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


Bonnie and Clyde
Infamous US criminals who carried out a series of small-scale robberies in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Missouri between August 1932 and May 1934. They were eventually betrayed and then killed in a police ambush. Much of their fame emanated from encounters with the police and their coverage b...

Boycott, Geoffrey
English cricketer. A prolific right-handed opening batsman for Yorkshire and England, he is one of only six players to have hit over 150 first-class centuries, and has scored the fourth most Test runs for England. In 1981 he overtook Gary Sobers's world record total of Test runs. Career highlights Test cricket (1964–82) appearances...

Bordet, Jules Jean Baptiste Vincent
Belgian bacteriologist and immunologist who was awarded a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1919 for his work on immunity. He researched the role of blood serum in the human immune response, and was the first to isolate the whooping-cough bacillus, in 1906

Boyne
River in the Republic of Ireland, rising in the Bog of Allen in County Kildare, and flowing 110 km/69 mi northeastwards through Trim, Navan, and Drogheda to the Irish Sea. An obelisk marks the site of the Battle of the Boyne, fought at Oldbridge near the mouth of the river on 1 July 1690

bomb
Container filled with explosive or chemical material and generally used in warfare. There are also incendiary bombs and nuclear bombs and missiles (see nuclear warfare). Any object designed to cause damage by explosion can be called a bomb (car bombs, letter bombs). Initially dropped from aeroplanes ...

Bolívar, Simón
South American nationalist, leader of revolutionary armies, known as the Liberator. He fought the Spanish colonial forces in several uprisings and eventually liberated Colombia in 1819, his native Venezuela in 1821, Ecuador in 1822, Peru in 1824, and Bolivia (a new state named after him, formerly Upper Peru) in 1825. Born in Venezuela, he joined th...

Boothe, Clare
US journalist, playwright, and politician; see Clare Boothe Luce

Bonney, William H
US outlaw known by the name of Billy the Kid

Bourdon gauge
Click images to enlargeInstrument for measuring pressure, patented by French watchmaker Eugène Bourdon in 1849. The gauge contains a C-shaped tube, closed at one end. When the pressure inside the tube increases, the tube uncurls slightly, causing a small movement at its closed end. A system of levers and gears ma...

boiling
Process of changing a liquid into its vapour, by heating it at the maximum possible temperature for that liquid (see boiling point) at atmospheric pressure

Boyle's law
Law stating that the volume of a given mass of gas at a constant temperature is inversely proportional to its pressure. For example, if the pressure on a gas doubles, its volume will be reduced by a half, and vice versa. The law was discovered in 1662 by Irish physicist and chemist Robert Boyle. See ...

bossa nova
Brazilian dance rhythm of the 1950s, combining samba and cool jazz. It became internationally popular in songs like `The Girl From Ipanema` (1964), and developed into a dance very similar to the samba

bone marrow
Substance found inside the cavity of bones. In early life it produces red blood cells but later on lipids (fat) accumulate and its colour changes from red to yellow. Bone marrow may be transplanted in the treatment of some diseases, such as leukaemia, using immunosuppressive drugs in the recipient to...

boson
In physics, an elementary particle whose spin can only take values that are whole numbers or zero. Bosons may be classified as gauge bosons (carriers of the four fundamental forces) or mesons. All elementary particles are either bosons or fermions. Unlike fermions, more than one boson in a system (such as an atom) can possess the same energy state....

Bolger, Jim
New Zealand National Party centre-right politician, prime minister 1990–97. His government improved relations with the USA, which had deteriorated sharply when the preceding Labour governments had banned nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed ships from entering New Zealand's harbours. It also oversaw an upturn in the economy. Howev...

Bond, Alan
English-born Australian entrepreneur. He was chair of the Bond Corporation 1969–90 during which time its aggressive takeover strategy gave the company interests in brewing, the media, mining, and retailing. However, Bond's compulsive takeover deals and excessive borrowing from banks eventually led to the corporation's bankruptcy, f...

