Honorary American citizenship

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.

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hands up

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.)

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Roman salute

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."

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tortoise

Noun (ancient Roman military term): a battle tactic in which a squad of soldiers close ranks into a tight square and link their shields over their heads and at their sides all around, creating a nearly impenetrable formation which can advance and engage enemy positions at close range without taking heavy casualties.

During the battle at the Moon Gate in Alexandria, Caesar ordered the deployment of the tortoise formation to neutralize the enemy ballistas.

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de-orbit

Verb: To descend (as in a spacecraft) from orbit around the Earth, or other planetary body.

"Following their mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, the crew of the Space Shuttle successfully executed their de-orbit procedure and landed safely at the Kennedy Space Center."

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Time barrier

Noun: the theoretical limit of real-time velocity in the known universe, at which point positive time halts, and the mass of any object traveling at that speed become infinite and incapable of any increase in velocity.

"In 1994, Dr. Miguel Alcubierre formulated a hypothetical propulsion system that could, in theory, break the time barrier."

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Essex

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."

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