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cochlea (anatomy)
Cochlea...
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cochlear duct (anatomy)
...the bony labyrinth is a membranous labyrinth, which is also divided into three parts: the semicircular ducts; two saclike structures, the saccule and utricle, located in the vestibule; and the cochlear duct, which is the only part of the inner ear involved in hearing. The cochlear duct forms a shelf across the cochlea dividing it into two sections, the scala vestibuli and the scala......
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cochlear fluid (anatomy)
...of this disk, a rod of cartilage and bone, called the columella, extends through an air-filled cavity to the inner ear. The columella ends in an expansion, the stapes, which makes contact with the fluids of the inner-ear (otic) capsule through an opening, the oval window. A second opening in the otic capsule, the round window, is covered by a thin, flexible membrane; it is bounded externally......
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cochlear implant (hearing device)
...of this disk, a rod of cartilage and bone, called the columella, extends through an air-filled cavity to the inner ear. The columella ends in an expansion, the stapes, which makes contact with the fluids of the inner-ear (otic) capsule through an opening, the oval window. A second opening in the otic capsule, the round window, is covered by a thin, flexible membrane; it is bounded externally......
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cochlear nerve (anatomy)
Auditory receptors of the cochlear division are located in the organ of Corti and follow the spiral shape (about 2.5 turns) of the cochlea. Air movement against the eardrum initiates action of the ossicles of the ear, which, in turn, causes movement of fluid in the spiral cochlea. This fluid movement is converted by the organ of Corti into nerve impulses that are......
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cochlear nucleus (anatomy)
In the medulla the fibres of the cochlear nerve terminate when they reach a collection of nerve cells called the cochlear nucleus. The cochlear nucleus consists of several distinct cell types and is divided into the dorsal and ventral cochlear nucleus. Each cochlear nerve fibre branches at the cochlear nucleus, sending one branch to the dorsal and the other branch to the ventral cochlear......
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Cochlearia officinalis (Cochlearia officinalis)
The radish (Raphanus sativus), a popular root vegetable, also has a variety with long, edible pods (R. sativus variety caudatus). Scurvy grass (Cochlearia officinalis), native to the North Temperate Zone, is the source of a medicine used in the treatment of scurvy. It has tarry-flavoured leaves that are used in salads. The pungent condiment known as horseradish is......
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Cochlearius cochlearius (bird)
...New Caledonia, and the Philippines; and the yellow-crowned night heron (Nyctanassa violacea) from the eastern and central United States to southern Brazil. Another night heron is the boat-billed heron, or boatbill (Cochlearius cochlearius), of Central and South America, placed by some authorities in its own family (Cochleariidae)....
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Cochliomyia (insect)
...to depositing their eggs in carcasses, also invade the tissue of living animals and man, a condition known as myiasis. An example of an insect that causes this condition is the screwworm fly (Cochliomyia) of the southern U.S. and Central America. In many parts of the world various blowflies infest the fleece and skin of living sheep. This infestation, called sheep-strike, causes......
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Cochliomyia hominivorax (insect)
...fly species, so called because of the screwlike appearance of the body, which is ringed with small spines. These larvae attack livestock and other animals, including humans. The true screwworm (Cochliomyia hominivorax; formerly, Callitroga americana) and the secondary screwworm (Callitroga macellaria) develop in decaying flesh in surface wounds of domestic animals and......
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Cochlospermum (plant genus)
genus of tropical trees belonging to the family Cochlospermaceae. About 15 species are known, 3 occurring as far north as northern Mexico and southwestern United States. The buttercup tree (C. vitifolium), found in Central America and the West Indies, has bright-yellow, cup-shaped flowers about 10 cm (4 inches) across. In some areas rope is made of its bark. Several species yield dye. The s...
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Cochlospermum vitifolium (plant)
genus of tropical trees belonging to the family Cochlospermaceae. About 15 species are known, 3 occurring as far north as northern Mexico and southwestern United States. The buttercup tree (C. vitifolium), found in Central America and the West Indies, has bright-yellow, cup-shaped flowers about 10 cm (4 inches) across. In some areas rope is made of its bark. Several species yield dye.......
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Cochran, Eddie (American singer and musician)
a first-generation rock-and-roll singer, guitarist, and songwriter who died at age 21 in a car crash while on tour in England....
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Cochran, Elizabeth (American journalist)
American journalist whose around-the-world race against a fictional record brought her world renown....
