A-Z Browse

  • C (chemical element)
    a nonmetallic chemical element in Group 14 (IVa) of the periodic table. Although widely distributed in nature, carbon is not particularly plentiful (it makes up only about 0.025 percent of the Earth’s crust); yet it forms more compounds than all the other elements combined. In 1961 the isotope carbon-12 was selected to replace oxygen as the standard relative to which the atomic weights of a...
  • c (physics)
    The speed of light...
  • C (unit of energy measurement)
    unit of electric charge in the metre-kilogram-second-ampere system, the basis of the SI system of physical units. The coulomb is defined as the quantity of electricity transported in one second by a current of one ampere. Named for the 18th–19th-century French physicist Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, it is approximately equivalent to 6.24 × 1018 electrons...
  • C (computer programming language)
    computer programming language developed in the early 1970s by American computer scientist Dennis M. Ritchie at Bell Laboratories (formerly AT&T Bell Laboratories). C was designed as a minimalist language to be used in writing operating systems for minicomputers, such as the DEC PDP 7, which had very limited memories compared with the mainframe computers of the period. The...
  • °C
    scale based on 0° for the freezing point of water and 100° for the boiling point of water. Invented in 1742 by the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius, it is sometimes called the centigrade scale because of the 100-degree interval between the defined points. The following formula can be used to convert a temperature from its representation on the Fahrenheit (°...
  • C (unit of radiological measurement)
    in physics, unit of activity of a quantity of a radioactive substance, named in honour of the French physicist Marie Curie. One curie (1 Ci) is equal to 3.7 × 1010 becquerel (Bq). In 1975 the becquerel replaced the curie as the official radiation unit in the International System of Units (SI)....
  • C band (frequency band)
    ...It is similar in principle to Nexrad but is a shorter-range system since it has to observe dangerous weather phenomena only in the vicinity of an airport. It operates from 5.60 to 5.65 GHz (C band) to avoid interference with the lower frequencies of Nexrad and ASR systems....
  • C cell (anatomy)
    Calcitonin is a protein containing 32 amino acids that is synthesized by and secreted from special cells called parafollicular cells (or C cells), which lie between the thyroid follicular cells in the thyroid gland. During embryonal development, parafollicular cells migrate into the substance of the thyroid gland from a fetal structure called a branchial pouch....
  • C clef (music)
    The C clef, or movable C clef, determines the position of middle C. It is commonly found in two principal positions: as an alto clef (standard for the viola), in which the middle line carries C:...
  • C fibre (nerve fibre)
    ...therefore, they are associated with the sharp, well-localized pain that first occurs. These fibres are thinly myelinated and are activated by mechanical and thermal stimuli. Smaller, unmyelinated C fibres respond to chemical, mechanical, and thermal stimuli and are associated with the lingering, poorly localized sensation that follows the first, quick sensation of pain....
  • C horizon (soil type)
    Below the A and B horizons is the C horizon, a zone of little or no humus accumulation or soil structure development. The C horizon often is composed of unconsolidated parent material from which the A and B horizons have formed. It lacks the characteristic features of the A and B horizons and may be either relatively unweathered or deeply weathered. At some depth below the A, B, and C horizons......
  • C ring (astronomy)
    ...in optical depth, with an average value of 0.1. The A ring extends from 2.02 to 2.27 Saturn radii and has optical depths of 0.4 to 1.0. Interior to the B ring lies the third major ring, the C ring (sometimes known as the crepe ring), at 1.23 to 1.52 Saturn radii, with optical depths near 0.1....
  • C&O (American railway)
    American railroad company established in 1868 with the consolidation of two smaller lines, the Virginia Central and the Covington and Ohio. It subsequently acquired a number of other lines, culminating in its merger with the Pere Marquette Railroad Company in 1947....
  • C&S (American company)
    During the 1930s two other airline companies arose that would one day merge with Delta: Chicago and Southern Air Lines, Inc. (C&S), and Northeast Airlines, Inc. C&S was founded in 1933 as Pacific Seaboard Air Lines. In 1934 it secured a U.S. mail-carrying route from Chicago to New Orleans and was thus incorporated on Dec. 3, 1935, as Chicago and Southern Air Lines. Expanding its rout...
