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


elder
(religion) In the Presbyterian church, a lay member who assists the minister (or teaching elder) in running the church

element
(chemistry) Substance that cannot be split chemically into simpler substances. The atoms of a particular element all have the same number of protons in their nuclei (their proton or atomic number). Elements are classified in the periodic table of the elements. Of the known elements, 92 are kno...

electroplating
Deposition of metals upon metallic surfaces by electrolysis for decorative and/or protective purposes. It is used in the preparation of printing plates, `master` audio discs, and in many other processes. A current is passed through a bath containing a solution of a salt of the plating metal, the object to be plated being the cathode (...

electrolyte
Solution or molten substance in which an electric current is made to flow by the movement and discharge of ions in accordance with Faraday's laws of electrolysis. The term `electrolyte` is frequently used to denote a substance that, when dissolved in a specified solvent, usually water, dissociates into ions to produce an electrically ...

elephant
Click images to enlargeLarge grazing mammal with thick, grey wrinkled skin, large ears, a long flexible trunk, and huge curving tusks. There are fingerlike projections at the end of the trunk used for grasping food and carrying it to the mouth. The trunk is also used for carrying water to the mouth. The elephant is herbiv...

eland
Largest species of antelope, Taurotragus oryx. Pale fawn in colour, it is about 2 m/6 ft high, and both sexes have spiral horns about 45 cm/18 in long. It is found in central and southern Africa

electric fish
Any of several unrelated fishes that have electricity-producing powers, including the South American `electric eel`. These include Electrophorus electricus, which is not a true eel, and in which the lateral tail muscles are modified to form electric organs capable of generating 650 volts; the current passing fro...

elector
Any of originally seven (later ten) princes of the Holy Roman Empire who had the prerogative of electing the emperor (in effect, the king of Germany). The electors were the archbishops of Mainz, Trier, and Cologne, the court palatine of the Rhine, the Duke of Saxony, the Margrave of Brandenburg, and the king of Bohemia (in force to 1806). Their con...

Ellington, Duke
(Edward Kennedy) US pianist. He had an outstanding career as a composer and arranger of jazz. He wrote numerous pieces for his own jazz orchestra, emphasizing the strengths of individual virtuoso instrumentalists, and became one of th...

elite
A small group with power in a society, having privileges and status above others. An elite may be cultural, educational, religious, political (also called `the establishment` or `the governing circles`), or social. Sociological interest has centred on how such minorities get, use, and hold on to power, and on what distinguishes ...

Ellice Islands
Former name of Tuvalu, a group of islands in the western Pacific Ocean

El Niño
Marked warming of the eastern Pacific Ocean that occurs when a warm current of water moves from the western Pacific, temporarily replacing the cold Peru Current along the west coast of South America. This results in a reduction in marine plankton, the main food source in the ocean, and fish numbers decline. The atmospheric circulation in the region...

Elisha
In the Old Testament, a Hebrew prophet, successor to Elijah

electrostatics
Study of stationary electric charges and their fields (not currents). See static electricity. Charged materials behave differently if they are brought near to each other. Materials of like charge, that is both positive or both negative, will move away from each other (repelled by electrostatic force). Materials of opposite charge, that is one posit...

electromagnetic waves
Oscillating electric and magnetic fields travelling together through space at a speed of approximately 300,000 kps/186,000 mps. Visible light is composed of electromagnetic waves. The electromagnetic spectrum is a family of waves that includes radio waves, infrared radiation, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays, and gamma rays. All...

electromagnetic field
In physics, region in which a particle with an electric charge experiences a force. If it does so only when moving, it is in a pure magnetic field; if it does so when stationary, it is in an electric field. Both can be present simultaneously. For example, a light wave consists of continually oscillating electric and magnetic fields

electroencephalogram
Graphic record of the electrical discharges of the brain, as detected by electrodes placed on the scalp. The pattern of electrical activity revealed by electroencephalography is helpful in the diagnosis of some brain disorders, in particular epilepsy

electroconvulsive therapy
Treatment mainly for severe depression, given under anaesthesia and with a muscle relaxant. An electric current is passed through one or both sides of the brain to induce alterations in its electrical activity. The treatment can cause distress and loss of concentration and memory, and so there is much controversy about its use and effectiveness. EC...

