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


Cardoso, Fernando Henrique
Brazilian politician and academic, leader of the moderate centre-left Social Democratic Party (PSDB), and president from 1995 to 2003. As finance minister 1993–94 in the government of Itamar Franco he had great success in masterminding a major economic restructuring programme, involving the establishment of a Social Emergency Fund (FSE) an...

cayman
Another name for caiman

cartilaginous fish
Fish in which the skeleton is made of cartilage. Sharks, rays, and skates are cartilaginous. Their scales are placoid (isolated structures made of dentine resembling simple teeth) and are present all over the body surface. The scales do not continue to grow once fully formed, but are replaced by new scales as they wear out. The notochord (primitive...

Cassius
Roman general and politician, one of Julius Caesar's assassins. He fought with Marcus Licinius Crassus (the Elder) against the Parthians in 53 BC and distinguished himself after Carrhae by defending the province of Syria. He sided with Pompey against Julius Caesar on the outbreak of the civil war in 49 BC, but was pardoned after the battle of P...

Caesar, Gaius Julius
Roman general and dictator, considered Rome's most successful military commander. He formed with Pompey the Great and Marcus Licinius Crassus (the Elder) the First Triumvirate in 60 BC. He conquered Gaul 58–50 BC and invaded Britain 55–54 BC. By leading his army across the river Rubicon into Italy in 49 BC, an act of treason, he provo...

Calderón, Alberto P
Argentine mathematician who specialized in Fourier analysis and partial differential equations

Cambrian Mountains
Region of hills, plateaux, and deep valleys in Wales, 175 km/ 110 mi long, linking Snowdonia in the northwest and the Brecon Beacons and Black Mountains in the south. The Cambrian Mountains are in the heart of Wales, the source of the Severn, Twyi, and Wye rivers. The highest peak is Aran Fawddwy (905m/ 2,950 ft) in the Berwyn Mountains in ...

Cameron,
(Mark) Scottish journalist, broadcaster, and author. He worked for papers including the Daily Express (1930–45), the Picture Post, and the News Chronicle (1952–60). He covered some of the most important issues of world affairs ...

cattle industry, early US
In US history, the cattle industry that developed on the Great Plains after the end of the American Civil War (1861–65); the industry boomed rapidly until its sudden demise in the late 1880s. It started in 1866 with the long cattle drives undertaken by cowboys across the Plains from Texas to shipping points on the Transcontinental Railroad...

California gold rush
In US history, the influx of prospectors to the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, following the discovery of gold in the American River by US surveyor James Marshall in January 1848. Within two years over 100,000 people had flooded into California in the hopes of making their fortunes. San Francisco was transformed from a coastal village to the ...

Calcutta
Former name (until 2000) of Kolkata, city in India

carving
In sculpture, the technique of cutting or hewing the surface of a block of material to shape it into a particular form. A carving can also be decoration or inscription cut into flatter surfaces such as panelling, stone, or marble. In relief carving, figures and other decorations stand out from the background

camera lucida
In art, a common drawing aid in the 17th century that worked on similar principles to the less practical camera obscura (which transmitted an external scene through a small hole in the wall of a darkened room, forming an inverted image on the opposite wall). The camera lucida uses a prism and mirrors to project the image of an external object onto ...

Cabo de Hornos
Spanish name for Cape Horn, the southernmost point of South America, in Chile

Caroline literature
Literature in Britain during the reign of Charles I (1625–49). The title `Caroline` derives from the Latin for Charles, Carolus. The period was marked by increasing religious and social tension, which eventually found expression in the English Civil War. This short period marks the watershed between the culture of ...

calibration
(computing) In computing, the process of ensuring that a device, such as a monitor or touch screen, is set up correctly. A monitor should display colours accurately and a touch screen relay precise user movements

Cameron, David
UK Conservative Party politician, party leader from 2006. A skilled communicator, he rose rapidly within the Conservative Party to become deputy chair and head of policy coordination from 2003. Under his leadership, the Conservatives moved towards the centre-right, accepting Labour Party spending commitments for health and education and giving ...

