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 Talk Talk - Communication terms
Category: General technical and industrial
Date & country: 28/05/2010, UK
Words: 18630


opinion poll
Attempt to measure public opinion by taking a survey of the views of a representative sample of the electorate; the science of opinion sampling is called psephology. Most standard polls take random samples of around a thousand voters, which give results that should be accurate to within three percentage points, 95% of the time. The first ac...

ophthalmia neonatorum
Form of conjunctivitis mostly contracted during delivery by an infant whose mother is infected with gonorrhoea. It can lead to blindness unless promptly treated

opera
Dramatic musical work in which singing takes the place of speech. In opera, the music accompanying the action is the main element, although dancing and spectacular staging may also play their parts. Opera originated in late 16th-century Florence when the musical declamation, lyrical monologues, a...

OPEC
Acronym for Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries

open shop
Factory or other business employing men and women not belonging to trade unions, as opposed to the closed shop, which employs trade unionists only

op art
Type of abstract art, mainly painting, in which patterns are used to create the impression that the image is flickering or vibrating. Often pictures are a mass of lines, small shapes, or vivid, clashing colours that seem to shift under the eye. Op art emerged in 1960 although its roots lie in the colour theories and optical experimentation of Josep...

Ophiuchus
Large constellation along the celestial equator (see celestial sphere), known as the serpent bearer because the constellation Serpens is wrapped around it. The Sun passes through Ophiuchus each December, but the constellation is not counted as part of the zodiac. Ophiuchus contains Barnard's star. It was in the southeastern corner of this const...

opossum
Any of a family of marsupials (mammals that carry their young in a pouch) native to North and South America. Most opossums are tree-living, nocturnal animals, with prehensile tails that can be used as an additional limb, and hands and feet well adapted for grasping. They range from 10 cm/4 in to 50 cm/20 in in length and are insectivoro...

operon
Group of genes that are found next to each other on a chromosome, and are turned on and off as an integrated unit. They usually produce enzymes that control different steps in the same biochemical pathway by a single operator gene. Operons were discovered in 1961 (by the French biochemists François Jacob and Jacques Monod) in bacteria. They ar...

optical illusion
Scene or picture that fools the eye. An example of a natural optical illusion is that the Moon appears bigger when it is on the horizon than when it is high in the sky

opencast mining
Mining at the surface rather than underground. Coal, iron ore, and phosphates are often extracted by opencast mining. Often the mineral deposit is covered by soil, which must first be stripped off, usually by large machines such as walking draglines and bucket-wheel excavators. The ore deposit is...

open-hearth furnace
Method of steelmaking, now largely superseded by the basic–oxygen process. It was developed in 1864 in England by German-born William and Friedrich Siemens, and improved by Pierre and Emile Martin in France in the same year. In the furnace, which has a wide, saucer-shaped hearth and a low roof, molten pig iron and scrap are packed into...

operating system
In computing, a program that controls the basic operation of a computer. A typical OS controls the peripheral devices such as printers, organizes the filing system, provides a means of communicating with the operator, and runs other programs. Many operating systems are written to run on specific computers, but some are available from third-part...

optical fibre
Click images to enlargeVery fine, optically-pure glass fibre through which light can be reflected to transmit images or data from one end to the other. Although expensive to produce and install, optical fibres can carry more data than traditional cables, and are less susceptible to interference. Standard optical fibre...

optics
Branch of physics that deals with the study of light and vision – for example, shadows and mirror images, lenses, microscopes, telescopes, and cameras. On striking a surface, light rays are reflected or refracted, and the study of this is known as geometrical optics

opal
Form of hydrous silica (SiO2.nH2O), often occurring as stalactites and found in many types of rock. The common opal is translucent, milk-white, yellow, red, blue, or green, and lustrous. Precious opal is opalescent, the characteristic play of colours being caused by close-pack...

opiate, endogenous
Naturally produced chemical in the body which has effects similar to morphine and other opiate drugs; a type of neurotransmitter. Examples include endorphins and encephalins

Open College
In the UK, a network launched in 1987 by the Manpower Services Commission (now the Training Agency) to enable people to gain and update technical and vocational skills by means of distance teaching, such as correspondence, radio, and television

operetta
Light form of opera, with music, dance, and spoken dialogue. The story line is romantic and sentimental, often employing farce and parody. Its origins lie in the 19th-century opéra comique and it is intended to amuse. Examples of operetta are Jacques Offenbach's Orphée aux enfers/Orpheus in the Unde...