Bomberg, David
(Garshen) English painter and founder member of the London Group. He applied forms inspired by cubism and Vorticism to figurative subjects, treating them as patterns of brightly coloured interlocking planes in such early works as The Mud Bath (1914; Tate Gallery, London)...

Boeing Company, the
US military and commercial aircraft manufacturer, organized into two business units: Boeing Commercial Airplanes and Boeing Integrated Defense Systems. Among the models Boeing has produced are the B-17 Flying Fortress, 1935; the B-52 Stratofortress (1952); the Chinook helicopter (1961); the first jetliner, the Boeing 707 (19...

Bonnie Prince Charlie
Scottish name for Charles Edward Stuart, pretender to the throne

board of visitors
In the UK penal system, a body of people independent of the government who supervise the state of prison premises, the administration of prisons, and the treatment of the prisoners. Boards of visitors also serve as disciplinary tribunals. Research has indicated that about 40% of members are magistrates. Members of the various boards, who normal...

Boutros-Ghali, Boutros
Egyptian diplomat and politician, deputy prime minister 1991–92, secretary general of the United Nations (UN) 1992–96. He worked towards peace in the Middle East in the foreign ministry posts he held from 1977 to 1991. The first Arab and African to become UN secretary-general, his term ...

Bosnia-Herzegovina
Country in central Europe, bounded north and west by Croatia, and east by Serbia and Montenegro. Government Under the December 1995 Dayton Agreement, which ended a three-year civil war, Bosnia-Herzegovina is an international protectorate, under a High Representative, and comprises two sovereign entities, a Bosnian Muslim-Croat federatio...

Bode's law
Numerical sequence that gives the approximate distances, in astronomical units (distance between Earth and Sun = one astronomical unit), of the planets from the Sun by adding 4 to each term of the series 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, ... and then dividing by 10. Bode's law predicted the existence of a planet between Mars and Jupiter, which led to the di...

Bourgogne
French name of Burgundy, a region of eastern France

borrowing
(finance) In finance, receiving money on loan. Companies borrow money in a variety of ways, including loans and overdrafts from banks and other lending institutions, bills of exchange, debentures, and trade credits. Individuals can borrow typically through loans, overdrafts, mortgages on prope...

bombast
Inflated or high-sounding language. Pistol, from Shakespeare's play Henry V, is characterized by his use of bombastic language: `Let gallows gape for dog; let man go free,/And let not hemp his windpipe suffocate.` can be expressed simply as `Hang dogs but not men`

borrowing
(language) Word derived from another language. English has borrowed thousands of words from other languages over the centuries. Some are used without adaptation, but others have been changed slightly to fit in with the patterns of English. For example, banana is from Spanish...

Boross, Peter
Hungarian politician, prime minister 1993–94. Brought into Joszef Antall's government as a nonpolitical technocrat, he became deputy chair of the ruling Hungarian Democratic Forum in 1991 and acting prime minister during Antall's recurring bouts of illness. When Antall died in December 1993, Boross succeeded him, but lost office to Gyu...

body temperature
Temperature deep in the tissues (core temperature). It is often measured on a thermometer. In a healthy adult it is normally 36.9°C/98.4°F. Any significant departure from this norm is potentially serious (although fever is a necessary response to many types of infection). Hyperthermia (temperature above 41°C/106°F) and h...

bongos
Small Cuban drums played in pairs by the fingers and thumbs. They consist of hollowed-out pieces of wood with a skin stretched over one end. Both drums are tuned, usually at least a fourth apart

Boolean algebra
Set of algebraic rules, named after English mathematician George Boole, in which TRUE and FALSE are equated to 0 and 1. Boolean algebra includes a series of operators (AND, OR, NOT, NAND (NOT AND), NOR, and XOR (exclusive OR)), which can be used to manipulate TRUE and FALSE values (see truth table). It is the basis of computer logic because the tru...

bookmark
In computing, facility for marking a specific place in electronic documentation to enable easy return to it. It is used in several types of software, including electronic help files and tutorials. Bookmarks are especially important on the World Wide Web, where it can be difficult to remember a uniform resource locator (URL) in order to return to it...

