CHRISTIAN a.
ist. It is supposed that owing to an error of a monk (Dionysius Exiguus, d. about 556) employed to calculate the era, its commencement was fixed three or four years too late, so that 1890 should be 1893 or 1894. -- Christian name, the name given in baptism, as distinct from the family name, or surname.…
CIRCULAR a.
ctions. (Math.) See under Function. -- Circular instruments, mathematical instruments employed for measuring angles, in which the graduation extends round the whole circumference of a circle, or 360º. -- Circular lines, straight lines pertaining to the circle, as sines, tangents, secants, etc. -- Circular note or le…
CIVIL a.
not involving a criminal proceeding. -- Civil architecture, the architecture which is employed in constructing buildings for the purposes of civil life, in distinction from military and naval architecture, as private houses, palaces, churches, etc. -- Civil death. (Law.) See under Death. -- Civil engineering. See un…
CLAY n.
s having a greasy feel; they are chemical compounds of water, silica, and aluminia, as halloysite, bole, etc. -- Fire clay , a variety of clay, entirely free from lime, iron, or an alkali, and therefore infusible, and used for fire brick. -- Porcelain clay, a very pure variety, formed directly from the decomposition…