electric charge
Property of some bodies that causes them to exert forces on each other. Two bodies both with positive or both with negative charges repel each other, whereas bodies with opposite or `unlike` charges attract each other. Electrons possess a negative charge, and protons an equal positive charg...

electoral system
See vote and proportional representation

Elysée Palace
Building in Paris erected in 1718 for Louis d'Auvergne, Count of Evreux. It was later the home of Mme de Pompadour, Napoleon I, and Napoleon III, and became the official residence of the presidents of France in 1870

elasticity
(economics) In economics, the measure of response of one variable to changes in another. Such measures are used to test the effects of changes in prices and incomes on demand and supply. Price elasticity of demand measures the responsiveness of changes in quantity demanded to a change in price...

Ely
City in the Cambridgeshire Fens, eastern England, on the Great Ouse River, 24 km/15 mi northeast of Cambridge; population (2001) 13,950. Economic activities include agriculture (sugar beet), engineering, and the manufacture of agricultural machinery, pottery, chemicals, and plastics. The cathedral, dating from 1083, is one of the largest in...

Eluard, Paul
French poet. He expressed the suffering of poverty in his verse, and was a leader of the surrealists (see surrealism). He fought in World War I, which inspired his Poèmes pour la paix/Poems for Peace (1918), and was a member of the Resistance in World War II. His books include Poésie et vérité/...

Elton, Charles Sutherland
British ecologist, a pioneer of the study of animal and plant forms in their natural environments, and of animal behaviour as part of the complex pattern of life. He defined the concept of food chains and was an early conservationist. Elton was instrumental in establishing the Nature Conservancy Council (1949), and was much concerned with the impac...

El Paso
City and administrative headquarters of El Paso County, Texas, at the base of the Franklin Mountains, on the Rio Grande, opposite the Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez; population (2000 est) 563,700. It is the centre of an agricultural and cattle-raising area, and there are electronics, food processing, packing, textile, and leather indust...

Ellora
Archaeological site in Maharashtra state, India, with 35 sculpted and decorated temple caves – Buddhist, Hindu, and Jainist – dating from the late 6th century to the 10th century

Ellis Island
Click images to enlargeIsland in New York harbour, USA, 1.5 km/1 mi from Manhattan Island; area 0.1 sq km/0.04 sq mi. A former reception centre for immigrants during the immigration waves between 1892 and 1943 (12 million people passed through it from 1892 to 1924), it was later used (until 1954) as a detentio...

ellipse
Curve joining all points (loci) around two fixed points (foci) such that the sum of the distances from those points is always constant. The diameter passing through the foci is the major axis, and the diameter bisecting this at right angles is the minor axis. An ellipse is one of a series of curves k...

Ellesmere Island
Island in the extreme northeast of the Arctic Archipelago, in the Canadian territory of Nunavut; area 196,236 sq km/75,767 sq mi; population (2006) 120. It is the second-largest island in the archipelago and is part of the Queen Elizabeth island group, at the northern end of Baffin Bay. Its northern tip, Cape Columbia, is the most n...

elk
Click images to enlargeLarge deer Alces alces inhabiting northern Europe, Asia, Scandinavia, and North America, where it is known as the moose. It is brown in colour, stands about 2 m/6 ft at the shoulders, has very large palmate antlers, a fleshy muzzle, short neck, and long legs. It feeds on leave...

Elizabeth
Empress of Russia from 1741, daughter of Peter the Great. She carried through a palace revolution and supplanted her cousin, the infant Ivan VI (1730–1764), on the throne. She continued the policy of westernization begun by Peter and allied herself with Austria against Prussia

Eliot, T(homas) S(tearns)
US-born poet, playwright, and critic, who lived in England from 1915. His first volume of poetry, Prufrock and Other Observations (1917), introduced new verse forms and rhythms; subsequent major poems were The Waste Land (1922), a long symbolic poem of disillusionment, and The Hollow Men
Eliot, George
English novelist. Her works include the pastoral Adam Bede (1859); The Mill on the Floss (1860), with its autobiographical elements; Silas Marner (1861), containing elements of the folk tale; and Daniel Deronda (1...

