Key terms & definitions

A paper format commonly used in the USA, approximately 215 × 279 mm: wider but shorter than A4.

A letter accompanying a CV or application form that explains why the applicant wants the job and is suitable for it.

A royal grant allowing a foreign-born person to be treated broadly as an English-born subject, with rights such as owning land and using English courts, in return for allegiance to the king. It did not necessarily remove every legal disadvantage.

An official commission authorising a privateer to attack specified enemy targets; it was not unrestricted permission to raid.

Documents issued by the royal administration for a fee from the 1380s, granting immigrants certain rights normally reserved for English people, including property ownership, lower tax rates and access to central courts.

A cancer affecting blood-forming tissues, in which abnormal white blood cells are produced.

The eastern Mediterranean region, through which Asian goods reached European buyers.

A naturally raised bank beside a river channel, built up by sediment deposited during repeated floods.

A raised natural bank beside a river channel, built from sediment deposited during repeated floods.

A radical movement during the Civil War era that demanded wider male voting rights, religious freedom and equality before the law.

The extent to which a researcher can manage the conditions and other variables in an investigation.

The extent to which people are in paid work in an economy; an employment rate expresses this as a proportion of a defined population.

The percentage of a population living in towns and cities at a particular time.

A situation in which competitors have a fair opportunity to succeed under the same rules and conditions.

A spoonful filled to the rim with any ingredient above the rim removed.

A rigid bar that turns about a pivot and transmits the turning effect of an applied force.

A rigid structure that turns around a fixed point when a force is applied; bones act as levers in the body.

A rigid bar that turns about a pivot to move a load when an effort is applied.

The use of a bone as a lever: muscle force moves the bone about a joint.

A group of words connected by meaning, such as words associated with sadness.

An ordering of strings like dictionary order, determined by comparing characters from left to right.

Luteinising hormone; a pituitary hormone whose surge triggers ovulation.

Luteinising hormone: a hormone released by the pituitary gland that triggers ovulation.

A hormone that triggers ovulation, the release of an egg from an ovary.

A financial obligation owed by a business, such as a loan or an unpaid supplier’s invoice.

Being legally responsible for the matter at issue, such as harm or loss in a civil claim.

A liquid offering poured out in honour of a deity.

A liquid offering poured out as part of a religious or funerary ceremony.

A Christian who is open to interpreting biblical passages symbolically and accepting scientific explanations alongside belief in God.

A form of representative democracy that protects individual rights and freedoms and limits government power through laws and institutions.