# General Information (U-Z)

Ukulele
The ukulele is a four stringed, small guitar.

Ultramarine
Ultramarine is a blue pigment derived from lapis lazuli.

Ultrasonic
Ultrasonic is a term referring to sound waves higher in frequency than 15khz.

Umber
Umber is a substance comprised of hydrated ferric and manganese oxides with variable proportions of earthy matter. It is used as a brown pigment.

Umbra
Umbra is the astrological term for the shadow cast by a planet or satellite.

Umbrella
An umbrella is a light, portable screen usually circular and supported on a central stick. They are used as protection against the sun, and rain.

Umiak
An umiak (umiaq) is an open Eskimo boat that consists of a wooden frame covered with skins and provided with several thwarts. They are used for transporting passengers and goods.

Umiaq
Umiaq is the Inuit word for an umiak.

Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was a story by Mrs H. Beecher-Stowe published in portions in a newspaper in 1850 and then in a complete form in 1852. The story set forth the evils of slavery and was an enormous seller and contributed greatly to the abolition of slavery in Britain.

Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a secret and philanthropical organisation which existed in the USA and Canada during the later years of slavery with the object of helping slaves escape bondage. Its chief centre was in Philadelphia. The Underground Railroad was a network of "safe houses" and individuals who aided escaped slaves to travel to primarily Canada.

Undertaker Wind
The Undertaker Wind is a prevailing wind which blows out from the island of Jamaica towards the sea during the night.

Undress Uniform
Undress Uniform is a military and naval term for a uniform worn other than on formal occasions.

Undulant Fever
Undulant fever is an infectious disease due to the bacterium Brucella abortus. It is contracted either from handling infected cattle or from milk. It is rarely caught from pasteurized milk though.

Unicode
Unicode is a standard of computer character sets that aims to unambiguously represent every known glyph in every human language. Unicode's native encoding is 32 bit (older versions use 16 bits).

Union Jack
The Union Jack is the British flag. It was first produced in 1606 in response to a royal proclamation of James I with the object of providing a single flag for both England and Scotland which might put an end to disputes concerning the precedence of their respective banners of St George and St Andrew. The Union Flag combined the blazonry of the two rival ensigns, not marshalling them by Quartering, but by blending them into a single composition. This was achieved by charging the cross of St George with a narrow white border and placing it on the banner of St Andrew. On the first of January 1801 the second Union Jack superseded the flag of King James and Queen Anne with the incorporation of the banner of Ireland, the saltire of St Patrick, following the Union with Ireland.

Union of Calmar
Union of Calmar was a treaty whereby Denmark, Sweden and Norway were united under one sovereign, Margaret queen of Sweden and Norway. It was agreed in 1397 and dissolved by Gustavus Vassa in 1523.

Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad was the first railway built across North America. It started from the Missouri at Omaha and met the Central Pacific Railroad building eastwards from San Francisco.

Union Suit
A union suit is a close-fitting, knitted undergarment combining a shirt and drawers in one piece and often have a drop seat.

Union-Castle Steamship Line
The Union Steam Collier Company was founded in 1853, and was renamed the Union Steamship Company in 1856. It comprised a service to the Cape of Good Hope, Natal and East Africa. The Castle Mail Packet Company was formed in 1881 carrying mail to South Africa and in 1900 the two companies amalgamated under the title of the Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company.

Unipon
see "Dalapon"

United Nations
The United Nations is an international organisation for peace and security.

Universe
The universe is all of space and its contents.

Unix
UNIX (In the authors' words, "A weak pun on Multics") is an interactive time-sharing computer operating system originally invented in 1969 by Ken Thompson after Bell Labs left the Multics project, originally so he could play games on his scavenged PDP-7. Dennis Ritchie, the inventor of C, is considered a co-author of the system. The turning point in UNIX's history came when it was reimplemented almost entirely in C during 1972--1974, making it the first source-portable OS. UNIX subsequently underwent mutations and expansions at the hands of many different people, resulting in a uniquely flexible and developer-friendly environment.

Unsaturated compounds
In chemistry, unsaturated compounds are organic compounds containing double or triple bonds and are capable of forming addition products.

Unsaturated solution
In chemistry, an unsaturated solution is a solution containing less solute than the amount needed to make a saturated solution.

Upholstery
Upholstery is the art of covering the rigid frames of chairs, sofas, beds and other furniture with flexible material either naturally springy or made so by the introduction of steel springs.

Uraemia
Uraemia is a condition of blood poisoning which occurs when the kidneys fail to function properly, as in Bright's disease and fail to excrete urea which is retained in the blood and upsets the nervous system, causing drowsiness, headaches, giddiness and in extreme cases coma.

Uraeus
A uraeus was a representation of a sacred asp worn on the headdress of ancient Egyptian royalty.

Uranium
Uranium is a silvery, heavy radioactive, polyvalent metallic element that is found especially in pitchblende and uraninite and exists naturally as a mixture of three radioactive isotopes of mass number 234, 235 and 238 in the proportions of .006%, .71% and 99.28% respectively. It has the symbol U.

Urdu
Urdu is a variety of the Hindustani language, from which it differs in its extensive borrowing of words from Arabic and Persian.

Urea
Urea is a crystalline substance, soluble in water which occurs in the urine of mammals, birds and reptiles. It was produced artificially by Wohler in 1828 by evaporating an aqueous solution of ammonium cyanate. This was the first synthesis of an organic compound from inorganic materials.

Uric acid
Uric acid is a nitrogen containing waste product found in the urine of birds and reptiles, but rarely mammals.

Urine
Urine is a fluid produced by the kidneys.

