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cattleya ... Caxias
cattleya
any orchid plant of the genus Cattleya (family Orchidaceae), comprising about 65 species of air plants or rock plants that are commercially important as ornamentals and florists' plants. They are ...
Catton, Bruce
American journalist and historian, noted for his books on the American Civil War.
Catullus, Gaius Valerius
Roman poet whose expressions of love and hatred are generally considered the finest lyric poetry of ancient Rome. In 25 of his poems he speaks of his love for a ...
Catulus, Gaius Lutatius
Roman commander, victor in the final battle of the First Punic War between Rome and Carthage (264-241). As consul in 242, he blockaded the Sicilian cities of Lilybaeum and Drepanum ...
Catulus, Quintus Lutatius
Roman politician, a leader of the Optimates, the conservative faction in the Senate.
Catulus, Quintus Lutatius
Roman general, at first a colleague and later a bitter enemy of the politically powerful commander Gaius Marius.
Catuvellauni
probably the most powerful Belgic tribe in ancient Britain; it occupied the area directly north of the River Thames. The first capital of the Catuvellauni was located near Wheathampstead, but ...
Cauca
department, southwestern Colombia, stretching eastward from the Pacific Ocean across the Andean Cordilleras (mountains) Occidental and Central, which are separated by the fertile valley of the upper Rio Cauca. The ...
Cauca River
river, western and northwestern Colombia, rising in the Andes near Popayan and flowing northward between the Cordilleras (mountains) Occidental and Oriental for 838 mi (1,349 km) to join the Rio ...
Caucasian languages
group of languages indigenous to Transcaucasia and adjacent areas of the Caucasus region, between the Black and Caspian seas. As used in this article, the term excludes the Indo-European (Armenian, ...
Caucasian peoples
various ethnic groups living in the Caucasus, a geographically complex area of mountain ranges, plateaus, foothills, plains, rivers, and lakes, with grasslands, forests, marshes, and dry steppes. The complex of ...
Caucasus
mountain system and region lying between the Black Sea (west) and the Caspian Sea (east) and occupied by Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia.
Cauchon, Pierre
French bishop of Beauvais, an ecclesiastic memorable chiefly because he presided over the trial of Joan of Arc.
Cauchy, Augustin-Louis, Baron
French mathematician who pioneered in analysis and the theory of substitution groups (groups whose elements are ordered sequences of a set of things). He was one of the greatest of ...
caucus
any political group or meeting organized to further a special interest or cause.
Caudata
one of the major extant orders of the class Amphibia. It includes salamanders and newts. The relatively small and inconspicuous salamanders are important members of north temperate and some tropical ...
Caudine Forks
narrow mountain pass near Beneventum in ancient Samnium (near modern Montesarchio, Campania, southern Italy). In the Battle of Caudine Forks the Samnites under Gavius Pontius defeated and captured a Roman ...
caudle cup
small, two-handled silver cup, usually with a cover, originally made in England during the second half of the 17th century and possibly used for caudle-warm ale or wine mixed with ...
Caughley ware
porcelain produced by the Caughley China Works, a factory in Caughley, Shropshire, England. A local earthenware pottery was extended in 1772 by Thomas Turner to make soaprock (steatitic) porcelain; a ...
Caulaincourt, Armand, marquis de, Duc De Vicence
French general, diplomat, and ultimately foreign minister under Napoleon. As the Emperor's loyal master of horse from 1804, Caulaincourt was at Napoleon's side in his great battles, and his Memoires ...
cauliflower
(Brassica oleracea, Botrytis group), form of cabbage (q.v.), of the mustard family (Brassicaceae), consisting of a compact terminal mass of greatly thickened, modified, and partially developed flower structures, together with ...
cauliflower ear
distortion of the cartilage of the outer ear as the result of an injury. If the injury causes bleeding between the cartilage and the skin, it produces a smooth and ...
cauliflower ware
in pottery, creamware modelled and glazed in green and yellow to simulate a cauliflower, the term also applying to other fruit or vegetable forms. About 1760, William Greatbach undertook the ...
Caulkins, Tracy
American athlete, considered one of the most versatile swimmers ever. She is the only swimmer to set U.S. records in every stroke.