bohrium
Synthesized, radioactive element of the transactinide series, atomic number 107, relative atomic mass 262. It was first synthesized by the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia, in 1976; in 1981 the Laboratory for Heavy-Ion Research in Darmstadt, Germany, confirmed its existence. Until 1997 it was known by the temporary name...

border terrier
Small, hardy, short-tailed dog with an otterlike head, moderately broad skull and short, strong muzzle. Its small, V-shaped ears drop forward. The coat is hard and dense with a close undercoat and is red, beige, and tan, or blue and tan. Dogs weigh 6–7 kg/13–15.5 lb; bitches 5–6.5 kg/ 11–14.5 lb

bombardier beetle
Beetle that emits an evil-smelling fluid from its abdomen, as a defence mechanism. This fluid rapidly evaporates into a gas, which appears like a minute jet of smoke when in contact with air, and blinds the predator about to attack. Classification Bombardier beetles in genus Brachinus, family Carabidae, order Coleoptera, clas...

bony fish
Fish of the class Osteichthyes, the largest and most important class of fish. The head covering and the scales are based on bone. Bony fish have a swimbladder, which may be modified into lungs and the gills are covered by a flap, the operculum. The bony fish are divided into two subclasses. Subclass Sarcopterygii, the fleshy-finned fish, has tw...

Booth, William Bramwell
Eldest son of William Booth. He succeeded his father as `general` of the Salvation Army in 1912 and extended the movement's missionary and social activities. In 1883 he joined with the journalist and reformer William Stead in attacking child prostitution and `white slavery`, which resulted in the passing of the Criminal Law ...

bowling
Indoor sport; see tenpin bowling

Boxer Rebellion
Rebellion of 1900 by the Chinese nationalist Boxer society against Western influence. European and US legations in Beijing (Peking) were besieged and many missionaries and Europeans were killed. An international punitive force was dispatched and Beijing was captured on 14 August 1900. In September 1901 China agreed to pay reperations

Bombay
(city) Former name (until 1995) of Mumbai, capital of Maharashtra state in west central India. The city's name was officially changed in July 1995, and was renamed Mumbai after the goddess Mumba, the name in the local Marathi language for Parvati, the wife of the Hindu god Shiva

boycott
(of South Africa) Social and commercial isolation of South Africa by individuals, organizations, and national governments protesting against South Africa's apartheid system. The sanctions and embargoes, imposed from the 1970s to 1994, applied to military supplies, economics, culture, and s...

bombing campaigns, World War II
Air raids conducted against civilian and industrial targets by both the Allied and Axis powers from 1940 to 1945. Their aim was to destroy the morale of civilian populations and undermine the military capability of the enemy, although their long-term effect on the war is disputed. Small-scale bombing raids had occurred during World War I us...

bodhi tree
Buddhist symbol of enlightenment. It is the tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment, where he preached his first sermon and set the wheel of dharma (religious teachings) in motion. A bodhi tree is often planted outside a Buddhist pagoda. In some areas, offerings are placed under it during worship. During the Theravada Buddhist festival o...

body art
Form of painting that uses the artist's own body as its central tool and material; it is closely related to action art. Body art grew in the late 1960s, and reflected society's more liberal attitudes towards experimentation with sex and drugs, and the discussion of psychosexual subjects. The art form varied considerably in its interpret...

bonding
Method of producing fabric in which synthetic fibres or filaments are stuck together. Fibres may be bonded in several different ways. One method is to apply adhesive to a web of fibres which is then compressed. Another method is spin bonding in which, owing to their thermoplastic properties, nylon or polyester fibres can be bonded together using he...

box plot
In statistics, figure used to represent quartile information. The box represents the central 50% of the data and the whiskers extend from the box to the largest and smallest values. This method gives an overall spread of the data.

Booker Prize for Fiction
British literary prize; see Man Booker Prize for Fiction

BP
One of the world's largest oil concerns, with more than 96,000 employees and operating in more than 100 countries. Formed as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1908, it acquired the chemical interests of the Distillers Company in 1967 and merged with US oil company Amoco in 1998. The company operates petrol stations, provides gas for fuel and...

