Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Celtic literature ... central limit theorem

Celtic literature: the body of writings composed in Gaelic and the languages derived from it, Scottish Gaelic and Manx, and in Welsh and its sister languages, Breton and Cornish. For writings in English by Irish, Scottish, and Welsh authors, see English literature. ...
Celtic religion: religious beliefs and practices of the ancient Celts.
Celtis, Conradus: German scholar known as Der Erzhumanist ("The Archhumanist"). He was also a Latin lyric poet who stimulated interest in Germany in both classical learning and German antiquities.
Celto-Iberian language: extinct Indo-European language of the western part of the Iberian Peninsula. Celto-Iberian was written in the Iberic script (borrowed from speakers of the non-Indo-European Iberian language in eastern and southern Spain) and is known primarily from a small number of ...
Cemal Pasa: Turkish army officer and a leading member of the Ottoman government during World War I.
cement: in general, adhesive substances of all kinds, but, in a narrower sense, the binding materials used in building and civil engineering construction. Cements of this kind are finely ground powders that, when mixed with water, set to a hard mass. ...
cementation: in geology, hardening and welding of clastic sediments (those formed from preexisting rock fragments) by the precipitation of mineral matter in the pore spaces. It is the last stage in the formation of a sedimentary rock. The cement forms an ...
cementum: in anatomy, thin layer of bonelike material covering the roots and sometimes other parts of the teeth of mammals. Cementum is yellowish and softer than either dentine or enamel. It is made by a layer of cementum-producing cells (cementoblasts) adjacent ...
cemetery: place set apart for burial or entombment of the dead. Reflecting geography, religious beliefs, social attitudes, and aesthetic and sanitary considerations, cemeteries may be simple or elaborate-built with a grandeur that overshines the community of the living. They may also ...
Cen Shen: one of the celebrated poets of the Tang dynasty (618-907) of China.
cenacle: a literary coterie formed around various of the early leaders of the Romantic movement in France, replacing the salon as a place for writers to read and discuss their works. An early cenacle formed around the brothers Deschamps, literary editors ...
Cenci, Beatrice: young Roman noblewoman whose condemnation to death by Pope Clement VIII aroused public sympathy and became the subject of poems, dramas, and novels, including The Cenci (1819) by Percy Bysshe Shelley and Beatrice Cenci (1958) by Alberto Moravia.
Cendrars, Blaise: French-speaking poet and essayist who created a powerful new poetic style to express a life of action and danger. His poems Paques a New York (1912; "Easter in New York") and La Prose du Transsiberien et de la petite Jehanne ...
Cenis, Mount: massif and pass over the French Alps to Italy, Savoie departement, southeastern France, northeast of Briancon and west of the Italian city of Turin. The pass, an invasion route from earliest times, is traversed by a road 24 miles (38 ...
Cennini, Cennino: late Gothic Florentine painter who perpetuated the traditions of Giotto, which he received from his teacher Agnolo Gaddi. He is best known for writing Il libro dell'arte (1437; The Craftsman's Handbook), the most informative source on the methods, techniques, and ...
cenobitic monasticism: form of monasticism based on "life in common" (Greek koinobion), characterized by strict discipline, regular worship, and manual work. St. Pachomius was the author of the first cenobitic rule, which was later developed by St. Basil the Great (c. 329-379). ...
Cenomani: a Celtic people of Cisalpine Gaul (northern Italy) who, during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, allied with the Romans against other Gallic tribes. After first joining the uprising led by the Carthaginian Hamilcar, an agent of Hannibal in Gaul, ...
cenotaph: (from Greek kenotaphion, "empty tomb"), monument, sometimes in the form of a tomb, to a person who is buried elsewhere. Greek writings indicate that the ancients erected many cenotaphs, including one raised by the Athenians to the poet Euripides, though ...
cenote: (from Maya dz'onot), natural well or reservoir, common in the Yucatan Peninsula, formed when a limestone surface collapses, exposing water underneath. The major source of water in modern and ancient Yucatan, cenotes are also associated with the cult of the ...
Cenozoic Era: third of the major eras of the Earth's history, beginning about 66.4 million years ago and extending to the present (see ). It was the interval of time during which the continents assumed their modern configuration and geographic positions and ...
censor: in ancient Rome, a magistrate whose original functions of registering citizens and their property were greatly expanded to include supervision of senatorial rolls and moral conduct. Censors also assessed property for taxation and contracts, penalized moral offenders by removing their ...
censor: in traditional East Asia, governmental official charged primarily with the responsibility for scrutinizing and criticizing the conduct of officials and rulers.
censorship: the changing or the suppression or prohibition of speech or writing that is condemned as subversive of the common good. It occurs in all manifestations of authority to some degree, but in modern times it has been of special importance ...
census: an enumeration of people, houses, firms, or other important items in a country or region at a particular time. Used alone, the term usually refers to a population census-the type to be described in this article. However, many countries take ...
centaur: in Greek mythology, a race of creatures, part horse and part man, dwelling in the mountains of Thessaly and Arcadia. Traditionally they were the offspring of Ixion, king of the neighbouring Lapiths, and were best known for their fight (centauromachy) ...
