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


Cleveland
Port and city in northeastern Ohio, USA, on Lake Erie, at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River; seat of Cuyahoga County; population (2000 est) 478,400. Cleveland is the centre of a seven-county (including Cuyahoga, Portage, Summit, Lake, Medina, and Lorain) metropolitan area (CMSA) with a population (1990) of 2,759,800. An industrial, commer...

clay
(ceramics) Fine-grained sediment (mud) used as the basic material in ceramics. The term can refer to a variety of mixtures and textures. When moistened and wet, clay is plastic (flexible) and easily moulded. When dry, it becomes brittle and can crumble; if heated at high temperatures i...

cloisonnism
In painting, a technique used by the French Symbolist painters, notably Paul Gauguin and Émile Bernard (1868–1941). Cloisonnism is characterized by areas of flat colour surrounded by heavy outlines. Both Bernard and Gauguin argued about who invented the technique

climatic region
Geographical area which experiences certain weather conditions. No two localities on Earth may be said to have exactly the same climate, but widely separated areas of the world can possess similar climates. These climatic regions have some comparable physical and environmental features as well as having similar weather patterns. Climatic regions ar...

climate classification
Description of different types of climate, taking into account the averages, extremes, and frequencies of all meteorological elements such as temperature, atmospheric pressure, precipitation, wind, humidity, and sunshine, together with the factors that influence them. The different types of climate can be described as tropical (hot), warm temperate...

cm
Symbol for centimetre

Cnossus
Alternative form of Knossos, city of ancient Crete

CND
In Britain, abbreviation for Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

Cnut
Alternative spelling of Canute

court martial
Court convened for the trial of persons subject to military discipline who are accused of violations of military laws

coursing
Chasing of hares by greyhounds, not by scent but by sight, as a sport and as a test of the greyhound's speed. It is one of the most ancient of field sports. Since the 1880s it has been practised in the UK on enclosed or park courses

Courrèges, André
French fashion designer. He is credited with inventing the miniskirt in 1964. His `space-age` designs – square-shaped short skirts and trousers – were copied worldwide in the 1960s. Courrèges worked for Cristóbal Balenciaga 1950–61, and founded his own label 1961. From 1966 he produced both couture and rea...

Courbet, Gustave
French artist. He was a portrait, genre, and landscape painter. Reacting against academic trends, both classicist and Romantic, he became a major exponent of realism, depicting contemporary life with an unflattering frankness. His Burial at Ornans (1850; Musée d'Orsay, Paris), showing ordinary working people gathered...

Couperin, François le Grand
French composer. He is the best-known member of a musical family that included his uncle Louis Couperin (c. 1626–1661), composer for harpsichord and organ. He was a favourite composer of Louis XIV, and composed numerous chamber concertos and harpsichord suites, and published a standard keyboard tutor L'Art d...

county court
English court of law created by the County Courts Act 1846 and now governed by the Act of 1984. It exists to try civil cases, such as actions on contract and tort where the claim does not exceed £5,000, and disputes about land, such as between landlord and tenant. County courts are presided over by one or more circuit judges

county council
In England, a unit of local government whose responsibilities include broad planning policy, highways, education, personal social services, and libraries; police, fire, and traffic control; and refuse disposal. The tier below the county council has traditionally been the district council, but with local government reorganization from 1996, ...

county
Administrative unit of a country or state. It was the name given by the Normans to Anglo-Saxon `shires`, and the boundaries of many present-day English counties date back to Saxon times. There are currently 34 English administrative non-metropolitan counties and six metropolitan counties, in addition to 46 unitary authorities....

country
Popular music of the white US South and West; it originated in the 20th century and evolved from the folk music of the English, Irish, and Scottish settlers, and contains some blues influence. Instruments commonly used are slide guitar, mandolin, and fiddle. Lyrics typically extol family values and traditional sex roles, and often have a strong...

countertenor
The highest natural male voice, as opposed to the falsetto of the male alto. It was favoured by the Elizabethans for its heroic brilliance of tone

Counter-Reformation
Movement initiated by the Catholic Church at the Council of Trent (1545–63) to counter the spread of the Reformation. Extending into the 17th century, its dominant forces included the rise of the Jesuits as an educating and missionary group and the deployment of the Spanish Inquisition in Europe and the Americas. See also Germany: history ...

counterfeiting
Fraudulent imitation, usually of banknotes. It is countered by special papers, elaborate watermarks, skilled printing, and sometimes the insertion of a metallic strip. Forgery is also a form of counterfeiting

counterpoint
In music, two or more lines that are arranged so that they fit well together. Even though the combination of the melodies is the main aim, they must make a satisfactory harmony. Another word for this is polyphony. Giovanni Palestrina and Johann Sebastian Bach were masters of counterpoint. It originat...

