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Bank of England
Bank of England central bank and note-issuing institution of Great Britain. Popularly known as the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street, its main office stands on the street of that name in London. The bank has eight branches, all of which are located in the British Isles. Although Bank of England notes...
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writ
writ in law, written order issued in the name of the sovereign or the state in connection with a judicial or an administrative proceeding. Usually the writ requires the person to whom the command is issued to report at a fixed time (the return day) with proof of compliance or a justification for di...
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Kyoto Protocol
Kyoto Protocol (11 Dec. 1997) The first international agreement in which the world's industrial nations concluded a verifiable agreement to reduce their emissions of six greenhouse gasses in order to prevent global warming. By 2012, the 174 signatory states agreed to reduce emissions by 5.2 per cent...
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consols
consols contraction of consol idated annuitie s, a bond issue designed to consolidate two or more outstanding issues, used in reference to British government stock. Public borrowing began in England with the establishment of the Bank of England and the national debt (1693-94), and the growth of t...
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Tennessee Valley Authority
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), independent U.S. government corporate agency, created in 1933 by act of Congress; it is responsible for the integrated development of the Tennessee River basin. The history of TVA began in the early 1920s, when Senator George William Norris sponsored a plan to ha...
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Environmental Protection Agency
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), independent agency of the U.S. government, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1970 to reduce and control air and water pollution , noise pollution , and radiation and to ensure the safe handling and disposal of toxic substances. Th...
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acid rain
acid rain or acid deposition, form of precipitation (rain, snow, sleet, or hail) containing high levels of sulfuric or nitric acids ( p H below 5.5-5.6). Produced when sulfur dioxide and various nitrogen oxides combine with atmospheric moisture, acid rain can contaminate drinking water, damage ...
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puffball
puffball or smokeball, fungus in which the aboveground portion is typically a stemless brownish sac with an opening at the top through which issues the dustlike mass of ripe spores. The common puffball is Lycoperdon gemmatum. The giant puffball ( L. giganteum ) may reach a diameter of 1 ft (3...
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pollution
pollution contamination of the environment as a result of human activities. The term pollution refers primarily to the fouling of air, water, and land by wastes (see air pollution ; water pollution ; solid waste ). In recent years it has come to signify a wider range of disruptions to environm...
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satrap
satrap , governor of a province (satrapy) of the ancient Persian Empire. He was nominated by the king and given extensive powers. Darius I reorganized the privileges and duties of his satraps in the 6th cent. BC; the number of satraps varied from 20 to 28 during his reign. To prevent the concentra...
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