Glossary beginning with B
- Bail
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A sum of money paid to release a prisoner from custody. Bail is also like a bond to make sure a person appears in court.
- Bar
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Practising members of the legal profession. 'The Bar' is named after the imaginary line separating the judge and lawyers from the rest of the court.
- Barrage
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Heavy artillery fire
- Bias
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Information which promotes a particular point of view. Bias influences the way the reader or viewer understands a text.
- Bibliographical details
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Information about the person or organisation that created a source. These details vary depending on the kind of source you're describing. Bibliographical details include the author's name, date of publication, URL, title etc.
- Billeted
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Given rooms with local families.
- Binding
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Bringing individual stalks into one bundle or 'sheaf'. Also used as a metaphor.
- Biodiversity
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The natural variety of plants and animals in an environment.
- Black War
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The ‘Black War’ of the 1800s was a conflict between British settlers and the Aborigines of Van Diemen’s Land, now known as Tasmania, that saw the almost complete genocide of the indigenous population.
- Bombardment
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A heavy and saturated delivery of artillery or shelling that is concentrated on a particular area rather than a specific target.
- Bootleggers
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People who make, sell or transport alcohol illegally.
- Brown-out
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The dimming of lights during war times, to reduce visibility to enemy aircraft.
- By-line
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The line, usually below a newspaper headline, which gives the author's name. A by-line can also appear under an image in a newspaper, giving the photographer's details.