Castro
(Ruz) Cuban communist politician, president from 2008. The less charismatic younger brother and right-hand man of Cuba's revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, he commanded guerrillas during the successful 1958–59 war which overthrew the Batista regime, and became minister of the revo...

CBI
Abbreviation for Confederation of British Industry

cc
Symbol for cubic centimetre; abbreviation for carbon copy

CCD
Abbreviation for charge-coupled device

cd
In physics, symbol for candela, the SI unit of luminous intensity

CD-RW
Compact disc on which data can be recorded (compare with CD-ROM, compact disc read-only memory); unlike CD-R disks, stored data can be erased and CD-RW disks reused. CD-RW drives can read CD-ROM disks but CD-RW disks cannot be read in all CD-ROM drives, although those that cannot read CD-RW tend to be the old...

CD-R
Compact disc on which data can be recorded (compare with CD-ROM). The blank disc has a very fine groove that forms a large spiral, starting from the centre of the disc and finishing on the edge. Visible to the laser at the bottom of this groove is a layer of organic dye. During the recording process the laser switches to a higher power and '...

CD
Abbreviation for compact disc; Corps Diplomatique (French `Diplomatic Corps`); certificate of deposit

CD-ROM
Computer storage device developed from the technology of the audio compact disc. It consists of a plastic-coated metal disk, on which binary digital information is etched in the form of microscopic pits. This can then be read optically by passing a laser beam over the disk. CD-ROMs typically ...

Ceefax
One of the UK's two teletext systems (the other is Teletext), or `magazines of the air`, developed by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and first broadcast on television in 1973. It has been continually upgraded and is still in operation

CERN
Particle physics research organization founded in 1954 as a cooperative enterprise among European governments. It has laboratories at Meyrin, near Geneva, Switzerland. It houses the world's largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which will become operational in 2007. CERN is the acronym of its original name, Conseil Euro...

cement
Any bonding agent used to unite particles in a single mass or to cause one surface to adhere to another. Portland cement is a powder which when mixed with water and sand or gravel turns into mortar or concrete. In geology, cement refers to a chemically precipitated material such as carbonate that occupies the interstices of clastic rocks. The term ...

Ceylon
Former name (to 1972) of Sri Lanka

Central Asian Republics
Geographical region covering the territory of five nation-states: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. These republics were part of the Soviet Union before gaining their independence in 1991. Central Asia is bordered on the north by the Russian Federation, on the south by Iran and Afghanistan, and on the east by...

Cetewayo,
(Cetshwayo) King of Zululand, South Africa, 1873–83, whose rule was threatened by British annexation of the Transvaal in 1877. Although he defeated the British at Isandhlwana in 1879, he was later that year defeated by them at Ulundi. Restored to his throne in 1883, he was then expelled b...

cervical cancer
Cancer of the cervix (neck of the womb). It can be detected at an early stage through screening by cervical smear. Gardasil, a vaccine against those types of human papillomavirus (HPV) that trigger most cases of cervical cancer, was approved for use in the USA in June 2006. Figures in 2001 showed that around 400,000 women a year develop the disease...

Cervantes, Saavedra, Miguel de
Spanish novelist, dramatist, and poet. His masterpiece Don Quixote de la Mancha (in full El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha) was published in 1605. In 1613 his Novelas ejemplares/Exemplary Novels appeared, followed by Vi...

cerebral palsy
Any nonprogressive abnormality of the brain occurring during or shortly after birth. It is caused by oxygen deprivation, injury during birth, haemorrhage, meningitis, viral infection, or faulty development. The condition is characterized by muscle spasm, weakness, lack of coordination, and impaired movement; or there may be spastic paralysis, w...

cereal
Click images to enlargeGrass grown for its edible, nutrient-rich, starchy seeds. The term refers primarily to wheat, oats, rye, and barley, but may also refer to maize (corn), millet, and rice. Cereals contain about 75% complex carbohydrates and 10% protein, plus fats and fibre (roughage). They store well. If ...