Bq
In physics, symbol for becquerel, the SI unit of radioactivity (equal to the average number of disintegrations per second in a given time)

bronze
Alloy of copper and tin, yellow or brown in colour. It is harder than pure copper, more suitable for casting, and also resists corrosion. Bronze may contain as much as 25% tin, together with small amounts of other metals, mainly lead. Bronze is one of the first metallic alloys known and used widely by early peoples during the period of history ...

broadcasting
The transmission of sound and vision programmes by radio and television. Broadcasting may be organized under private enterprise, as in the USA, or may operate under a dual system, as in Britain, where a television and radio service controlled by the state-regulated British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) operates alongside commercial channels op...

bridge
(engineering) Click images to enlargeStructure that provides a continuous path or road over water, valleys, ravines, or above other roads. The basic designs and combinations of these are based on the wa...

brass instrument
Any of a group of musical instruments made of brass or other metal. It does not include woodwind instruments made of metal, such as the saxophone or flute. The sound is produced when the column of air inside the instrument is made to vibrate by the player's lips vibrating against the mouthpiece. Orchestral brass instruments are descended from s...

brass
Metal alloy of copper and zinc, with not more than 5% or 6% of other metals. The zinc content ranges from 20% to 45%, and the colour of brass varies accordingly from coppery to whitish yellow. Brasses are characterized by the ease with which they may be shaped and machined; they are strong and ductile, resist many forms of corro...

British Honduras
Former name (to 1973) of Belize

breccia
Coarse-grained sedimentary rock, made up of broken fragments (clasts) of pre-existing rocks held together in a fine-grained matrix. It is similar to conglomerate but the fragments in breccia are jagged in shape

bryony
Either of two climbing hedgerow plants found in Britain: white bryony (Bryonia dioca) belonging to the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae), and black bryony (Tamus communis) of the yam family (Dioscoreaceae)

broom
Any of a group of shrubs (especially species of Cytisus and Spartium), often cultivated for their bright yellow flowers. (Family Leguminosae.)

bristlecone pine
The oldest living species of pine tree

broccoli
Variety of cabbage. It contains high levels of the glucosinolate compound glucoraphanin. A breakdown product of this was found to neutralize damage to cells and so help to prevent cancer

Brazil nut
Gigantic South American tree; also its seed, which is rich in oil and highly nutritious. The seeds (nuts) are enclosed in a hard outer casing, each fruit containing 10–20 seeds arranged like the segments of an orange. The timber of the tree is also valuable. (Bertholletia excelsa, family Lecythidaceae.)

bracken
Any of several large ferns (especially Pteridium aquilinum) which grow abundantly in the northern hemisphere. The rootstock produces coarse fronds each year, which die down in autumn

bramble
Any of a group of prickly bushes belonging to the rose family. Examples are blackberry, raspberry, and dewberry. (Genus Rubus, family Rosaceae.)

bromine
Dark, reddish-brown, non-metallic element, a volatile liquid at room temperature, atomic number 35, relative atomic mass 79.904. It is a member of the halogen group, has an unpleasant odour, and is very irritating to mucous membranes. Its salts are known as bromides. Bromine was formerly extracted from salt beds but is now mostly obtained f...

brain
Click images to enlargeIn higher animals, a mass of interconnected nerve cells forming the anterior part of the central nervous system, whose activities it coordinates and controls. In vertebrates, the brain is contained by the skull. It is composed of three main regions. At the base of the brainstem, the medulla oblongat...

breed
Recognizable group of domestic animals, within a species, with distinctive characteristics that have been produced by artificial selection. For example, the St Bernard is a breed of dog, the Merino a breed of sheep

breathing
Movement of air into and out of the air passages of an animal, brought about by muscle contraction. It is a form of gas exchange. Breathing is sometimes referred to as external respiration, for true respiration is a cellular (internal) process. In a mammal, breathing involves the action of the muscles of the diaphragm and the intercostal muscles (b...

