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Petard
A petard is a small bomb used for blowing up gates and walls when breaching fortifications, originally invented in France in 1579. A typical petard was a conical or rectangular metal device containing of gunpowder, with a slow match for a fuse. Etymology ''Pétard'' comes from the Middle French ''péter'', to fart, from the root ''pet'', expulsion of intestinal gas, derived from the Latin ''peditus'', past participle of ''pedere'', to break wind. In modern French, a ''pétard'' is a firecracker (and it is the basis for the word for firecracker in several other European languages). ''Pétardiers'' were deployed during sieges of castles or fortified cities. The ''pétard'', a rather primitive and exceedingly dangerous explosive device, comprised a brass or iron bell-shaped device filled with gunpowder and affixed to a wooden base called a ''madrier''. This was attached to a wall or gate using hooks and rings, the fuse lit and, if successful, the resulting explosive force, co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Churchill AVRE
This is a list of specialist variants of the British Churchill tank. Churchill Oke A Churchill Mark II or Mark III with a flamethrower. Developed for the amphibious raid on Dieppe in 1942, the Oke flamethrowing tank was named after its designer, Major J.M. Oke. The design was basically a Churchill tank fitted with the Ronson flamethrower equipment. A tank containing the flame fuel was fitted at the rear, with a pipe from it leading to the fixed angle mounting on the front hull to the left, leaving the hull machine gun unobstructed. Three (named "Boar", "Beetle" and "Bull") were present in the first wave at Dieppe; they were quickly lost, and abandoned. Assault Vehicle Royal Engineers Proposed by a Canadian engineer as a result of experience from the Dieppe Raid, the Assault Vehicle Royal Engineers (AVRE) was a Churchill Mark III or IV equipped with the "Mortar, Recoiling Spigot, Mark II" (or ''Petard''), a spigot mortar that throws the Bomb Demolition Number 1 ("Fly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hoist With His Own Petard
"Hoist with his own petard" is a phrase from a speech in William Shakespeare's play ''Hamlet'' that has become proverbial. The phrase's meaning is that a bomb-maker is blown ("hoist", the past tense of "hoise") off the ground by his own bomb (" petard"), and indicates an ironic reversal or poetic justice. In modern vernacular usage of the idiom, the preposition "with" is commonly exchanged for a different preposition, particularly "by" (i.e. "hoist ''by'' his own petard") or "on", the implication being that the bomb has rolled back and the unfortunate bomb-maker has trodden on it by accident. The latter form is recognized by many British and American English dictionaries as an interchangeable alternative. Prepositions other than "by" and the original "with" are not widely accepted and may be seen as erroneous or even nonsensical in the correct context of the phrase. Context The phrase occurs in ''Hamlet'' act 3, scene 4, as a part of one of Hamlet's speeches in the Closet Scen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Door Breaching
Door breaching is a process used by military, police, or emergency services to force open closed or locked doors. A wide range of methods are available depending on the door's opening direction (inward or outward), construction materials, etc., and one or more of these methods may be used in any given situation. In the United States, residential doors typically open inward while commercial building doors usually open outward. Some breaching methods require specialized equipment and can be categorized as one of the following: mechanical breaching, ballistic breaching, hydraulic breaching, explosive breaching, or thermal breaching. Manual methods The simplest solution is to check the door knob first. Utilizing a breaching tool is unnecessary if the door is unlocked and easy to open. If the door is locked, breachers can attempt to force inward-opening doors with a strong kick. The breacher will aim to hit the door near the locking mechanism, but not kick the doorknob itself as on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bombs
A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted stress (mechanics), mechanical stress, the impact and penetration of pressure-driven projectiles, pressure damage, and explosion-generated effects. Bombs have been utilized since the 11th century starting in East Asia. The term ''bomb'' is not usually applied to explosive devices used for civilian purposes such as construction or mining, although the people using the devices may sometimes refer to them as a "bomb". The military use of the term "bomb", or more specifically aerial bomb action, typically refers to airdropped, unpowered explosive weapons most commonly used by air forces and naval aviation. Other military explosive weapons not classified as "bombs" include shell (projectile), shells, depth charges (used in water), or l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chemistry
