C, c

[see] /si/
noun, plural C's or Cs, c's or cs.
1.
the third letter of the English alphabet, a consonant.
2.
any spoken sound represented by the letter C or c, as in cat, race, or circle.
3.
something having the shape of a C .
4.
a written or printed representation of the letter C or c.
5.
a device, as a printer's type, for reproducing the letter C or c.

C

1.
cocaine.
2.
Grammar, complement.
3.
consonant.
4.
coulomb.
5.
county (used with a number to designate a county road):
C55.

C

Symbol.
1.
the third in order or in a series.
2.
(sometimes lowercase) (in some grading systems) a grade or mark, as in school or college, indicating the quality of a student's work as fair or average.
3.
Music.
  1. the first tone, or keynote, in the scale of C major or the third tone in the relative minor scale, A minor.
  2. a string, key, or pipe tuned to this tone.
  3. a written or printed note representing this tone.
  4. (in the fixed system of solmization) the first tone of the scale of C major, called do.
  5. the tonality having C as the tonic note.
  6. a symbol indicating quadruple time and appearing after the clef sign on a musical staff.
4.
(sometimes lowercase) the Roman numeral for 100.
5.
Celsius.
6.
centigrade.
7.
Electricity.
  1. capacitance.
  2. a battery size for 1.5 volt dry cells: diameter, 1 inch (2.5 cm); length, 1.9 inches (4.8 cm).
8.
Chemistry, carbon.
9.
Physics.
  1. charge conjugation.
  2. charm1 (def 9).
10.
Biochemistry.
  1. cysteine.
  2. cytosine.
11.
Also, C-note. Slang. a hundred-dollar bill.
12.
a proportional shoe width size, narrower than D and wider than B.
13.
a proportional brassiere cup size, smaller than D and larger than B.
14.
the lowest quality rating for a corporate or municipal bond.
15.
Computers. a high-level programming language: very powerful and flexible, it is used in a wide variety of applications.

c1

1.
(with a year) about:
c1775.
Origin
< Latin circā, circiter, circum

c2

1.
calorie.
2.
Optics. candle; candles.
3.
Physics, Chemistry. curie; curies.
4.
cycle; cycles.

c

Symbol.
1.
Optics, Physics. the velocity of light in a vacuum: approximately 186,000 miles per second or 299,793 kilometers per second.
2.
Acoustics, Physics. the velocity of sound.

c̄

1.
(in prescriptions) with.
Origin
< Latin cum

C.

1.
Calorie.
2.
Cape.
3.
Catholic.
4.
Celsius.
5.
Celtic.
6.
Centigrade.
7.
College.
8.
(in Costa Rica and El Salvador) colon; colons.
9.
Congress.
10.
Conservative.

C-

U.S. Military
1.
(in designations of transport aircraft) cargo:
C-54; C-124.

c.1

1.
(with a year) about:
c. 1775.
Origin
< Latin circā, circiter, circum

c.2

1.
gallon.
Origin
< Latin congius

c.3

1.
(in prescriptions) with.
Origin
< Latin cum

c.4

1.
calorie.
2.
Optics. candle; candles.
3.
carat.
4.
carbon.
5.
carton.
6.
case.
7.
Baseball. catcher.
8.
cathode.
9.
cent; cents.
10.
centavo.
11.
Football. center.
12.
centigrade.
13.
centime.
14.
centimeter.
15.
century.
16.
chairman; chairperson.
17.
chapter.
18.
chief.
19.
child.
20.
church.
21.
cirrus.
22.
city.
23.
cloudy.
24.
cognate.
25.
color.
26.
copper.
27.
copyright.
28.
corps.
29.
cubic.
30.
cycle; cycles.
Examples from the web for c
  • He was seldom referred to by his forenames usually he was referred to as c.
British Dictionary definitions for c

c

/siː/
noun (pl) c's, C's, Cs
1.
the third letter and second consonant of the modern English alphabet
2.
a speech sound represented by this letter, in English usually either a voiceless alveolar fricative, as in cigar, or a voiceless velar stop, as in case
3.
the third in a series, esp the third highest grade in an examination
4.
  1. something shaped like a C
  2. (in combination): a C-spring

c

symbol
1.
centi-
2.
cubic
3.
cycle
4.
(maths) constant
5.
specific heat capacity
6.
the speed of light and other types of electromagnetic radiation in a vacuum
7.
(chess) See algebraic notation

C

symbol
1.
(music)
  1. a note having a frequency of 261.63 hertz (middle C) or this value multiplied or divided by any power of 2; the first degree of a major scale containing no sharps or flats (C major)
  2. a key, string, or pipe producing this note
  3. the major or minor key having this note as its tonic
  4. a time signature denoting four crotchet beats to the bar See also alla breve (sense 2), common time
2.
(chem) carbon
3.
(biochem) cytosine
4.
capacitance
5.
heat capacity
6.
cold (water)
7.
(physics) compliance
8.
Celsius
9.
centigrade
10.
century: C20
11.
coulomb
12.
(Roman numeral) 100 See Roman numerals
abbreviation
13.
Cuba (international car registration)
noun
14.
a computer programming language combining the advantages of a high-level language with the ability to address the computer at a level comparable with that of an assembly language

