C to Cable
C
(C). (se)
1. C is the third letter of the English alphabet. It is from the Latin letter C, which in old Latin represented
the sounds of k, and g (in go); its original value being the latter. In Anglo-Saxon words, or Old English
before the Norman Conquest, it always has the sound of k. The Latin C was the same letter as the
Greek C, c, and came from the Greek alphabet. The Greeks got it from the Phœnicians. The English
name of C is from the Latin name ce, and was derived, probably, through the French. Etymologically
C is related to g, h, k, q, s (and other sibilant sounds). Examples of these relations are in L. acutus,
E. acute, ague; E. acrid, eager, vinegar; L. cornu, E. horn; E. cat, kitten; E. coy, quiet; L. circare, OF.
cerchier, E. search.
See Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 221-228.
2. (Mus.) (a) The keynote of the normal or "natural" scale, which has neither flats nor sharps in its
signature; also, the third note of the relative minor scale of the same. (b) C after the clef is the mark
of common time, in which each measure is a semibreve (four fourths or crotchets); for alla breve time it
is written . (c) The "C clef," a modification of the letter C, placed on any line of the staff, shows that line
to be middle C.
3. As a numeral, C stands for Latin centum or 100, CC for 200, etc.
C spring, a spring in the form of the letter C.
Caaba
(||Ca*a"ba) n. [Ar. ka'bah, lit., a square building, fr. ka'b cube.] The small and nearly cubical
stone building, toward which all Mohammedans must pray. [Written also kaaba.]
The Caaba is situated in Mecca, a city of Arabia, and contains a famous black stone said to have been
brought from heaven. Before the time of Mohammed, the Caaba was an idolatrous temple, but it has
since been the chief sanctuary and object of pilgrimage of the Mohammedan world.
Caas
(Caas) n. sing. & pl. Case. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Cab
(Cab) n. [Abbrev. fr. cabriolet.]
1. A kind of close carriage with two or four wheels, usually a public vehicle. "A cab came clattering up."
Thackeray.
A cab may have two seats at right angles to the driver's seat, and a door behind; or one seat parallel to
the driver's, with the entrance from the side or front.
Hansom cab. See Hansom.
2. The covered part of a locomotive, in which the engineer has his station. Knight.
Cab
(Cab) n. [Heb. qab, fr. qabab to hollow.] A Hebrew dry measure, containing a little over two
(2.37) pints. W. H. Ward. 2 Kings vi. 25.
Cabal
(Ca*bal") n. [F. cabale cabal, cabala, LL. cabala cabala, fr. Heb. qabbaleh reception, tradition,
mysterious doctrine, fr. qabal to take or receive, in Piël qibbel to adopt ]
1. Tradition; occult doctrine. See Cabala [Obs.] Hakewill.
2. A secret. [Obs.] "The measuring of the temple, a cabal found out but lately." B. Jonson.
3. A number of persons united in some close design, usually to promote their private views and interests
in church or state by intrigue; a secret association composed of a few designing persons; a junto.