Elijah
In the Old Testament, a Hebrew prophet during the reigns of the Israelite kings Ahab and Ahaziah. He came from Gilead. He defeated the prophets of Baal, and was said to have been carried up to heaven in a fiery chariot in a whirlwind. In Jewish belief, Elijah will return to earth to herald the coming of the Messiah

Elgin marbles
Collection of ancient Greek sculptures, including the famous frieze and other sculptures from the Parthenon at Athens, assembled by the 7th Earl of Elgin. Sent to England 1803–1812, and bought for the nation in 1816 for £35,000, they are now in the British Museum. Greece has repeatedly asked for them to be returned to Athens. In 1999, a B...

Elgar, Edward
(William) English composer. Although his celebrated oratorio The Dream of Gerontius (1900), based on the written work by the theologian John Henry Newman, was initially unpopular in Britain, its good reception in Düsseldorf, Germany, in 1902 led to a surge of interest i...

Eleusinian Mysteries
Ceremonies in honour of the Greek deities Demeter, goddess of corn, and her daughter Persephone, queen of the underworld, celebrated in the precincts of the temple of Demeter at Eleusis, in the territory of Athens. They formed the basis of a secret cult, requiring initiation for entrance. The rituals were agrarian in origin and had a strong chthoni...

elephantiasis
In medicine, a condition of local enlargement and deformity, most often of a leg, though the scrotum, vulva, or breast may also be affected. The commonest form of elephantiasis is the tropical variety (lymphatic filariasis) caused by infestation by parasitic roundworms (filaria); the enlargement is due to damage of the lymphatic system which im...

electrocardiogram
Graphic recording of the electrical activity of the heart, as detected by electrodes placed on the skin. Electrocardiography is used in the diagnosis of heart disease

electrocution
Death caused by electric current. It is used as a method of execution in some US states. The condemned person is strapped into a special chair and a shock of 1,800–2,000 volts is administered. See capital punishment

electoral college
In the US government, the indirect system of voting for the president and vice-president. The people of each state officially vote not for the presidential candidate, but for a list of electors nominated by each party. The whole electoral-college vote of the state then goes to the winning party (and candidate). A majority is required for el...

Eleanor of Castile
Queen of Edward I of England, the daughter of Ferdinand III of Castile. She married Prince Edward in 1254, and accompanied him on his crusade in 1270. She died at Harby, Nottinghamshire, and Edward erected stone crosses in towns where her body rested on the funeral journey to London. Several Eleanor Crosses are still standing, for example, at North...

El Dorado
Fabled city of gold believed by the 16th-century Spanish and other Europeans to exist somewhere in the area of the Orinoco and Amazon rivers. The name is derived from the legend of a chief of a land thought to be in modern Colombia, South America, who was ceremonially covered with gold or gold dust, thus becoming el dorado (&...

Elbe
One of the principal rivers of Germany; length 1,166 km/725 mi. It rises on the southern slopes of the Riesengebirge, Czech Republic, and flows northwest across the German plain to the North Sea. One of the chief waterways of Europe, it is navigable for ocean-going vessels as far as Hamburg (101 km/62 mi from the mouth), and for sma...

Elba
Island in the Mediterranean Sea, 10 km/6 mi off the west coast of Italy; area 223 sq km/86 sq mi; population (2001) 29,100. Iron ore is exported from the island's capital, Portoferraio, to the Italian mainland. There is a fishing industry, olives are grown, and tourism is important. Elba was French emperor Napoleon's place o...

electrum
Naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver used by early civilizations to make the first coins, about the 6th century BC

electric arc
A continuous electric discharge of high current between two electrodes, giving out a brilliant light and heat. The phenomenon is exploited in the carbon-arc lamp, once widely used in film projectors. In the electric-arc furnace an arc struck between very large carbon electrodes and the metal charge provides the heating. In arc welding an el...