  • C++ (computer language)
    The C++ language, developed by Bjarne Stroustrup at AT&T in the mid-1980s, extended C by adding objects to it while preserving the efficiency of C programs. It has been one of the most important languages for both education and industrial programming. Large parts of many operating systems, such as the Microsoft Corporation’s Windows 98, were written in C++....
  • C-141 (United States aircraft)
    ...of World War II vintage that carried out the Berlin airlift of 1948–49 had a capacity of about four tons (3,640 kilograms) and a maximum range of 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometres). The U.S. C-141 jet transport, which went into service in 1965, had a 45-ton (40,900-kilogram) capacity and a range of 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometres); it could take an average payload of 24 tons from the U.S.......
  • C-17 Globemaster III (aircraft)
    ...transporters have special features such as short-takeoff-and-landing capability, loading ramps, airdrop capability, and paratroop doors. In the United States, Boeing builds the four-turbofan C-17 Globemaster III airlifter. Airbus Military, a subsidiary of Airbus Industrie, manages a multinational group of leading manufacturers in the development of the four-turboprop A400M transport for......
  • C-3 cycle (chemistry)
    ...synthesize all their cell constituents using carbon dioxide as the carbon source. The most common pathways for synthesizing organic compounds from carbon dioxide are the reductive pentose phosphate (Calvin) cycle, the reductive tricarboxylic acid cycle, and the acetyl-CoA pathway (see photosynthesis: The process of photosynthesis: carbon fixation and reduction). The Calvin cycle, elucida...
  • C-3 pathway (chemistry)
    ...synthesize all their cell constituents using carbon dioxide as the carbon source. The most common pathways for synthesizing organic compounds from carbon dioxide are the reductive pentose phosphate (Calvin) cycle, the reductive tricarboxylic acid cycle, and the acetyl-CoA pathway (see photosynthesis: The process of photosynthesis: carbon fixation and reduction). The Calvin cycle, elucida...
  • C-4 cycle (chemistry)
    The most significant variation in the internal structure of grass leaves involves anatomical differences associated with two photosynthetic pathways: the pathway that synthesizes a four-carbon (C-4) compound and that which synthesizes a three-carbon (C-3) compound. The chief distinction between these two pathways is the presence of specialized, thick-walled photosynthetic cells located in......
  • C-4 Pathway (chemistry)
    The most significant variation in the internal structure of grass leaves involves anatomical differences associated with two photosynthetic pathways: the pathway that synthesizes a four-carbon (C-4) compound and that which synthesizes a three-carbon (C-3) compound. The chief distinction between these two pathways is the presence of specialized, thick-walled photosynthetic cells located in......
  • C-47 (aircraft)
    U.S. military transport aircraft that served in all theatres during World War II and continued in service long afterward. It was used to haul cargo, transport troops, drop paratroops, tow gliders, and as a flying ambulance....
  • C-5 (aircraft)
    ...proposals to build a large transporter for the U.S. Air Force. Lockheed and engine manufacturer General Electric won the contract and developed the world’s largest aircraft at that time, the C-5 Galaxy. Boeing and its engine partner Pratt & Whitney, however, embarked on an ambitious undertaking to develop an aircraft capable of carrying as many as 500 passengers. The end product w...
  • C-54 (aircraft)
    Meanwhile, Douglas had introduced the DC-4. Although it was unpressurized, it possessed a comparable performance to the Stratoliner and could carry more passengers. Also, the DC-4 had a tricycle landing gear (unlike the Stratoliner’s conventional tail wheel), which facilitated boarding of passengers, improved the pilots’ view of the runway and surrounding airport environment, and enh...
  • C-5A (aircraft)
    ...Coast to South Vietnam in 43 hours and evacuate wounded back to the East Coast (10,000 miles) in less than a day. By 1970 these capabilities were dwarfed by the new “global logistics” C-5A, with payloads up to 130 tons and ranges up to 5,500 miles. It is estimated that 10 C-5As could have handled the entire Berlin airlift, which employed more than 140 of the then-available......