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Cochran, J. G. (American settler)
...U.S., near the confluence of the Chehalis and Skookumchuck rivers. It lies midway between Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington. The town site, then in Oregon Territory, was founded in 1852 by J.G. Cochran and George Washington; Washington, the son of an African slave and an Englishwoman, had been denied the right to settle, and Cochran, his adoptive father, had filed the claim for him.......
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Cochran, Jacqueline (American pilot)
American pilot who held more speed, distance, and altitude records than any other flyer during her career. In 1964 she flew an aircraft faster than any woman had before....
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Cochran, Johnnie (American lawyer)
American trial lawyer (b. Oct. 2, 1937, Shreveport, La.—d. March 29, 2005, Los Angeles, Calif.), gained international prominence with his skillful (and controversial) defense of O.J. Simpson, a football star charged with a double murder in 1994. After a time as a prosecutor for Los Angeles, Cochran pursued a private career, defending both celebrity clients and minority victims of police bru...
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Cochran, Margaret (American heroine)
American Revolutionary War heroine whose valour and sacrifice were recognized by the new United States government....
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Cochran, Ray Edward (American singer and musician)
a first-generation rock-and-roll singer, guitarist, and songwriter who died at age 21 in a car crash while on tour in England....
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Cochran, Sir Charles Blake (British theatrical producer)
leading British impresario and theatrical producer between World Wars I and II, best known for his musical revues. A colourful showman, he also owned a flea circus and produced boxing matches, circuses, rodeos, and a travelling medicine show during his long and varied career....
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Cochran, Welker (American billiards player)
prominent American billiards player who, with his rivals Willie Hoppe and Jake Schaefer, Jr., dominated the game for the first three decades of the 20th century....
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Cochrane, Elizabeth (American journalist)
American journalist whose around-the-world race against a fictional record brought her world renown....
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Cochrane, Thomas (British admiral)
British admiral, who ranks among the greatest of British seamen....
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Cocibolca (ancient city, Nicaragua)
extinct city, Rivas department, Nicaragua, on the western shore of Lake Nicaragua. The last capital of the indigenous tribes that lived around the lake, it apparently declined following the Spanish conquest in the 16th century....
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Cocibolca (lake, Nicaragua)
the largest of several freshwater lakes in southwestern Nicaragua and the dominant physical feature of the country; it is also the largest lake in Central America. Its aboriginal name was Cocibolca, meaning “sweet sea”; the Spanish called it Mar Dulce; its present name is said to have been derived from that of Nicarao, an Indian chief whose people lived on the lake...
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cock (device)
A plug valve, or cock, is a conical plug with a hole perpendicular to its axis fitting in a conical seat in the valve body at right angles to the pipe. By turning the plug the hole is either lined up with the pipe to permit flow or set at right angles to block the passage....
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cock (flintlock part)
In the several different types of flintlocks that were produced, the flint was always held in a small vise, called a cock, which described an arc around its pivot to strike the steel (generally called the frizzen) a glancing blow. A spring inside the lock was connected through a tumbler to the cock. The sear, a small piece of metal attached to the trigger, either engaged the tumbler inside the......
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cock (bird)
The first domesticated hens perhaps were used for sport; cockfighting was instrumental in bringing about the selection of these birds for larger size. Cocks later acquired religious significance. In Zoroastrianism the cock was associated with protection of good against evil and was a symbol of light. In ancient Greece it was also an object of sacrifice to gods. It is probable that egg......
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Cock, Hieronymus (Flemish artist)
...at an unknown date, to Antwerp. The vast majority are free compositions, combinations of motifs sketched on the journey through the Alps. Some were intended as designs for engravings commissioned by Hiëronymus Cock, an engraver and Antwerp’s foremost publisher of prints....
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cock of the wood (bird)
European game bird of the grouse family. See grouse....
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cock of the woods (bird)
European game bird of the grouse family. See grouse....
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cock-of-the-rock (bird)
either of two species of brilliantly coloured birds of tropical South America, usually included in the family Cotingidae (order Passeriformes) but sometimes placed in a family of their own, Rupicolidae. They are noted for the males’ flattened circular crest extending over the bill. During much of the year, males display in open glades near the forest floor, maintaining a...
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cockade (hat decoration)
a bow or knot of ribbons worn in the hat....
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Cockaigne (imaginary country)
imaginary land of extreme luxury and ease where physical comforts and pleasures are always immediately at hand....
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cockatiel (bird)
...(including lories) as well as the kea and the kakapo of New Zealand. Members of the cockatoo family, Cacatuidae, live only in the region of Australia and New Guinea. This group also includes the cockatiel....