Urotropine
Urotropine is a colourless, granular, crystalline substance prepared by the combination of ammonia with formaldehyde, and used medicinally as a urinary antiseptic.

Usenet
Usenet (from `Users' Network') is a distributed bulletin board system supported mainly by UNIX computers. It was originally implemented in 1979-1980 by Steve Bellovin, Jim Ellis, Tom Truscott, and Steve Daniel at Duke University, it quickly grew to become international in scope and is now probably the largest decentralized information utility in existence.

Usher
An usher is a person who escorts people to their seats in a theatre, church or other place.

Usufruct
Usufruct was a term in Roman law signifyingthe right to reap the fruits or take the benefit of things belonging to others. It might exist in land, houses, slaves or anything that is not consumed by use. A usufructuary of land was in the same position as a tenant for life in England, with the addition that he had the right to open new mines and quarries.

Utopia
Utopia is a Greek word meaning 'nowhere' and the name for an ideal community. It is the title of the book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More in which he describes an island with perfect inhabitants and laws.

Uttering
Uttering is the crime of knowing circulating counterfeit money with intent to defraud.

V-band
The V-band is the frequency band from 46,000 to 56,000 mhz employed in radar.

Vacuum
A vacuum is a space from which the gas has been removed.

Vacuum-flask
A vacuum-flask is a double-walled vessel with the space between the two walls exhausted of air as completely as possible. It was originally devised by Sir James Dewar for preserving liquefied gases at very low temperatures from evaporation. The nature of heat transference means that the substance contained in a vacuum-flask remains at its temperature for very much longer than if it were in an ordinary single walled vessel.

Valence
In chemistry, valence is a number that represents the combining power of an element or radical.

Valence electrons
In chemistry, valence electrons are the electrons located in the outermost shell of an atom.

Valency
Valency is a term used by chemists to describe the combining ability of of an element with respect to hydrogen.

Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day is celebrated in many countries on February 14 as a festival of romance and affection. People send greeting cards called valentines to their sweethearts, friends, and members of their families. Many valentine cards have romantic verses, and others contain humorous pictures and sayings. Many say, 'Be my valentine.' Valentine's Day parties and dances are often held. Many people send flowers, chocolates, or some other gift to their wives, husbands, or sweethearts. The earliest records of Valentine's Day in English tell that birds chose their mates on that day. People used a different calendar before 1582, and February 14 came on what is now February 24.

Valeric acid
Valeric acid is a member of the series of fatty acids. It occurs in four isomeric varieties, two of which occur in plants such as valerian. It is an oily liquid with an odour like that of decayed cheese. Amyl and ethyl valerates are of importance in the preparation of fruit essences.

Valium
Valium is a highly addictive depressant drug used to treat nervous disorders, and convulsive disorders. It is also widely used as a tranquiliser to sedate mentally ill patients and the elderly in homes. Valium works by blocking the conciousness, thereby rendering the patient unable to think clearly. Unfortunately this does mean that patients forget to open doors, duck under obstructions etc. and risk injuring themselves. It is not a curative, but a highly convenient way of blocking symptoms.

Valley
A valley is a long narrow depression in the earth's crust, flanked by well defined ridges and usually due to the erosive action of rivers or glaciers but sometimes due to trough-faulting.

Valve
In electronics, a valve is a device consisting of two or more metal plates enclosed in an evacuated glass bulb. One of the metal plates is heated, causing electrons to be emitted. If a positive charge is applied to the other plate, the electrons will move towards it and the valve will conduct electricity. Valves have largely been superseded by transistors which are smaller.

Van der Graaf Generator
A Van der Graaf Generator is a machine for generating voltages in the order of a few megavolts for such applications as the production of high-energy X-rays and for nuclear research. The name was coined by a Seventies rock group.

Vanadium
Vanadium is a grayish, malleable, ductile, polyvalent metallic element found combined in minerals and used especially to form alloys such as steel. It has the symbol V.

Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair was the first society journal. It was founded in 1868 by Thomas Gibson Bowles and illustrated by Grebville Murray. Vanity Fair was popular for its cariactures of the political and social notabilities of the day.

Varicocele
see "Varicose Veins"

Varicose Veins
Varicose Veins is a condition of permanently dilated veins. It occurs mainly in the lower limbs, the lowest part of the bowel (piles or haemorrhoids) or the spermatic cord (varicocele). The condition is caused by a hindrance of the flow of blood from the lower parts of the body to the heart.

Variola
see "Smallpox"

Variola porcina
see "Swinepox"

Vaseline
Vaseline is a propriety name for a jelly left on distillation of petroleum. It is insoluble in water, and was originally used for damp proofing steel and in some ointments.

Vax
The VAX (from Virtual Address eXtension) is the most successful minicomputer design in industry history, possibly excepting its immediate ancestor, the PDP-11. Between its release in 1978 and its eclipse by micro computers after about 1986, the VAX was noted for its large, assembler-programmer-friendly instruction set.

VBScript
VBScript is an interpreted computer language supported by some client Web browsers. It is Microsoft's answer to Netscape's JavaScript and is based upon Visual Basic.

Vellum
Vellum is a type of superior parchment made from the skin of a calf, kid or lamb.

Velocity
Velocity is the rate of motion, that is the rate of change of position of a body in a given direction within a measurement of time.

Velour
Velour is a pile fabric woven from woollen or cotton yarns or from a mixture of these yarns. It is finished to present a raised, smooth, furry pile. The term is also applied to a material made from rabbit furs, largely employed in the manufacture of hats.

Velvet
Velvet is a textile fabric formed by interweaving silk threads to form a nap or pile. It was first manufactured in the 14th century and was introduced to Britain by Huguenots in 1685.

