Chapter 16

Cloche (?), n. [F., prop., bell.] (Aëronautics) An apparatus used in controlling certain kinds of aëroplanes, and consisting principally of a steering column mounted with a universal joint at the base, which is bellshaped and has attached to it the cables for controlling the wing- warping devices, elevator planes, and the like.

Clock"wise` (?), a. & adv. Like the motion of the hands of a clock; -- said of that direction of a rotation about an axis, or about a point in a plane, which is ordinarily reckoned negative.

||Clo"nus (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; violent, confused motion.] (Med.) A series of muscular contractions due to sudden stretching of the muscle, -- a sign of certain neuropathies.

Cloot (?), n. [Cf. G. dial. kleuzen to split.] (Scot. & Dial. Eng.) 1. One of the divisions of a cleft hoof, as in the ox; also, the whole hoof.

2. The Devil; Clootie; -- usually in the pl. Burns.

Cloot"ie (?), n. (Scot. & Dial. Eng.) 1. A little hoof.

2. The Devil. "Satan, Nick, or Clootie." Burns.

Clydes"dale (?), n. One of a breed of heavy draft horses originally from Clydesdale, Scotland. They are about sixteen hands high and usually brown or bay.

Clydesdale terrier. One of a breed of small silky- haired terriers related to, but smaller than, the Skye terrier, having smaller and perfectly erect ears.

Cly"tie knot (?). In hair dressing, a loose, low coil at the back of the head, like the knot on the head of the bust of Clytie by G. F. Watts.

Coach"er (?), n. 1. A coachman. [Obs.]

2. A coach horse.

3. One who coaches; specif. (Baseball), one of the side at the bat posted near first or third base to direct a base runner.

Coal"sack` (?), n. [Coal + 2d sack.] (Astron.) Any one of the spaces in the Milky Way which are very black, owing to the nearly complete absence of stars; esp., the large space near the Southern Cross sometimes called the Black Magellanic Cloud.

Coast and Geodetic Survey. A bureau of the United States government charged with the topographic and hydrographic survey of the coast and the execution of belts of primary triangulation and lines of precise leveling in the interior. It now belongs to the Department of Commerce and Labor.

Co*ca"in*ism (?), n. (Med.) A morbid condition produced by the habitual and excessive use of cocaine. -- Co*ca"in*ist, n.

Co*ca"in*ize (?), v. t. To treat or anæsthetize with cocaine. -- Co*ca`in*i*za"tion (#), n.

Cock"er span"iel. One of a breed of small or medium- sized spaniels kept for hunting or retrieving game or for household pets. They usually weigh from eighteen to twenty-eight pounds. They have the head of fair length, with square muzzle, the ears long and set low, the legs short or of medium length, and the coat fine and silky, wavy but not curly. Various colors are bred, as black, liver, red, black and white, black and tan, etc.

Cock"pit` (?), n. In some aëroplanes and flying machines, an inclosure for the pilot or a passenger.

{ Cock`y*ol"ly, or Cock`y*ol"y, bird } (?). [Cf. Cock, fowl; Yellow.] A pet name for any small bird.

Co`e*lec"tron, n. See Electron.

Co*gon" (?), n. [Sp., prob. fr. a native name.] A tall, coarse grass (Imperata arundinacea) of the Philippine Islands and adjacent countries, used for thatching.

Co*her"er (?), n. (Elec.) Any device in which an imperfectly conducting contact between pieces of metal or other conductors loosely resting against each other is materially improved in conductivity by the influence of Hertzian waves; -- so called by Sir O. J. Lodge in 1894 on the assumption that the impact of the electic waves caused the loosely connected parts to cohere, or weld together, a condition easily destroyed by tapping. A common form of coherer as used in wireless telegraphy consists of a tube containing filings (usually a pinch of nickel and silver filings in equal parts) between terminal wires or plugs (called conductor plugs).

{ Co*hune" (?), n., or Cohune palm }. [Prob. fr. a native name in Honduras.] A Central and South American pinnate-leaved palm (Attalea cohune), the very large and hard nuts of which are turned to make fancy articles, and also yield an oil used as a substitute for coconut oil.

||Coif`feur" (?), n. [F.] A hairdresser.

Coign (?), n. A var. spelling of Coin, Quoin, a corner, wedge; -- chiefly used in the phrase coign of vantage, a position advantageous for action or observation.

From some shielded nook or coign of vantage.

The Century.

The lithosphere would be depressed on four faces; . . . the four projecting coigns would stand up as continents.