Centaur object: any of a population of small bodies, similar to asteroids in size but to comets in composition, that revolve around the Sun in the outer solar system, mainly between the orbits of Jupiter and Neptune. The first known member of ...
Centaurea: genus of about 500 species of herbaceous plants of the composite family (Asteraceae). Most are native to the Old World and chiefly centred in the Mediterranean region.
centimetre: unit of length equal to 0.01 metre in the metric system and the equivalent of 0.3937 inch.
centipede: any of various long, flattened, many-segmented predaceous arthropods. Each segment except the hindmost bears one pair of legs.
Cento: town, Ferrara provincia, Emilia-Romagna regione, north-central Italy, on the Reno River, 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Bologna. A chapel was built in the church of Santa Maria del Rosario for the 17th-century Baroque painter Guercino (G.F. Barbieri), who is ...
Central Africa: region of Africa that straddles the Equator and is drained largely by the Congo River system. It comprises, according to common definitions, the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville), the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa); ...
central Africa: region of Africa that straddles the Equator and is drained largely by the Congo River system. It includes, according to common definitions, the countries of Congo (Brazzaville), the Central African Republic, and Congo (Kinshasa); Gabon is usually included along with ...
Central African Republic: landlocked country located in the centre of Africa. The area that is now the Central African Republic has been settled for at least 8,000 years; the earliest inhabitants were the probable ancestors of today's Aka (Pygmy) peoples, who live in ...
Central African Workshop: art workshop established in the late 1950s by Frank McEwen, the director of the Rhodesian Art Gallery in Salisbury, Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe), in order to encourage local African artists. McEwen first opened a studio for five painters, then a ...
Central America: southernmost region of North America, lying between Mexico and South America. (Geologists and physical geographers sometimes extend the northern boundary to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico.) Within the region are the countries of Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, ...
Central America, history of: history of the area from prehistoric and pre-Columbian times to the present.
Central American and northern Andean Indian: member of any of the aboriginal peoples inhabiting Central America (south from Guatemala) and the northern coast of South America, including the northern drainage of the Orinoco River; the West Indies are also customarily included. Although the area has meaning ...
Central American Common Market: association of five Central American nations that was formed to facilitate regional economic development through free trade and economic integration. Established by the General Treaty on Central American Economic Integration signed by Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua in December ...
Central American States, Organization of: international organization formed in 1951 to reestablish regional unity in Central America. Member states are Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The organization includes executive, legislative, and economic councils and the Central American Court of Justice; it established ...
Central Asia: central region of Asia, extending from the Caspian Sea in the west to the border of western China in the east. It is bounded on the north by Russia and on the south by Iran, Afghanistan, and China. The region ...
Central Asia, history of: history of the area from prehistoric and ancient times to the present.
central bank: institution, such as the Bank of England, the U.S. Federal Reserve System, the Bank of France, or the Bank of Japan, that is charged with regulating the size of a nation's money supply, the availability and cost of credit, and ...
Central Brahui Range: southern offshoot of the Himalayas, lying in the centre of the Balochistan plateau, Pakistan. It extends southward for about 225 miles (360 km) from the Pishin Lora and Zhob rivers to the Mula River. The range is a series of ...
Central City: city, seat (1861) of Gilpin county, north-central Colorado, U.S. It lies along North Fork of Clear Creek in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, 26 miles (42 km) west of Denver. A historic mining town on a rocky hillside ...
Central Committee: in the history of the Soviet Union, the highest organ of the Communist Party between party congresses, though in practice this status was held by the Politburo from the 1920s on. The Communist parties of other countries were also governed ...
Central Connecticut State University: public, coeducational institution of higher learning in New Britain, Conn., U.S. It is one of four universities in the Connecticut State University system. The university includes schools of business, technology, arts and sciences, and education and professional studies. The graduate ...
Central Falls: city, Providence county, northeastern Rhode Island, U.S. It forms part of the lower Blackstone River valley community, which includes the city of Pawtucket and the towns (townships) of Cumberland and Lincoln. Central Falls was originally a part of Smithfield, when ...
Central Florida, University of: public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Orlando, Florida, U.S. It is part of the State University System of Florida. It consists of a main campus in Orlando and branch campuses in Cocoa (Brevard campus) and Daytona Beach, as well ...
Central Intelligence Agency: principal foreign intelligence and counterintelligence agency of the U.S. government. Formally created in 1947, the CIA grew out of the World War II Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Previous U.S. intelligence and counterintelligence efforts had been conducted by the military ...
Central League: one of the two associations of professional baseball teams in Japan. Both the Central League and the Pacific League were founded in 1950. The Central League comprises six teams, each of which is owned and sponsored by a major corporation. ...
central limit theorem: in probability theory, a theorem that establishes the normal distribution as the distribution to which the mean (average) of almost any set of independent and randomly generated variables rapidly converges. The central limit theorem explains why the normal distribution arises ...