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


Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus
Roman philosopher. He wrote treatises on music and mathematics and De Consolatione Philosophiae/The Consolation of Philosophy, a dialogue in prose. It was translated into European languages during the Middle Ages. Boethius wrote De Consolatione Philosophiae while imprisoned on suspicion of treason by Empero...

Boer War
The second of the South African Wars 1899–1902, waged between Dutch settlers in South Africa and the British

Boer
Dutch settler or descendant of Dutch and Huguenot settlers in South Africa; see also Afrikaner

Boeotia
Ancient and modern district of central Greece, of which Thebes was and remains the chief city. The Boeotian League (formed by ten city-states in the 6th century BC) was brought under strong central Theban control in the later 5th century BC. It superseded Sparta as the leading military power in Greece in the 4th century BC until the rise of Phi...

bobsleighing
Sport of racing steel-bodied, steerable toboggans, crewed by two or four people, down mountain ice-chutes at speeds of up to 80 mph/130 kph. It was introduced as an Olympic event for men in 1924 and for women in 2002. The World Championships have been held every year since 1931, and in Ol...

Boris III
Tsar of Bulgaria from 1918, when he succeeded his father, Ferdinand I. From 1934 he was a virtual dictator until his sudden and mysterious death following a visit to Hitler. His son Simeon II was tsar until deposed in 1946

book-keeping
Process of recording commercial transactions in a systematic and established procedure. These records provide the basis for the preparation of accounts

bookbinding
Securing of the pages of a book between protective covers by sewing and/or gluing. Cloth binding was first introduced in 1822, but from the mid-20th century synthetic bindings were increasingly employed, and most hardback books are bound by machine. Bookbinding did not emerge as a distinct craft until printing was introduced to Europe in th...

Bonington, Chris(tian) John Storey
English mountaineer. Known particularly for his expeditions to the Himalayas, he took part in the first ascent of Annapurna II in 1960 and was the leader of an Everest expedition in 1975 and again in 1985, reaching the summit. Other notable climbs include the first British ascent of the north face of the Eiger (Alps, Switzerland) in 1962 and the ce...

Bonin and Volcano islands
Japanese islands in the Pacific, north of the Marianas and 1,300 km/800 mi east of the Ryukyu Islands. They were under US control from 1945 to 1968. The Bonin Islands (Japanese Ogasawara-shoto) number 27 (in three groups), the largest being Chichijima: area 104 sq km/40 sq mi, population (1991) 2,430. The Volcano ...

Boniface, St
English Benedictine monk, known as the `Apostle of Germany`; originally named Wynfrith. After a missionary journey to Frisia in 716, he was given the task of bringing Christianity to Germany in 718 by Pope Gregory II, and was appointed archbishop of Mainz in 746. He returned to Frisia in 754 and was martyred near Dockum. His feast day...

Bonaventura, St
Italian Roman Catholic theologian. He entered the Franciscan order in 1243, became professor of theology in Paris, and in 1256 general of his order. In 1273 he was created cardinal and bishop of Albano. He was canonized in 1482. His feast day is 15 July

bona fide
Legal phrase used to signify that a contract is undertaken without intentional misrepresentation

Bombay duck
Small fish Harpodon nehereus found in the Indian Ocean. It has a thin body, up to 40 cm/16 in long, and sharp, pointed teeth. It feeds on shellfish and other small fish. It is valuable as a food fish, and is eaten, salted and dried, with dishes such as curry

Bolton
Town and seat of Bolton metropolitan borough, Greater Manchester, northwest England, on the River Croal, 18 km/11 mi northwest of Manchester; population (2001) 139,400. Industries include engineering and the manufacture of chemicals, paper, and textiles. Bolton developed rapidly in the 18th century as a cotton-spinning town. History The...

Bolshevik
Click images to enlargeMember of the majority of the Russian Social Democratic Party who split from the Mensheviks in 1903. The Bolsheviks, under Lenin, advocated the destruction of capitalist political and economic institutions, and the setting up of a socialist state with power in the hands of the workers. The Bolshevik...

boiling point
For any given liquid, the temperature at which the application of heat raises the temperature of the liquid no further, but converts it into vapour. The boiling point of water under normal pressure is 100°C/212°F. The lower the pressure, the lower the boiling point and vice versa

Boileau Despréaux, Nicolas
French poet and critic. After a series of contemporary satires, his `Epîtres/Epistles` (1669–77) led to his joint appointment with the dramatist Jean Racine as royal historiographer in 1677. Later works include L'Art poétique/The Art of Poetry (1674) and the mock-heroic Le Lutrin&...