Cerberus
In Greek mythology, the three-headed dog which guarded the entrance to Hades, the underworld. Some early representations endow him with 50 or 100 heads, and he is often depicted with a mane and serpent's tail

ceramic
Object made from clay, hardened into a permanent form by baking (firing) at very high temperatures in a kiln. Once clay has been turned into ceramic, it can no longer be recycled in water. Ceramics are very versatile. They are used not only for dishes, vessels, and other decorative or functional household objects, but also for building construction...

Central Treaty Organization
Military alliance that replaced the Baghdad Pact in 1959; it collapsed when the withdrawal of Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey in 1979 left the UK as the only member

celery
Old World plant belonging to the carrot family. It grows wild in ditches and salt marshes and has a coarse texture and sharp taste. Cultivated varieties of celery are grown under cover to make the edible stalks less bitter. (Apium graveolens, family Umbelliferae.)

celandine
Either of two plants belonging to different families, the only similarity being their bright yellow flowers. The greater celandine (Chelidonium majus) belongs to the poppy family and is common in hedgerows. The lesser celandine (Ranunculus ficaria) is a member of the buttercup family and is a common wayside and...

cedar
Any of an Old World group of coniferous trees belonging to the pine family. The cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus libani) grows to great height and age in the mountains of Syria and Asia Minor. Of the historic forests on Mount Lebanon itself, only a few groups of trees remain. (Genus Cedrus, family Pinaceae.)

Ceres
(astronomy) Dwarf planet and largest known asteroid, 940 km/584 mi in diameter; the first asteroid to be discovered (by Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi in 1801). Ceres orbits the Sun every 4.6 years at an average distance of 414 million km/257 million mi. Its mass is about 0.014...

Cepheus
(astronomy) Constellation of the north polar region, named after King Cepheus of Greek mythology, husband of Cassiopeia and father of Andromeda. It contains the Garnet Star (Mu Cephei), a red supergiant of variable brightness that is one of the reddest-coloured stars known, and Delta Cephe...

Cepheid variable
Yellow supergiant star that varies regularly in brightness every few days or weeks as a result of pulsations. The time that a Cepheid variable takes to pulsate is directly related to its average brightness; the longer the pulsation period, the brighter the star. This relationship, the period luminosity law (discovered by US astronomer Henrietta...

Centaurus
Large, bright constellation of the southern hemisphere, represented as a centaur. Its brightest star, Alpha Centauri, is a triple star, and contains the closest star to the Sun, Proxima Centauri, which is only 4.2 light years away from the Sun, and 0.1 light years closer than its companions, Alpha Centauri A and B. Omega Centauri, which is just vis...

celestial sphere
Imaginary sphere surrounding the Earth, on which the celestial bodies seem to lie. The positions of bodies such as stars, planets, and galaxies are specified by their coordinates on the celestial sphere. The equivalents of latitude and longitude on the celestial sphere are called declination and righ...

celestial mechanics
Branch of astronomy that deals with the calculation of the orbits of celestial bodies, their gravitational attractions (such as those that produce the Earth's tides), and also the orbits of artificial satellites and space probes. It is based on the laws of motion and gravity laid down by 17th-...

cerium
Malleable and ductile, grey, metallic element, atomic number 58, relative atomic mass 140.12. It is the most abundant member of the lanthanide series, and is used in alloys, electronic components, nuclear fuels, and lighter flints. It was discovered in 1804 by the Swedish chemists Jöns Berzelius and Wilhelm Hisinger (1766–1852), and, inde...

centrifuge
Apparatus that rotates containers at high speeds, creating centrifugal forces. One use is for separating mixtures of substances of different densities. A laboratory centrifuge is used to separate small amounts of suspension. Test tubes of suspension are spun around very fast so that the solid gets fl...

cellulose nitrate
Series of esters of cellulose with up to three nitrate (NO3) groups per monosaccharide unit. It is made by the action of concentrated nitric acid on cellulose (for example, cotton waste) in the presence of concentrated sulphuric acid. Fully nitrated cellulose (gun cotton) is explosive, but esters with fewer nitrate groups wer...

