Boy Scouts See scouting
boyar \bo-'yar\ Any male member of the upper class of medieval Rus¬ sian society and state administration. In Kievan Rus (10th-12th centuries) the boyars belonged to the prince’s retinue, holding posts in the army and civil administration and advising the prince in matters of state through a boyar council, or duma. In the 13th-14th centuries the boyars constituted a privileged class of rich landowners in northeastern Russia. In the 15th- 17th centuries the boyars of Muscovy ruled the country along with the grand prince (later the czar) and legislated through the boyar council. Their importance declined in the 17th century, and the title was abolished by Peter I in the early 18th century.
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boycott ► Bradlee I 263
boycott Collective and organized ostracism applied in labour, economic, political, or social relations to protest and punish practices considered unfair. The tactic was popularized by Charles Stewart Parnell to protest high rents and land evictions in Ireland in 1880 by the estate manager Charles C. Boycott (b. 1832—d. 1897). Boycotts are principally used by labour organizations to win improved wages and working conditions or by consumers to pressure companies to change their hiring, labour, environ¬ mental, or investment practices. U.S. law distinguishes between primary boycotts, which consist of the refusal by employees to purchase the goods or services of their employers, and secondary boycotts, which involve attempts to induce third parties to refuse to patronize the employer. The latter type of boycott is illegal in most states. Boycotts were used as a tac¬ tic in the U.S. civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s and also have been applied to influence the conduct of multinational corporations.
Boyer \bwa-'ya\, Charles (b. Aug. 28, 1897, Figeac, France—d. Aug. 26, 1978, Phoenix, Ariz., U.S.) French-U.S. actor. After earning a phi¬ losophy degree from the Sorbonne, he made his stage debut in Paris in 1920. He became a popular romantic leading man in French theatre and film, and his rich, accented voice and suave manner made him an inter¬ national star. His first successful U.S. film, Private Worlds (1935), was followed by such films as Algiers (1938) and Gaslight (1944).
Boyle, Kay (b. Feb. 19, 1902, St. Paul, Minn., U.S.—d. Dec. 27, 1992, Mill Valley, Calif.) U.S. writer. Boyle lived in Europe during the 1920s and ’30s. Later she served as a European correspondent for The New Yorker (1946-53). Her writing is noted for its elegant style and consis¬ tently leftist stance. Her novels, which include Plagued by the Nightin¬ gale (1931) and Generation Without Farewell (1960), are less highly regarded than her short stories, which include “The White Horses of Vienna,” “Keep Your Pity,” and “Defeat.”
Boyle, Robert (b. Jan. 25, 1627, Lismore Castle, County Waterford, Ire.—d. Dec. 31, 1691, London, Eng.) Irish-born English chemist and natural philosopher. The son of Richard Boyle, the “Great Earl of Cork” (1566-1643), he settled at Oxford in 1654 and, with his assistant Robert Hooke, began his pioneering experiments on the properties of GASes, including those expressed in Boyle’s law (see gas laws). He demonstrated the physical characteristics of air, showing that it is necessary in com¬ bustion, respiration, and sound transmission. In The Sceptical Chymist (1661) he attacked Aristotle’s theory of the four elements (earth, air, fire, and water), espousing a corpuscular view of matter that presaged the modern theory of chemical elements. A founding member of the Royal Society of London, he achieved great renown in his lifetime. His brother Roger Boyle, earl of Orrery (1621-79), was a general under Oliver Crom¬ well but eventually helped secure Ireland for Charles II.
Boyne, Battle of the (July 1690) Victory in Ireland for William III of England, a Protestant, over the former king James II, a Roman Catholic. James was attempting, with the help of the French and the Irish, to regain his throne. In this battle, fought on the banks of the River Boyne, some 35,000 men under William defeated about 21,000 of James’s troops, forc¬ ing James to flee the country. The battle is celebrated in Northern Ireland as a victory for the Protestant cause.
boysenberry Very large bramble fruit, usually considered, along with the loganberry and the youngberry, a variety of blackberry ( Rubus ursi- nus). The dark, reddish-black fruit is especially valued for canning and preserving. It is grown chiefly in the southern and southwestern U.S. and on the Pacific Coast from southern California into Oregon. It was devel¬ oped in the early 1920s by Rudolph Boysen (1895-1950) of Napa, Cal.
BP PLC formerly Anglo-Persian Oil Co., Ltd.,British Petro¬ leum Co. PLC, and BP Amoco British petrochemical corporation. Formed in 1909 as the Anglo-Persian Oil Co., Ltd., to finance an oil-field concession granted by the Iranian government to William Knox D'Arcy, it became one of the largest oil companies in the world, with oil fields and refineries in Alaska and the North Sea. The British government was for many years BP’s largest single stockholder, but by the late 1980s it had turned over the company to private ownership. In 1987 BP consolidated its U.S. interests by acquiring the Standard Oil Co. In 1998 it merged with Amoco (formerly Standard Oil of Indiana) to form BP-Amoco. In addition to oil and natural gas, it produces chemicals, plastics, and syn¬ thetic fibres. Its headquarters are in London.
Brabant \'bra-bant\ Old duchy, northwestern Europe. Located in what is now the southern part of The Netherlands and central and northern Bel¬
gium, the region in the 9th century ad was part of the kingdom of Lothar- ingia. In the late 12th century it became independent; it finally passed to the house of Burgundy in 1430. Inherited by the Habsburgs in 1477, it became a centre of culture and commerce (see Antwerp; Brussels). The northern section of Brabant took part in a revolt from Spain, and in 1609 it was awarded to the United Provinces, while the southern section remained part of Spanish (later Austrian) Netherlands. The northern sec¬ tion now forms the Dutch province of North Brabant. The southern sec¬ tion eventually became part of Belgium and is divided between the provinces of Flemish Brabant and Walloon Brabant.