Velveteen
Velveteen is a textile fabric formed by interweaving cotton threads to form a nap or pile. It is similar to velvet.

Veneer
Veneer is a very thin piece of wood, like paper, used to cover other less valuable wood. The art of veneering was known to the ancient Egyptians and veneered furniture has been found from the 15th century BC.

Venetian Red
Venetian Red is a permanent red pigment composed of ferric oxide and obtained by igniting ferrous sulphate.

Ventura Publisher
Ventura Publisher is a powerful, high-end desktop publisher that produces typographic-quality documents on the PC. It works with documents in a chapter format to effectively handle long documents such as reports and manuals, as well as shorter publications such as flyers and newsletters. Ventura's built-in text editor works with documents in word processing format. A dynamic link between the word processing file and the text in Ventura automatically reflects edits made in either file. A WYSIWYG display shows the page composition process. Ventura can crop, size, and scale graphics brought into a page. The program can produce simple graphics such as line, circle, and box drawings which can be placed around a section of a document. Document size is virtually limitless; documents can be produced with up to 128 chapters, with 300 pages each. Ventura uses the GEM Desktop graphical interface (the product comes with a runtime version of GEM). There is no need to open windows, pass data between applications, or transport graphics with a clipboard. Instead, create a frame within a document and import text or graphics from other programs. To design a document, select a text file and attach a predesigned style sheet (or create a new one). The style sheets make it easy to create uniform, standard format for repetitive use such as monthly reports. Importing a graphics image is done the same way: create a frame and import the image. Ventura automatically scales the image to fit the frame. Images can be resized and scaled as required. One of Ventura's strong points is handling file formats and directories. To import files, work through a menu that allows chioce of file type and moves it to the needed directory. The list of files used in a document is always present. Files can be from any directory, making it easy to choose files from multiple directories on multiple disks. Because of its dynamic text and graphics link and strong file-handling capabilities, the product is good for
creating integrated typeset-quality publications that incorporate files from word processing, spreadsheet, and graphics programs such as a multicolumn brochure with charts imported from a graphics product and data imported from a spreadsheet. Ventura automatically generates indexes, tables of content, and lists of illustrations. Ventura has a complete set of typographic features that can be used to customise layouts. Multiple views of the page layout can be seen and enlarged to emphasise details. Ventura is a complex package and is not recommended for casual use. There are over 250 on-line help screens that speed up the learning process. Once mastered, there are a number of features that speed up the use of the program. For example, control key commands allow by passing of standard menus and quick movement around the package.

Venturi tube
A venturi tube is a device for measuring the flow of liquids in pipes.

Veratrine
Veratrine is an alkoloid obtained from sabadilla seeds. It forms colourless crystals, that have a bitter taste and excite sneezing. It was formerly used in medicine as an external application to produce local anaesthesia, but is an active poison if taken internally.

Verdigris
Verdigris is a mixture of acetates of copper used in making some green pigments. It forms on the surface of copper and brass when they are exposed to damp, and is highly poisonous.

Verjuice
Verjuice is the name given to the harsh juice of the unripe grapes used in wine making.

Vermicelli
Vermicelli is an Italian worm-like thread form of pasta. The name derives from the Latin, vermis 'a worm'.

Vermilion
Vermilion is a variety of mercuric sulphide. It is prepared either by subliming the black sulphide obtained on heating sulphur with mercury or by a wet process. Vermilion is a brilliant scarlet, very heavy solid which when finely ground makes a beautiful and permanent pigment.

Vermouth
Vermouth is an alcoholic liqueur prepared from wine, sweetened with sugar and sometimes with bitter aromatic herbs added.

Verner's Law
Verner's Law is a linguistic law formulated in 1875 by Karl Verner of Copenhagen by which certain apparent failures of Grimm's Law are explained.

Vernier
A vernier is an auxiliary scale, invented by Pierre Vernier, which enables the reading of the smallest divisions of a graduated scale. It is important in theodolites, sextants and the mountings for telescopes for accurate determination of angular positions.

Veronal
Veronal (diethyl-barbituric acid or barbitone) is a white crystalline powder formerly used medicinally as a hypnotic to induce sleep.

Verse
Verse is the principal unit by which metrical compositions are measured. generally speaking, it is equivalent to what we term commonly the line. The elementart unit of metrical compositions is the 'foot' - ie a little group of one or more syllables measured either by accent or by quantity. The verse in turn consists of a certain number of these feet grouped in definite order, on the conclusion of which the writer turns back and repeats the same or a closely related group. As the following verse or verses may vary slightly from the original pattern, so as to form what is strictly termed a stanza, the word verse is sometimes stretched to cover this more elaborate grouping, which is then taken as the principal metrical unit.

Verst
The Verst is a Russian measure of length equal to 0.663 of an English mile.

Vertigo
Vertigo is the sensation of giddiness caused by a disturbance of the function of equilibrium.

Vesicant
A vesicant is a counter-irritant which raises blisters - such as cantharides.

Vesta
Vesta is the fourth and brightest asteroid. It ws discovered by Olbers on March the 29th 1807.

Vestry
A vestry is a room attached to a parish church where the vestments and ornaments are kept, and which is also used for parochial meetings.

Viaduct
A viaduct is a bridge carrying a road over another road, or a railway over a road.

Viagra
Viagra is the tradename of sildenafil citrate, sold as an anti-impotency drug. It was invented in 1998 by Peter Dunn and Albert Wood, working at the Pfizer company in Sandwich, Kent. They built upon work done in 1991 by other scientists as Pfizer who found that compounds of the pyrazolopyrimidinone class could be used for treating heart complaints.