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cockatoo (bird)
any of the 21 species of crested parrots (order Psittaciformes) found in Australia as well as in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Most are white with touches of red or yellow; some are black. All have a massive scimitar-like beak for cracking nuts, digging up roots, or prying grubs from wood; feeding is aided by a strong tongue. Cockatoos are treetop, hole-...
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cockatrice (mythological creature)
in the legends of Hellenistic and Roman times, a small serpent, possibly the Egyptian cobra, known as a basilikos (“kinglet”) and credited with powers of destroying all animal and vegetable life by its mere look or breath. Only the weasel, which secreted a venom deadly to the cockatrice, was safe from its powers....
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Cockayne (imaginary country)
imaginary land of extreme luxury and ease where physical comforts and pleasures are always immediately at hand....
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Cockburn, Alicia (Scottish author)
Scottish author who wrote the original version of the popular ballad “Flowers of the Forest.” Her lyrics beginning “I’ve seen the smiling of Fortune beguiling,” set to the old air of “Flowers of the Forest,” were probably written before 1731, although they were not published until 1765. They were occasioned by the failure of seven Selkirkshire laird...
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Cockburn, Alison (Scottish author)
Scottish author who wrote the original version of the popular ballad “Flowers of the Forest.” Her lyrics beginning “I’ve seen the smiling of Fortune beguiling,” set to the old air of “Flowers of the Forest,” were probably written before 1731, although they were not published until 1765. They were occasioned by the failure of seven Selkirkshire laird...
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Cockburn Harbour (Turks and Caicos Islands, West Indies)
port on South Caicos Island, part of the British overseas territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands, in the West Indies north of Hispaniola. Historic buildings, including the old Wesleyan Church, are located in the southeastern part of the town. The settlement dates from 1850, when salt ponds were developed; Cockburn Harbour was long the isl...
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Cockburn, Sir Alexander James Edmund, 10th Baronet (British chief justice)
lord chief justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench from June 24, 1859, and lord chief justice of England from 1874 until his death. He was the first to be legally styled lord chief justice of England, a title used informally by lord chief justices of King’s or Queen’s Bench since Edward Coke’s tenure (1613–16)....
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Cockburn, Sir George (British admiral)
In 1814 the capital was temporarily abandoned as the result of the invasion by a British force under Admiral Sir George Cockburn, who ordered the burning of the Capitol, the White House, and the Navy Arsenal. Although this action was rather inconsequential to the outcome of the War of 1812, it had the effect of solidifying Washington in the minds of many Americans as the national capital.......
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Cockburn Sound (inlet, Western Australia, Australia)
inlet of the Indian Ocean, southwestern Western Australia. The inlet extends 14 miles (23 km) south from the mouth of the Swan River to Point Peron. An important part of Fremantle’s outer harbour, it is 3–6 miles (5–9 km) wide and is bounded on the east by the mainland and on the west by Garden, Penguin, and Green islands and numerous well-developed coral re...
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Cockburn Town (Turks and Caicos Islands, West Indies)
chief island of the British overseas territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands, in the West Indies north of Hispaniola. The territorial seat of government is at Cockburn Town, directly across Turks Island Passage from the port of Cockburn Harbour, on South Caicos Island. Traditionally the chief economic resource was the production of salt by evaporation of seawater in artificial basins, but the......
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cockchafer (insect)
a large European beetle that is destructive to foliage, flowers, and fruit as an adult and to plant roots as a larva. In the British Isles, the name “cockchafer” refers more broadly to any of the beetles in the subfamily Melolonthinae (family Scarabaeidae), which are known in North America as June beetles, June bugs, or May beetles. See also chafer; ...
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cockchafer (insect)
any of a group of beetles in the family Scarabaeidae (insect order Coleoptera). Adult leaf chafers (Macrodactylus) eat foliage, whereas grubs feed underground on plant roots. The adult female deposits her eggs in the soil, and the larvae live underground for two to three years, depending on the species. They pupate in the fall, but the adults remain underground until the following spring....
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Cockcroft, Sir John Douglas (British physicist)
British physicist, joint winner, with Ernest T.S. Walton of Ireland, of the 1951 Nobel Prize for Physics for pioneering the use of particle accelerators in studying the atomic nucleus....