Council of Europe
Body constituted in 1949 to achieve greater unity between European countries, to help with their economic and social progress, and to uphold the principles of parliamentary democracy and respect for human rights. It has a Committee of foreign ministers, a Parliamentary Assembly (with members from national parliaments), and a European Commission on ...

council
In local government in the UK, a popularly elected local assembly charged with the government of the area within its boundaries (for example, county councils, district councils, parish councils, unitary council

coulomb
SI unit of electrical charge. One coulomb is the amount of charge transferred by a current of one ampere in one second. The unit is named after French scientist Charles Augustin de Coulomb

Cotswold Hills
Range of limestone hills in Gloucestershire, South Gloucestershire, and Bath and North East Somerset, England, 80 km/50 mi long, between Bath and Chipping Camden. They rise to 333 m/1,086 ft at Cleeve Cloud, near Cheltenham, but average about 200 m/600 ft. The area is known for its picturesque villages, built with the local honey-co...

Cotonou
Chief port and largest city of Benin, on the Bight of Benin; population (2002) 665,100. Palm products and timber are exported, there is a brewing industry, and textiles are manufactured. Although not the official capital, it is the seat of the president, and the main centre of commerce and politics

cot death
Death of an apparently healthy baby, almost always during sleep. It is most common in the winter months, and strikes more boys than girls. The cause is not known but risk factors that have been identified include prematurity, respiratory infection, overheating, and sleeping position. In August 2001, it was announced that smoking during pregnancy ca...

Cossack
People of southern and southwestern Russia, Ukraine, and Poland, predominantly of Russian or Ukrainian origin, who took in escaped serfs and lived in independent communal settlements (military brotherhoods) from the 15th to the 19th century. Later they held land in return for military service in the ...

cortisone
Natural corticosteroid produced by the adrenal gland, now synthesized for its anti-inflammatory qualities and used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Cortisone was discovered by Tadeus Reichstein of Basel, Switzerland, and put to practical clinical use for rheumatoid arthritis by Philip Hench and Edward Kendall in the USA (all three shar...

Cortés, Hernán Ferdinand
Spanish conquistador. He conquered the Aztec empire 1519–21, and secured Mexico for Spain. Cortés went to the West Indies as a young man and in 1518 was given command of an expedition to Mexico. Landing with only 600 men, he was at first received as a god by the Aztec emperor Montezuma II but was expelled from Tenochtitlán (Mexico Ci...

Corsica
Island region of France, in the Mediterranean off the west coast of Italy, north of Sardinia; it comprises the départements of Haute Corse and Corse du Sud; area 8,680 sq km/3,351 sq mi; population (1999 est) 260,200 (including just under 50% native Corsica...

Correggio
Italian painter of the High Renaissance. His style followed the classical grandeur of Leonardo da Vinci and Titian, but anticipated the baroque in its emphasis on movement, softer forms, and contrasts of light and shade. Based in Parma, he painted splendid illusionistic visions in the cathedral there, including the remarkable Assumption of...

corporative state
State in which the members are organized and represented not on a local basis as citizens, but as producers working in a particular trade, industry, or profession. Originating with the syndicalist workers' movement (see syndicalism), the idea was superficially adopted by the fascists during the 1920s and 1930s. Catholic social theory, as expoun...

