16-letter words containing c, a, r, b
- carbon bisulfide — carbon disulfide
- carbon disulfide — a heavy, volatile, colorless liquid, CS2, highly flammable and poisonous, used as a solvent, insecticide, etc.
- carbon footprint — Your carbon footprint is a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by your activities over a particular period.
- carbon-14 dating — radiocarbon dating.
- carbonless paper — a sheet of paper impregnated with dye which transfers writing or typing onto the copying surface below without the necessity for carbon pigment
- carboxylesterase — (enzyme) Any enzyme that catalyses the hydrolysis of a carboxylic ester.
- carboxypeptidase — any of several digestive enzymes that catalyze the removal of an amino acid from the end of a peptide chain having a free carbonyl group.
- cardinal numbers — Also called cardinal numeral. any of the numbers that express amount, as one, two, three, etc. (distinguished from ordinal number).
- cassia-bark tree — a lauraceous tree, Cinnamomum cassia, of eastern Asia.
- cathode ray tube — (hardware) (CRT) An electrical device for displaying images by exciting phosphor dots with a scanned electron beam. CRTs are found in computer VDUs and monitors, televisions and oscilloscopes. The first commercially practical CRT was perfected on 29 January 1901 by Allen B DuMont. A large glass envelope containing a negative electrode (the cathode) emits electrons (formerly called "cathode rays") when heated, as in a vacuum tube. The electrons are accelerated across a large voltage gradient toward the flat surface of the tube (the screen) which is covered with phosphor. When an electron strikes the phosphor, light is emitted. The electron beam is deflected by electromagnetic coils around the outside of the tube so that it scans across the screen, usually in horizontal stripes. This scan pattern is known as a raster. By controlling the current in the beam, the brightness at any particular point (roughly a "pixel") can be varied. Different phosphors have different "persistence" - the length of time for which they glow after being struck by electrons. If the scanning is done fast enough, the eye sees a steady image, due to both the persistence of the phospor and of the eye itself. CRTs also differ in their dot pitch, which determines their spatial resolution, and in whether they use interlace or not.
- cathode-ray tube — A cathode-ray tube is a device in televisions and computer terminals which sends an image onto the screen.
- cedar of lebanon — a cedar, Cedrus libani, of SW Asia with level spreading branches and fragrant wood
- celebrity status — the prominence of film star, footballer, musician etc who is constantly photographed and written about in tabloids and magazines
- cepheid variable — any of a class of variable stars with regular cycles of variations in luminosity (most ranging from three to fifty days). There is a relationship between the periods of variation and the absolute magnitudes, which is used for measuring the distance of such stars
- cerulean warbler — a North American wood warbler, Dendroica cerulea, the male of which is blue above and white below.
- chamber of trade — a national organization representing local chambers of commerce
- chargeable asset — any asset that can give rise to assessment for capital gains tax on its disposal. Exempt assets include principal private residences, cars, investments held in a personal equity plan, and government securities
- charitable trust — a trust set up for the benefit of a charity that complies with the regulations of the Charity Commissioners to enable it to be exempt from paying income tax
- chernobyl packet — (networking) /cher-noh'b*l pak'*t/ A network packet that induces a broadcast storm and/or network meltdown, named in memory of the April 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl in Ukraine. The typical scenario involves an IP Ethernet datagram that passes through a gateway with both source and destination Ethernet address and IP address set as the respective broadcast addresses for the subnetworks being gated between. Compare Christmas tree packet.
- chiclet keyboard — (hardware, abuse) A keyboard with a small, flat rectangular or lozenge-shaped rubber or plastic keys that look like pieces of Chiclets chewing gum. Used especially to describe the original IBM PCjr keyboard. Vendors unanimously liked these because they were cheap, and a lot of early portable and laptop computers were launched with them. Customers rejected the idea with almost equal unanimity, and chiclets are not often seen on anything larger than a digital watch any more.
- chilean firebush — South American shrub with scarlet flowers
- christmas beetle — any of various greenish-gold Australian scarab beetles of the genus Anoplognathus, which are common in summer
- chromatic number — (mathematics) The smallest number of colours necessary to colour the nodes of a graph so that no two adjacent nodes have the same colour. See also: four colour map theorem.
- chuvash republic — a constituent republic of W central Russia, in the middle Volga valley: generally low-lying with undulating plains and large areas of forest. Capital: Cheboksary. Pop: 1 313 900 (2002). Area: 18 300 sq km (7064 sq miles)
- cigarette beetle — a small cylindrical beetle, Lasioderma serricorne, that is a pest, especially of dried tobacco.
- circumambulating — Present participle of circumambulate.
- circumambulation — The act of walking around something in a circle, especially for a ritual purpose.
- city of aberdeen — a council area in NE Scotland, established in 1996. Pop: 206 600 (2003 est). Area: 186 sq km (72 sq miles)
- clarified butter — butter with the water and milk solids removed, used for cooking at high temperatures without burning
- class background — a person's background with reference to social class
- cluster variable — RR Lyrae star.
- cobra de capello — a cobra, Naja tripudians, that has ringlike markings on the body and exists in many varieties in S and SE Asia
- collaborationism — The act of collaborating, especially with an enemy.
- collaborationist — A collaborationist government or individual is one that helps or gives support to the enemy during the war.
- combination door — an outside door having a frame into which different types of panels can be inserted, as a screen for summer or storm sash for winter.
- combination drug — a medication comprised of set dosages of two or more separate drugs.
- combination room — (at Cambridge University) a common room
- come/bring alive — If a story or description comes alive, it becomes interesting, lively, or realistic. If someone or something brings it alive, they make it seem more interesting, lively, or realistic.
- commensurability — The quality of being commensurable or commensurate.
- commercial break — A commercial break is the interval during a commercial television programme, or between programmes, during which advertisements are shown.
- comparable worth — the doctrine that a woman's and man's pay should be equal when their work requires equal training, skills, and responsibilities.
- complex variable — a variable to which complex numbers may be assigned as value.
- concertina table — an extensible table having a hinged double top falling onto a hinged frame that unfolds like an accordion when pulled out.
- conference table — a large table, often rectangular, around which a number of people may be seated, as when holding a conference
- congeliturbation — the churning, heaving, and thrusting of soil material due to the action of frost.
- constant lambert — Constant [kon-stuh nt] /ˈkɒn stənt/ (Show IPA), 1905–51, English composer and conductor.
- constructability — Alternative form of constructibility.
- consumer durable — Consumer durables are goods which are expected to last a long time, and are bought infrequently.
- contrabassoonist — Someone who plays the contrabassoon.
- control variable — Also called control. Statistics. a person, group, event, etc., that is used as a constant and unchanging standard of comparison in scientific experimentation. Compare dependent variable (def 2), independent variable (def 2).