Vicks 44 Pediatric
Vicks 44 Pediatric is a tradename for dextromethorphan hydrochloride

Vicks Formula 44
Vicks Formula 44 is a tradename for dextromethorphan hydrochloride

Victoria Day
see "Empire Day"

ViDir/ViRes File Monitor System
The ViDir/ViRes File Monitor System by Vahnzinn international is a utility computer program that determines what files you never use, backs them up, and then deletes them, helping you save up to 80% of your disk space without deleting the programs or data files you use. It also helps you determine which, of all your files, are used the most, so you can move them to a RAM disk, and which word processor or spreadsheet files you need to take with you on a trip or to print your documents on another PC.

Vinegar
Vinegar is a four percent solution of acetic acid also containing small amounts of phosphates and other extractive matters. It is generally made by fermenting decoctions of malt, first with yeast, and then converting the alcohol into acetic acid by means of micro-organisms.

Vinyl trichloride
see "Trichloroethane"

Violin
The violin is a family of stringed musical instruments.

Violoncello
The violoncello is a stringed musical instrument about twice the size of a violin, and with sides deeper in proportion. It has four strings, tuned in fifths, its notes numbering from the highest string, being frequently tuned G, D, A, E.

Viper V550
The Viper V550 is a PC graphics card based upon the nVidia Riva 128 TNT chipset and targeted at business users rather than computer games players. The V550 supports Microsoft Direct3D and also OpenGL.

Virginal
see "Spinet"

Virgo
Virgo is a sign of the zodiac represented by a virgin.

Viridian
Viridian or Guignet's Green is a hydrated chromic oxide obtained by decomposing borate of chromium with water. It is a permanent and rich coloured pigment.

Virus
A virus is an infectious particle consisting of a core of nucleic acids enclosed in a protein shell.

Viscose
Viscose is a yellowish, syrupy solution made by treating cellulose with sodium hydroxide and carbon disulphide. The solution is then regenerated as continuous filament for the making of rayon and as cellophane.

Vitamin
Vitamins are chemical substances which are used by animal bodies for growth and repair of certain tissues and cells. They were first named by Dr Casimir Funk in 1912.

Vitamin A
Vitamin A (carotene) occurs in certain fats and the fatty parts of some foods. It is used by the human body to enable the eyes to perceive light, and to promote growth in children and to protect moist areas of the body such as the lining of the respiratory tract.

Vitamin B
Vitamin B refers to a group of over eleven vitamins. Including Thiamine, Riboflavin, Nicotinic Acid, Pyridoxine, Pantothenic acid, biotin and other substances.

Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 (cyanocobolamin) is a deep-red crystalline, water-soluble solid found in liver, milk, eggs and fish. A deficiency can result in disorders of the nervous system and anaemia.

Vitamin B2
Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) is a vitamin essential for growth. It was formerly known as vitamin G.

Vitamin B3
Vitamin B3 (nicotinic acid, niacin) is a crystalline acid found in meat and yeast and produced by the oxidation of nicotine.

Vitamin B6
Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) is a substance found in cereals, fish and meat and used by the body to produce haemoglobin.

Vitamin C
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is used by animal bodies for the production of the immune system, and maintenance of the skin and other cells. Vitamin C occurs almost exclusively in vegetable matter, and is destroyed by heat.

Vitamin D
Vitamin D (Calciferol) is a substance which assists animal bodies to lay down calcium and phosphorus in bones. Vitamin D is mainly found in animal matter, and can also be produced by the body from sunlight.

Vitamin E
Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) is a pale-yellow, viscous fluid found in vegetable oil, eggs, cereals and butter and used in the body as an anti-oxidant and to maintain cell membranes.

Vitamin G
Vitamin G is a former name for riboflavin.

Vitamin H
Vitamin H (biotin) is a crystalline, water-soluble vitamin of the Vitamin B group. It is present in all living cells and is used as a growth factor and a catalyst in carboxylation.

Vitreous Enamel
Vitreous Enamel is an opaque or transparent glaze, generally coloured, which adheres to a suitable mettalic surface when applied in a liquid state.

Vivisection
Vivisection is the dissection of living subjects. It was first practised on human subjects in 300 BC by Herophilus, and until 1570 criminals were vivisected at Pisa. The practise is still carried out on animals, and there is much controversy over its moral and scientific value in areas of research such as testing drugs, surgical practises and testing cosmetic products. The enforced chain smoking by Beagle dogs led to the belief of smoking causing cancer in humans.

VK B-Cillin K
VK B-cillin K is a drug used to treat mild to moderate systemic infections. It has the possible side effects of: stomach distress, vomiting, diarrhea, nausea and hypersensitivity (rash, itching, chills, fever, swelling)

Vodka
Vodka is an alcoholic beverage distilled from rye, potatoes, maize or barley.

Volapuk
Volapuk is a universal language invented by Johann Schleyer in 1879. It was generally superseded by Esperanto.

Volatile Oil
see "Essential Oil"

Volcano
A volcano is a vent in the earth's crust from which molten rock, ashes and steam are ejected. The lava tends in time to heap up a conical eminence round the vent, thus forming the crater or cup.

Volcano
A volcano is a vent in the earth's crust.

Volt
The volt is the unit of electromotive force. It was named after Alessandro Volta.

Voltmeter
A voltmeter is an instrument for measuring electro-motive force, or pressure in volts.

Volute
In architecture, a volut is the scroll or spiral ornament forming the characteristic features of the Ionic capital.

Voodoo
Voodoo is a form of magic.