Corot, Jean-Baptiste Camille
French painter. He created a distinctive landscape style using a soft focus and a low-key palette of browns, ochres, and greens. His early work, including Italian scenes of the 1820s, influenced the Barbizon School of painters. Like them, Corot worked outdoors, but he also continued a conventional academic tradition with his romanticized painti...

coronation
Ceremony of investing a sovereign with the emblems of royalty, as a symbol of inauguration in office. Since the coronation of Harold in 1066, English sovereigns have been crowned in Westminster Abbey, London

coroner
Official who investigates the deaths of persons who have died suddenly by acts of violence or under suspicious circumstances, by holding an inquest or ordering a postmortem examination (autopsy). Coroners may also inquire into instances of treasure trove. The coroner's court aims not to establish liability but to find out how, where, and why th...

Cornwall
(UK) Click images to enlargeCounty in southwest England including the Isles of Scilly (Scillies). Area (excluding Scillies) 3,550 sq km&...

Corn Laws
Click images to enlargeIn Britain until 1846, laws used to regulate the export or import of cereals in order to maintain an adequate supply for consumers and a secure price for producers. For centuries the Corn Laws formed an integral part of the mercantile system in England; they were repealed because they became an ...

cornet
(instrument) Soprano three-valved brass instrument, usually in B flat. It is similar in size to the trumpet but squatter in shape, and developed from the coiled post-horn in Austria and Germany between about 1820 and 1850 for military band use. Its cylindrical bore, compact shape, and ...

Corneille, Pierre
French dramatist. His tragedies, such as Horace (1640), Cinna (1641), and Oedipe (1659), glorify the strength of will governed by reason, and established the French classical dramatic tradition. His first comedy, Mélite, was performed in 1629, followed by others that g...

Cork
(city) Third-largest city in Ireland; port and county town of County Cork, important industrial and trading centre on the River Lee, at the head of the long inlet of Cork harbour, 21 km/13 mi from the sea; population (2002) 123,100. The lower harbour, at Cobh, can berth liners....

Cork
(county) Click images to enlargeLargest county of the Republic of Ireland, in the province of Munster; county town Cork; area 7,460 sq km/2,880 sq mi; population (2002) 447,800. Cork is mainly agricultural, but...

Corinth
(town) Port in Greece, on the Isthmus of Corinth connecting the Peloponnese with the mainland; population (2003 est) 32,000. The rocky isthmus is bisected by the 7 km/4 mi Corinth canal, opened in 1893. Founded in 1858 after the destruction of Old Corinth by an earthquake, it was rebui...

Corfu
Northernmost and second largest of the Ionian islands of Greece, off the coast of Epirus in the Ionian Sea; area 1,072 sq km/414 sq mi; population (2003 est) 115,200. Its businesses include tourism, fruit, olive oil, and textiles; livestock raising and fishing are important sources of...

cor anglais
Musical instrument, an alto oboe, pitched a fifth lower (in F) than the oboe. It has a distinctive tulip-shaped bell and produces a warm nasal tone. It is heard in Rossini's overture to William Tell(1829), and portrays a plaintive Sasha the duck in Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf (1936). The cor angl...

Coral Sea
Part of the Pacific Ocean bounded by northeastern Australia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia; area 4,790,000 sq km/1,849,000 sq mi, with an average depth of 2,400 m/7,870 ft, with three deep trenches on its eastern edge. It contains numerous coral islands and reefs. The Coral Sea Islands are a territory of Au...

Copland, Aaron
US composer. His early works, such as his piano concerto (1926), were in the jazz style but he gradually developed a gentler style with a regional flavour drawn from American folk music. Among his works are the ballet scores Billy the Kid (1938), Rodeo (1942), and Appalachian Spring (1944;...

Copenhagen, Battle of
Naval victory on 2 April 1801 by a British fleet under Sir Hyde Parker (1739–1807) and Nelson over the Danish fleet. Nelson put his telescope to his blind eye and refused to see Parker's signal for withdrawal

Copenhagen
Click images to enlargeCapital of Denmark, on the islands of Sjaelland and Amager (the two sections of the city are connected by bridges); population (2003 est) 1,094,400, urban agglomeration 2,335,700. Copenhagen is a Denmark's chief commercial, industrial, and cultural centre and an important commercial, fishing...