Opus
In music, a prefix, used with a figure, to indicate the numbering of a composer's works, usually in chronological order. It was at first a publisher's rather than a composer's device and in the early 18th century was used only for instrumental composers. Later in that century it began to become more general, being used for Haydn but not...

op. cit.
Abbreviation for opere citato (Latin `in the work cited`), used in reference citation

ophthalmology
Medical speciality concerned with diseases of the eye and its surrounding tissues

option
In business, a contract giving the owner the right (as opposed to the obligation, as with futures contracts; see futures trading) to buy or sell a specific quantity of a particular commodity or currency at a future date and at an agreed price, in return for a premium. A right to purchase is known as a call, and a right to sell is known as a put...

Ophüls, Max
German film director. His style is characterized by an ironic, bittersweet tone and intricate camera movement. He worked in Europe and the USA, attracting much critical praise for such films as The Bartered Bride (1932), Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), Caught (1949), The Reckles...

operational amplifier
Processor that amplifies the difference between two incoming electrical signals. It is a current gain device. Operational amplifiers have two inputs, an inverting input (-) and a noninverting input (+). The input signal from a sensor or switch, often as part of a potential divider, is compared with a similar signal at the other input. This ...

Oppenheimer, J(ulius) Robert
US physicist. As director of the Los Alamos Science Laboratory 1943–45, he was in charge of the development of the atom bomb (the Manhattan Project). He objected to the development of the hydrogen bomb, and was alleged to be a security risk in 1953 by the US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). Investigating the equations describing the energy stat...

opting out
In UK education, schools that choose to be funded directly from the Department for Education and Skills are said to be opting out of local-authority control. The Education Reform Act 1988 gave this option to all secondary schools and the larger primary schools, and in 1990 it was extended to all primary schools. However, by 1995 only 1,040 of 2...

optical character recognition
In computing, a technique for inputting text to a computer by means of a document reader. First, a scanner produces a digital image of the text; then character-recognition software makes use of stored knowledge about the shapes of individual characters to convert the digital image to a set of internal codes that can be stored and processed ...

optical mark recognition
In computing, a technique that enables marks made in predetermined positions on computer-input forms to be detected optically and input to a computer. An optical mark reader shines a light beam onto the input document and is able to detect the marks because less light is reflected back from them than from the paler, unmarked paper

optical disk
In computing, a storage medium in which laser technology is used to record and read large volumes of digital data. Types include CD-ROM and DVD-ROM

optic nerve
Large nerve passing from the eye to the brain, carrying visual information. In mammals, it may contain up to a million nerve fibres, connecting the sensory cells of the retina to the optical centres in the brain. Embryologically, the optic nerve develops as an outgrowth of the brain

open punctuation
Convention of page layout, resulting from the increased use of word processing and e-mail, where the absolute minimum of punctuation is used. In this style, addresses and contractions, such as `Mr`, are stripped of punctuation. The number of commas is reduced in the body of the text and paragraph indents are replaced by double `c...

opaque
In art, paint that is not transparent. Opaque paint, such as gouache, oil, and acrylic is rich and thick in quality, and effectively covers the ground (painting surface), allowing easy overpainting and correction of errors

optimum population
The number of people that will produce the highest per capita economic return given the resources available, and their full utilization. Should the population rise or fall from the optimum the output per capita, and standard of living, will fall

open source
Computing term to describe the distribution of software with its source code, its original instructions. Anyone may examine open-source software's codes, make improvements, and pass these on to the open source community. Its use created one of the most adaptable systems for developing software, including powerful operating systems like GNU,...

orchid
Click images to enlargeAny plant of a large family that contains at least 15,000 species and 700 genera, distributed throughout the world except in the coldest areas, and most numerous in damp equatorial regions. The flowers are the most highly evolved of the plant kingdom; they have three sepals and three petals and ...