Wacht am Rhein
Wacht am Rhein (Watch on the Rhine) is a German national song written in 1840 by Max Schneckenburger and composed in its popular form in 1854 by Karl Wilhelm. It was the battle-song of the german army in 1870 to 1871.

Wad
Wad is a hydrated manganese dioxide, occurring in brownish black, earthy masses. It is used as a pigment and was formerly used in the preparation of chlorine.

Wadi
A wadi is an irrigation canal found in Arab countries.

Wafer
Prior to gummed envelopes, wafers were adhesive disks used for securing letters. Common wafers were made of fine flour, which was pressed between two heated plates of smooth iron. Transparent wafers were made of isinglass or gelatin.

Waif
Waifs are goods thrown away by a thief in his flight.

Waits
Waits were street musicians. They were an established institution during the 17th century, wearing 'waits badges' with the twon arms. Those of Exeter existed as early as 1400. Their instruments (hautbois) were also styled 'waits' and the same title was extended to the night guard of the city of London.

Wake
A wake is the practice of watching round a corpse before it is buried.

Wall-paper
Wall-paper was introduced into Europe around 1555 from China and Japan by the Dutch and Spanish and slowly replaced tapestry, stamped leather and other mural hangings as the prdominant wall covering coming into general use around 1830.

Wallace's Line
Wallaces' Line is a biological dividing line passing north-north-east between the East Indian islands of Bali and Lombok and Borneo and Celebes, to the west of which the flora and fauna are distinctly Asian in character, while to the east and south the Australian elements begin to be marked, and very soon become predominant. It was named after the biologist Wallace who clearly defines it in his book 'Island Life' published in 1880.

Waltz
The waltz is a dance of uncertain origins. It was introduced into France from Germany in 1795 and reached England in 1812.

Wampum
The wampum is a broad belt formed of strings of shells and worn as an ornament or girdle by North American Indians. The name was also given to the interior parts of the clam shell which was used as currency amongst some Indians.

Warp
Warp threads are the parallel threads which traverse a loom from end to end.

Warping
Warping is a mode of increasing the fertility of land along the banks of rivers liable to overflow by allowing them to deposit their mud, called 'warp', upon the surface overflown.

Wassail
Wassail is a spiced beverage prepared from roasted apples, sugar, toast, nutmeg and other spices and old ale. During the Anglo-Saxon and early English period wassail played an important part on all great festive occassions, such as Wassails.

Wassails
Wassails was a festival occuring on New Year's Eve in England. The wassailers, usually the younger men and women of the village, went round to all the houses, singing and mumming and wherever they stopped the inhabitants refreshed them with food and drink before they continued on their way. It was originally a fertility festival to promote good crops in the coming year, with the wassailers visiting all the fields and orchards where they sang invocations and poured mead. Wassails eventually died out after the 17th century.

Water
Water is a liquid oxide of hydrogen. It exists in nature as solid ice or snow; in the liquid form in oceans, lakes, streams; and as a vapour in the atmosphere. As a true vapour it is invisible, but condensing becomes visible as mist, fog, cloud, rain or dew. In addition water is contained within the earth in enormous quantity; and the underground water is a great store which we use when it issues in springs or which can be reached in some cases by wells and borings.

Water of crystallization
In chemistry, water of crystallization is water present in the crystal of a hydrate.

Water table
The water table is the level of ground below which the rocks are saturated with water.

Watergate
Watergate was a political scandal in the USA resulting in the resignation of president Nixon in 1974.

Watling Street
Watling Street is the old name for the Roman road from Dover to London, and from London through St Albans to Shrewsbury and Chester.

Watlingstreet
Watlingstreet was a British Roman road extending from Dover, through London, St Albans, Dunstable and Towcester into north Whales with a branch extending to Scotland.

Wax
Wax is a solid fatty substance.

Weaving
Weaving is the art of interlacing yarn threads or other filaments by means of a loom, so as to form a web of cloth or other woven fabric. Two sets of threads are used which traverse the web at right angles to each other. The first set extends from end to end of the web in parallel lines and is called the warp; while the other set of threads crosses and interlaces with the warp from side to side of the web and is called the weft.

Wednesday
Wednesday is the third day of the week.

Week
The week is the period of seven days now universally adopted. It is of Hebrew or Chaldaean origin. It is generally regarded as a memorial of the creation of the world according to the Mosaic account. Dion Cassius attributes the invention of the week to the Egyptians. The Ptolemaic arrangement of the heavenly bodies, according to their distances from the earth, is Saturn (the most distant), Jupiter, Mars, the sun, Venus, mercury and the Moon; and it was a principle of the ancient astrology that these bodies presided in this succession over the hours of the day. If the first hour be assigned to saturn, the twenty-fifth or first hour of the next day, will fall to the sun; the forty-ninth, or first hour of the second day will fall to the moon and so on. from the Latin designations of the planets have been formed the modern names - Saturday (Saturn), Sunday (Sol), Monday (moon), Tuesday (Tiu, the Saxon Mars), Wednesday (Woden or Mercury), Thursday (Thor or Jupiter) and Friday (Frygga or Venus).

Weft
Weft are threads crossing from side to side of a web and interwoven with warp.

Welding
Welding is the process of joining two pieces of metal together by hammering, pressure or fusion.

Welsh Rabbit
Welsh Rabbit is a popular savoury of melted cheese on a slice of toast. It is often, erroneously, referred to as "rare-bit".

Weregild
Weregild was the Anglo-Saxon money-value of a man's life. It varied in amount and had to be paid by a murderer to the murdered man's relatives.