celluloid
Transparent or translucent, highly flammable, plastic material (a thermoplastic) made from cellulose nitrate and camphor. It was once used for toilet articles, novelties, and photographic film, but has now been replaced by the nonflammable substance cellulose acetate

centigrade
Former name for the Celsius temperature scale

cerebral haemorrhage
In medicine, a form of stroke in which there is bleeding from a cerebral blood vessel into the surrounding brain tissue. It is generally caused by degenerative disease of the arteries and high blood pressure. Depending on the site and extent of bleeding, the symptoms vary from transient weakness and numbness to deep coma and death. Damage to the br...

centaur
In Greek mythology, a creature half human and half horse, wild and lawless. Chiron, the mentor of the hero Heracles and tutor of the god of medicine Asclepius, was an exception. Their home was said to be on Mount Pelion, Thessaly

census
Official count of the population of a country, originally for military call-up and taxation, later for assessment of social trends as other information regarding age, sex, and occupation of each individual was included. The data collected are used by government departments in planning for the future in such areas as health, education, transport...

censorship
(general) Suppression by authority of material considered immoral, heretical, subversive, libellous, damaging to state security, or otherwise offensive. It is generally more strict under totalitarian (one-party) or strongly-religious regimes, and in wartime. Concerns over the ready ava...

censor
(magistrate) In ancient Rome, either of two senior magistrates, high officials elected every five years to hold office for 18 months. They were responsible for regulating public morality, carrying out a census of the citizens, and revising the senatorial list. The Roman censorship was institut...

cenotaph
Monument to commemorate a person or persons not actually buried at the site, as in the Whitehall Cenotaph, London, designed by Edwin Lutyens to commemorate the dead of both world wars

Celt
Indo-European people that originated in Alpine Europe and spread to the Iberian peninsula and beyond. They were ironworkers and farmers. In the 1st century BC they were defeated by the Roman Empire and by Germanic tribes and confined largely to Britain, Ireland, and northern France. The Celts' first known territory was in central Europe abo...

Celtic Sea
Sea area bounded by Wales, Ireland, and southwest England; the name is commonly used by workers in the oil industry to avoid nationalist significance. The Celtic Sea is separated from the Irish Sea by St George's Channel

Celtic art
Click images to enlargeArt of the Celtic peoples of Western Europe, emerging about 500 BC, probably on the Rhine. It spread to most parts of Europe, but after the 1st century BC flourished only in Britain and Ireland, its influence being felt well into the 10th century AD. Pottery, woodwork, jewellery, and weapons are amo...

Cellini, Benvenuto
Italian Mannerist sculptor and goldsmith. Among his works are a graceful bronze Perseus (1545–54; Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence) and a gold salt cellar made for Francis I of France (1540–43; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna), topped by nude reclining figures. He wrot...

Cebu
Chief city and port of the island of Cebu in the Philippines; population (2000 est) 718,800; area of the island 5,086 sq km/1,964 sq mi. The first Spanish settlement in the Philippines, Cebu was founded as San Miguel in 1565 and became the capital of the Spanish Philippines. Industries in...

Cecil, Robert
Secretary of state to Elizabeth I of England, succeeding his father, Lord Burghley; he was afterwards chief minister to James I (James VI of Scotland) whose accession to the English throne he secured. He discovered the Gunpowder Plot, the conspiracy to blow up the king and Parliament in 1605. James I created him Earl of Salisbury in 1605. He wa...

central dogma
In genetics and evolution, the fundamental belief that genes can affect the nature of the physical body, but that changes in the body (acquired character, for example, through use or accident) cannot be translated into changes in the genes. The elements of this idea were outlined by the German biologist August Weismann in the 1880s, when he claimed...

cell
Click images to enlargeIn biology, the basic unit of a living organism. It is the smallest unit capable of independent existence. In organisms, other than the smallest ones, the body of the organism is made up of several cells or many cells. A single cell, therefore, is the smallest unit that shows characteristic features...

