See Also: Maxwell, James Clerk(dictionary)
Maxwell, James Clerk(encyclopedia)
Anderson, (James) Maxwell(encyclopedia)
Maxwell(dictionary)
Maxwell, William(encyclopedia)
Maxwell's equations(encyclopedia)
Maxwell, (Ian) Robert(encyclopedia)
Maxwell (as used in expressions)(encyclopedia)
Maxwell-Boltzmann(dictionary)
Maxwell's duiker(dictionary)

peril (iou) and Maxwell, James Clerk (sh)


peril (iou)



peril noun & verb. ME.
[Old & mod. French peril from Latin peric(u)lum experiment, risk, danger, from base of experiri to try + -culum -CLE.]
A. noun.
Liability or exposure to the possibility of imminent injury or destruction; jeopardy, danger. ME.
H. Belloc In peril, as in battle or shipwreck, each man will save himself. R. Macaulay The fish he had angled for had seen their peril and eluded it.
A case or cause of peril; a danger; (usu. with prec. adjective) a threat regarded as emanating from a particular people, race, or country. ME.
P. G. Wodehouse He seemed..like a man gazing down an unknown path full of unknown perils. C. Allen Fear of the 'Russian peril' led to increased British activity.
A perilous or dangerous matter. Chiefly in it is peril to do. Long rare. ME.
Phrases: at one's peril taking the risk or responsibility of the consequences; esp. in warnings, referring to the risk incurred by disregard. at peril of = in peril of below. in peril of liable or exposed to (an imminent fate, arch. a cause of danger). in peril of doing liable to incur loss or injury by doing. in peril of one's life liable to imminent risk of death. in peril to do = in peril of doing above. on one's peril, to one's peril = at one's peril above. yellow peril: see YELLOW adjective.
Comb.: peril point Economics (chiefly US) a critical threshold below which a tariff may not be reduced without harming the domestic economy.
b. verb trans. Infl. -ll-, -l-. = IMPERIL. M16.

Maxwell, James Clerk (sh)




born June 13, 1831, Edinburgh, Scot.
died Nov. 5, 1879, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Eng.

Scottish physicist.

He published his first scientific paper at age 14, entered the University of Edinburgh at 16, and graduated from Cambridge University. He taught at Aberdeen University, King's College London, and Cambridge (from 1871), where he supervised the building of Cavendish Laboratory. His most revolutionary achievement was his demonstration that light is an electromagnetic wave, and he originated the concept of electromagnetic radiation. His field equations (see Maxwell's equations) paved the way for Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity. He established the Nature of Saturn's rings, did important work on colour perception, and produced the kinetic theory of gases. His ideas formed the basis for quantum mechanics and ultimately for the modern theory of the structure of atoms and molecules.