admired in his time, are known through Roman copies, wh...

mystery religion
Any of various cults of the ancient world that were open only to the initiated; for example, the cults of Demeter (see Eleusinian Mysteries), Dionysus, Cybele, Isis, and Mithras. Underlying some of them is a fertility ritual, in which a deity undergoes death and resurrection and the initiates feed on the flesh and blood to attain communion with...

mysticism
Religious belief or spiritual experience based on direct, intuitive communion with the divine or apprehension of truths beyond the understanding. It does not always involve an orthodox deity, though it is found in all the main religions – for example, Kabbalism in Judaism, Sufism in Islam, and the bhakti movement in Hinduism. The mystical expe...

mythology
Genre of traditional stories symbolically underlying a given culture. These stories describe gods and other supernatural beings with whom humans may have relationships, and are often intended to explain the workings of the universe, nature, or human history. Mythology is sometimes distinguished from ...

myxoedema
Thyroid-deficiency disease developing in adult life, most commonly in middle-aged women. The symptoms include loss of energy and appetite, weight gain, inability to keep warm, mental dullness, and dry, puffy skin. It is reversed by giving the thyroid hormone thyroxine

myxomatosis
Contagious, usually fatal, virus infection of rabbits which causes much suffering. It has been deliberately introduced in the UK and Australia since the 1950s to reduce the rabbit population

mystery play
Medieval religious drama based on stories from the Bible. Mystery plays were performed around the time of church festivals, reaching their height in Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries. A whole cycle running from the Creation to the Last Judgement was performed in separate scenes on mobile wagons by various town guilds, usually on the festiva...

My Lai massacre
Killing of 109 civilians in My Lai, a village in South Vietnam, by US troops in March 1968. An investigation in 1969 produced enough evidence to charge 30 soldiers with war crimes, but the only soldier convicted was Lt William Calley, commander of the platoon. Sentenced to life imprisonment 1971, Calley was released less than five months later on p...

Myanmar
Click images to enlargeCountry in Southeast Asia, bounded northwest by India and Bangladesh, northeast by China, southeast by Laos and Thailand, and southwest by the Bay of Bengal. Government Myanmar has a military government. Since the military takeover in September 1988, a 19-member State Peace and Development Counc...

Mycenae
Ancient Greek city in the eastern Peloponnese, which gave its name to the Mycenaean (Bronze Age) civilization. Its peak was 1400–1200 BC, when the Cyclopean walls (using close-fitting stones) were erected. The city ceased to be inhabited after about 1120 BC

myopia, low-luminance
Poor night vision. About 20% of people have poor vision in twilight and nearly 50% in the dark. Low-luminance myopia does not show up in normal optical tests, but in 1989 a method was developed of measuring the degree of blurring by projecting images on a screen using a weak laser beam

mystery reproductive syndrome
Viral disease of pigs that causes sows to lose up to 10% of their litter. It was first seen in the USA in 1987 and in Europe in 1991. The symptoms are flulike

Myrmidon
In Greek mythology, a member of a legendary race, subjects of the Greek warrior Achilles, whom he commanded at the siege of Troy in Homer's Iliad. Originally from Aegina, many Myrmidones followed Achille's father Peleus to Phthiotis in Thessaly, northern Greece

nave
In architecture, the central area of a church extending from the entrance to the crossing, if any; otherwise, up to the altar. It was developed by the early Christian builders out of the Roman hall of justice. The central space became flanked by side aisles and the early flat timber roofs gave way to stone vaulting. It is the section of the bui...

Navarre, Kingdom of
Former kingdom comprising the Spanish province of Navarre and part of what is now the French département of Basses-Pyrénées. It resisted the conquest of the Moors and was independent until it became French in 1284 on the marriage of Philip IV to the heiress of Navarre. In 1479 Ferdinand of Aragón annexed S...

Navarre
Autonomous community and province of northern Spain, bordered by France on the north; area 10,421 sq km/4,024 sq mi; population (1996 est) 520,600. The region is mountainous, containing spurs of the Pyrenees, and includes Monte Adi (1,503 m/4,933 ft high); the rivers Arga, Aragón, and Ebro flow through the area. Cereals and...