cellulose
Complex carbohydrate composed of long chains of glucose units, joined by chemical bonds called glycosidic links. It is the principal constituent of the cell wall of higher plants, and a vital ingredient in the diet of many herbivores. Molecules of cellulose are organized into long, unbranched microfibrils that give support to the cell wall. No mamm...

cephalopod
Any predatory marine mollusc of the class Cephalopoda, with the mouth and head surrounded by tentacles. Cephalopods are the most intelligent, the fastest-moving, and the largest of all animals without backbones, and there are remarkable luminescent forms that swim or drift at great depths. They have the most highly developed nervous and sensory...

centipede
Jointed-legged animal of the group Chilopoda, members of which have a distinct head and a single pair of long antennae. Their bodies are composed of segments (which may number nearly 200), each of similar form and bearing a single pair of legs. Most are small, but the tropical Scolopendr...

cerebrum
Part of the vertebrate brain, formed from the two paired cerebral hemispheres, separated by a central fissure. In birds and mammals it is the largest and most developed part of the brain. It is covered with an infolded layer of grey matter, the cerebral cortex, which integrates brain functions. The cerebrum coordinates all voluntary activity

central nervous system
Brain and spinal cord, as distinct from other components of the nervous system. The CNS integrates all nervous function. In invertebrates it consists of a paired ventral nerve cord with concentrations of nerve-cell bodies, known as ganglia in each segment, and a small brain in the head. Some simp...

cervical smear
In medicine, removal of a small sample of tissue from the cervix (neck of the womb) to screen for changes implying a likelihood of cancer. The procedure is also known as the Pap test after its originator, George Papanicolaou

central processing unit
Older name for the main component of a computer, the part that executes individual program instructions and controls the operation of other parts. It is now known simply as the processor or, when contained on a single integrated circuit, microprocessor

Celtic languages
Branch of the Indo-European family, divided into two groups: the Brythonic or P-Celtic (Welsh language, Cornish, Breton, and Gaulish) and the Goidelic or Q-Celtic (Irish, Scottish, and Manx Gaelic languages). Celtic languages once stretched from the Black Sea to Britain, but have been in decline for centuries, limited to the so-...

cell, electrical
Device in which chemical energy is converted into electrical energy; the popular name is `battery`, but this strictly refers to a collection of cells in one unit. The reactive chemicals of a primary cell cannot be replenished, whereas secondary cells – such as storage batteries ...

cellular phone
See mobile phone

cellophane
Transparent wrapping film made from wood cellulose, widely used for packaging, first produced by Swiss chemist Jacques Edwin Brandenberger in 1908. Cellophane is made from wood pulp, in much the same way that the artificial fibre rayon is made: the pulp is dissolved in chemicals to form a viscose solution, which is then pumped through a long na...

central heating
System of heating from a central source, typically of a house, larger building, or group of buildings, as opposed to heating each room individually. Steam heat and hot-water heat are the most common systems in use. Water is heated in a furnace burning oil, gas, or solid fuel, and, as steam or hot water, is then pumped through radiators in each ...

cermet
Bonded material containing ceramics and metal, widely used in jet engines and nuclear reactors. Cermets behave much like metals but have the great heat resistance of ceramics. Tungsten carbide, titanium, zirconium bromide, and aluminium oxide are among the ceramics used; iron, cobalt, nickel, and chromium are among the metals

centre of mass
Point in or near an object at which the whole mass of the object may be considered to be concentrated. A symmetrical homogeneous object such as a sphere or cube has its centre of mass at its geometrical centre; a hollow object (such as a cup) may have its centre of mass in space inside the hollow. For an object to be in stable equilibrium, a ve...

centrifugal force
In physics, apparent or `fictitious` force arising for an observer moving with a rotating system. For an object of mass m moving with a velocity v in a circle of radius r, the centrifugal force F equals mv2/r&...

centripetal force
Force that acts radially inwards on an object moving in a curved path. For example, with a weight whirled in a circle at the end of a length of string, the centripetal force is the tension in the string. For an object of mass m moving with a velocity v in a circle of radius r, the centripetal...

cephalosporin
Any of a class of broad-spectrum antibiotics derived from a fungus (genus Cephalosporium). They are similar to penicillins and are used on penicillin-resistant infections. The first cephalosporin was extracted from sewage-contaminated water, and other naturally occurring ones have been isolated from moulds taken from ...

