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standard of living

(Encyclopedia)standard of living, level of consumption that an individual, group, or nation has achieved. The evaluation of a standard of living is relative, depending upon the judgment of the observer as to what c...

taxation

(Encyclopedia)taxation, system used by governments to obtain money from people and organizations. The revenue collected is used by the government to support itself and to provide public services. Aside from being r...

Yeats, W. B.

(Encyclopedia)Yeats, W. B. (William Butler Yeats), 1865–1939, Irish poet and playwright, b. Dublin. The greatest lyric poet Ireland has produced and one of the major figures of 20th-century literature, Yeats was ...

Tilly, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Tilly, Charles, 1929–2008, American sociologist, b. Lombard, Ill. Educated at Harvard and Oxford, Tilly taught at the Univ. of Michigan, the New School for Social Research, and Columbia, among other...

waters, territorial

(Encyclopedia)waters, territorial, all waters within the jurisdiction, recognized in international law, of a country. Certain waters by their situation are controlled by one nation; these include wholly enclosed in...

Christmas

(Encyclopedia)Christmas [Christ's Mass], in the Christian calendar, feast of the nativity of Jesus, celebrated in Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches on Dec. 25. In liturgical importance it ranks after Easter, P...

naturalism, in literature

(Encyclopedia)naturalism, in literature, an approach that proceeds from an analysis of reality in terms of natural forces, e.g., heredity, environment, physical drives. The chief literary theorist on naturalism was...

Alaska North Slope

(Encyclopedia)Alaska North Slope or Arctic North Slope, region, N Alaska, sloping from the Brooks Range N to the Arctic Ocean. In 1968 large petroleum reserves were found in the Prudhoe Bay area. In 1977 the 800-mi...

shield, armor

(Encyclopedia)shield, piece of defensive armor, worn on the arm or shoulder to ward off weapons during combat, used prior to the dominance of gunpowder. Originally for individual defense during hand-to-hand combat,...

cantilever

(Encyclopedia)cantilever kănˈtəlēvər [key], beam supported rigidly at one end to carry a load along the free arm or at the free end. A slanting beam fixed at the base is often used to support the free end, as ...