  • c-axis (crystallography)
    ...near 0° C, the ice crystal commonly takes the form of sheets or planes of oxygen atoms joined in a series of open hexagonal rings. The axis parallel to the hexagonal rings is termed the c-axis and coincides with the optical axis of the crystal structure....
  • C-class asteroid
    Among the larger asteroids (those with diameters greater than about 25 km), the C-class asteroids are the most common, accounting for about 65 percent by number. This is followed, in decreasing order, by the S class, at 15 percent; the D class, at 8 percent; and the P and M classes, at 4 percent each. The remaining classes constitute less than 4 percent of the population by number. In fact,......
  • C-Fern (trade name)
    ...bred and are maintained in culture collections, and detailed instructions on creating new mutant lines have been developed. These are made available to researchers and teachers under the trade name C-Fern....
  • C-Group culture (ancient people)
    ...he named Yam, whence he obtained a Pygmy whom he brought to Pepi II. Toward the end of Harkhuf’s career, the Nubian chiefs united, imperiling the Aswān expeditions. A new population (called C Group by archaeologists) inhabited Wawat, while a group known in the present day as the Karmah culture occupied Cush. During the First Intermediate Period many Nubians served as mercenaries i...
  • c-L-myc oncogene (biology)
    ...prefixes, suffixes, and superscripts provide further delineation. About 60 human oncogenes have been identified. Breast cancer has been linked to the c-neu oncogene and lung cancer to the c-L-myc gene. Oncogenes arising in members of the ras gene family are found in 20 percent of all human cancers, including lung, colon, and pancreatic....
  • c-neu oncogene (biology)
    ...for cell or chromosome; additional prefixes, suffixes, and superscripts provide further delineation. About 60 human oncogenes have been identified. Breast cancer has been linked to the c-neu oncogene and lung cancer to the c-L-myc gene. Oncogenes arising in members of the ras gene family are found in 20 percent of all human cancers, including lung, colon, and......
  • c-number theory (physics)
    ...forces, which represent the mechanical effect of matter immediately adjoining that along the surface S of the volume V being considered. Cauchy formalized in 1822 a basic assumption of continuum mechanics that such surface forces could be represented as a stress vector T, defined so that TdS is an element of force acting over the area......
  • C.A. Pillsbury & Co. (American company)
    former American flour miller and food products manufacturer that was acquired by its rival, General Mills, in 2001. Both companies were headquarted in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Through its long history in the baking-goods industry, its cookbooks, and its promotional baking contests—notably the annual Pillsbury Bake-Off—Pillsbury became identified with home baking. One of the company...
  • C.B. (British knighthood)
    order of British knighthood established by King George I in 1725, conferred as a reward either for military service or for exemplary civilian merit. Like most chivalric orders, it has antecedents that reach far before the actual date of its founding. Bathing as a purification ritual was probably introduced in a religious context with knighthood in the 11th century, but it has be...
  • C.B.C. Sales Film Corporation (American company)
    American motion-picture studio that became a major Hollywood studio under its longtime president, Harry Cohn....
  • C.B.E. (British order of knighthood)
    British order of knighthood instituted in 1917 by King George V to reward both civilian and military wartime service, although currently the honour is bestowed for meritorious service to the government in peace as well as for gallantry in wartime. In 1918 a separate military division of the order was created....
  • C.F.C. (Roman Catholicism)
    The Congregation of the Brothers of the Christian Schools of Ireland (C.F.C.) was founded in 1802 in Waterford, Ire., by Edmund Ignatius Rice, a merchant of that city. Rice established the order to serve the needs of poor Catholic boys in his native land, where the English laws of the period prohibiting Catholic schools had reduced great numbers of Catholics to poverty and ignorance. The......
  • C.H. (British peerage)
    British honorary institution founded in 1917 by King George V. The only rank is that of Companion, awarded to men and women who have rendered conspicuous national service, especially in the advancement of culture. Membership of the Order is limited to 65, although foreigners can become honorary Companions. The prime ministers of Commonwealth countries are allowed to make nominat...