Westrumite
Westrumite was a road-dust preventing material composed primarily of petroleum and ammonia. It was developed around 1900 in response to the spread of motoring and the dust raised by cars using the roads.

Whisky
Whisky is an alcoholic beverage made from malted barley.

White Beer
White beer is a whitish, pale-coloured beer posessing a tart or acid taste. It is a top-fermentation drink, produced from a mixed grist of barley and wheat malts, or these with some sugars, and a water containing both gypsum and common salt.

White dwarf
A white dwarf is small hot star.

White Lead
White lead is a basic carbonate of lead once used as a pigment. The best quality is prepared by the Dutch process, in which sheets or grids of pure lead are placed in pots containing a little dilute acetic acid. A number of these pots are stacked in a heap, surrounded by horse manure for several months. Lead acetate forms and can then be converted into the basic carbonate. It went out of fashion as a pigment due to its toxicity and high cost.

White Star Line
The White Star Line was a line of steamships owned by the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company which was formed in 1869. The maiden voyage was bu the Oceanic Liner which sailed to New York in 1871. In 1899 a Liverpool, South Africa and Australia service was established. In 1902 the line launched the Celtic II, which at the time was the largest steamer ever built at 20,904 tons.

White Tower
The White Tower is the keep of the Tower of London. It was built around 1070 by William the Conqueror.

Whitley Councils
Whitley Councils were industrial committees set up in the early part of the 20th century in Britain to enable employers and employees to discuss problems of mutual interest with a view towards avoiding strikes and lockouts. Neither side was keen to make use of them, and they were abandoned in the late 1920s. Today a similar service is provided by conciliation in the form of ACAS.

Wig
A wig (a contraction of periwig) is a covering for the head made from natural or artificial hair attached to a foundation so as to imitate a natural head covering.

Wigwam
A wigwam is the hut or dwelling place of the Indians of North America. It is conical in shape, and is built of some light material such as the bark of trees. Sometimes the skins of animals stretched across poles constitute a wigwam.

Will's Coffee House
Will's Coffee House was a famous convivial resort in Russell Street at the end of Bow Street in London. It was first called the Red Cow, then the Rose. Dryden was the first to make Will's the resort of the wits of his time and it was for long the open market for libels and lampoons. After Dyden's death in 1700 the house was patronised by among others Pope. About 1712 the custom was transferred by Addison to Batton's coffee house on the opposite side of the street.

Will-O'-the-Wisp
Will-o'-the-wisp (Ignis Fatuus) is a pale flickering flame sometimes seen over marshes.

Winch
A winch is a machine, the essential part of which consists of a drum driven by hand or powered through gearing, and used to receive a rope which is wound upon it.

Windmill
A windmill is a machine for grinding corn, pumping water etc., deriving its power from the pressure of the wind on its sails.

Window Tax
The Window Tax was an additional taxation levied in England in proportion to the number of windows in a house. It was first levied in 1695 and abolished in 1851. To avoid the tax many people bricked up some of their windows.

Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a royal palace in Windsor, Berkshire, England. It was built by William the Conqueror as a fortress and enlarged by Henry I who made it into a palace. Henry III strengthened its fortifications and Edward III was born in it and after his accession rebuilt and greatly enlarged the palace.

Wine
Wine is the fermented juice of fruits, vegetables or flowers. The more important wines are fermented from grapes.

Winstrol
Winstrol is an anabolic steroid. It causes increased protein sythesis and amino acid consumption, androgensisis, catabolism, and gluticocototitosis. It is used for sports performance enhancement, relief and recovery from common injuries, rehabilitation, weight control, anti-insomnia, and regulation of sexuality, aggression, and cognition.

Winter
Winter is the coldest of the seasons. It is defined astronomically as beginning in the northern hemisphere with the sun's entry into the sign of Capricorn, around December 21st and ending with the vernal equinox.

Wintergreen Oil
see "Methyl salicylate"

Wish-bone
see "Merry thought"

Witchcraft
In their original sense the words 'witch' and 'wizard' denoted the possessors of knowledge, or wise people. Much of the witchcraft of Europe was derived from the science of the Magi, or the magicians of ancient Chaldaea and Persia. Original witchcraft was both a science and a religion, hence leading to its persecution. In early Hebrew enactments against witchcraft it is evident that a struggle existed between conflicting sets of ideas, and this struggle continued in Christian times resulting in the persecution of the science as well as the religion and to the perversions that exist today, for example much herbalism is the scientific aspect of 'witchcraft', but much has been forgotten. It is likely that the struggle was predominantly one for power over the people - an ignorant or unwise people are easier to exploit by priests than a people well educated in the ways of science and nature.

Wolfram
Wolfram is another name for the element tungsten.

Wolframite
Wolframite is the most important tungsten ore. It has a relative hardness of 5.

Wood pitch
Wood pitch is a by-product of charcoal manufacture, made from wood tar, the condensed liquid produced from burning charcoal gases. The wood tar is boiled to produce the correct consistency. It has been used since ancient times for filling in the spaces between the hull planks in wooden ships to make them watertight.

Wood's Metal
Wood's metal is a fusible alloy consisting of 50 per cent bismuth, 25 percent lead, 12.5 per cent tin and 12.5 per cent cadmium.

Woodwind
A woodwind instrument is one with which sound is produced by blowing into a tube.

Wool
Wool is the fibrous covering of sheep.