Coote, Eyre
Irish general in British India. His victory in 1760 at Wandiwash, followed by the capture of Pondicherry, ended French hopes of supremacy. He returned to India as commander-in-chief in 1779, and several times defeated Hyder Ali, sultan of Mysore

cooperative movement
The banding together of groups of people for mutual assistance in trade, manufacture, the supply of credit, housing, or other services. The original principles of the cooperative movement were laid down in 1844 by the Rochdale Pioneers, under the influence of Robert Owen, and by Charles Fourier in France. Producers' cooperative societies, forme...

Cooper, Gary
(Frank James) US film actor. One of the great stars of the classical Hollywood era, who created a screen persona of quiet dignity, moral rectitude, and powerful action. He won Academy Awards for his performances in Sergeant York (1941) and High Noon (1952)...

Coolidge,
(John) 30th president of the USA 1923–29, a Republican. As governor of Massachusetts in 1919, he was responsible for crushing a Boston police strike. As Warren Harding's vice-president 1921–23, he succeeded to the presidency on Harding's death. He won the 1924 presidentia...

Cook Strait
Strait dividing North Island and South Island, New Zealand, about 30 km/19 mi in width at its narrowest point. A submarine cable carries electricity from South to North Island. Captain James Cook sailed through the strait in 1770

Cook Islands
Group of six large and a number of smaller Polynesian islands 2,600 km/1,600 mi northeast of Auckland, New Zealand; area 290 sq km/112 sq mi; population (2000 est) 20,400. Their main products include citrus fruit, copra, bananas, pearl-shell, cultivated (black) pearls, and crafts. Tourism is, however, the chief industry, with la...

Cook, James
English naval explorer. After surveying the St Lawrence River in North America in 1759, he made three voyages: 1768–71 to Tahiti, New Zealand, and Australia; 1772–75 to the South Pacific; and 1776–79 to the South and North Pacific, attempting to find the Northwest Passage and charting the Siberian coast. He was largely re...

convoy system
Grouping of ships to sail together under naval escort in wartime. In World War I (1914–18) navy escort vessels were at first used only to accompany troopships, but the convoy system was adopted for merchant shipping when the unrestricted German submarine campaign began in 1917. In World War II (1939–45) the convoy system was widely used b...

contract
Legal agreement between two or more parties, where each party agrees to do something. For example, a contract of employment is a legal agreement between an employer and an employee and lays out the conditions of employment. Contracts need not necessarily be written; they can be verbal contracts. In consumer law, for example, a contract is estab...

Continental System
System of economic preference and protection within Europe from 1806 to 1813 created by the French emperor Napoleon in order to exclude British trade. Apart from its function as economic warfare, the system also reinforced the French economy at the expense of other European states. It failed owing to British naval superiority

Continental Congress
In US history, the federal legislature of the original 13 states, acting as a provisional government before the American Revolution. It convened in Philadelphia from 1774 to 1789, when the US Constitution was adopted. The Second Continental Congress, convened in May 1775, was responsible for drawing up the Declaration of Independence (1776) and, in...

consul
(Roman history) Chief magistrate of the ancient Roman Republic, after the expulsion of the last king in 510 BC. Two consuls were elected annually by the comitia centuriata (assembly of the Roman people), and their names were used to date the year. With equ...

constructivism
Abstract art movement that originated in Russia in about 1914 and subsequently had great influence on Western art. Constructivism usually involves industrial materials such as glass, steel, and plastic in clearly defined arrangements, but the term is difficult to define precisely, as the meaning attached to it has varied according to place and time...

Constantine II
King of the Hellenes (Greece). In 1964 he succeeded his father Paul I, went into exile in 1967, and was formally deposed in 1973

Constantine
City and capital of the department of Constantine in northeast Algeria; population (1998) 462,200. It lies 320 km/200 mi south of the capital, Algiers. Products include carpets and leather and woollen goods. The oldest city in Algeria, it was the capital of the Roman province of Numidia, but declined and was ruined, then restored in 313 by ...

Constanta
Chief Romanian port on the Black Sea, capital of Constanta region, and second-largest city of Romania; population (2002) 310,500. It has refineries, shipbuilding yards, and food factories. It is the exporting centre for the Romanian oilfields, to which it is connected by pipeline. It was founded as a Greek colony in the 7th century BC, and ...