Orwell, George
English writer. His books include the satirical fable Animal Farm (1945), an attack on the Soviet Union and its leader, Stalin, which includes such slogans as `All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others`; and the prophetic Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), targeting Cold War politic...

orthopaedics
Medical speciality concerned with the correction of disease or damage in bones and joints

Orvieto
Town in Umbria, Italy, on a high plateau overlooking the River Tiber; population (2001) 20,700. Built on the site of an Etruscan town destroyed by the Romans in 280 BC, Orvieto has many Etruscan remains. The district produces white wine of the same name, and tourism is an important industry. The town occupies an isolated position in the middle ...

orthodontics
Branch of dentistry concerned with dentition, and with treatment of any irregularities, such as correction of malocclusion (faulty position of teeth)

Orpheus
Mythical Greek poet and musician of Thrace; the son of Apollo and the Muse Calliope. Orpheus ventured into Hades, the underworld, to bring back his wife Eurydice, who had died from a snakebite. His lyre playing was so charming that Pluto granted her return to life, but on condition that Orpheus walked ahead without looking back. He turned at th...

ornithology
Study of birds. It covers scientific aspects relating to their structure and classification, and their habits, song, flight, and value to agriculture as destroyers of insect pests. Worldwide scientific banding (or the fitting of coded rings to captured specimens) has resulted in accurate information on bird movements and distribution. There is an I...

Ormuzd
Another name for Ahura Mazda, the good god of Zoroastrianism

Orléans
Administrative centre of Loiret département in central France, situated on the right bank of the River Loire, 115 km/70 mi southwest of Paris; population (1999) 113,100, conurbation 263,000. Industries include engineering, textiles and food processing; there is also an extensive trade in agricultural produce and ...

Orlando
Industrial city and administrative headquarters of Orange County, Florida, USA; population (2000 est) 186,000. It is a winter resort and tourist centre, with Walt Disney World, Sea World, and the Epcot Center nearby. There were 39 million visitors to the city in 1999. Electronic and aerospace equipment are manufactured in the city, and citrus&#...

Orkney Islands
Island group and unitary authority off the northeast coast of Scotland. Area 1,014 sq km/391 sq mi Towns Kirkwall (administrative headquarters), Stromness, both on Mainland (Pomona) Physical there are 90 islands and inlets in the group. The surface of the islands is irregular and indented by many...

Orissa
State of northeast India; area 155,782 sq km/60,148 sq mi; population (2001 est) 36,706,900. The capital is Bhubaneshwar. Industries include chemicals, paper, steel, aluminium smelting, and mineral extraction. Over 80% of the population make their living from agriculture, with rice as the dominant crop. Wheat, oilseed, jute, coconut...

Orinoco
River in northern South America; it rises in the Sierra Parima range, part of the Guiana Highlands, in southern Venezuela near the Brazilian border and flows north for about 2,400 km/1,500 mi through Venezuela, forming the boundary with Colombia for about 320 km/200 mi; tributaries include the Guaviare, Meta, Apure, Ventuari, Caura,...

Organization of American States
Association founded in 1948 at Bogotá, Colombia by a charter signed by representatives of North, Central, and South American states. It aims to maintain peace and solidarity within the hemisphere, and is also concerned with the social and economic development of Latin America. The OAS is based on the International Union of American Republics 1...

organ
(music) Oldest of the keyboard instruments, in which sound is produced when a depressed key opens a valve, allowing compressed air to pass through a single pipe or a series of pipes. The number of pipes may vary according to the size of the instrument. Apart from its continued use in serious c...

