3rd World: A term first coined in 1952 to distinguish nations that aligned themselves with neither the West nor with the Soviet Bloc during the Cold War. Today, the term is frequently used to denote nations with a low UN Human Development Index (HDI).

Alan Sheperd: First U.S. astronaut in space.

Antidote: Used for healing food poisoning.

Arms Race: A competition between two or more countries for military supremacy. Each party competes to produce larger numbers of weapons, greater armies, or superior military technology

ARPAnet: Advanced Research Projects Agency Network

Bahia de Cochinas:  CIA sponsored invasion of Cuba, U.S. betrayed soldiers and denied them air support.

Big Boss: Rank entitled to Naked Snake, for being "above" the boss

Bikini Atoll: A nuclear test site located in the Pacific Ocean.

Bipedal: Something with two legs.

Book of Genesis: Genesis contains the historical presupposition and basis of the national religious ideas and institutions of Israel, and serves as an introduction to its history, laws, and customs.

Brezhnev: Leonid Brezhnev, leader of Soviet Union in 1977

Brezhnev Faction: Faction in Russia seeking to overthrow Khrushchev and replace him with Brezhnev.

Bullet Bees: Bees that The Pain shoots from his mouth, work like bullets.

Camouflage: A method which allows an otherwise visible organism or object to remain indiscernible from the surrounding environment

C3: A type of explosive that can be molded and shaped into any form.

CAVOK: Cloud and Visibility OK.

CCCP: Translates to USSR ( Union of Soviet Socialist Republics).

CIA: Central Intelligence Agency.

C Med: Used for treating colds.

Cold War: The protracted geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle that emerged after World War II between the global superpowers of the Soviet Union and the United States .

Cosmonaut: A Russian Astronaut.

CQC: Close Quarters Combat. A style of fighting that was created by The Boss and Snake.

Cuban Missile Crisis: A term in reference to the tense confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States regarding the Soviet deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba.

Davy Crocket: A recoilless nuclear warhead, launched manually from a mobile launching device.

DCI: Director of Central Intelligence.

Disinfectant: Used to disinfect wounds.

D Med: Used for treating stomach aches.

Eastern Bloc: Made up of the USSR, Poland, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania.

EOD: Explosive Ordnance Disposal.

ESP: Extra Sensory Perception.

Extremist Faction: Faction in soviet Russia seeking to take control of the government.

Flora and Fauna: Plants and animals.

Galena Base: Alaskan air base.

GRU: Roughly translated to English as 'Main Intelligence Directorate' (Russian).

Gulags: Has come to be used as a term representing the system of Soviet slave labor.

ICBM: Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.

ICU: Intensive Care Unit.

IRBM: Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missiles.

Iron Curtain: A Western term made famous by Winston Churchill, in reference to the boundary which symbolically, ideologically, and physically divided Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II until the end of the Cold War

KGB: Roughly translated to English as 'State Security Committee'(Russian CIA)

"Kiss of death": A lip stick EVA uses. Concealed within the capsule is a single shot projectile.

Kremlin: The capitol house of Russia.

Kuwabara: Translated from Japanese meaning 'mulberry field' supposedly mulberry trees cannot be struck by lightning. When said twice it is believed to ward off lightning.

Landing at Normandy: D-Day

Langley: CIA Headquarters

Liquid Fuel: Combustible, energy generating molecules harnessed to create mechanical energy.

Mach: ratio of the speed of an object or flow relative to the speed of sound in the medium through which it is traveling.

Mauser: EVA's weapon of choice, also known as the 'Broom Handle'.

Mercury Program: The program in which the U.S. secretly sent The Boss into space.

Microfilm: A device used for storing data.

MiG: Mikoyan Design Bureau, named after the design bureau that created it.

Medium: Someone who is a 'medium' with the spirit world (can speak with the dead).

Mole: A spy who generically works for an enemy nation within the government.

Nevada: 'snow' in Spanish. The Boss describes it as "white as snow, covered in snow".

NSA: National Security Agency.

Ointment: Used to treat burns.

Para-Medic: A medic who comes in by parachute.

Patriot: The Boss' automatic assault rifle, it can hold an infinite amount of ammunition

Peoples Liberation Army: Serves as the military of the People's Republic of China (PRC)

Potassium Cyanide: A highly toxic substance, potassium cyanide or KCN is the potassium salt of hydrogen cyanide or hydrocyanic acid. It was used as rat poisoning until the 1970s. Naked Snake uses it to go into a state of 'fake death' although this would not actually work in real life.

Rendezvous: Meeting point.

RTB: Return to Base

SAA: The Colt Single Action Army handgun is a single action revolver holding 6 rounds of ammunition, designed for US cavalry and adopted in 1873.

Sadist: Someone who derives pleasure from making others suffer.

SAS: Special Air Service (British).

Shagohod: Means 'step-walker' in Russian and 'the treading behemoth' in English.

SIS: Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), a British intelligence agency.

Semipalatinsk: The area in which the majority of Soviet nuclear testing was conducted. Located on the steppe in northern Kazakhstan.

Serum: Used for treating poison through the bloodstream (venom).

Sleeper Agent: Sleeper agents are spies who are placed in a target country or organization, not to undertake an immediate mission, but rather to act as potential assets if activated at a later point in time.

Soviet Union: Current day Russia.

Spetsnaz: General term meaning 'Special Forces' in the Russian language. Specifically means 'Special Purpose Units'. Used in Russian to describe Special Forces of any country, used in English to describe Russian special forces.

Splint: Used to hold broken bones into place.

Sputnik: The first man-made satellite launched into orbit.

SS-1C: Mobile missile ballistic system, created by Granin

Styptic: Used to stop blood flow from a wound.

Suture Kit: Used to stitch up deep wounds.

SVD: Snaiperskaya Vintovka Dragunova.

The Great Patriotic War: World War 2

TNT: Trinitrotoluene.

To Defect: The act of giving up allegiance to one political entity in exchange for allegiance to another

Tselinoyarsk: Nicknamed the "Virgin Cliffs". It is 3 miles west of Sokolov's Research Facility, OKB-754.

Vostok Rocket: An A1 type rocket devised and created by Sokolov. Consisted of a multi engine cluster and was used to bring the first manned space shuttle into orbit.

WIG: Wing in the ground effect, a ground effect vehicle.