Constance, Lake
Lake bounded by Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, through which the River Rhine flows; area 539 sq km/208 sq mi. It is about 72 km/45 mi long, 13 km/8 mi wide, and lies 396 m/1,300 ft above sea level. At its northwestern end it divides into two lakes, the northern being the Überlingen, and the southern – joined to Lak...

Constable, John
English artist; one of the greatest landscape painters of the 19th century. He painted scenes of his native Suffolk, including The Haywain (1821; National Gallery, London), as well as castles, cathedrals, landscapes, and coastal scenes in other parts of Britain. Constable i...

Conservative Party
Click images to enlargeUK political party, one of the two historic British parties; the name replaced Tory in general use from 1830 onwards. Traditionally the party of landed interests (those owning substantial land or property), it broadened its political base under Benjamin Disraeli's leadership in the 19th cent...

consent, age of
Age at which consent may legally be given to sexual intercourse by a girl or boy. In the UK the age of consent is 16 for both heterosexuals (since 1885) and homosexuals (since 2000)

conscription
Legislation for all able-bodied male citizens (and female in some countries, such as Israel) to serve with the armed forces. It originated in France in 1792, and in the 19th and 20th centuries became the established practice in almost all European states. Modern conscription systems often permit alternative national service for conscientious ob...

Connecticut
State in New England, USA, bordered to the north by Massachusetts, to the east by Rhode Island, to the west and southwest by New York State, and to the south by Long Island Sound on the Atlantic Ocean; area 12,548 sq km/4,845 sq mi; population (2006) 3,504,800; capital Hartford. It wa...

Connacht
Historic province of the Republic of Ireland, comprising the counties of Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon, and Sligo; area 17,130 sq km/6,612 sq mi; population (2002) 464,300. The chief towns are Galway, Roscommon, Castlebar, Sligo, and Carrick-on-Shannon. Mainly lowland, it is agricultural and stock-raising country, with po...

Congress Party
Indian political party, founded in 1885 as the Indian National Congress. It led the movement to end British rule and was the governing party from independence in 1947 until 1977, when Indira Gandhi lost the leadership she had held since 1966. Congress also held power from 1980 to 1989 and from 1991 to 1996. Heading a splinter group, known as Congre...

Congregationalism
Form of church government adopted by those Protestant Christians known as Congregationalists, who let each congregation manage its own affairs. The first Congregationalists established themselves in London, England, and were called the Brownists after Robert Browne, who defined the congregational principle in 1580. They opposed King James I and wer...

Confucius
Chinese sage whose name is given to the ethical system of Confucianism. He placed emphasis on moral order and observance of the established patriarchal family and social relationships of authority, obedience, and mutual respect. His emphasis on tradition and ethics attracted a growing number of pupils during his lifetime. The Analects of C...

confirmation
Rite practised by a number of Christian denominations, including Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox, in which a person who has undergone infant baptism confirms the promises made on their behalf, and is admitted to full membership of the Christian community. In Reform Judaism there is often a confirmation service several years after the bar or ...

Coney Island
Seaside resort in Brooklyn, in the southwest of Long Island, New York, USA; it is 10 km/6 mi long and about 1 km/0.6 mi at its widest point. Coney Island (now a peninsula) has been popular for its amusement parks and ocean bathing since the 1840s, peaking in 1955 when about 1.5 million people visited on July 4th, but numbers have since ...

condominium
Joint rule of a territory by two or more states, for example, Kanton and Enderbury islands in the South Pacific Phoenix group (under the joint control of Britain and the USA for 50 years from 1939)

concordat
Agreement regulating relations between the papacy and a secular government, for example, that for France between Pius VII and the emperor Napoleon, which lasted from 1801 to 1905; Mussolini's concordat, which lasted from 1929 to 1978 and safeguarded the position of the church in Italy; and one of 1984 in Italy in which Roman Catholicism...

concordance
Book containing an alphabetical list of the important words in a major work, with reference to the places in which they occur. The first concordance was one for the Latin Vulgate Bible compiled by a Dominican monk in the 13th century

conclave
Secret meeting, in particular the gathering of cardinals in Rome to elect a new pope. They are locked away in the Vatican Palace until they have reached a decision. The result of each ballot is announced by a smoke signal – black for an undecided vote and white when the choice is made

Conchobar
In Celtic mythology, king of Ulster whose intended bride, Deirdre, eloped with Noísi. She died of sorrow when Conchobar killed her husband and his brothers

concerto
Composition, traditionally in three movements, for solo instrument (or instruments) and orchestra. It developed during the 18th century from the concerto grosso form for orchestra, in which a group of solo instruments (concerto) is contrasted with a full orchestra (ripieno). Arcangelo Corelli and Giuseppe Torelli were early concerto composers, foll...

