|
Jan Masaryk
Jan Masaryk , 1886-1948, Czechoslovak diplomat, son of Thomas G. Masaryk. He was (1925-38) Czechoslovak minister to Great Britain, and in London he became (1940) foreign minister in the Czechoslovak government in exile headed by Eduard Beneš after the German occupation of Czechoslovakia. Duri...
Read more
|
|
|
belief
belief in philosophy, commitment to something, involving intellectual assent. Philosophers have disagreed as to whether belief is active or passive; René Descartes held that it is a matter of will, while David Hume thought that it was an emotional commitment, and C. S. Peirce considered it a...
Read more
|
|
Emelian Ivanovich Pugachev
Emelian Ivanovich Pugachev , c.1742-75, Russian peasant leader, head of the peasant rebellion of 1773-74. A Don Cossack , he exploited a widespread peasant belief that Peter III had not actually been murdered. Claiming (1773) to be Peter III, he soon found himself at the head of an army and of a ...
Read more
|
|
suicide
suicide [Lat.,=self-killing], the deliberate taking of one's own life. Suicide may be compulsory, prescribed by custom or enjoined by the authorities, usually as an alternative to death at the hands of others, or it may be committed for personal motives. Depending on the time and place, it may be r...
Read more
|
|
|
Marcus Gabius Apicius
Marcus Gabius Apicius , 1st cent., Roman gourmet. He squandered most of his large fortune on feasts and then, anticipating a need to economize, committed suicide. The cookbook called Apicius probably dates from a century later.
...
Read more
|
|
|
asp
asp popular name for several species of viper , one of which, the European asp ( Vipera aspis ), is native to S Europe. It is also a name for the Egyptian cobra ( Naja haja ). It is believed that the asp Cleopatra used to commit suicide was either that cobra or the horned viper ( Cerastes cornut...
Read more
|
|
|
Balaam
Balaam , the central character in an amalgam of Israelite traditions found in the Book of Numbers. Hired by Balak, king of Moab, to curse the Hebrews encamped in the Jordan valley, Balaam could only bless them. Later, Balaam seduced the Israelites to commit evil, an act for which he was killed.
...
Read more
|
|
|
perjury
perjury , in criminal law, the act of willfully and knowingly stating a falsehood under oath or under affirmation in judicial or administrative proceedings. If the person accused of perjury had any probable cause for his belief that the statement he made was true, then he is not guilty of perjury. I...
Read more
|
|
murder
murder criminal homicide , usually distinguished from manslaughter by the element of malice aforethought. The most direct case of malicious intent occurs when the killer is known to have adopted the deliberate intent to commit the homicidal act at some time before it is actually committed. Ver...
Read more
|
|
|
burglary
burglary at common law , the breaking and entering of a dwelling house of another at night with the intent to commit a felony , whether the intent is carried out or not. This definition has been generally adopted with some modifications in the criminal law of the various states of the United Stat...
Read more
|
