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Mountain Meadows

(Encyclopedia)Mountain Meadows, small valley in extreme SW Utah, where in 1857 a party of some 140 emigrants bound for California were massacred. It was a period when friction between Mormons and non-Mormons was ac...

baryon

(Encyclopedia)baryon bârˈēŏnˌ [key] [Gr.,=heavy], class of elementary particles that includes the proton, the neutron, and a large number of unstable, heavier particles, known as hyperons. From a technical poi...

veto

(Encyclopedia)veto [Lat.,=I forbid], power of one functionary (e.g., the president) of a government, or of one member of a group or coalition, to block the operation of laws or agreements passed or entered into by ...

aberration

(Encyclopedia)CE5 A. Spherical aberration: Light rays near the edge of the lens are bent more and brought to focus nearer to the lens. B. Chromatic aberration: Shorter wavelengths (higher frequencies) are bent m...

Adams, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Adams, Samuel, 1722–1803, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Boston, Mass.; second cousin of John Adams. An unsuccessful businessman, he becam...

corporal punishment

(Encyclopedia)corporal punishment, physical chastisement of an offender. At one extreme it includes the death penalty (see capital punishment), but the term usually refers to punishments like flogging, caning, muti...

Mackenzie, William Lyon

(Encyclopedia)Mackenzie, William Lyon, 1795–1861, Canadian journalist and insurgent leader, b. Scotland; grandfather of William Lyon Mackenzie King. Emigrating to Upper Canada in 1820, he published (1824–34), f...

Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions

(Encyclopedia)Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, in U.S. history, resolutions passed in opposition to the Alien and Sedition Acts, which were enacted by the Federalists in 1798. The Jeffersonian Republicans first r...

Aśoka

(Encyclopedia)Aśoka əshōˈkə, –sōˈk– [key] or Ashoka, d. c.232 b.c., Indian emperor (c.273–c.232 b.c.) of the Maurya dynasty; grandson of Chandragupta. One of the greatest rulers of ancient India, he br...

tournament

(Encyclopedia)tournament or tourney, in the Middle Ages, public contest between armed horsemen in simulation of real battle. In this military game, which flourished from the 12th to the 16th cent., combatants were ...