breeding
(biology) In biology, the crossing and selection of animals and plants to change the characteristics of an existing breed or cultivar (variety), or to produce a new one. Selective breeding is breeding in which humans choose the parent plants or parent animals. Ever since humans first carried o...

brome grass
Any of several annual grasses found in temperate regions; some are used as food for horses and cattle, but many are weeds. (Genus Bromus, family Gramineae.)

brittle-star
Any member of the echinoderm class Ophiuroidea. A brittle-star resembles a starfish, and has a small, central, rounded body and long, flexible, spiny arms used for walking. The small brittle-star Amphipholis squamata is greyish, about 4.5 cm/2 in across, and found on sea bottoms worldwide. It broods its young, and its...

bristletail
Primitive wingless insect of the order Thysanura. Up to 2 cm/0.8 in long, bristletails have a body tapering from front to back, two long antennae, and three `tails` at the rear end. They include the silverfish Lepisma saccharina and the firebrat Thermobia domestica. Two-tailed bristletails con...

brill
Flatfish Scophthalmus laevis, living in shallow water over sandy bottoms in the northeastern Atlantic and Mediterranean. It is a freckled sandy brown, and grows to 60 cm/2 ft

bream
Deep-bodied, flattened fish Abramis brama of the carp family, growing to about 50 cm/1.6 ft, typically found in lowland rivers across Europe

broadbill
Primitive perching bird of the family Eurylaimidae, found in Africa and South Asia. Broadbills are forest birds and are often found near water. They are gregarious and noisy, have brilliant coloration and wide bills, and feed largely on insects

bryophyte
Member of the Bryophyta, a division of the plant kingdom containing three classes: the Hepaticae (liverwort), Musci (moss), and Anthocerotae (hornwort). Bryophytes are generally small, low-growing, terrestrial plants with no vascular (water-conducting) system as in higher plants. Their life cycle shows a marked alternation of generation...

broad-leaved tree
Another name for a tree belonging to the angiosperms, such as ash, beech, oak, maple, or birch. The leaves are generally broad and flat, in contrast to the needlelike leaves of most conifers. See also deciduous tree

bract
Click images to enlargeLeaflike structure in whose axil a flower or inflorescence develops. Bracts are generally green and smaller than the true leaves. However, in some plants they may be brightly coloured and conspicuous, taking over the role of attracting pollinating insects to the flowers, whose own petals are small&#...

bronchodilator
Drug that relieves obstruction of the airways by causing the bronchi and bronchioles to relax and widen. It is most useful in the treatment of asthma

Breton language
Member of the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family; the language of Brittany in France, related to Welsh and Cornish, and descended from the speech of Celts who left Britain as a consequence of the Anglo-Saxon invasions of the 5th and 6th centuries. Officially neglected for centuries, Breton is now a recognized language of...

Brooke, Rupert
(Chawner) English poet. He stands as a symbol of the World War I `lost generation`. His five war sonnets, including `The Soldier`, were published after his death. Other notable poems are `Grantchester` (1912) and `The Great Lover`, written in 1914. Brook...

brachiopod
Any member of the phylum Brachiopoda, marine invertebrates with two shells, resembling but totally unrelated to bivalves. There are about 300 living species; they were much more numerous in past geological ages. They are suspension feeders, ingesting minute food particles from water. A single internal organ, the lophophore, handles feeding, asp...

Britain
Island off the northwest coast of Europe, one of the British Isles. It comprises England, Scotland, and Wales (together officially known as Great Britain), and is part of the United Kingdom. The name is also sometimes used loosely to denote the United Kingdom. It is derived from the Roman name for the island Britannia, which in turn is derived from...

Broglie,
(Louis César Victor) French physicist. He worked on X-rays and gamma rays, and helped to establish the Einsteinian description of light in terms of photons. He was the brother of Louis de Broglie

Bruxelles
French form of Brussels, the capital of Belgium

Brutus, Marcus Junius
Roman senator and general who conspired with Cassius to assassinate Julius Caesar in order to restore the purity of the Republic. He and Cassius were defeated by the united forces of Mark Antony and Octavian at Philippi in 42 BC, and Brutus committed suicide. Brutus joined the optimates (who aimed to increase the authority of the...