Bohr, Niels Henrik David
Danish physicist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1922 for his discovery of the structure of atoms and the radiation emanating from them. He pioneered quantum theory by showing that the nuclei of atoms are surrounded by shells of electrons, each assigned particular sets of quantum numbers according to their orbits. He explained the st...

Bogart, Humphrey
(DeForest) US film actor. He became an international cult figure through roles as a tough, romantic loner in such films as High Sierra (1941), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Casablanca
Bodmin
Market town in Cornwall, southwest England, 48 km/30 mi northwest of Plymouth; population (2001) 12,800. It is the commercial centre of a farming area. Other activites include some light industry and the provision of tourist services. Bodmin Moor, to the northeast, is a granite upland culmina...

Boadicea
Alternative (Latin) spelling of British queen Boudicca

borage
Plant native to southern Europe, used in salads and in medicine. It has small blue flowers and hairy leaves. (Borago officinalis, family Boraginaceae.)

bo tree
Indian fig tree, said to be the tree under which the Buddha became enlightened. (Ficus religiosa, family Moraceae.)

bougainvillea
Click images to enlargeAny plant of a group of South American tropical vines of the four o'clock family, now cultivated in warm countries around the world for the colourful red and purple bracts (leaflike structures) that cover the flowers. They are named after the French navigator Louis de Bougainville. (Genus
box
Any of several small evergreen trees and shrubs, with small, leathery leaves. Some species are used as hedging plants and for shaping into garden ornaments. (Genus Buxus, family Buxaceae.)

borax
Hydrous sodium borate, Na2B4O7.10H2O, found as soft, whitish crystals or encrustations on the shores of hot springs and in the dry beds of salt lakes in arid regions, where it occurs with other borates, halite, and gypsum. It is used in bleaches and washing ...

boiler
Any vessel that converts water into steam. Boilers are used in conventional power stations to generate steam to feed steam turbines, which drive the electricity generators. They are also used in steamships, which are propelled by steam turbines, and in steam locomotives. Every boiler has a furnace in which fuel (mainly coal, oil, or gas) is burned ...

Boulez, Pierre
French composer and conductor. He is the founder and director of IRCAM, a music research studio at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, France, that opened in 1977. His music, strictly adhering to ideas of serialism and expressionistic in style, includes the cantatas Le Visage nuptial (1946–52) and Le Marteau sans maî...

Boulogne-sur-Mer
Port on the English Channel in the département of Pas-de-Calais, northern France, situated at the mouth of the River Liane; population (1990) 44,200, conurbation 95,000. The city is a ferry port (connecting with the English ports of Dover and Folkestone) and seaside resort. Industries include oil refining, food p...

Bourgeois, Léon Victor Auguste
French politician. Entering politics as a Radical, he was prime minister in 1895, and later served in many cabinets. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1920 for his pioneering advocacy of the League of Nations and international cooperation

bourgeoisie
The social class above the workers and peasants, and below the nobility; the middle class. `Bourgeoisie` (and bourgeois) has also acquired a contemptuous sense, implying commonplace, philistine respectability. By socialists it is applied to the whole propertied class, as distinct from the proletariat

Bourguiba, Habib ben Ali
Tunisian politician, first president of Tunisia 1957–87. He became prime minister in 1956 and president (for life from 1975) and prime minister of the Tunisian republic in 1957; he was overthrown in a bloodless coup in 1987. Bourguiba was the youngest of seven children and was educated at the University of Paris. He became a journalist and...

Bournemouth
(town) Seaside resort and administrative centre of Bournemouth unitary authority in southern England, on Poole Bay, 40 km/25 mi southwest of Southampton; population (2001) 167,500. The tourist industry is important to the local economy, and in 2000 the town won the national `Resor...

Bouts, Dirk
Dutch painter. Born in Haarlem, he settled in Louvain, painting portraits and religious scenes influenced by Rogier van der Weyden, Albert van Ouwater, and Petrus Christus. The Last Supper (1464–68; St Pierre, Louvain) is one of his finest works. Bouts settled in Louvain about 1448. In 1468 he was appointed painter to th...