WordPerfect Office
WordPerfect Office is a groupware computer program. It is a network version of WordPerfect Library. Office's calendar facility is similar to an electronic day-planner and displays a nine-week calendar with appointment list, prioritised to-do list, and memo window. To aid in group timemanagement, the program.s scheduler compares the calendars of each group member using Office, and displays the possible times they are available. Once you select the time and date of the group members you want to schedule appointments with, Office notifies them. They can either accept, reject, or temporarily ignore the notification; Office notifies the initiator of an acceptance. You can also use Office to schedule resources such as conference rooms or slide projectors. The electronic mail facility lets you send, receive, forward, reply, or print messages to individuals or groups. The package provides automatic message notification and lets you check the status of a message at any time. The shell facility lets you switch from one program to another or transfer data between programs. Office's work log lets you keep track of time and/or keystrokes used on a particular project which is useful for client-billing procedures. Office is set apart from other networking utility programs that offer only one or two of its capabilities.

Wrestling
Wrestling is a form of combat contest between two opponents in which the object is to grapple the opponent to the floor.

Writer's Cramp
Writer's Cramp is a spasm occuring chiefly amongst those who write much. Similar spasms occur amongst piano players, violin players, tailors and others. In its early stages it is a true cramp, but prolonged continuance of the condition may result in scrivener's palsy or paralysis. With the advent of the computer writer's cramp has become less common but has been replaced by repetetive strain injury (RSI), which many may think is a new industrial injury, in fact it has been a problem for more than a hundred years.

Wynd
A wynd is a narrow street or passage off a main thoroughfare.

Wyvern
In heraldry, a wyvern (or wivern) is a device representing a monster whose fore part is that of a dragon with legs and wings, and the hinder part is in the form of a serpent with a barbed tail.

X-band
The X-band is the frequency band from 5200 to 10,900 mhz employed in radar.

Xanthine
Xanthine is a nitrogenous compound closely allied to uric acid, that occurs in extract of meat and in tea. It forms a colourless powder slightly soluble in water, and yields alloxan and urea on oxidation.

Xanthoma
Xanthoma is a skin disease characterised by irregular yellowish patches on the eyelids and neck.

Xebec
A xebec is a small, sharp-built three-masted vessel with lateen sails. They were used for coasting voyages in the Mediterranean and on the ocean coasts of Spain and Portugal. It differs from the felucca in possessing both square and lateen sails, the felucca having only lateen sails. The xebec was formerly much used by Algerian pirates.

Xenon
Xenon is a rare, inert gaseous element. It's symbol is Xe.

Xerography
Xerography is an electrostatic dry-printing process for the reproduction of images or documents, widely employed in commerce and industry in copying machines, such as photo-copiers.
The process was invented by the American printer Chester F Carlson in 1937 and first commercially developed in 1950. It makes use of the principle of photoconductivity, that is, that certain substances resist passage of an electric current except when struck by light. Silicon, germanium, and selenium are poor conductors of electricity, but when light energy is absorbed by some of their electrons, the electrons are able to pass from one atom to another, thus allowing a current to flow when a voltage is applied. When the light is removed, their conductivity again becomes low. Xerography employs a photoconductive insulating layer, such as selenium, on an aluminum or other conductive metal support.
The layer is charged electrostatically, either with positive or negative ions ( see Ion ), the polarity of the charge depending on the type of photoconductive insulating layer selected. When the plate is exposed, in a camera or photographic machine, those areas of the coating subjected to light lose a varying portion of the charge, depending upon the intensity of the illumination. Thus, the variation of the amount of charge retained on the coated metal plate is established as an electrical or electrostatic pattern of the image. The image is rendered visible by sprinkling over the exposed plate a special, charged powder, which carries an opposite charge to the initial charge applied to the plate and insulating layer. The powder adheres to those areas that have retained their charge. The print is obtained by covering the plate with paper, then applying a charge over the back of the paper of the same polarity as the initial charge applied to the photoconductive insulating layer.
In this way the opposite charged powders are transferred to the paper surface. The powder image is then fused onto the paper by exposure to solvent vapors or heat to make the image permanent. The entire xerographic process can be carried out, in high-speed mechanized equipment, in less than 5 seconds, and it is comparatively inex pensive to make these images because the photoconductive insulating layer can be recycled many thousand times. The process has found its primary usefulness in copying office documents and in low-volume duplication of data.
The xerographic method also permits the making, quickly and cheaply, of paper offset masterplates for low-to-medium-volume runs on office offset-printing presses. The method has also been applied to the production of X-ray images in a technique that is known as xeroradiography and is used in mammography for the early detection of breast cancer.

Xerox FormBase
Xerox FormBase is a computer forms management program. It combines forms management with database techniques, which can be accessed from within the Microsoft Windows environment. FormBase creates professional quality forms while providing facilities to enter, sort, search, retrieve, and print data. Unlike typical forms management packages which allow usars to create a single form per file, FormBase lets you create multiple forms, or views, per database file. Each form created is considered a different view of the database. FormBase lets you create subforms and subtables within a form which facilitate entering multiple entries into a field. For example, in a database containing customer information you may want to create a data-entry form containing all the invoices for each customer. Because the information varies for each customer, this form may need to store dozens of entries. FormBase contains features usually found in database packages. The product can perform a lookup from one file to another. Information entered into one database can be retrieved in another form. Mathematical computations can be built into a form which are similar to formulae found in spreadsheet programs. Formulae can also be created to validate information entered into forms to provide accuracy and consistency during data entry. FormBase allows you to import graphic images from other software programs into a database and to create forms with logos and pictures. FormBase can print out columnar reports and supports laser, dot-matrix, and colour printers.

Xylazine
see "Ketamine"

Xylophone
The xylophone is a percussion musical instrument.

Yacht
A yacht is a light sailing vessel built for racing.