  • C.M. (Roman Catholic society)
    a Roman Catholic society of priests and brothers founded at Paris in 1625 by St. Vincent de Paul for the purpose of preaching missions to the poor country people and training young men in seminaries for the priesthood. Following the congregation’s approval by Pope Urban VIII in 1632, Vincent took possession of the former priory of Saint-Lazare at Paris,...
  • C.M. (literature)
    a metre used in English ballads that is equivalent to ballad metre, though ballad metre is often less regular and more conversational than common metre. Whereas ballad metre usually has a variable number of unaccented syllables, common metre consists of regular iambic lines with an equal number of stressed and unstressed syllables. The song “Amazing Grace” by John ...
  • C.M.G. (British knighthood)
    British order of knighthood founded in 1818 by the Prince Regent, later King George IV, to commemorate the British protectorate over the Ionian islands (now in Greece) and Malta, which came under British rule in 1814....
  • C.N.M.
    ...a variety of economic and social factors spurred a renewed interest in the concerned, personal care provided by midwives and gave rise, in the United States, to the profession of nurse-midwife. A certified nurse-midwife (C.N.M.) is a registered nurse who has received professional training in midwifery and been certified by the American College of Nurse-Midwives. C.N.M.’s accept only thos...
  • C.P. (religious order)
    a religious order of men in the Roman Catholic church, founded by Paolo Francesco Danei (now known as St. Paul of the Cross) in Italy in 1720 to spread devotion to the sufferings and death on the Cross of Jesus Christ....
  • C.R. Walgreen & Company (American company)
    ...his return to the United States, he again worked in Chicago as a pharmacist. He bought his first store in 1902 and established C.R. Walgreen & Company in 1909. In 1916 the name was changed to Walgreen Company. By the time of Walgreen’s death, more than 490 stores were operated by the company....
  • C.S.A. (historical nation, North America)
    in the American Civil War, the government of 11 Southern states that seceded from the Union in 1860–61, carrying on all the affairs of a separate government and conducting a major war until defeated in the spring of 1865....
  • C.S.S. (religious order)
    a Roman Catholic society of men founded in 1703 at Paris by Claude-François Poullart des Places. Originally intended only for the training of seminarians, the congregation gradually took an active part in missionary work. Suppressed by the French Revolution, it was restored under Napoleon, but persecution kept it weak until 1848, when the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary merged ...
  • C.SS.R. (religious order)
    a community of Roman Catholic priests and lay brothers founded by St. Alfonso Maria de’Liguori at Scala, Italy, a small town near Naples, in 1732. The infant community met an obstacle in the royal court of Naples, which tried to exercise complete control over the order. Only after steps were taken to settle in the Papal States and after papal approval was granted by Pope Benedict X...
  • C.V.O. (British knighthood)
    British order of knighthood instituted by Queen Victoria in 1896 to reward personal services rendered the monarch. As it is a family order, conferment of this honour is solely at the discretion of the British sovereign....
  • C1 (protein)
    ...antibodies must be bound to antigens (the antigen-antibody complex mentioned above). Free antibodies do not activate complement. To initiate the cascade, the first complement protein in the pathway, C1, must interact with a bound immunoglobulin. Specifically, C1 interacts with the tail of the Y portion of the bound antibody molecule—i.e., the nonspecific part of the antibody that does no...
  • C2 (military technology)
    ...Second is the scouting process, which gathers information by reconnaissance, surveillance, cryptanalysis, and other means and delivers it to the tactical commander. Third is command itself—or command and control (C2) in modern parlance—which assimilates the information, decides which actions are called for, and directs forces to act accordingly....
  • C3 (protein)
    ...embedded in the surface membranes of invading microorganisms and does not require the presence of antibodies. Both pathways converge to activate the pivotal protein of the complement system, called C3....
  • C3 cycle (chemistry)
    ...synthesize all their cell constituents using carbon dioxide as the carbon source. The most common pathways for synthesizing organic compounds from carbon dioxide are the reductive pentose phosphate (Calvin) cycle, the reductive tricarboxylic acid cycle, and the acetyl-CoA pathway (see photosynthesis: The process of photosynthesis: carbon fixation and reduction). The Calvin cycle, elucida...