Bow Bells
The bells of St Mary-le-Bow church, Cheapside, London; a person born within the sound of Bow Bells is traditionally considered a true Cockney. The bells also feature in the legend of Dick Whittington. The church was nearly destroyed by bombs in 1941. The bells, recast from the old metal, were restored in 1961

Bowdler, Thomas
English editor. His expurgated versions of Shakespeare and other authors gave rise to the verb bowdlerize

Boycott, Charles Cunningham
English ex-serviceman and land agent in County Mayo, Ireland, 1873–86. He strongly opposed the demands for agrarian reform by the Irish Land League, 1879–81, with the result that the peasants refused to work for him; hence the word boycott, meaning to isolate an individual, organization, or country, socially or commercially. In re...

Boyne, Battle of the
Battle fought on 1 July 1690 in eastern Ireland, in which the exiled King James II was defeated by William III and fled to France. It was the decisive battle of the War of English Succession, confirming a Protestant monarch, and has become the most commemorated battle in modern Irish history. It took its name from the River Boyne which rises in Cou...

Bourbon dynasty
French royal house (succeeding that of Valois), beginning with Henry IV and ending with Louis XVI, with a brief revival under Louis XVIII, Charles X, and Louis Philippe. The Bourbons also ruled Spain almost uninterruptedly from Philip V to Alfonso XIII and were restored in 1975 (Juan Carlos); at one point they also ruled Naples and several Ital...

Boxer
Member of the I ho ch'üan (`Righteous Harmonious Fists`), a society of Chinese nationalists dedicated to fighting Western influence in China. They were known as Boxers by Westerners as they practised boxing training which they believed made them impervious to bullets. In 1898 the Chinese government persuaded th...

Bornu
Kingdom of the 9th–19th centuries to the west and south of Lake Chad, western central Africa. Converted to Islam in the 11th century, Bornu reached its greatest strength in the 15th–18th centuries. From 1901 it was absorbed in the British, French, and German colonies in this area, which became the states of Niger, Cameroon, and Nigeria. T...

Borodin, Aleksandr Porfirevich
Russian composer. Born in St Petersburg, the illegitimate son of a Russian prince, he became an expert in medical chemistry, but enjoyed music and wrote it in his spare time. His main work is the opera Prince Igor, left unfinished; it was completed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Aleksandr Glazunov and includes the Polovts...

Bosch, Hieronymus
Early Dutch painter. His fantastic visions, often filled with bizarre and cruel images, depict a sinful world in which people are tormented by demons and weird creatures, as in Hell, a panel from the triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights (c. 1505–10; Prado, Madrid). In their richne...

Bosporus
Strait 27 km/17 mi long, joining the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara and forming part of the water division between Europe and Asia; its name may be derived from the Greek legend of Io. Istanbul stands on its west side, which is lined with villas and old castles. The Bosporus Bridge (1973), 1,621 m/5,320 ft, links Istanbul and Anatoli...

Boston
(UK) Port and market town in Lincolnshire, eastern England, on the River Witham, 50 km/31 mi southeast of Lincoln; population (2001) 35,100. Industries include food-processing and shell-fishing, and the manufacture of labels and tags. Trade is conducted particularly with Scandi...

Boswell, James
Scottish biographer and diarist. He was a member of Samuel Johnson's Literary Club and the two men travelled to Scotland together in 1773, as recorded in Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785). His Life of Samuel Johnson was published in 1791. Boswell's ability to record Johnson's pi...

Bosworth, Battle of
Battle fought on 22 August 1485, during the English Wars of the Roses (see Roses, Wars of the). Richard III, the Yorkist king, was defeated and killed by Henry Tudor, who became Henry VII. The battlefield is near the village of Market Bosworth, 19 km/12 mi west of Leicester, England. Henry Tudor inherited the Lancastrian claim and invaded Engla...

Botany Bay
Inlet from the Tasman Sea on the east coast of New South Wales, Australia, 8 km/5 mi south of Sydney. It is the outlet of the rivers Georges and Cooks. The English explorer Captain James Cook landed here in 1770. In 1787 the bay was chosen as the site for a British penal colony, but proved unsuitable, and the colony was located at Port Jackson

Botha, Louis
South African soldier and politician. He was a commander in the Second South African War (Boer War). In 1907 he became premier of the Transvaal and in 1910 of the first Union South African government. On the outbreak of World War I in 1914 he rallied South Africa to the Commonwealth, suppressed a Boe...