Navajo
Member of an American Indian people, who migrated from Canada to southwest USA (Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah) in about AD 1000. They are related to the Apache, and speak an Athabaskan language, belonging to the Na-Dene family. During World War II, Navajo code talkers in the US Marine Corps transmitted radio messages directly in their native la...

national socialism
Official name for the Nazi movement in Germany; see also fascism

national park
Click images to enlargeLand available for public enjoyment. National parks include not only the most scenic places, but also places distinguished for their historic, prehistoric, or scientific interest, or for their superior recreational assets. They range from areas the size of small countries to pockets of just a few he...

nationalization
Policy of bringing a country's essential services and industries under public ownership. It was pursued, for example, by the UK Labour government 1945–51. Assets in the hands of foreign governments or companies may also be nationalized; for example, Iran's oil industry (see Abadan), the Suez Canal, and US-owned fruit plantation...

nationalism
(music) In music, the development by 19th-century composers of a musical style that would express the characteristics of their own country. They did this by including tunes from their nation's folk music, and taking scenes from their country's history, legends, and folk tales, as a...

national income
The total income of a state in one year, including both the wages of individuals and the profits of companies. It is equal to the value of the output of all goods and services during the same period. National income is equal to gross national product (the value of a country's total output) minus an allowance for replacement of ageing capital st...

National Guard
Militia force recruited by each state of the USA. The volunteer National Guard units are under federal orders in emergencies, and under the control of the governor in peacetime, and are now an integral part of the US Army. Following the terrorist attacks on the USA on 11 September 2001, more than 50,000 members were called up by both their states a...

National Gallery
London art gallery housing the British national collection of pictures by artists no longer living, founded in 1824. Its collection covers all major pre-20th-century periods and schools, but it is unique in its collection of Italian Gothic and Renaissance works, which is more comprehensive than any other collection outside Italy

National Front
In the UK, extreme right-wing political party founded in 1967. In 1991 the party claimed 3,000 members. Some of its members had links with the National Socialist Movement of the 1960s (see Nazism). It attracted attention during the 1970s through the violence associated with its demonstrations in areas with large black and Asian populations and,...

national debt
Debt incurred by the central government of a country to its own people and institutions and also to overseas creditors. A government can borrow from the public by means of selling interest-bearing bonds, for example, or from abroad. Traditionally, a major cause of national debt was the cost of war but in recent decades governments have borrowed...

National Party of Australia
Australian political party, favouring free enterprise and seeking to promote the interests of people outside the major metropolitan areas. It holds the balance of power between Liberals and Labor. It was formed in 1916 as the Country Party of Australia and adopted its present name in 1982. It gained strength following the introduction of proportion...

Natchez
(people) Member of an American Indian people who lived along the Gulf of Mexico and the lower Mississippi river valley from AD 700 to the 1730s. Their Muskogean language is extinct. One of the Moundbuilder cultures, they had a highly developed caste or ranking system and were ruled by a chief ...

Natal
(South Africa) Former province of South Africa to 1994, bounded on the east by the Indian Ocean. The capital was Pietermaritzburg. In 1994 the province became part of KwaZulu-Natal Province

nasturtium
Any of a group of plants that includes watercress (N. officinale), a perennial aquatic plant of Europe and Asia, grown as a salad crop. Belonging to a different family altogether, the South American trailing nasturtiums include the cultivated species T. majus, with orange, scarlet, or yellow flowers, and
Nasser, Gamal Abdel
Egyptian politician, prime minister 1954–56 and from 1956 president of Egypt (the United Arab Republic 1958–71). In 1952 he was the driving power behind the Neguib coup, which ended the monarchy. His nationalization of the Suez Canal in 1956 led to an Anglo-French invasion and the Suez Crisis, and his ambitions for an Egyptian-led...

Nashville
Capital and river port of Tennessee, Davidson County, on the Cumberland River; population (2000 est) 545,500. It is a banking and commercial centre, a major processing point for timber and agricultural produce, and has large car-manufacturing, printing, music-publishing, and recording industries. History The area was originally inhabite...