electrophoresis
The diffusion of charged particles through a fluid under the influence of an electric field. It can be used in the biological sciences to separate molecules of different sizes, which diffuse at different rates. In industry, electrophoresis is used in paint-dipping operations to ensure that paint reaches awkward corners

electric bell
Bell that makes use of electromagnetism. A direct current (from a battery) flows through a wire-wound coil on an iron core (an electromagnet). The electromagnet attracts an iron armature, and a clapper or hammer fixed to the armature strikes the bell. The armature acts as a switch, whose movement...

electric motor
Machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. There are various types, including direct-current and induction motors, most of which produce rotary motion. A linear induction motor produces linear (in a straight line) rather than rotary motion. Electric motors and generators have...

electric power
Rate at which an electrical machine uses electrical energy or converts it into other forms of energy – for example, light, heat, or mechanical energy. Usually measured in watts (equivalent to joules per second), it is equal to the product of the voltage and the current flowing. In a closed circuit the potential difference (voltage) causes elec...

electroscope
Apparatus for detecting electric charge. The simple gold-leaf electroscope consists of a vertical conducting (metal) rod ending in a pair of rectangular pieces of gold foil, mounted inside and insulated from an earthed metal case or glass jar. An electric charge applied to the end of the metal ro...

elementary particle
In physics, a subatomic particle that is not known to be made up of smaller particles, and so can be considered one of the fundamental units of matter. There are three groups of elementary particles: quarks, leptons, and gauge bosons. Quarks are of 12 types: up, down, charm, strange, top (or truth), and bottom (or beauty), plus the antipart...

electronic music
Music composed completely or partly of electronically generated and/or modified sounds. The term was first used in 1954 to describe music made up of synthesized sounds recorded on tape, to distinguish it from musique concrète (`concrete music`), but later included music for electronic sounds with traditional instruments or voices...

El Salvador
Country in Central America, bounded north and east by Honduras, south and southwest by the Pacific Ocean, and northwest by Guatemala. Government El Salvador is a presidential democratic republic, with a multiparty system. The 1983 constitution, amended in 1985, provides for a president elected by universal suffrage for a five-year term, assiste...

Elizabeth I
Queen of England from 1558; the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Through her Religious Settlement of 1559 she enforced the Protestant religion by law. She had Mary Queen of Scots executed in 1587. Her conflict with Roman Catholic Spain led to the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. The Elizabethan age was expansionist in commerce and g...

electronic tagging
See tagging, electronic

elasticity
(physics) In physics, the ability of a solid to recover its shape once deforming forces are removed. An elastic material obeys Hooke's law, which states that its deformation is proportional to the applied stress up to a certain point, called the elastic limit; beyond this point additio...

Elizabeth
(biblical) In the New Testament, mother of John the Baptist. She was a cousin of Jesus' mother Mary, who came to see her shortly after the Annunciation; on this visit (called the Visitation), Mary sang the hymn of praise later to be known as the `Magnificat`

electrovalent bond
Another name for an ionic bond, a chemical bond in which the combining atoms lose or gain electrons to form ions

Ellison, Ralph Waldo
US novelist. His Invisible Man (1952) portrays with humour and energy the plight of a black man whom post-war US society cannot acknowledge. It is regarded as one of the most impressive novels published in the USA in the 1950s. He also wrote essays collected in Shadow and Act (1964). Ellison saw black peopl...

elongation
In astronomy, angular distance between the Sun and a planet or other Solar System object. This angle is 0° at conjunction, 90° at quadrature, and 180° at opposition

electromotive force
In physics, the energy supplied by a source of electric power in driving a unit charge around the circuit. The unit is the volt. The term is therefore used to describe the voltage produced by an electric battery or generator in an electrical circuit. A difference in charge between two points in a material can be created when an external energy sour...

electrochemistry
Branch of science that studies chemical reactions involving electricity. The use of electricity to produce chemical effects, electrolysis, is employed in many industrial processes, such as electroplating, the manufacture of chlorine, and the extraction of aluminium. The use of chemical reactions to p...