Nature.

Co`in*sur"ance (?), n. [Co- + insurance.] Insurance jointly with another or others; specif., that system of fire insurance in which the insurer is treated as insuring himself to the extent of that part of the risk not covered by his policy, so that any loss is apportioned between him and the insurance company on the principle of average, as in marine insurance or between other insurers.

||Co"la, n., L. pl. of Colon.

||Co"la (?), n. [NL., fr. a native name.] (Bot.) (a) A genus of sterculiaceous trees, natives of tropical Africa, esp. Guinea, but now naturalized in tropical America, esp. in the West Indies and Brazil. (b) Same as Cola nut, below.

{ Cola nut, Cola seed }. (Bot.) The bitter fruit of Cola acuminata, which is nearly as large as a chestnut, and furnishes a stimulant, which is used in medicine.

Cold"-short`, a. [Prob. fr. Sw. kallskör; kall cold + skör brittle. Oxf. E. D.] (Metal.) Brittle when cold (that is, below a red heat). -- Cold"-short`ness, n.

Cold" wave". (Meteor.) In the terminology of the United States Weather Bureau, an unusual fall in temperature, to or below the freezing point, exceeding 16° in twenty-four hours or 20° in thirty-six hours, independent of the diurnal range.

{ Col`lar*et" (?), ||Col`la*rette" (?) }, n. [F. collerette, dim. of collier. See Collar.] A small collar; specif., a woman's collar of lace, fur, or other fancy material.

Col`lec*tiv"i*ty (?), n. 1. Quality or state of being collective.

2. The collective sum. aggregate, or mass of anything; specif., the people as a body; the state.

The proposition to give work by the collectivity is supposed to be in contravention of the sacred principle of monopolistic competition.

W. D. Howells.

3. (Polit. Econ.) Collectivism.

Col*leen" (?), n. [Ir. cailin.] A girl; a maiden. [Anglo-Irish]

Of all the colleens in the land Sweet Mollie is the daisy.

The Century.

Col"lo*type (?), n. [Gr. &?; glue + - type.] A photomechanical print made directly from a hardened film of gelatin or other colloid; also, the process of making such prints. According to one method, the film is sensitized with potassium dichromate and exposed to light under a reversed negative. After the dichromate has been washed out, the film is soaked in glycerin and water. As this treatment causes swelling in those parts of the film which have been acted on by light, a plate results from which impressions can be taken with prepared ink. The albertype, phototype, and heliotype are collotypes.

||Col*lu"vi*es (?), n. [L., a collection of washings, dregs, offscourings, fr. colluere to wash; col- + luere to wash.] 1. A collection or gathering, as of pus, or rubbish, or odds and ends.

2. A medley; offscourings or rabble.

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||Col`o*bo"ma (?), n. [NL. fr. Gr. &?;, the part taken away in mutilation, fr. &?; to mutilate.] (Anat. & Med.) A defect or malformation; esp., a fissure of the iris supposed to be a persistent embryonic cleft.

Co*lo"ni*al*ism (?), n. 1. The state or quality of, or the relationship involved in, being colonial.

The last tie of colonialism which bound us to the mother country is broken.

Brander Matthews.

2. A custom, idea, feature of government, or the like, characteristic of a colony.

3. The colonial system or policy in political government or extension of territory.

Col"o*ny, n. 1. (Bot.) A cell family or group of common origin, mostly of unicellular organisms, esp. among the lower algæ. They may adhere in chains or groups, or be held together by a gelatinous envelope.

2. (Zoöl.) A cluster or aggregation of zooids of any compound animal, as in the corals, hydroids, certain tunicates, etc.

3. (Zoöl.) A community of social insects, as ants, bees, etc.

Col`o*ra"do (?), a. [Sp., red.] 1. Reddish; -- often used in proper names of rivers or creeks. [Southwestern U. S.]

2. Medium in color and strength; -- said of cigars. [Cant]

Col`or*im"e*try (?), n. [See Colorimeter.] 1. The quantitative determination of the depth of color of a substance.

2. A method of quantitative chemical analysis based upon the comparison of the depth of color of a solution with that of a standard liquid.

Colt pistol. (Firearms) A self-loading or semi-automatic pistol with removable magazine in the handle holding seven cartridges. The recoil extracts and ejects the empty cartridge case, and reloads ready for another shot. Called also Browning, &and; Colt-Browning, pistol.