Orford, 1st Earl of
Title of the British politician Robert Walpole

Orff, Carl
German composer. An individual stylist, his work is characterized by sharp dissonances and percussion. Among his compositions are the cantata Carmina Burana (1937) and the opera Antigone (1949)

Orestes
In Greek mythology, the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, who killed his mother on the instructions of Apollo because she and her lover Aegisthus had murdered his father. He was subsequently hounded by the Furies until he was purified, and acquitted of the crime of matricide

Orenburg
(city) Capital city, economic and cultural centre of Orenburg oblast (region), west-central Russian Federation; population (2002) 549,400. Orenburg is situated on the River Ural, 350 km/217 mi southeast of Samara. It has extensive oil refineries, together with engineering, flour, m...

order in council
In the UK, an order issued by the sovereign with the advice of the Privy Council; in practice it is issued only on the advice of the cabinet. Acts of Parliament often provide for the issue of orders in council to regulate the detailed administration of their provisions

order
(architecture) Click images to enlargeIn classical architecture, the column (including capital, shaft, and base) and the entablature, considered as an architectural whole. The five orders are Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Tuscan, and Composite. The...

ordeal, trial by
In tribal societies and in Europe in medieval times, a method of testing the guilt of an accused person based on the belief in heaven's protection of the innocent. Examples of such ordeals include walking barefoot over heated iron, dipping the hand into boiling water, and swallowing consecrated bread (causing the guilty to choke). In Europe the...

orchestra
Large group of musicians playing together on different instruments. In Western music, an orchestra is usually based on the bowed, stringed instruments of the violin family, to which is usually added the woodwind, brass, and percussion sections. The number of players per section and the instruments used may vary according to the needs of the compose...

Oratorian
Member of the Roman Catholic order of secular priests, called in full Congregation of the Oratory of St Philip Neri, formally constituted by Philip Neri in 1575 in Rome, and characterized by the degree of freedom allowed to individual communities

oratorio
Dramatic, musical setting of religious texts, scored for orchestra, chorus, and solo voices. Originally it was acted out with scenery and costumes, but gradually it became more commonly performed as a concert. Its origins lie in the Laude spirituali performed by St Philip Neri's Oratory in Rome in the 16th century, followed b...

Orangeman
In Northern Ireland, a member of one of the Ulster Protestant Orange Societies established within the Orange Order (founded 1795)

Orange, House of
Royal family of the Netherlands. The title is derived from the small principality of Orange in southern France, held by the family from the 8th century to 1713. They held considerable possessions in the Netherlands, to which, after 1530, was added the German county of Nassau. From the time of William, Prince of Orange, the family dominated Dutch hi...

Orange
(river) River in South Africa, rising at the Mont-aux-Sources in the Maluti Mountains in Lesotho and flowing west to the Atlantic Ocean; length 2,100 km/1,300 mi. It runs along the southern boundary of the Free State Province. Water from the Orange is diverted via the Orange...

orange
Round orange-coloured juicy citrus fruit of several species of evergreen trees, which bear white blossom and fruits at the same time. Thought to have originated in Southeast Asia, orange trees are commercially cultivated in Spain, Israel, the USA, Brazil, South Africa, and elsewhere. The sweet or...

Oran
Fortified seaport and commercial and manufacturing centre in Algeria, 5 km/3 mi from the port of Mers-el-Kebir; population (1998) city 692,500; urban agglomeration 991,900. Industries include cigarettes, iron, plastics, textiles, footwear, and processed food; the port also trades in wine, grain, wool, vegetables, citrus frui...