Botticelli, Sandro
Florentine painter. He depicted religious and mythological subjects. He was patronized by the ruling Medici family and was deeply influenced by their neo-Platonic circle. It was for the Medicis that he painted Primavera (1478) and The Birth of Venus (c. 1482–84). From the 1490s he wa...

Boucher, François
French rococo painter. He was court painter to Louis XV from 1765, and was popular for his light-hearted, decorative scenes which often convey a playful eroticism, as in Diana Bathing (1742; Louvre, Paris). Stemming from Jean Antoine Watteau, and perhaps owing something to his Italian contemporary Tiepolo, Boucher's a...

Boudicca
Queen of the Iceni (native Britons), often referred to by the Latin form of her name, Boadicea. Her husband, King Prasutagus, had been a tributary of the Romans, but on his death in AD 60 the territory of the Iceni was violently annexed. Boudicca was scourged and her daughters raped. Boudicca raised the whole of southeastern England in revolt, and ...

Bougainville, Louis Antoine de
French navigator. After service with the French in Canada during the Seven Years' War, he made the first French circumnavigation of the world in 1766–69 and the first systematic observations of longitude. Several Pacific islands are named after him, as is the climbing plant bougainvillea

Bougainville
Autonomous island, formerly of Papua New Guinea, which with Buka Island and other smaller islands forms the province of North Solomon; area 10,620 sq km/4,100 sq mi; population (2000) 175,200. It is the largest of the Solomon Islands archipelago. The capital is Arawa. The land is volcanic and mountainous, with the Emperor Range in the n...

Bolt, Robert
(Oxton) English dramatist and screenwriter. He wrote historical plays, such as A Man for All Seasons (1960; filmed 1966); his screenplays include Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Dr Zhivago (1965) (both Academy Awards), Ryan&#...

Borodino, Battle of
French victory over Russian forces under Kutusov on 7 September 1812 near the village of Borodino, 110km/70 mi northwest of Moscow, during Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion of Russia. This was one of the bloodiest battles of the Napoleonic years: the Russians lost 15,000 dead and 25,000 wounded; the French lost about 28,000, including 1...

borough
Urban-based unit of local government in the UK and USA. It existed in the UK from the 8th century until 1974, when it continued as an honorary status granted by royal charter to a district council, entitling its leader to the title of mayor. In England in 2007 there were 32 London borough councils and 36 metropolitan borough councils. The name ...

borstal
In the UK, formerly a place of detention for offenders aged 15–21, first introduced in 1908. From 1983 borstal institutions were officially known as youth custody centres, and have been replaced by young offender institutions

Boston
(USA) Industrial port and commercial centre, capital of Massachusetts, on Massachusetts Bay; population (2000 est) 589,100. Its economy is dominated by financial and health services and government. It is also a publishing and academic centre. The subway system, begun in 1897, was the first...

Botha, P(ieter) W(illem)
South African politician, prime minister 1978–84 and the first executive state president 1984–89. He was a staunch supporter of apartheid and made use of force both inside and outside South Africa to stifle African National Congress (ANC) party activity. After suffering a stroke in 1989, he unwillingly resigned both party leadership and p...

botulism
Rare, often fatal type of food poisoning. Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhoea, muscular paralysis, breathing difficulties and disturbed vision. It is caused by a toxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, found in soil and sometimes in improperly canned foods. Thorough cooking destroys the toxin, which otherwise supp...

Bond, Edward
English dramatist. His early work aroused controversy because of the savagery of some of his imagery, for example, the brutal stoning of a baby by bored youths in Saved (1965). Other works include Early Morning (1968); Narrow Road to the Deep North (1968); Lear (197...

Boulting
English director–producer team that was successful in the years after World War II. They formed Charter Films in 1937 and released many critically and commercially successful films including Brighton Rock (1947), Lucky Jim (1957), and I'm All Right Jack (1959). They were twins

bolero
Spanish dance in moderate triple time (3/4), invented in the late 18th century. It is performed by a solo dancer or a couple, usually with castanet accompaniment, and is still a contemporary form of dance in Caribbean countries. In music, Maurice Ravel's one-act ballet score Boléro (1928) is the most famous examp...