Yagi Aerial
A Yagi aerial is a particular form of directive, end-fire aerial array in which the director and reflector elements are parasitically excited. Most television aerials are of this type.

Yale University
Yale University is a famous and respected American university. It was chartered as the Collegiate School of Connecticut in 1701. The college was first established at Saybrook, but was removed to New Haven in 1717, and the name of Yale College was adopted in honour of Elihu Yale who had made large gifts to the school. A new charter was obtained in 1745, and in 1887 the title of Yale University was authorised by the legislature.

Yapp
Yapp is a type of bookbinding of limp leather with overlapping edges. It was first made for Yapp, a London bookseller in 1860, hence the name.

Yard
The yard is a unit of the imperial scale of measurement of length equivalent to three feet, 36 inches or 0.9144 metres. The yard was a British measurement of butter equal to 1 lb.

Yardley
Yardley was an English soap and cosmetic firm. It was established in 1770 and went into receivership in 1998.

Yards
see "Yard"

Yarn
Yarn is a fibre, such as cotton, wool, silk or flax which has been spun and prepared for use in weaving or knitting.

Yawl
A yawl is a two-masted sailing ship. The aftermast is much smaller than the mainmast and is placed far aft.

Yearling
A yearling is a one-year old animal. The term is generally applied to sheep, calves and foals.

Yerukala
Yerukala is a dialect of Tamil.

Yiddish
Yiddish is a kind of jargon Hebrew spoken by lower class Jews.

Yolk
Yolk is a food store found in eggs.

Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) is the most solemn day in the Jewish calendar, occurring always on Tishri 10th, corresponding with the end of September. It is a full fast day of 24 hours, observed from sunset to star-rise of the following day, in which neither food nor drink is taken, in accordance with Biblical command. It was observed in ancient times by an elaborate sacrificial ritual, in which the High Priest, representing the whole of Israel, interceded for Divine Pardon.

Youthful Offenders Act
The Youthful Offenders Act was an act of Parliament passed in 1901 making a parent liable for the misdeeds of his child.

Ytterbium
Ytterbium is a bivalent or trivalent metallic element of the rare-earth elements that resembles yttrium and occurs with it and related elements in several minerals such as gadolinite. It has the symbol Yb.

Ytterium
Ytterium is a trivalent metallic element usually included among the rare earth elements which it resembles chemically and with which it occurs in minerals. It has the symbol Y.

Yttrium
Yttrium is a metal element with the symbol Y.

Yurt
The yurt is the dwelling place of Yakutsks, it is a wooden house with sloping turf-clad walls.

Zaffre
Zaffre is a crude oxide of cobalt obtained by heating cobalt ore in a current of air. It was used to prepare smalt and to stain glass blue during Victorian times.

Zetran
Zetran is a tradename for Chlordiazepoxide hydrochloride.

Zinc
Zinc is a metal element with the symbol Zn.

Zirconium
Zirconium is a lustrous, greyish-white, strong, ductile, metallic element, with the symbol Zr. It occurs in nature as the mineral zircon (zirconium silicate), from which it is obtained commercially. It is used in some ceramics, alloys for wire and filaments, steel manufacture, and nuclear reactors, where its low neutron absorption is advantageous.

Zither
The zither is an Austrian musical instrument.

Zodiac
The zodiac is the name given by the Greeks to the heavens.

Zoloft
Zoloft (sertaline hydrochloride) is an anti-depression drug which causes central nervous system stimulation by the inhibition of seritonin uptake.

Zoology
Zoology is the science which deals with the structure, life-history, habits and activities of animals.

Zwitterion
Zwitterion is an ion that has both a positive and a negative charge, such as an amino acid in neutral solution.

ZX80
The ZX80 was a revolutionary computer invented by Clive Sinclair and released in 1980. It was based upon the Z80 microprocessor, and used few other chips. It had a built in BASIC interpreter and introduced computing for the first time to the masses by being affordable by any household. Video display was produced by a domestic television set which was connected by an aerial fly-lead to the computer. A year later the ZX80 was replaced by the improved ZX81 which in turn was replaced in 1982 by the far superior ZX Spectrum.

ZX81
The ZX81 was a revolutionary computer invented by Clive Sinclair and released in 1981. It was based upon the Z80 microprocessor, and used only three other chips in the basic model which had just 1K of RAM (enough to hold a functional player v computer chess game). It had a built in BASIC interpreter and introduced mass computing for the first time to the masses by being affordable by any household. Video display was produced by a domestic television set which was connected by an aerial fly-lead to the computer. Peripherals could be fitter to an exposed slot of the PCB, the most popular being a 16K RAM extension (RAM pack). Most remarkable was the award winning manual which accompanied the ZX81 which taught computing basics and the BASIC programming language in a clear and popular language for the first time. It replaced the ZX80 and was replaced itself in 1982 by the far superior ZX Spectrum.

Zyklon-B
Zyklon-B was a poison gas used in Nazi extermination camps. It was a cyanide compound originally developed for fumigation purposes in the 1920s. It was actually a crystalline compound which gave off hydrogen cyanide gas when exposed to the air. It was first used against humans in a euthanasia programme in 1939, aimed at ridding Germany of lunatics, incurable invalids, and other 'undesirables'. The victims were induced to enter a 'shower bath', Zyklon-B was released, and the gas killed them in a few minutes. When the extermination camps were set up, this method was adopted as standard and was responsible for several million deaths. The inventor, Dr Bruno Tesch, was convicted of war crimes and executed for his manufacture and supply of the substance to the camps.

Zymase
Zymase is an enzyme formed in yeast cells which converts sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid gas.

Copyright 1997,1998 Servile Software Enquiries to Matthew Probert

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