C-

abbreviation (of US military aircraft)
1.
cargo transport: C-5

c.

abbreviation
1.
carat
2.
(cricket) caught
3.
cent(s)
4.
century or centuries
5.
(used esp preceding a date) circa: c. 1800
Word Origin
(for sense 5) Latin: about

C.

abbreviation
1.
(on maps as part of name) Cape
2.
Catholic
3.
Celtic
4.
Conservative
5.
Corps
Word Origin and History for c

C

third letter of the alphabet. Alphabetic writing came to Rome via the southern Etruscan "Caeretan" script, in which gamma was written as a crescent. Early Romans made little use of Greek kappa and used gamma for both the "g" and "k" sounds, the latter more frequently, so that the "k" sound came to be seen as the proper one for gamma. To restore a dedicated symbol for the "g" sound, a modified gamma was introduced c.250 B.C.E. as G. In classical Latin -c- has only the value "k," and thus it passed to Celtic and, via Irish monks, to Anglo-Saxon, where -k- was known but little used.

In Old French, many "k" sounds drifted to "ts" and by 13c., "s," but still were written with a -c-. Thus the 1066 invasion brought to the English language a more vigorous use of -k- and a flood of French and Latin words in which -c- represented "s" (e.g. cease, ceiling, circle). By 15c. native English words with -s- were being respelled with -c- for "s" (e.g. ice, mice, lice). In some words from Italian, meanwhile, the -c- has a "ch" sound (a sound evolution in Italian that parallels the Old French one).

c in Medicine

c abbr.

  1. blood capillary

  2. small calorie

C 1

The symbol for the element carbon.

C 2
abbr.

  1. Celsius

  2. centigrade

  3. coulomb

  4. cytosine

  5. large calorie

c in Science
c  
The symbol for the speed of light in a vacuum.
C  

  1. The symbol for carbon.

  2. Abbreviation of capacitance, capacitor, capacity, Celsius, charge conjugation, coulomb, cytosine

  3. A programming language developed in 1972 and commonly used for writing professional software. With only a small number of built-in functions, it requires less memory than other languages, and because most if its functions are not specific to particular computers, it can be used on many different kinds of machines. The Unix operating system was written in C.


carbon
  (kär'bən)   
Symbol C
A naturally abundant, nonmetallic element that occurs in all organic compounds and can be found in all known forms of life. Diamonds and graphite are pure forms, and carbon is a major constituent of coal, petroleum, and natural gas. Carbon generally forms four covalent bonds with other atoms in larger molecules. Atomic number 6; atomic weight 12.011; sublimation point above 3,500°C; boiling point 4,827°C; specific gravity of amorphous carbon 1.8 to 2.1, of diamond 3.15 to 3.53, of graphite 1.9 to 2.3; valence 2, 3, 4. See Periodic Table.

carbonaceous adjective
Slang definitions & phrases for c

C

noun

Cocaine

Related Terms

big c, c-note, h and c


c in Technology

language
A programming language designed by Dennis Ritchie at AT&T Bell Labs ca. 1972 for systems programming on the PDP-11 and immediately used to reimplement Unix.
It was called "C" because many features derived from an earlier compiler named "B". In fact, C was briefly named "NB". B was itself strongly influenced by BCPL. Before Bjarne Stroustrup settled the question by designing C++, there was a humorous debate over whether C's successor should be named "D" or "P" (following B and C in "BCPL").
C is terse, low-level and permissive. It has a macro preprocessor, cpp.
Partly due to its distribution with Unix, C became immensely popular outside Bell Labs after about 1980 and is now the dominant language in systems and microcomputer applications programming. It has grown popular due to its simplicity, efficiency, and flexibility. C programs are often easily adapted to new environments.
C is often described, with a mixture of fondness and disdain, as "a language that combines all the elegance and power of assembly language with all the readability and maintainability of assembly language".
Ritchie's original C, known as K&R C after Kernighan and Ritchie's book, has been standardised (and simultaneously modified) as ANSI C.
See also ACCU, ae, c68, c386, C-Interp, cxref, dbx, dsp56k-gcc, dsp56165-gcc, gc, GCT, GNU C, GNU superoptimiser, Harvest C, malloc, mpl, Pthreads, ups.
[Jargon File]
(1996-06-01)

Related Abbreviations for c

c

  1. candle
  2. carat
  3. charm quark
  4. circumference
  5. constant
  6. cubic

C

  1. carbon
  2. capacitance
  3. Celsius
  4. center
  5. centigrade
  6. charge
  7. charm
  8. Christian (as in personal ads)
  9. Citigroup Inc.
  10. cloudy
  11. cocaine
  12. complement
  13. conjugation
  14. consonant
  15. coulomb
  16. couple(s) (as in personal ads)
  17. Cuba (international vehicle ID)
  18. cytosine
  19. 100
  20. see (shortwave transmission)
  21. yes (shortwave transmission)

c.

  1. capacity
  2. cent
  3. centavo
  4. centime
  5. centimo
  6. chapter
  7. Latin circa (in approximately, about)
  8. Latin congius (gallon)
  9. copy
  10. copyright
  11. Latin cum (with)
  12. cup

C.

  1. cape
  2. Celtic
  3. century
  4. Chancellor