Colt revolver. (Firearms) A revolver made according to a system using a patented revolving cylinder, holding six cartridges, patented by Samuel Colt, an American inventor, in 1835. With various modifications, it has for many years been the standard for the United States army.

Co*lum"bus Day (?). The 12th day of October, on which day in 1492 Christopher Columbus discovered America, landing on one of the Bahama Islands (probably the one now commonly called Watling Island), and naming it "San Salvador"; -- called also Discovery Day. This day is made a legal holiday in many States of The United States.

Com*bus"tion cham`ber. (Mech.) (a) A space over, or in front of , a boiler furnace where the gases from the fire become more thoroughly mixed and burnt. (b) The clearance space in the cylinder of an internal combustion engine where the charge is compressed and ignited.

Come"-a*long`, n. A gripping device, as for stretching wire, etc., consisting of two jaws so attached to a ring that they are closed by pulling on the ring.

Co*meth"er (?), n. [Prob. dial. pron. of come hither, used in calling cows, etc.] [Dial. or Colloq., Brit.] 1. Matter; affair.

2. Friendly communication or association.

To put the, or one's, comether on, to exercise persuasion upon; to get under one's influence; to beguile; to wheedle.

How does ut come about, sorr, that whin a man has put the comether on wan woman he's sure bound to put ut on another?

Kipling.

||Co`mi*ti"va (?), n. [It.] A body of followers; -- applied to the lawless or brigand bands in Italy and Sicily.

Com`man*deer" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Commandeered (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Commandeering.] [D. kommandeeren to command, in South Africa to commandeer, fr. F. commander to command. See Command.] 1. (Mil.) To compel to perform military service; to seize for military purposes; -- orig. used of the Boers.

2. To take arbitrary or forcible possession of. [Colloq.]

Com*man"do (?), n. [D. See Command, v. t.] In South Africa, a military body or command; also, sometimes, an expedition or raid; as, a commando of a hundred Boers.

The war bands, called commandos, have played a great part in the . . . military history of the country.

James Bryce.

Com"merce de*stroy"er. (Nav.) A very fast, unarmored, lightly armed vessel designed to capture or destroy merchant vessels of an enemy. Not being intended to fight, they may be improvised from fast passenger steamers.

Com*min"gler (?), n. One that commingles; specif., a device for noiseless heating of water by steam, in a vessel filled with a porous mass, as of pebbles.

Com*mis`sion*aire" (?), n. [F. commissionnaire. Cf. Commissioner.] 1. One intrusted with a commission, now only a small commission, as an errand; esp., an attendant or subordinate employee in a public office, hotel, or the like. The commissionaire familiar to European travelers performs miscellaneous services as a light porter, messenger, solicitor for hotels, etc.

2. One of a corps of pensioned soldiers, as in London, employed as doorkeepers, messengers, etc.

Com`mu*ta"tion tick"et. A ticket for transportation at a reduced rate in consideration of some special circumstance, as increase of travel; specif., a ticket for a certain number of, or for daily, trips between neighboring places at a reduced rate, such as are commonly used by those doing business in a city and living in a suburb. Commutation tickets are excepted from the prohibition against special rates contained in the Interstate Commerce Act of Feb. 4, 1887 (24 Stat. 379), and in 145 U. S. 263 it was held that party tickets were also excepted as being "obviously within the commuting principle."

Com"po (?), n.; pl. - pos (#). Short for Composition; -- used, esp. in England, colloq. in various trade applications; as : (a) A mortar made of sand and cement. (b) A carver's mixture of resin, whiting, and glue, used instead of plaster of Paris for ornamenting walls and cornices. (c) A composition for billiard balls. (d) A preparation of which printer's rollers are made. (e) A preparation used in currying leather. (f) Composition paid by a debtor.

||Com"pos men"tis (?). [L.] (Law) Sane in mind; being of sound mind, memory, and understanding.

Com"pos-men"tis, n. One who is compos mentis. [Colloq.]

||Com`po`tier" (kôN`p`ty"), n.; pl. Compotiers (F. ty"). [F.] A dish for holding compotes, fruit, etc.

Com"pound con*trol". (Aëronautics) A system of control in which a separate manipulation, as of a rudder, may be effected by either of two movements, in different directions, of a single lever, etc.

Com*pressed" yeast. A cake yeast made by filtering the cells from the liquid in which they are grown, subjecting to heavy pressure, and mixing with starch or flour.

Com*pres"sion pro*jec"tile. A projectile constructed so as to take the grooves of a rifle by means of a soft copper band firmly attached near its base or, formerly, by means of an envelope of soft metal. In small arms the modern projectile, having a soft core and harder jacket, is subjected to compression throughout the entire cylindrical part.

