See Also: Qaeda, al-(encyclopedia)

mileage (iou) and Qaeda, al- (sh)


mileage (iou)



mileage noun. Also milage. M18.
[from MILE + -AGE.]
a. A Travel allowance at a fixed rate per mile. M18.
Guardian The newspaper..declined to pay mileage for the use of cars on the firm's business.
b. A rate per mile charged for the use of railway vehicles carrying goods or passengers over another company's line. M19.
a. A distance in miles; spec. (a) the number of miles of road made, used, or travelled; (b) the number of miles a vehicle can Travel per litre, gallon, etc., of fuel. M19.
Time Taxes..on the purchase of cars with poor gas mileage. Lancaster Guardian Austin Montego..has 34,097 mileage.
b. fig. Benefit, profit, advantage; scope for investigation. M19.
B. T. Bradford He's such an opportunist he'll find a way to get mileage out of this. Notes & Queries There is still plenty of mileage in Hassett's approach, as her book proves.

Qaeda, al- (sh)




also al-Qa?idah
(Arabic ; "the Base")

Broad-based Islamic militant organization founded in Afghanistan by Osama bin Laden.

Its members supported Muslim fighters during the Afghan war of 1979-89; afterward the organization dispersed but continued to oppose secularized Muslim regimes and foreign (notably U.S.) presence in Islamic lands. It staged numerous terrorist attacks, including the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, the destruction of two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998, and a suicide bomb attack against the U.S. warship Cole in 2000. During that time it merged with Other Islamic extremist organizations and eventually reestablished its headquarters in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, where it trained thousands of Muslim militants. In 2001, 19 such militants staged the September 11 attacks. The U.S. and allied forces responded by attacking Taliban and al-Qaeda forces in Afghanistan, killing and capturing thousands and driving the remainder into hiding.