Concepción
(Chile) Industrial city in south-central Chile, 350 km/217 mi southwest of Santiago; situated on the north bank of the Bió-Bió River, near its mouth; population (2002) 212,000. It is Chile's third-largest city and capital of Concepción province and of...

concentration camp
Click images to enlargePrison camp for civilians in wartime or under totalitarian rule. Concentration camps called reconcentrados were used by the Spanish in Cuba in 1896, to `reconcentrate` Cubans in urban areas (and in which 200,000 were believed to have died), and by the British during the ...

Conakry
Capital, largest city, and chief port of the Republic of Guinea; population (2002 est) 1,142,500 (city), 1,587,600 (urban agglomeration). It is on the island of Tumbo, and is linked with the Kaloum Peninsula by a causeway and (from 1914) by rail with Kankan, 480 km/300 mi to the northeast. Conakry is the leading commercial and industrial ce...

Compton-Burnett, Ivy
English novelist. She used dialogue to show reactions of small groups of characters dominated by the tyranny of family relationships. Her novels, set at the turn of the century, include Pastors and Masters (1925), More Women than Men (1933), and Mother and Son (1955). Her plots deal exclusive...

complex
In psychology, a group of ideas and feelings that have become repressed because they are distasteful to the person in whose mind they arose, but are still active in the depths of the person's unconscious mind, continuing to affect his or her life and actions, even though he or she is no longer fully aware of their existence. Typical examples in...

Communism Peak
Alternative form of Pik Kommunizma, the highest mountain in the Pamirs

Como
(town) Town and resort in Lombardy, Italy, on the southwest shore of Lake Como at the foot of the Alps, 40 km/25 mi north of Milan; population (2001) 78,700. Products include motorcycles, glass, silk, furniture, optical instruments, and metal goods. Tourism is important. Como has a mar...

communism
Revolutionary socialism based on the theories of the political philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, emphasizing common ownership of the means of production and a planned, or command economy. The principle held is that each should work according to his or her capacity and receive according to ...

Commune, Paris
Two separate periods in the history of Paris (between 1789 and 1794 and from March to May 1871); see Paris Commune

Commonwealth, the
(British) Voluntary association of 53 sovereign (self-ruling) countries and their dependencies, the majority of which once formed part of the British Empire and are now independent sovereign states. They are all regarded as `full members of the Commonwealth`; the newest membe...

Comintern
Acronym for Communist International

commando
Member of a specially trained, highly mobile military unit. The term originated in South Africa in the 19th century, where it referred to Boer military reprisal raids against Africans and, in the South African Wars, against the British. Commando units have often carried out operations behind enemy lines

column
(architecture) In architecture, a structure, round or polygonal in plan, erected vertically as a support for some part of a building. Cretan paintings reveal the existence of wooden columns in Aegean architecture in about 1500 BC. The...

coma
(medicine) In medicine, a state of deep unconsciousness from which the subject cannot be roused. Possible causes include head injury, brain disease, liver failure, cerebral haemorrhage, and drug overdose

Columbus
Capital of Ohio, on the Scioto and Olentangy rivers; seat of Franklin County; population (2000 est) 711,500. There are coalfields and natural gas resources nearby, and local industries include the manufacture of cars, aircraft, space equipment, missiles, and electrical goods; it is also a centre for government, banking, and insurance. C...

Columbus, Christopher
Italian navigator and explorer who made four voyages to the New World: in 1492 to San Salvador Island, Cuba, and Haiti; from 1493 to 1496 to Guadaloupe, Montserrat, Antigua, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica; in 1498 to Trinidad and the mainland of South America; from 1502 to 1504 to Honduras ...