Comp"to*graph (?), n. [F. compter to count + -graph.] A machine for adding numbers and making a printed record of the sum.

Comp*tom"e*ter (?), n. [See Count; -meter.] A calculating machine; an arithmometer.

Con"cen*tra`tor, n. (Firearms) A frame or ring of wire or hard paper fitting into the cartridge case used in some shotguns, and holding the shot together when discharged, to secure close shooting; also, a device for slightly narrowing the bore at the muzzle for the same purpose.

{ Concert of Europe, or European concert}. An agreement or understanding between the chief European powers to take only joint action in the (European) Eastern Question.

Concert of the powers. An agreement or understanding between the chief European powers, the United States, and Japan in 1900 to take only joint action in the Chinese aspect of the Eastern Question.

{ Con*ces`sion*aire" (?), ||Con`ces`sion`naire" (?) }, n. [F. concessionnaire.] The beneficiary of a concession or grant.

Con*ces"sion*a*ry (?), a. Of or pertaining to a concession. -- n.; pl. -ries (&?;). A concessionaire.

||Con`cier`ge*rie" (?), n. [F.] 1. The office or lodge of a concierge or janitor.

2. A celebrated prison, attached to the Palais de Justice in Paris.

Con"cord bug"gy (k"krd). [From Concord, New Hampshire, where first made.] A kind of buggy having a body with low sides, and side springs.

Con"dor (kn"dr; in defs. 2 & 3, kn"dr), n. 1. (Zoöl.) The California vulture. [Local, U. S.]

2. A gold coin of Chile, bearing the figure of a condor, and equal to twenty pesos. It contains 10.98356 grams of gold, and is equivalent to about $7.29. Called also colon.

3. A gold coin of Colombia equivalent to about $9.65. It is no longer coined.

Con*duct"ance (kn*dk"tans), n. [Conduct, v. + -ance.] (Elec.) Conducting power; -- the reciprocal of resistance. A suggested unit is the mho, the reciprocal of the ohm.

Conductance is an attribute of any specified conductor, and refers to its shape, length, and other factors. Conductivity is an attribute of any specified material without direct reference to its shape or other factors.

Sloane's Elec. Dict.

Con"duit sys"tem. (Elec.) A system of electric traction, esp. for light railways, in which the actuating current passes along a wire or rail laid in an underground conduit, from which the current is "picked up" by a plow or other device fixed to the car or electric locomotive. Hence Conduit railway.

Cone clutch. (Mach.) A friction clutch with conical bearing surfaces.

Cone"flow`er (?), n. Any plant of the genus Rudbeckia; -- so called from the cone-shaped disk of the flower head. Also, any plant of the related genera Ratibida and Brauneria, the latter usually known as purple coneflower.

Cone"-nose`, n. A large hemipterous insect of the family Reduviidæ, often found in houses, esp. in the southern and western United States. It bites severely, and is one of the species called kissing bugs. It is also called big bedbug.

{ Con`es*to"ga wag`on or wain (?) }. [From Conestoga, Pennsylvania.] A kind of large broad-wheeled wagon, usually covered, for traveling in soft soil and on prairies.

Con*fec"tion*ers' sug`ar. A highly refined sugar in impalpable powder, esp. suited to confectioners' uses.

Con*fed"er*a*cy, n. (Amer. Hist.) With the, the Confederate States of America.

||Con*fet"ti (?), n. pl.; sing. -fetto (&?;). [It. Cf. Comfit.] Bonbons; sweetmeats; confections; also, plaster or paper imitations of, or substitutes for, bonbons, often used by carnival revelers, at weddings, etc.

Con"for*ma`tor (?), n. [L., a framer.] An apparatus for taking the conformation of anything, as of the head for fitting a hat, or, in craniometry, finding the largest horizontal area of the head.

Con"go group. [From Congo red.] A group of artificial dyes with an affinity for vegetable fibers, so that no mordant is required. Most of them are azo compounds derived from benzidine or tolidine. Called also benzidine dyes.

Congo red. (Chem.) An artificial red dye from which the Congo group received its name. It is also widely used either in aqueous solution or as test paper (Congo paper) for the detection of free acid, which turns it blue.

Con"greve (?), n. [After Sir William Congreve, the inventor.] 1. Short for Cogreve rocket, a powerful form of rocket formerly used in war, either in the field or for bombardment. In the former case it was armed with shell, shrapnel, or other missiles; in the latter, with an inextinguishable explosive material, inclosed in a metallic case. It was guided by a long wooden stick.

