Noun (abbreviation): a sub-orbital, intermediate range ballistic missile carrying an explosive warhead, officially known (in German) as "Vergeltungswaffe 2" (Eng. trans: "Vengeance weapon 2"), deployed by Nazi Germany against Britain and other Allied European nations beginning in September of 1944, and continuing until the cessation of its production in March, 1945.
"The V-2 was Hitler's last hope to stave off defeat, but his scientists were unable to develop a nuclear warhead which could be delivered to London, or multiple rocket staqes which could have placed Washington, D.C. within reach of the weapon."
by speedog June 13, 2010
Title: the supreme honor bestowable by the United States of America, awarded (as of the current date) to seven individuals (in ascending chronological order): Sir Winston Churchill (1963); Rauol Wallenberg (1981); William Penn & Hannah Callowhill Penn (1984); Mother Teresa (1996); General La Marquis du Lafayette (2002); General Count Kasimierz Pulaski (2009).
In April 1963, President Kennedy awarded Sir Winston Churchill with the highest honor of the United States, Honorary American citizenship.
by speedog June 14, 2010
by speedog July 02, 2010
The universally accepted gesture of, or order thereof, surrender between any combatants in which the surrendering party(s) hands are elevated 90 degrees vertically without weapons, in order to visually display the non-possession of any weapon, and the voluntary cessation of all hostile action on behalf of the surrendering party(s).
"When the Allied forces exited their trenches and advanced forward, the Axis soldiers came out with their hands up.)
by speedog May 02, 2010
Noun: a manner of military salutation allegedly peculiar to ancient Rome, in which the right arm and hand are extended and elevated in the direction of any superior officer, or in the absence of any such superior, in the geographical direction of Rome itself, accompanied by the Latin phrase "Ave Caesar" ("Hail Caesar").
"Immediately upon taking command of the Antonia fortress, the tribune Messala executed the Roman salute to the former fortress commandant."
by speedog May 02, 2010
Noun: a 238-ton whaling ship, based out of Nantucket Island (USA), famously sunk on November 20, 1820 in an encounter with "Mocha Dick", an albino sperm whale defending his pod against human predation. Incident widely acknowledged as the direct inspiration for Herman Melville's 1851 novel "Moby-Dick, or The Whale".
"Following the second hull strike by Mocha Dick, the Essex crew had only minutes to provision the surviving boats and cast-off before the ship sank."
by speedog June 14, 2010
Verb - to entirely destroy and obliterate, especially via aerial and/or surface bombardment, a specific geographic area or zone, in such manner as that the resultant topography resembles the surface of the Earth’s moon.
“. . . subsequent to the R.A.F. operation of 25 April 1945, the Nazi enclosure on the Obersalzberg was shown to have been almost completely lunarized.”
by Speedog September 27, 2009