Bournonville, August
Danish dancer and choreographer. In 1830 he was appointed director of the Royal Danish Ballet, the company for which he both danced and created his ballets. His works, unlike that of the then prevalent Romantic era, are ebullient, warmly good-humoured, and give equal importance to both male and female dancers. His style is marked by swift, flui...

Bokassa, Jean-Bédel
Central African Republic president 1966–79 and self-proclaimed emperor 1977–79. Commander-in-chief from 1963, in December 1965 he led the military coup that gave him the presidency. On 4 December 1976 he proclaimed the Central African Empire and one year later crowned himself emperor for life. His regime was characterized by a...

Borneo
Third-largest island in the world, one of the Sunda Islands in the West Pacific; area 754,000 sq km/290,000 sq mi; population (2000 est) 15,969,500. It comprises the country of Brunei; the Malaysian territories of Sabah and Sarawak; and, occupying by far the largest part, the Indonesian territory of Kalimantan. It is mountai...

Bolivia
Click images to enlargeLandlocked country in central Andes mountains in South America, bounded north and east by Brazil, southeast by Paraguay, south by Argentina, and west by Chile and Peru. Government Achieving independence in 1825 after nearly 300 years of Spanish rule, Bolivia adopted its first constitution in 1826, a...

Botswana
Landlocked country in central southern Africa, bounded south and southeast by South Africa, west and north by Namibia, and northeast by Zimbabwe. Government Botswana is a multiparty democracy, with an executive president. It has been dominated by the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), which has held power without interruption since independence, but ...

bowfin
North American fish Amia calva with a swim bladder highly developed as an air sac, enabling it to breathe air. It is the only surviving member of a primitive group of bony fishes

Borlaug, Norman Ernest
US microbiologist and agronomist. He developed high-yielding varieties of wheat and other grain crops to be grown in developing countries, and was the first to use the term `Green Revolution`. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1970 for his development of agricultural technology

Bolingbroke
Title of Henry of Bolingbroke, Henry IV of England

Bonar Law
British Conservative politician; see Law, Andrew Bonar

Bouvines, Battle of
Decisive victory for Philip II (Philip Augustus) of France on 27 July 1214, near the village of Bouvines in Flanders, over the Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV and his allies, including King John of England. The battle, one of the most decisive in medieval Europe, so weakened Otto that it ensured the succession of Frederick II as Holy Roman Emperor and c...

bone china
Semiporcelain made of 5% bone ash added to 95% kaolin. It was first made in the West in imitation of Chinese porcelain, whose formula was kept secret by the Chinese

Boat Race, the
Annual UK rowing race between the crews of Oxford and Cambridge universities. It is held during the Easter vacation over a 6.8 km/4.25 mi course on the River Thames between Putney and Mortlake, southwest London

boules
French game (also called boccie and pétanque) between two players or teams; it is similar to bowls. While boules remains the quintessential French game, it has become increasingly popular elsewhere both as a recreation and as a competitive sport. In 1998 the international governing body, the Confé...

bowls
Outdoor and indoor game popular in Commonwealth countries. The outdoor game is played on a finely cut grassed area called a rink, with bowls (called `woods`) 13 cm/5 in in diameter. It is played as either singles, pairs, triples, or fours. The object is to get one's bowl (or bowls) as near as possible to the jack (target). The spo...

boxing
Fighting with gloved fists, almost entirely a male sport. The sport dates from the 18th century, when fights were fought with bare knuckles and untimed rounds. Each round ended with a knockdown. Fighting with gloves became the accepted form in the latter part of the 19th century after the formulation of the Queensberry Rules in 1867. Jack Broughton...

bond
(commerce) In commerce, an interest-bearing security issued by a government, local authority, company, bank, or other institution. Usually a lower-risk, long-term security, a bond may be irredeemable (with no date of redemption), secured (giving the investor a claim on the company&...