  • C3b (protein)
    ...activated. The classical and alternative complement pathways converge here, at the cleavage of the C3 molecule, which, once split, produces C3a and the large active form of C3, the fragment called C3b (see illustration)....
  • C4 cycle (chemistry)
    The most significant variation in the internal structure of grass leaves involves anatomical differences associated with two photosynthetic pathways: the pathway that synthesizes a four-carbon (C-4) compound and that which synthesizes a three-carbon (C-3) compound. The chief distinction between these two pathways is the presence of specialized, thick-walled photosynthetic cells located in......
  • C4 pathway (chemistry)
    The most significant variation in the internal structure of grass leaves involves anatomical differences associated with two photosynthetic pathways: the pathway that synthesizes a four-carbon (C-4) compound and that which synthesizes a three-carbon (C-3) compound. The chief distinction between these two pathways is the presence of specialized, thick-walled photosynthetic cells located in......
  • C60 (carbon cluster)
    In the 1985 paper describing their work, the discoverers chose the whimsical name buckminsterfullerene for C60, after the American architect R. Buckminster Fuller, whose geodesic dome designs have a structure similar to that atom. The discovery of the unique structure of fullerenes, or buckyballs, as this class of carbon compounds came to be known, opened up an entirely new branch of......
  • Ca (chemical element)
    chemical element, one of the alkaline-earth metals of main Group 2 (IIa) of the periodic table. It is the most abundant metallic element in the human body and the fifth most abundant element in the Earth’s crust....
  • CA (accounting)
    ...The audit of a company’s statements is ordinarily performed by professionally qualified, independent accountants who bear the title of certified public accountant (CPA) in the United States and chartered accountant (CA) in the United Kingdom and many other countries with British-based accounting traditions. Their primary task is to investigate the company’s accounting data and met...
  • Ca’ da Mosto, Alvise (Italian navigator)
    Venetian traveler and nobleman, who wrote one of the earliest known accounts of western Africa....
  • Ca’ d’Oro (building, Venice, Italy)
    ...(13th to early 14th century) pointed and Moorish-looking and those of the 15th century adorned with fantastic trefoil and quatrefoil tracery. In the most ornate late Gothic palaces, such as the Ca’ d’Oro (1425–c. 1440), the central panel extends across the whole facade and is repeated on two upper stories. In the late 15th century, Renaissance forms began to influenc...
  • Ca’ Grande (building, Venice, Italy)
    ...panel extends across the whole facade and is repeated on two upper stories. In the late 15th century, Renaissance forms began to influence palace architecture, as in the Palazzo Corner, also called Ca’ Grande (c. 1533–c. 1545, designed by Jacopo Sansovino), and the Palazzo Grimani (c. 1556, by Michele Sanmicheli, completed 1575). Buildings such as these introd...
  • Ça ira (work by Freiligrath)
    ...poems Glaubensbekenntnis (1844; “Statement of Conscience”). His poetry was banned, and he was forced to leave Germany for Belgium and Switzerland and then England. His poems in Ça ira (1846; “This Will Be”) and Neuere politische und soziale Gedichte (1849 and 1851; “Newer Political and Social Poetry”), celebrating the Revolut...
  • Ca Mau Peninsula (peninsula, Vietnam)
    peninsula, the southernmost projection of Vietnam, lying between the South China Sea on the east and the Gulf of Thailand on the west, with drainage to each. The flat, triangular peninsula, with lengths ranging from 110 to 130 miles (180 to 210 km), averages about 7 feet (2 m) above sea level and owes its configuration largely to shore deposits of the Mekong River, which are also responsible for t...
  • Ca River (river, Asia)
    river rising in the Loi Mountains of Laos and flowing southeastward through northern Vietnam to enter the Gulf of Tonkin near the city of Vinh after a course of 380 miles (612 km). The coastal riverine lowlands have relief features similar to those of the Red River; wide, level stretches of alluvium predominate with small undulation. There is a high population density in the river’s delta r...