Brussels sprout
One of the small edible buds along the stem of a variety of cabbage. (Brassica oleracea var. gemmifera.) They are high in the glucosinolate compound sinigrin. Sinigrin was found to destroy precancerous cells in laboratory rats in 1996

Brussels
City and capital of Belgium, and of Brabant province, situated almost in the centre of the country in the Senne river valley at the junction of the Charleroi-Brussels and Willebroek canals; city population (2003 est) 981,200, urban agglomeration 1,750,600. Industries include lace, textiles, pharmaceuticals, electronics, processed food, mach...

Brunswick
(city) Industrial city in Lower Saxony, Germany, on the River Oker, 56 km/35 mi southeast of Hannover; population (2003 est) 243,700. Its major industry is metalworking. Other manufacturing includes chemical engineering, precision engineering, food processing, and the manufacture of mo...

Brunelleschi, Filippo
Click images to enlargeItalian Renaissance architect. The first and one of the greatest of the Renaissance architects, he pioneered the scientific use of perspective. He was responsible for the construction of the dome of Florence Cathedral (completed 1436), a feat deemed impossible by many of his contemporaries. His use ...

Brunel, Isambard Kingdom
English engineer and inventor. In 1833 he became engineer to the Great Western Railway, which adopted the 2.1-m/7-ft gauge on his advice. He built the Clifton Suspension Bridge over the River Avon at Bristol and the Saltash Bridge over the River Tamar near Plymouth. His shipbuilding designs include the Great Western (...

Brugge
Flemish form of Bruges, a city in Belgium

Bruges
Historic city in northwest Belgium; capital of West Flanders province, about 96 km/60 mi northwest of Brussels and 16 km/10 mi from the North Sea, to which it is connected by canal; population (2003 est) 117,200. The port handles coal, iron ore, oil, and fish; local industries inc...

Brueghel
Family of Flemish painters. Pieter Brueghel the Elder (c. 1525–1569) was one of the greatest artists of his time. His pictures of peasant life helped to establish genre painting, and he also popularized works illustrating proverbs, such as The Blind Leading the Blind (1568; Museo di Capodimonte, Naples...

Brüderhof
Christian Protestant sect with beliefs similar to the Mennonites. They live in groups of families (single persons are assigned to a family), marry only within the sect (divorce is not allowed), and retain a `modest` dress for women (cap or headscarf, and long skirts). In the USA they are known as Hutterites

brucellosis
Disease of cattle, goats, and pigs, also known when transmitted to humans as undulant fever since it remains in the body and recurs. It was named after Australian doctor David Bruce (1855–1931), and is caused by bacteria (genus Brucella). It is transmitted by contact with an infected animal or by drinking contaminated milk. ...

Bruce, James
Scottish explorer who, in 1770, was the first European to reach the source of the Blue Nile and, in 1773, to follow the river downstream to Cairo

Brubeck, Dave
(David Warren) US jazz pianist and composer. He was the leader of the Dave Brubeck Quartet (formed 1951). A student of composers Darius Milhaud and Arnold Schoenberg, Brubeck combines improvisation with classical discipline. The internationally popular Take Five, written in ...

Brown, Capability
(Lancelot) English landscape gardener and architect. He acquired his nickname because of his continual enthusiasm for the `capabilities` of natural landscapes. He worked on or improved the gardens of many great houses and estates, including Hampton Court; Kew; Blenheim, Oxfor...

Brookner, Anita
English novelist and art historian. She was Reader at the Courtauld Institute 1977–88, and Slade Professor of Fine Art at Cambridge 1967–68, the first woman to hold the post. Her novel Hotel du Lac (1984) won the Booker Prize. Her skill in fiction is in the subtle portrayal of hopelessness and lack of vitality in her fe...

Brontë
Click images to enlargeThree English novelists, daughters of a Yorkshire parson. Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855), notably with Jane Eyre (1847) and Villette (1853), reshaped autobiographical material into vivid narrative. Emily Brontë (1818–1848) in Wuthering...