17 definitions by Tyburn

A teacher at Virginia Tech. He died when a student went on a killing spree. Liviu Librescu survived the Holocaust. He survived in Communist Romania. He was a very smart man and, in his final moments, proved himself a hero. Liviu blocked the door to his class so his students could escape. He was shot around five times but his noble sacrifice acheived the desired end. His class (save for one) escaped to safety.
If any of you want a definition of selflessness then look no further than this man. Life had given him a bad deal from childhood yet when push came to shove his compassionate, brave spirit could not be crushed.
He is burried in Israel. At last beyond the hardships of this world.

Vlad Tepes, Prince of Wallachia, was a figure in the Medieval era who has become connected with the Dracula legend. Forget bloodsucking, this guy was in to much more hardcore stuff. He impaled friend and foe alike. One he turned back a Turkish army when they saw thousands upon thousands of their comrades dead on wooden stakes. Once, when an envoy refused to take off his turban in his presence Vlad had it nailed to his head.
Of course, this didn't help Vlad when the Reaper came knocking for him. Eventually he was killed, by the Turks or rebellious nobles we cannot be sure. But his head was cut off, preserved in honey to keep it sweet and then stuck on a pole.
Despite his apparently hideous crimes Vlad was a good ruler. He insisted on total loyalty from his people and his ruthlessness aided him in his war against the Turkish invaders. When first ascending to power one of his first moves was to imprison the treacherous boyars who probably killed his father. And rather than heap favours upon old Lords he apparently prefered to knight members of the peasantry.
Although, as we've seen, it wasn't enough to save him.

A Scottish rebel immortalised in the film Braveheart. Despite claims that he murdered men, women, children and religious figures there is no doubt that he fought bravely for his cause.
Eventually he was defeated and subjected to the worst form of capital punishment ever devised. Hanging, drawing and quartering. First dragged to the gallows. Then hung. Then cut down. Then gutted. Then beheaded and cut into quarters. However, this punishment did not have the desired effect and Scottish rebellions would continue for many years.
To this day Wallace remains both a national hero and, to some, an excuse for Anglophobia.