Orion nebula
Luminous cloud of gas and dust 1,500 light years away, in the constellation Orion, from which stars are forming. It is about 15 light years in diameter, and contains enough gas to make a cluster of thousands of stars. At the nebula's centre is a group of hot young stars, called the Trapezium, which make the surrounding gas glow. The nebula is v...

oryx
Click images to enlargeAny of a group of large antelopes native to Africa and Asia. The Arabian oryx (O. leucoryx), at one time extinct in the wild, was successfully reintroduced into its natural habitat using stocks bred in captivity in 1982. By 1998 the oryx reintroduction project was seriously reduce...

orfe
Freshwater fish belonging to the carp family. It grows up to 50 cm/1.7 ft in length, and feeds on small aquatic animals. The species is generally greyish-black, but an ornamental variety is orange. It lives in rivers and lakes of Europe and northwestern Asia. (Species Leuciscus idus, family Cyprinidae.)

oriole
Any of several brightly coloured songbirds belonging to two families: New World orioles belong to the family Icteridae, and Old World orioles are members of the family Oriolidae. They eat insects, seeds, and fruit

orang-utan
Large ape found only in Borneo and Sumatra. Up to 1.65 m/5.5 ft in height, it is covered with long, red-brown hair and lives a largely solitary life in the trees, feeding mainly on fruit. Now an endangered species, it is officially protected because its habitat is being systematically destroy...

orogenesis
In its original, literal sense, orogenesis means `mountain building`, but today it more specifically refers to the tectonics of mountain building (as opposed to mountain building by erosion). Orogenesis is brought about by the movements of the rigid plates making up the Earth's crust and uppermost mantle (described by plate tectonics)...

ore
Body of rock, a vein within it, or a deposit of sediment, worth mining for the economically valuable mineral it contains. The term is usually applied to sources of metals. Occasionally metals are found uncombined (native metals), but more often they occur as compounds such as carbonates, sulphides, or oxides. The ores often contain unwanted impurit...

Ordovician period
Period of geological time 510–439 million years ago; the second period of the Palaeozoic era. Animal life was confined to the sea: reef-building algae and the first jawless fish are characteristic. The period is named after the Ordovices, an ancient Welsh people, because the system of rocks formed in the Ordovician period was first...

orrery
Mechanical device for demonstrating the motions of the heavenly bodies. Invented about 1710 by George Graham, it was named after his patron, the 4th Earl of Orrery. It is the forerunner of the planetarium

ornithophily
Strategy evolved by flowers to ensure their pollination by birds. Ornithophilous flowers are typically brightly coloured, often red or orange. They produce large quantities of thin, watery nectar, and are scentless because most birds do not respond well to smell. They are found mostly in tropical areas, with hummingbirds being important pollinators...

oracle
Sacred site where a deity gives answers or oracles, through the mouth of its priest, to a supplicant's questions about personal affairs or state policy. These were often ambivalent. There were more than 250 oracular seats in the Greek world. The earliest example was probably at Dodona (in Epirus)...

orbit
(astronomy) Path of one body in space around another, such as the orbit of the Earth around the Sun or of the Moon around the Earth. Both bodies move around their common centre of mass. The movement of objects in orbit follows Kepler's laws, which apply to artificial satellites as well as ...

Orion
(astronomy) Very prominent constellation in the equatorial region of the sky (see celestial sphere), identified with the hunter of Greek mythology. The bright stars Alpha (Betelgeuse), Gamma (Bellatrix), Beta (Rigel), and Kappa Orionis mark the shoulders and legs of Orion. Between them the bel...

organic chemistry
Click images to enlargeBranch of chemistry that deals with carbon compounds. Organic compounds form the chemical basis of life and are more abundant than inorganic compounds. In a typical organic compound, each carbon atom forms bonds covalently with each of its neighbouring carbon atoms in a chain or ring, and additional...

Orthodox Church
Click images to enlargeFederation of national and regional self-governing Christian churches, mainly found in Eastern Europe and parts of Asia. The final schism between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church occurred in 1054. The centre of worship is the Eucharist. Clergy, other than the bishops, may marry,...

orris root
Underground stem of a species of iris grown in southern Europe. It is violet-scented and is used in perfumery and herbal medicine

organ
(anatomy) In biology, a part of a living body that has a distinctive function or set of functions. Examples include the oesophagus, liver, or brain in animals, or a leaf in plants. An organ is composed of a group of coordinated tissue...

order
(biology) In biological classification, a group of related families. For example, the horse, rhinoceros, and tapir families are grouped in the order Perissodactyla, the odd-toed ungulates, because they all have either one or three toes on each foot. The names of orders are not shown in ita...