2. Short for Congreve match, an early friction match, containing sulphur, potassium chlorate, and antimony sulphide.

Con"qui*an (?), n. (Card Playing) A game for two, played with 40 cards, in which each player tries to form three or four of a kind or sequences.

Con*sol" (?), n. A consolidated annuity (see Consols); -- chiefly in combination or attributively.

{ Con`so*la"tion game, match, pot, race, etc. } A game, match, etc., open only to losers in early stages of contests.

Con"stant, n. 1. (Astron.) A number whose value, when ascertained (as by observation) and substituted in a general mathematical formula expressing an astronomical law, completely determines that law and enables predictions to be made of its effect in particular cases.

2. (Physics) A number expressing some property or condition of a substance or of an instrument of precision; as, the dielectric constant of quartz; the collimation constant of a transit instrument.

Aberration constant, or Constant of aberration (Astron.), a number which by substitution in the general formula for aberration enables a prediction to be made of the effect of aberration on a star anywhere situated. Its value is 20&Prime;.47. -- Constant of integration (Math.), an undetermined constant added to every result of integration. -- Gravitation constant (Physics), the acceleration per unit of time produced by the attraction of a unit of mass at unit distance. When this is known the acceleration produced at any distance can be calculated. -- Solar constant (Astron.), the quantity of heat received by the earth from the sun in a unit of time. It is, on the C. G. S. system, 0.0417 small calories per square centimeter per second. Young.

Con*sum"er's goods (?). (Polit. Econ.) Economic goods that directly satisfy human wants or desires, such as food, clothes, pictures, etc.; -- called also consumption goods, or goods of the first order, and opposed to producer's goods.

Consumer's surplus. (Polit. econ.) The excess that a purchaser would be willing to pay for a commodity over that he does pay, rather than go without the commodity; -- called also consumer's rent.

The price which a person pays for a thing can never exceed, and seldom comes up to, that which he would be willing to pay rather than go without it. . . . The excess of the price which he would be willing to pay rather than go without it, over that which he actually does pay, is the economic measure of this surplus satisfaction. It has some analogies to a rent; but is perhaps best called simply consumer's surplus.

Alfred Marshall.

Con*ta"gious dis*ease". (Med.) A disease communicable by contact with a patient suffering from it, or with some secretion of, or object touched by, such a patient. Most such diseases have already been proved to be germ diseases, and their communicability depends on the transmission of the living germs. Many germ diseases are not contagious, some special method of transmission or inoculation of the germs being required.

||Conte (?), n.; pl. Contes (#). [F.] A short narrative or tale, esp. one dealing with surprising or marvelous events.

The conte (sic) is a tale something more than a sketch, it may be, and something less than a short story. . . . The "Canterbury Tales" are contes, most of them, if not all, and so are some of the "Tales of a Wayside Inn."

Brander Matthews.

Con`ti*nen"tal drive. (Automobiles) A transmission arrangement in which the longitudinal crank shaft drives the rear wheels through a clutch, change-speed gear, countershaft, and two parallel side chains, in order.

Continental glacier. A broad ice sheet resting on a plain or plateau and spreading outward from a central névé, or region of accumulation.

Continental pronunciation (of Latin and Greek.) A method of pronouncing Latin and Greek in which the vowels have their more familiar Continental values, as in German and Italian, the consonants being pronounced mostly as in English. The stricter form of this method of pronouncing Latin approaches the Roman, the modified form the English, pronunciation. The Continental method of Greek pronunciation is often called Erasmian.

Continental system. (Hist.) The system of commercial blockade aiming to exclude England from commerce with the Continent instituted by the Berlin decree, which Napoleon I. issued from Berlin Nov. 21, 1806, declaring the British Isles to be in a state of blockade, and British subjects, property, and merchandise subject to capture, and excluding British ships from all parts of Europe under French dominion. The retaliatory measures of England were followed by the Milan decree, issued by Napoleon from Milan Dec. 17, 1807, imposing further restrictions, and declaring every ship going to or from a port of England or her colonies to be lawful prize.

Con`tra*bass" (?), n. (Mus.) The lowest stringed instrument of the violin family.

Con"tract sys"tem. 1. The sweating system.

2. The system of employing convicts by selling their labor (to be performed inside the prison) at a fixed price per day to contractors who are allowed to have agents in the prison to superintend the work.

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