electromagnet
Coil of wire wound around a soft iron core that acts as a magnet when an electric current flows through the wire. Electromagnets have many uses: in switches, electric bells, solenoids, and metal-lifting cranes. The strength of the electromagnet can be increased by increasing the current through the wire, changing the material of the core, o...

electron volt
Unit for measuring the energy of a charged particle (ion or electron) in terms of the energy of motion an electron would gain from a potential difference of one volt. Because it is so small, more usual units are mega-(million) and giga- (billion) electron volts (MeV and GeV)

Elizabethan literature
Literature produced during the reign of Elizabeth I of England (1558–1603). This period saw a remarkable growth of the arts in England, and the literature of the time is characterized by a new energy, originality, and confidence. Renaissance humanism, Protestant zeal, and geographical and scientific discovery all contributed to this upsurge of...

electrons, delocalized
Electrons that are not associated with individual atoms or identifiable chemical bonds, but are shared collectively by all the constituent atoms or ions of some chemical substances (such as metals, graphite, and aromatic compounds). A metallic solid consists of a three-dimensional arrangement of metal ions through which the delocalized electron...

electronegativity
A measure for the ease with which an atom can attract electrons to itself. Electronegative elements attract electrons, so forming negative ions. US chemist Linus Pauling devised an electronegativity scale to indicate the relative power of attraction of elements for electrons. Fluorine, the most non-metallic element, has a value of 4.0 on this s...

Elysium
In Greek mythology, an afterworld or paradise, originally identified with the Islands of the Blessed, for those who found favour with the gods. Later poets depicted Elysium as a region in Hades, the underworld. It was ruled over by Rhadamanthys, a judge of the dead. According to Homer in the 8th century BC, Elysium lay in the far west on the banks ...

El Aaiún
Arabic name of Laâyoune

electrode
Any terminal by which an electric current passes in or out of a conducting substance; for example, the anode or cathode in an electrolytic cell. The anode is the positive electrode and the cathode is the negative electrode. The terminals that emit and collect the flow of electrons in thermionic valves (electron tubes) are also called electrode...

electrodynamics
Branch of physics dealing with electric charges, electric currents, and associated forces. Quantum electrodynamics (QED) studies the interaction between charged particles and their emission and absorption of electromagnetic radiation. This subject combines quantum theory and relativity theory, making accurate predictions about subatomic processes i...

electromagnetic force
One of the four fundamental forces of nature, the other three being the gravitational force (gravity), the weak nuclear force, and the strong nuclear force. The particle that is the carrier for the electromagnetic force is the photon

electron
Negatively-charged particle forming the outer portion of all atoms. Electrons orbit the nucleus in groupings called shells. The first shell can hold up to two electrons; the second and third shells can hold up to eight electrons each; and so on. The electron arrangement of an element is called its electronic configuration; for examp...

electric ray
Another name for the torpedo

electrical energy
Form of energy carried by an electric current. It may be converted into other forms of energy such as heat, light, and motion. Electrical appliances, such as washing machines, vacuum cleaners, radios, and televisions, use electricity in order to do work. Electric motors convert electrical energy into mechanical energy

electromagnetic induction
In electronics, the production of an electromotive force (emf) in a circuit by a change of magnetic flux through the circuit or by relative motion of the circuit and the magnetic flux. As a magnet is moved in and out of a coil of wire in a closed circuit an induced current will be produced. All dynam...

electrical safety
Measures taken to protect human beings from electric shock or from fires caused by electrical faults. They are of paramount importance in the design of electrical equipment. Safety measures include the fitting of earth wires, and fuses or circuit breakers; the insulation of wires; the double insulation of portable equipment; and the use...

electrolysis
(chemistry) Click images to enlargeIn chemistry, the production of chemical changes by passing an electric current through a solution or molten salt (the electrolyte), resulting in the migration of ions to the electrodes: positive ions (cations) ...

elevation, angle of
An upward angle made with the horizontal

election
Process of appointing a person to public office or a political party to government by voting. Elections were occasionally held in ancient Greek democracies; Roman tribunes were regularly elected

electronic point of sale
System used in retailing in which a bar code on a product is scanned at the cash till and the information relayed to the store computer. The computer will then relay back the price of the item to the cash till. The customer can then be given an itemized receipt while the computer removes the item from stock figures. EPOS enables efficient computer ...