Borelli, Giovanni Alfonso
Italian scientist who explored the links between physics and medicine and showed how mechanical principles could be applied to animal physiology. This approach, known as iatrophysics, has proved basic to understanding how the mammalian body works

Bosnian Crisis
Period of international tension in 1908 when Austria attempted to capitalize on Turkish weakness after the Young Turk revolt by annexing the provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Austria obtained Russian approval in exchange for conceding Russian access to the Bosporus straits. The speed of Austrian action took Russia by surprise, and domestic oppos...

bovine somatotropin
Hormone that increases an injected cow's milk yield by 10–40%. It is a protein naturally occurring in milk and breaks down within the human digestive tract into harmless amino acids. However, doubts have arisen as to whether such a degree of protein addition could in the long term be guaranteed harmless either to cattle or to humans. A...

boardsailing
Another name for windsurfing

Boston Tea Party
Protest in 1773 by colonists in Massachusetts, USA, against the tea tax imposed on them by the British government before the American Revolution. When a valuable consignment of tea (belonging to the East India Company and intended for sale in the American colonies) arrived in Boston Harbor, it was th...

Bourbon, duchy of
Originally a seigneury (feudal domain) created in the 10th century in the county of Bourges, central France, held by the Bourbon family. It became a duchy in 1327. The lands passed to the Capetian dynasty (see Capet) as a result of the marriage of the Bourbon heiress Beatrix to Robert of Clermont, son of Louis IX. Their son Pierre became the first ...

Bonus Army
In US history, a march on Washington, DC, by unemployed ex-servicemen during the Great Depression to lobby Congress for immediate cash payment of a promised war veterans' bonus. During the spring of 1932, some 15,000 veterans camped by the River Potomac or squatted in disused government buildings. They were eventually dispersed by troops

bon mot
Witty remark

bonsai
Art of producing miniature trees by selective pruning. It originated in China many centuries ago and later spread to Japan. In Japan, bonsai trees are regarded as works of art and can be valued at millions of pounds. British collectors have paid as much as £15,000 for one tree

bon voyage
Have a good journey

Boniface VIII
Pope from 1294. He clashed unsuccessfully with Philip IV of France over his taxation of the clergy, and also with Henry III of England. Boniface exempted the clergy from taxation by the secular government in a bull (edict) 1296, but was forced to give way when the clergy were excluded from certain lay privileges. His bull of 1302 Unam sanc...

bodhisattva
In Mahayana Buddhism, someone who has reached enlightenment but has chosen to remain on the human plane in order to help other living beings. A bodhisattva is free to enter nirvana but voluntarily chooses to be reborn until all other beings have attained that state. Bodhisattvas are seen as intercessors to whom believers may pray for help

boogie-woogie
Jazz played on the piano, using a repeated motif for the left hand. It was common in the USA from around 1900 to the 1950s. Boogie-woogie players included Pinetop Smith, Meade `Lux` Lewis, and Jimmy Yancey. Rock-and-roll pianist Jerry Lee Lewis adapted the style

bovine spongiform encephalopathy
Disease of cattle, related to scrapie in sheep, that attacks the nervous system, causing aggression, lack of coordination, and collapse. It was formally identified in the UK in November 1986, and between 1986 and 2002 there were 181,376 cases of BSE identified in British cattle, which were all slaughtered to contain the spread of the disease. After...

Border, Allan Robert
Australian cricketer, left-handed batsman, and captain of Australia 1985–94. He retired from international cricket in 1994 as holder of world records for most Test runs (11,174), most Test matches as captain (93), most appearances in Test matches (156), most consecutive appearances in Test matches (153), most catches in Test matches by an ...

Boundary Peak
Mountain in Esmeralda County, southwest Nevada; height 4,006 m/13,143 ft. It is located 105 km/65 mi north-northwest of Tonopah, in the Toiyabe National Forest. The northernmost peak of the White Mountains, it is the highest point in Nevada and lies immediately northeast of the California–Nevada border

boat people
Illegal emigrants travelling by sea, especially those Vietnamese who left their country after the takeover of South Vietnam in 1975 by North Vietnam. In 1979, almost 69,000 boat people landed in Hong Kong in a single year. By 1988, it was decided to treat all boat people as illegal immigrants unless they could prove they qualified for refugee statu...

boot
In computing, the process of starting up a computer. Most computers have a small, built-in boot program that starts automatically when the computer is switched on – its only task is to load a slightly larger program, usually from a hard disk, which in turn loads the main operating system

Boltzmann constant
In physics, the constant that relates the kinetic energy (energy of motion) of a gas atom or molecule to temperature. Its value is 1.38065 × 10-23 joules per kelvin. It is equal to the gas constant R, divided by Avogadro's number