Caullery, Maurice
French biologist famous for his research on parasitic protozoans and marine invertebrates.
Caulonia
ancient Greek city in southern Italy, southernmost of the colonies founded in Italy by the Achaeans. Established perhaps in the first half of the 7th century BC, Caulonia was an ...
Caunt, Benjamin
British bare-knuckle prizefighter, one of the first to aspire to a world championship in addition to national honours. Caunt held the English heavyweight championship from 1838 to 1845, losing the ...
Caupolican
Mapuche chief and a leader of the Indian resistance to the Spanish invaders of Chile.
causerie
in literature, a short, informal essay, often on a literary topic. This sense of the word is derived from the title of a series of essays by the French author ...
Causses
gorge-gouged limestone plateaus of southwestern France. The name is from cau, local form of chaux, meaning "lime." At elevations of from 3,000 to 4,000 ft (900 to 1,200 m), the ...
caustic potash
potassium hydroxide, a potassium salt that readily dissolves in water to form a strongly alkaline and corrosive solution (see potassium).
caustic soda
sodium hydroxide, a white crystalline solid used extensively in the manufacture of soap, rayon, and paper (see sodium).
Cauto River
river in Granma and Santiago de Cuba provinces, eastern Cuba. The island's longest river, it flows for 230 mi (370 km) from its source in the Sierra Maestra westward through ...
Cauvery River
sacred river of southern India. It rises on Brahmagiri Hill of the Western Ghats in southwestern Karnataka state, flows in a southeasterly direction for 475 miles (765 km) through the ...
Cava de' Tirreni
town and episcopal see, Salerno province, Campania region, southern Italy, in a rich cultivated valley surrounded by hills, just northwest of Salerno city. Cylindrical towers on the hills are used ...
Cavafy, Constantine
Greek poet who developed his own consciously individual style and thus became one of the most important figures not only in Greek poetry but in Western poetry as well. He ...
Cavaignac, Louis-Eugene
French general and chief executive during the Revolution of 1848, known for his harsh reprisals against rebelling Parisian workers in June of that year.
Cavaille-Coll, Aristide
distinguished French organ builder and initiator of the orchestral style of French organ building and composing.
Cavalcanti, Alberto
Brazilian-born director-producer, screenwriter, and art director of motion pictures in the mid-20th century who spent much of his career in Europe.
Cavalcanti, Guido
Italian poet, a major figure among the Florentine poets who wrote in the dolce stil nuovo ("sweet new style") and who is considered, next to Dante, the most striking poet ...
Cavalcaselle, Giovanni Battista
writer on art and, with Giovanni Morelli, founder of modern Italian art-historical studies.
cavalier
(from Late Latin caballarius, "horseman"), originally a rider or cavalryman; the term had the same derivation as the French chevalier. In English the word knight was at first generally used ...
Cavalier Parliament
(May 8, 1661-Jan. 24, 1679), the first English Parliament after the Restoration of Charles II to the throne. It was originally enthusiastically royalist in tone, but over the years its ...
Cavalier poet
any of a group of English gentlemen poets, called Cavaliers because of their loyalty to Charles I (1625-49) during the English Civil Wars, as opposed to Roundheads, who supported Parliament. ...
Cavalier, Jean
leader of the French Huguenot insurgents known as the Camisards from 1702 to 1704.
Cavaliere D'arpino
Italian painter of the post-Renaissance school known as Mannerist, who helped to spread that school abroad.
Cavaliere, Emilio del
Italian composer and one of the earliest to compose dramatic music.
Cavalieri, Bonaventura
Italian mathematician who made developments in geometry that were precursors to integral calculus.
Cavalla River
river in western Africa, rising north of the Nimba Range in Guinea and flowing south to form more than half of the Liberia-Cote d'Ivoire border. It enters the Gulf of ...
Cavalli, Francesco
the most important Italian composer of opera in the mid-17th century.
Cavallini, Pietro
Roman fresco painter and mosaicist whose work represents the earliest significant attempt in Italian art to break with Byzantine stylizations and move toward a plastic, illusionistic depiction of figures and ...