ellipsis
Punctuation mark ... to suggest the omission of one or more words in a sentence. Omission of more than one word is strictly termed `plural` ellipsis. Ellipsis of a relative that is common in English, as in `the song [that] she sang`. Ellipsis of identical forms of be and ...

electronic funds transfer
Method of transferring funds automatically from one account to another by electronic means, such as electronic funds transfer at point of sale (EFTPOS), which provides for the automatic transfer of money from buyer to seller at the time of sale. For example, a customer inserts a plastic card into a point-of-sale computer terminal in a super...

elegy
Ancient Greek poetic verse genre, originally combining a hexameter (line of poetry with six metrical feet) with a shorter line in a couplet. It was used by the Greeks for epigrams, short narratives, and discursive poems, and adopted by the Roman poets (such as Ovid and Propertius), particularly for erotic verse. In contemporary usage, the term refe...

electronic publishing
Distribution of information using computer-based media such as multimedia and hypertext in the creation of electronic `books`. Critical technologies in the development of electronic publishing were CD-ROM, with its massive yet compact storage capabilities, and the advent of computer...

elements, the four
Earth, air, fire, and water. The Greek philosopher Empedocles believed that these four elements made up the fundamental components of all matter and that they were destroyed and renewed through the action of love and discord. This belief was shared by Aristotle who also claimed that the elements were mutable and contained specific qualities: co...

electronic commerce
Conducting business online. It is generally accepted that electronic commerce is a class of electronic business, and refers to the transaction of business, and more narrowly the sale and purchase of goods and services, using networked computers. This usually means via the Internet, although electronic commerce may be conducted over private networks...

elkhound
Norwegian dog resembling the husky but much smaller. Its coat is thick, with a full undercoat and the tail is bushy. Elkhounds are grey, with a darker shade on the back, and are about 50 cm/20 in high, weighing approximately 22 kg/48 lb

electric eel
South American freshwater bony fish. It grows to almost 3 m/10 ft and the electric shock produced, normally for immobilizing prey, is enough to stun an adult human. Electric eels are not true eels. Classification Electrophorus electricus is in the order Cypriniformes, class Osteichthyes

electoral system: USA
The nature of the electoral system in the United States of America is complex as there are a multitude of elective offices and many elections, not all of which are held at the same time. The president and vice-president, one-third of the Senate, and every member of the House of Representatives are elected at the same time every four years, ...

electoral system: UK
In England, elections have been used as a parliamentary process since the 13th century. The secret ballot was adopted in 1872 and full equal voting rights won for women in 1928. All registered members of the public aged 18 and over may vote in parliamentary elections. The British House of Commons is elected for a maximum of five years; the prim...

El Guerrouj, Hicham
Moroccan runner. He was the world 1,500-metre champion who in 2004 became the first man for 80 years to win a 1,500-metre and 5,000-metre Olympic double. In 1998 he set a new world record time of 3 minutes 26 seconds for the 1,500 metres, and has also set world records at the mile and 2,000 metres. In 2003 he won his fourth consecutive ...

Elizabethan religious settlement
Re-establishment of the Protestant church in England by Queen Elizabeth I during the Reformation. Papal authority was renounced in the Act of Supremacy (1559), and the Prayer Book of 1552, introduced under Edward VI, was restored in the Act of Uniformity (1559). The Thirty-Nine Articles (1571) confirmed Protestant doctrine, particularly the...

elementarism
Art theory expounded by Theo van Doesburg of the De Stijl group of Dutch abstract artists in 1926. Elementarism expanded the limitations of neoplasticism set on artworks by Pieter Mondrian, a leading member of De Stijl. Neoplasticism allowed only the depiction of flat surfaces, straight lines, and right angles in artworks, whereas Doesburg believed...

El Khartum
Alternative name for Khartoum, the capital of Sudan

El Suweis
Arabic name for Suez, a port at the Red Sea terminus of the Suez Canal

El Qahira
Arabic name for Cairo, the capital of Egypt