  • Ca, Song (river, Asia)
    river rising in the Loi Mountains of Laos and flowing southeastward through northern Vietnam to enter the Gulf of Tonkin near the city of Vinh after a course of 380 miles (612 km). The coastal riverine lowlands have relief features similar to those of the Red River; wide, level stretches of alluvium predominate with small undulation. There is a high population density in the river’s delta r...
  • CA storage (agriculture)
    Fruit life can be extended further by both refrigeration and controlled atmosphere (CA) storage in which oxygen is kept at about 5 percent and carbon dioxide at 1 to 3 percent, while temperature is held at a level best suited to the particular fruit. So-called CA storage is common today for apples and pears and is being adapted to other fruits. Controlled atmosphere and refrigeration in......
  • CA-125 (molecule)
    ...including a pelvic exam. On rare occasions a Pap smear may detect an early ovarian tumour, but this test is far more accurate at detecting early cervical cancers. A blood test for a molecule called CA-125 may also be used to detect cancer, but several different cancers and other less-serious disorders can also cause elevated CA-125 levels. Ovarian tumours may be detected by means of imaging......
  • caa gazu (beverage)
    ...roasting; the branches are next heated on an arch of poles over a fire; and the dried leaves, placed in pits in the earth, are ground into coarse powder, producing a maté called caa gazu, or yerva do polos. In Paraguay and parts of Argentina the leaves, with midribs removed before roasting, are made into a maté called caa-míri.......
  • caa-cuys (beverage)
    ...called caa gazu, or yerva do polos. In Paraguay and parts of Argentina the leaves, with midribs removed before roasting, are made into a maté called caa-míri. Caa-cuys, a Paraguayan maté of superior quality, is made from leaf buds. In a newer method, similar to the Chinese procedure for drying tea leaves, the leaves are heated in large cast-iron....
  • caa-míri (beverage)
    ...producing a maté called caa gazu, or yerva do polos. In Paraguay and parts of Argentina the leaves, with midribs removed before roasting, are made into a maté called caa-míri. Caa-cuys, a Paraguayan maté of superior quality, is made from leaf buds. In a newer method, similar to the Chinese procedure for drying tea leaves, the leaves are......
  • CAAC (Chinese government)
    Chinese civil air efforts were carried out solely by the state-run General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) from 1949 until the mid-1980s. In an effort to improve efficiency and service, regional airlines were then introduced in competition with the airlines operated by the CAAC. In the early 21st century the CAAC’s airline-operating responsibilities were being shifted to......
  • Caacupé (Paraguay)
    town, central Paraguay. The name Caacupé originated from the Guaraní word caaguycupé, meaning “the other side of the mountain.” Founded in 1770, the town nestles in a valley of the Altos Mountains. Although oranges, tobacco, and sugarcane grown in the hinterland are processed in the town, Caacupé i...
  • caa’ing whale (mammal)
    either of two species of small, slender toothed whales with a round, bulging forehead, a short beaklike snout, and slender, pointed flippers. Pilot whales are about 4–6 metres (13–20 feet) long and are found in all the oceans of the world except the Arctic. Males are larger than females, but both are black and some have a pale, elongated, anchor-shaped mark adornin...
  • caapi (narcotic)
    Another substance used in South America, especially in the Amazon basin, is a drink called ayahuasca, caapi, or yajé, which is produced from the stem bark of the vines Banisteriopsis caapi and B. inebrians. Indians who use it claim that its virtues include healing powers and the power to induce clairvoyance, among others. This drink......
  • Caapor (people)
    ...expressed in these adornments. The Carib tribes of the Guianas and some Tupí were outstanding in featherwork. The plumed mantles of the Tupinamba, the delicate and elaborate adornments of the Caapor of Maranhão state, and the rich and varied ones of the Mundurukú are much celebrated....
  • caatinga (plant)
    Caatinga (white forest) refers to the generally stunted, somewhat sparse, and often thorny vegetation of the dry interior of northeastern Brazil. Trees, leafless for long periods and able to resist drought, also are characteristic, particularly in the basin of the São Francisco River. Dominant species are leguminous trees, particularly catingueiras (Caesalpinia),......
