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Dravidian languages

(Encyclopedia)Dravidian languages drəvĭdˈēən [key], family of about 23 languages that appears to be unrelated to any other known language family. The Dravidian languages are spoken by more than 200 million peo...

confession

(Encyclopedia)confession, in law, the formal admission of criminal guilt, usually obtained in the course of examination by the police or prosecutor or at trial. For a confession to be admissible as evidence against...

Chippendale, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Chippendale, Thomas chĭpˈəndālˌ [key], 1718–79, celebrated English cabinetmaker. His designs were so widely followed that a whole general category of 18th-century English furniture is commonly ...

Coke, Sir Edward

(Encyclopedia)Coke, Sir Edward ko͝ok [key], 1552–1634, English jurist, one of the most eminent in the history of English law. He entered Parliament in 1589 and rose rapidly, becoming solicitor general and speake...

Chicago Seven

(Encyclopedia)Chicago Seven, group of political activists, originally eight in number, who led protests at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968 and were charged with criminal conspiracy and incitem...

Clement VII, pope

(Encyclopedia)Clement VII, c.1475–1534, pope (1523–34), a Florentine named Giulio de' Medici; successor of Adrian VI. He was the nephew of Lorenzo de' Medici and was therefore first cousin of Pope Leo X. In 151...

extinction

(Encyclopedia)extinction, in biology, disappearance of species of living organisms. Extinction usually occurs as a result of changed conditions to which the species is not suited. If no member of the affected speci...

parthenogenesis

(Encyclopedia)parthenogenesis pärˌthənōjĕnˈəsĭs [key] [Gr.,=virgin birth], in biology, a form of reproduction in which the ovum develops into a new individual without fertilization. Natural parthenogenesis ...

transposing instrument

(Encyclopedia)transposing instrument, a musical instrument whose part in a score is written at a different pitch than that actually sounded. Such an instrument is usually referred to by the keynote of its natural s...

umbilical cord

(Encyclopedia)umbilical cord ŭmbĭlˈĭkəl [key], cordlike structure about 22 in. (56 cm) long in the pregnant human female, extending from the abdominal wall of the fetus to the placenta. Its chief function is t...