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, properties, behavior and the changes they undergo during chemical reaction, reactions with other chemical substance, substances. Chemistry also addresses the nature of chemical bonds in chemical compounds. In the scope of its subject, chemistry occupies an intermediate position between physics and biology. It is sometimes called the central science because it provides a foundation for understanding both Basic research, basic and Applied science, applied scientific disciplines at a fundamental level. For example, chemistry explains aspects of plant growth (botany), the formation of igneous rocks (geology), how atmospheric ozone is formed and how environmental pollutants are degraded (ecology), the prop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patron Saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person. The term may be applied to individuals to whom similar roles are ascribed in other religions. In Christianity Saints often become the patrons of places where they were born or had been active. However, there were cases in medieval Europe where a city which grew to prominence obtained for its cathedral the remains or some relics of a famous saint who had lived and was buried elsewhere, thus making them the city's patron saint – such a practice conferred considerable prestige on the city concerned. In Latin America and the Philippines, Spanish and Portuguese explorers often named a location for the saint on whose feast or commemoration day they first visited the place, with that saint naturally becoming the area's patron ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maltese Language
Maltese (, also or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language derived from Siculo-Arabic, late medieval Sicilian Arabic with Romance languages, Romance Stratum (linguistics), superstrata. It is the only Semitic languages, Semitic language predominantly written in the Latin script. It is spoken by the Maltese people and is the national language of Malta, and is the only languages of the European Union, official Semitic and Afroasiatic language of the European Union. According to John L. Hayes, it descended from a Maghrebi Arabic, North African dialect of Colloquial Arabic which was introduced to Malta when the Aghlabid dynasty, Aghlabids captured it in 869/870 CE. It is also said to have descended from Siculo-Arabic, which developed as a Maghrebi Arabic dialect in the Emirate of Sicily between 831 and 1091. As a result of the Norman invasion of Malta and the subsequent history of religion in Malta#Arrival of Christianity, re-Christianization of the islands, Maltese evolved indepe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maltese English
Maltese English (MaltE) is a postcolonial dialects of English, variety of the English language spoken by the Maltese people. Maltese is heavily influenced by its contact with the Maltese language. It is close to the prestigious dialects of British English, but diverges from them in phonology and morphosyntax. Sociolinguistic information Maltese English is an intermediate variety between English as a second or foreign language, ESL and EFL, undergoing nativization, nativisation. Overall, English in Malta can be divided into "foreign" varieties (e. g. Australian English) and the local dialect, which will be referred to as "Maltese English", but they exist as a Dialect continuum, continuum, with Received Pronunciation and the low-Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige local variety as its Maximum and minimum, extrema. The mixed English-Maltese language is known as Maltenglish. Although more than 100,000 Maltese immigrant English speakers live outside Malta, they often move to Engli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spigot Mortar
A mortar today is usually a simple, lightweight, man-portable, muzzle-loaded cannon, consisting of a smooth-bore (although some models use a rifled barrel) metal tube fixed to a base plate (to spread out the recoil) with a lightweight bipod mount and a sight. Mortars are typically used as indirect fire weapons for close fire support with a variety of ammunition. Historically mortars were heavy siege artillery. Mortars launch explosive shells (technically called bombs) in high arching ballistic trajectories. History Mortars have been used for hundreds of years. The earliest reported use of mortars was in Korea in a 1413 naval battle when Korean gunsmiths developed the ''wan'gu'' (gourd-shaped mortar) (완구, 碗口). The earliest version of the ''wan'gu'' dates back to 1407. Ch'oe Hae-san (1380–1443), the son of Ch'oe Mu-sŏn (1325–1395), is generally credited with inventing the ''wan'gu''. In the Ming dynasty, general Qi Jiguang recorded the use of a mini cannon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The 29cm Petard Spigot Mortar On A Churchill AVRE Of 79th Squadron, 5th Assault Regiment, Royal Engineers, Under Command Of 3rd Infantry Division, 29 April 1944
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pronoun ''thee' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the " Bard of Avon" or simply "the Bard". His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted. Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592 he began a successful career in Lon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