  • Caazapá (Paraguay)
    town, southern Paraguay. Founded in 1607 by Friar Bolaños, the town is situated on the edge of the westward extension of the Brazilian Highlands, including the Cordillera (mountains) de Ybytyruzú. Caazapá is a lumbering and agricultural centre, and tanneries are also located there. The town has a regional hospital, various educational institutions including ...
  • cab (vehicle)
    chauffeur-driven automobile available for hire to carry passengers between any two points within a city or its suburbs for a fare determined by a meter or zone system or a flat rate. The taxicab is named after the taximeter, an instrument invented by Wilhelm Bruhn in 1891 that automatically recorded the distance traveled and/or the time consumed, thus enabling the fare to be accurately measured. ...
  • CAB (United States government agency)
    The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), which operated from 1938 to 1984, was involved in setting interstate routes as well as regulating fares for the commercial airlines. With the deregulation of the airline industry, however, the role of the CAB was much diminished, and its residual functions were assumed by the Department of Transportation....
  • Cabaiguán (Cuba)
    city, central Cuba. It is an important manufacturing and commercial centre for surrounding agricultural and pastoral lands known primarily for their sugarcane, although tobacco and fruits are grown and cattle are raised. Sugar refining is the principal industrial activity in the city, which lies on the central highway and a major railroad. Pop. (2002) 30,135....
  • cabal (politics)
    a private organization or party engaged in secret intrigues; also, the intrigues themselves. In England the word was used during the 17th century to describe any secret or extralegal council of the king, especially the foreign committee of the Privy Council. The term took on its present invidious meaning from a group of five ministers chosen in 1667 by King Charles II (Clifford, Arlington, Bucking...
  • Cabal and Love (play by Schiller)
    ...von Wolzogen, whose sons had been fellow students of his and who invited him to stay at her house at Bauerbach in Thuringia. There he finished his third tragedy, Kabale und Liebe (1784; Cabal and Love). In this work about the love of a young aristocrat for a girl of humble origin, Schiller’s innate sense of drama comes to the fore. The appeal of its theme (the revolt of......
  • Cabala (Jewish mysticism)
    esoteric Jewish mysticism as it appeared in the 12th and following centuries. Kabbala has always been essentially an oral tradition in that initiation into its doctrines and practices is conducted by a personal guide to avoid the dangers inherent in mystical experiences. Esoteric Kabbala is also “tradition” inasmuch as it lays claim to secret knowledge of the unwritten Torah (divine ...
  • Cabala del cavallo Pegaseo (work by Bruno)
    ...a strong criticism of Christian ethics—particularly the Calvinistic principle of salvation by faith alone, to which Bruno opposes an exalted view of the dignity of all human activities. The Cabala del cavallo Pegaseo (1585; “Cabal of the Horse Pegasus”), similar to but more pessimistic than the previous work, includes a discussion of the relationship between t...
  • cabale (card game)
    family of card games played by one person. Solitaire was originally called (in various spellings) either patience, as it still is in England, Poland, and Germany, or cabale, as it still is in Scandinavian countries....
  • cabaletta (operatic aria)
    (from Italian cobola, “couplet”), originally an operatic aria with a simple, animated rhythm, and later a fast concluding section of a two-part operatic aria. An example of the earlier type is Le belle immagini (“The Beautiful Images”) in Christoph Gluck’s Paride ed Elena (1770). In 19th-cent...
  • Caballé, Montserrat (Spanish opera singer)
    Spanish operatic soprano, admired for her versatility and phrasing and for her performances in the operas of Giuseppe Verdi, Gaetano Donizetti, and Richard Strauss. She began her studies as a child at the Conservatorio del Liceo in Barcelona with Eugenia Kenny and later continued with Napoleone Annovazzi and Conchita Badía. In 1956 she joined the Basel Opera, in which later that year she ha...
  • caballero Cifar, El (Spanish novel)
    Chivalric romances of the Arthurian or Breton cycle, which had been circulating in translation, partially inspired Spain’s first romance of chivalry and first novel, El caballero Cifar (c. 1305; “The Knight Cifar”), based on St. Eustace, the Roman general miraculously converted to Christianity. Amadís de Gaula—the oldest known ver...