original sin
Christian doctrine that the Fall of Man rendered humanity predisposed to sin and unable to achieve salvation except through divine grace and the redemptive power of Jesus

orthochromatic
Photographic film or paper of decreased sensitivity, which can be processed with a red safelight. Using it, blue objects appear lighter and red ones darker because of increased blue sensitivity

orchestration
Scoring of a composition for orchestra; the choice of instruments of a score expanded for orchestra (often by another hand). A work may be written for piano, then transferred to an orchestral score

oral literature
Stories that are or have been transmitted in spoken form, such as public recitation, rather than through writing or printing. Most pre-literate societies have had a tradition of oral literature, including short folk tales, legends, myths, proverbs, and riddles, as well as longer narrative works; and most of the ancient epics – such as ...

Orton, Joe
(John Kingsley) English dramatist. In his black comedies, surreal and violent action takes place in genteel and unlikely settings. Plays include Entertaining Mr Sloane (1964), Loot (1966), and What the Butler Saw (1968). His diaries deal...

Ortega Saavedra, Daniel
Nicaraguan guerrilla leader and socialist politician, head of state 1979–90. He headed a moderate faction of the Marxist Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), which in 1989 overthrew the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle, Latin America's longest dictatorship. His government's efforts at economic reconstruction became deflected ...

ordinal number
In mathematics, one of the series first, second, third, fourth, ... . Ordinal numbers relate to order, whereas cardinal numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, ... ) relate to quantity, or count

orienteering
Sport of cross-country running and route-finding. Competitors set off at one-minute intervals and have to find their way, using map and compass, to various checkpoints (approximately 0.8 km/0.5 mi apart), where their control cards are marked. World championships have been held since 1966

ordination
Religious ceremony by which a person is accepted into the priesthood or monastic life in various religions. Within the Christian church, ordination authorizes a person to administer the sacraments. Ordination of women Many Protestant denominations, such as the Methodists and Baptists, ordain women as ministers, as do many churches in the Anglican c...

organic farming
Farming without the use of synthetic fertilizers (such as nitrates and phosphates) or pesticides (herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides) or other agrochemicals (such as hormones, growth stimulants, or fruit regulators). Food produced by genetic engineering cannot be described as organic. In place ...

orbital, atomic
Region around the nucleus of an atom (or, in a molecule, around several nuclei) in which an electron is likely to be found. According to quantum theory, the position of an electron is uncertain; it may be found at any point. However, it is more likely to be found in some places than in others, an...

Orly
Suburb of the French capital Paris in the département of Val-de-Marne; population (1990) 21,800. Orly international airport is the busiest in France

Oregon
State in northwestern USA, bordered to the east by Idaho, to the north by Washington, to the south by California and Nevada, and to the west by the Pacific Ocean; area 248,631 sq km/95,997 sq mi; population (2006) 3,700,800; capital Salem. Oregon's nickname was coined because of t...

ordinate
In coordinate geometry, the y coordinate of a point; that is, the vertical distance of the point from the horizontal or x-axis. For example, a point with the coordinates (3,4) has an ordinate of 4. See abscissa

oregano
Any of several perennial herbs belonging to the mint family, especially the aromatic O. vulgare, also known as wild marjoram. It is native to Mediterranean countries and western Asia and naturalized in the Americas. Oregano is extensively used to season Mediterranean cooking. (Genu...

Orphism
(art) Type of abstract or semi-abstract painting practised by a group of artists in Paris between 1911 and 1914. Orphism owed much to the fragmented forms of cubism (indeed it is sometimes called Orphic cubism). However, while cubism at this time was coolly intellectual and almost colourle...

ornamentation
In music, notes that are additional to the main notes of a melody. They are used to `ornament` or decorate a melody, or to accent a structural feature such as the end of a phrase. They are indicated by special signs, or by small notes printed among the melody notes. Examples of ornaments are the turn, the trill, the appoggiatura, the arpe...