Cavallotti, Felice
left-wing, antimonarchist journalist and political leader, sometimes called Italy's "Poet of the Democracy."
cavalry
military force mounted on horseback, formerly an important element in the armies of all major powers. When employed as part of a combined military formation, its main duties included observing ...
Cavan
county in the province of Ulster, northeastern Ireland. It is bounded by Counties Monaghan (northeast), Meath, Westmeath, and Longford (south), and Leitrim (northwest). Northern Ireland lies to the north. Northwestern ...
cavatina
musical form appearing in operas and occasionally in cantatas and instrumental music. In early 18th-century cantatas, notably those of J.S. Bach, the cavatina was a short, epigrammatic piece sometimes sung ...
cave
natural opening in the Earth large enough for human exploration. Such a cavity is formed in many types of rock and by many processes. The largest and most common caves ...
cave bear
extinct species (Ursus spelaeus) of bear, notable for its habit of inhabiting caves, where its remains are frequently preserved; in European cave deposits, the remains of more than 100,000 cave ...
cave deposit
any of the crystalline deposits that form in a solution cave after the creation of the cave itself. These deposits are generally composed of calcium carbonate dissolved from the surrounding ...
cave fish
any of the pale, blind, cave-dwelling fishes of the genera Amblyopsis and Typhlichthys, family Amblyopsidae. Cave fishes are small, growing to about 10 cm (4 inches) long, and are found ...
cave pearl
small, almost spherical concretion of calcite that is formed in a pool of water in a cave and is not attached to the surface on which it forms. Occasionally saturated ...
caveat emptor
(Latin: "let the buyer beware"), in the law of commercial transactions, principle that the buyer purchases at his own risk in the absence of an express warranty in the contract.
Cavell, Edith
English nurse who became a popular heroine of World War I and was executed for assisting Allied soldiers to escape from German-occupied Belgium.
Cavendish
unincorporated rural community, Queens county, on the central northern coast of Prince Edward Island, Canada, 24 miles (39 km) northwest of Charlottetown. It lies near a sandy beach (called Penamkeak ...
Cavendish experiment
measurement of the force of gravitational attraction between pairs of lead spheres, which thus allowed the first calculation of the value of the gravitational constant, G, the number expressing the ...
Cavendish, George
English courtier and writer who won a minor but lasting reputation through a single work, his Life of Cardinal Wolsey, a landmark in the development of English biography, an important ...
Cavendish, Henry
English physicist and chemist who conducted experiments in diverse fields, discovering such phenomena as the composition of air, the nature and properties of hydrogen, the specific heat of certain substances, ...
Cavendish, Lord Frederick Charles
British statesman, protege of William Ewart Gladstone, who was murdered by Irish nationalists the day after his arrival in Dublin as chief secretary to the lord lieutenant of Ireland and ...
Cavendish, Thomas
English navigator and freebooter, leader of the third circumnavigation of the Earth.
caviar
the eggs, or roe, of sturgeon preserved with salt. It is prepared by removing the egg masses from freshly caught fish and passing them carefully through a fine-mesh screen to ...
cavitation
formation of vapour bubbles within a liquid at low-pressure regions that occur in places where the liquid has been accelerated to high velocities, as in the operation of centrifugal pumps, ...
Cavite
city, southern Luzon, Philippines.
Cavite Mutiny
(Jan. 20, 1872), brief uprising of 200 Filipino troops and workers at the Cavite arsenal, which became the excuse for Spanish repression of the embryonic Philippine nationalist movement. Ironically, the ...
Cavour, Camillo Benso, conte di
Piedmontese statesman, a conservative whose exploitation of international rivalries and of revolutionary movements brought about the unification of Italy (1861) under the House of Savoy, with himself as the first ...
cavy
any of 14 species of South American rodents comprising guinea pigs, maras, yellow-toothed cavies, mountain cavies, and rock cavies. All except the maras have robust bodies, short limbs, large heads ...
Cawdor
village and castle in the Highland council area, historic county of Nairnshire, Scotland, south of Nairn, near Inverness. The local castle, according to a now discredited tradition perpetuated by Shakespeare, ...
Caxias
city, east central Maranhao state, northeastern Brazil, on the Rio Itapicuru, at 207 ft (63 m) above sea level. Formerly known as Sao Jose das Aldeias Altas, it was renamed ...