  • Caballero, Eugenio (Mexican director)
    ...Screenplay: Michael Arndt for Little Miss SunshineAdapted Screenplay: William Monahan for The DepartedCinematography: Guillermo Navarro for Pan’s LabyrinthArt Direction: Eugenio Caballero (art direction) and Pilar Revuelta (set decoration) for Pan’s LabyrinthOriginal Score: Gustavo Santaolalla for BabelOriginal Song: “I Need to Wake Up...
  • Caballero, Fernán (Spanish writer)
    Spanish writer whose novels and stories depict the language, customs, and folklore of rural Andalusia....
  • Caballero, Francisco Largo (prime minister of Spain)
    Spanish socialist leader, prominent during the Second Republic, of which he became prime minister soon after the outbreak of the civil war of 1936–39....
  • Caballero, Pedro Juan (Paraguayan captain)
    ...from the Portuguese in defending the colony from further attacks from Buenos Aires, he underestimated the nationalistic spirit of the Paraguayans. Under the leadership of the militia captains Pedro Juan Cabellero and Fulgencio Yegros, they promptly deposed the governor and declared their independence on May 14, 1811....
  • Caballero y Góngora, Antonio (Colombian archbishop)
    Educational reforms played an important role in the changing outlook of the Granadine Creoles. Archbishop Caballero y Góngora as viceroy (1782–88) made education one of his main interests. He modernized the program of studies in the schools, opened a school of mines, and initiated the botanical expedition under the able guidance of naturalist José Celestino Mutis. The new......
  • Caballo, El (Cuban athlete)
    Cuban runner who won gold medals in both the 400- and 800-metre races at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, becoming the first athlete to win both races in one Olympics....
  • Cabañas (department, El Salvador)
    Cuban runner who won gold medals in both the 400- and 800-metre races at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, becoming the first athlete to win both races in one Olympics.......
  • Cabañas Hospice (orphanage, Guadalajara, Mexico)
    ...culminated in his Guadalajara murals (1936–39), which he painted in the lecture hall of the University of Guadalajara (1936), the Governor’s Palace (1937), and the chapel of the orphanage of Cabañas Hospice (1938–39), respectively. In these murals Orozco recapitulated the historical themes he had developed at Dartmouth and in Catharsis bu...
  • Cabanatuan (Philippines)
    chartered city, central Luzon, northern Philippines, on the Pampanga River. It is the commercial centre for the eastern portion of Luzon’s central plain, which is heavily farmed in rice. An important highway junction, it is also the terminus of a rail spur line. Cabanatuan is the site of Central Luzon Polytechnic College. During World War II, U.S. and F...
  • Cabanilles, Juan Bautista José (Spanish composer)
    distinguished Spanish organist and composer for the organ. From 1665 he was organist at the Valencia cathedral, and he was ordained a priest in 1668. He apparently travelled little, although his reputation spread as far as France, where he is known to have played....
  • Cabanis (work by Alexis)
    With Cabanis (1832), a story of the age of Frederick the Great, Alexis embarked on a cycle of novels intended to bring to light forgotten but significant periods of Prussian history. He continually experimented with methods of presentation. Der Roland von Berlin (1840) portrays the struggle for power in the 15th century between the municipal authorities of Berlin-Kölln and......
  • Cabanis, Pierre-Jean-Georges (French philosopher and physiologist)
    French philosopher and physiologist noted for Rapports du physique et du moral de l’homme (1802; “Relations of the Physical and the Moral in Man”), which explained all of reality, including the psychic, mental, and moral aspects of man, in terms of a mechanistic Materialism....

Link to this article and share the full text with the readers of your Web site or blog-post.

If you think a reference to this article on "" will enhance your Web site, blog-post, or any other web-content, then feel free to link to this article, and your readers will gain full access to the full article, even if they do not subscribe to our service.

You may want to use the HTML code fragment provided below.

copy link

We welcome your comments. Any revisions or updates suggested for this article will be reviewed by our editorial staff. Contact us here.

Regular users of Britannica may notice that this comments feature is less robust than in the past. This is only temporary, while we make the transition to a dramatically new and richer site. The functionality of the system will be restored soon.

A-Z Browse

Image preview