Ceausescu, Nicolae
Romanian politician, leader of the Romanian Communist Party (RCP), in power from 1965 to 1989. He pursued a policy line independent of and critical of the USSR. He appointed family members, including his wife Elena Ceausescu (1919–1989), to senior state and party posts, and governed in an increasingly repressive manner, zealously implementing ...

cello
Bowed, string instrument that is the second largest member of the violin family and one of the four instruments that make up the string quartet. Its full name is violoncello but the abbreviation cello is more commonly used today. Although similar in shape to the violin, it is more than twice the size and is played resting on the ground on an adjust...

Central African Republic
Landlocked country in Central Africa, bordered northeast and east by Sudan, south by the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of the Congo, west by Cameroon, and northwest by Chad. Government The 2004 constitution provides for a president, elected by universal suffrage for a six-year term, renewable only once, and a 105-member nati...

Cenozoic Era
Era of geological time that began 65 million years ago and continues to the present day. It is divided into the Tertiary and Quaternary periods. The Cenozoic marks the emergence of mammals as a dominant group, and the rearrangement of continental masses towards their present positions

celibacy
Way of life involving voluntary abstinence from sexual intercourse. In some religions, such as Christianity and Buddhism, celibacy is sometimes a requirement for certain religious roles, such as the priesthood or a monastic life. Other religions, including Judaism, strongly discourage celibacy

Cetus
Large constellation on the celestial equator (see celestial sphere), represented as a sea monster or a whale. Cetus contains the long-period variable star Mira, and Tau Ceti, one of the nearest stars. It is named after the sea monster sent to devour Andromeda. Mira is sometimes the most conspicuous object in the constellation, but it is more us...

cerebellum
Part of the brain of vertebrate animals which controls muscle tone, movement, balance, and coordination. It is relatively small in lower animals such as newts and lizards, but large in birds since flight demands precise coordination. The human cerebellum is also well developed, because of the need for balance when walking or running, and for finely...

celesta
Musical instrument, a keyboard glockenspiel producing high-pitched sounds of glistening purity. It was invented by Auguste Mustel of Paris in 1886 and first used to effect by Tchaikovsky in The Nutcracker ballet (1890)

celeriac
Variety of garden celery belonging to the carrot family, with an edible turniplike root and small bitter stems. (Apium graveolens var. rapaceum, family Umbelliferae.)

Central Powers
Originally the signatories of the Triple Alliance of 1882: Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy; the name derived from the geographical position of the Germans and Austrians in Central Europe. During World War I, Italy remained neutral before joining the Allies

Central Lowlands
One of the three geographical divisions of Scotland, being the fertile and densely populated plain that lies between two geological fault lines, which run nearly parallel northeast–southwest across Scotland from Stonehaven to Dumbarton and from Dunbar to Girvan

cell membrane
Thin layer of protein and fat surrounding cells that keeps the cells together and controls substances passing between the cytoplasm and the intercellular space. The cell membrane is semipermeable, allowing some substances to pass through and some not. Generally, small molecules such as water, glucose...

cell sap
Dilute fluid found in the large central vacuole of many plant cells. It is made up of water, amino acids, glucose, and salts. The sap has many functions, including storage of useful materials, and provides mechanical support for non-woody plants

Central America
The part of the Americas that links Mexico with the Isthmus of Panama, comprising Belize and the republics of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. It is also an isthmus, crossed by mountains that form part of the Cordilleras, rising to a maximum height of 4,220 m/1...

cell wall
Tough outer surface of the cell in plants. It is constructed from a mesh of cellulose and is very strong and only very slightly elastic so that it protects the cell and holds it in shape. Most living cells are turgid (swollen with water; see turgor). Water is absorbed by osmosis causing the cell ...

cell, electrolytic
Device to which electrical energy is applied in order to bring about a chemical reaction; see electrolysis