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Cockcroft-Walton generator (voltage multiplier)
...of Manchester and St. John’s College, Cambridge, Cockcroft was Jacksonian professor of natural philosophy at the University of Cambridge from 1939 to 1946. In 1932 he and Walton designed the Cockcroft-Walton generator and used it to disintegrate lithium atoms by bombarding them with protons. This type of accelerator proved to be one of the most useful in the world’s laboratories. ...
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cocked hat (bowling)
bowling game played on a standard tenpin lane with three tenpins and a duckpin ball (4–5 inches [10–12.5 cm] in diameter). The pins are set 36 inches apart at the three corners of a normal tenpin formation. Two balls are allowed per frame, and scoring is as in tenpin bowling, except that 3 instead of 10 plus the total felled with the next two balls is the maximum score per frame. Th...
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Cocker, Edward (English mathematician)
reputed English author of Cocker’s Arithmetic, a famous textbook, the popularity of which gave rise to the phrase “according to Cocker,” meaning “quite correct.”...
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cocker spaniel (breed of dog)
either of two breeds of sporting dogs used by hunters to flush game birds from cover; it is also trained to retrieve. “Cocker” likely refers to its use in flushing woodcocks. Spaniel ancestors have been known since the 14th century, gradually differentiated into land, water, and toy breeds. The cockers are the smallest of the hunting spaniels (the toy spaniels are ...
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cocker spaniel, American (dog)
The American cocker spaniel is a small dog standing 14 to 15 inches (36 to 38 cm) and weighing 22 to 29 pounds (10 to 13 kg). Compact and sturdily built, it has a rounded head, floppy ears, and a soft, flat or wavy coat. The tail is usually docked. The coat may be either solid coloured or variegated; colours include black and black with tan, reddish brown, buff, and black and white. The......
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cocker spaniel, English (breed of dog)
...a soft, flat or wavy coat. The tail is usually docked. The coat may be either solid coloured or variegated; colours include black and black with tan, reddish brown, buff, and black and white. The English cocker spaniel is similar to the American cocker spaniel but is larger and has longer legs and a longer muzzle. It stands 15 to 17 inches (38 to 43 cm) and weighs 26 to 34 pounds (12 to 15......
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Cockeram, Henry (English lexicographer)
Still in the tradition of hard words was the next work, in 1623, by Henry Cockeram, the first to have the word dictionary in its title: The English Dictionary; or, An Interpreter of Hard English Words. It added many words that have never appeared anywhere else—adpugne, adstupiate, bulbitate, catillate, fraxate, nixious,......
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cockerel (bird)
The first domesticated hens perhaps were used for sport; cockfighting was instrumental in bringing about the selection of these birds for larger size. Cocks later acquired religious significance. In Zoroastrianism the cock was associated with protection of good against evil and was a symbol of light. In ancient Greece it was also an object of sacrifice to gods. It is probable that egg......
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Cockerell, Charles Robert (British architect)
...the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. Towns were expanded with buildings in the international Greek Revival manner such as William Wilkins’s Yorkshire Museum, York (1827–30). The architect Charles Robert Cockerell, despite being a distinguished Classical archaeologist, regarded this rigid Greek formula as stylistically restricting. He felt that he belonged to a continuing Classi...
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Cockerell, Sir Christopher Sydney (British inventor)
British engineer who invented the Hovercraft; he began testing his ideas for a vehicle that moved atop a cushion of air in 1955; his first Hovercraft prototype, the SR.N1, was launched in the spring of 1959 and only weeks later crossed the English Channel in 20 minutes. A prolific inventor, he held some 70 patents, including one for an aerial direction finder widely used by pilots during World War...
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Cockerell, Sir Sydney Carlyle (British publisher)
...and lettering classes at the London Central School of Arts and Crafts. He taught there until 1913; from 1901 he also taught at the Royal College of Art in London. Through Lethaby, Johnston had met Sydney Cockerell, a former secretary and librarian to the English designer William Morris, who had directed his attention to certain manuscripts in the British Museum. Encouraged by Cockerell,......
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Cockerill, John (British manufacturer)
...especially since some Britons saw profitable industrial opportunities abroad, while continental European businessmen sought to lure British know-how to their countries. Two Englishmen, William and John Cockerill, brought the Industrial Revolution to Belgium by developing machine shops at Liège (c. 1807), and Belgium became the first country in continental Europe to be transformed....
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Cockerill Mechanical Industries (Belgian company)
...and was the first to use the Bessemer process in steel production (1863). The château of the prince-bishops of Liège was acquired by Cockerill in 1817 and now houses the offices of Cockerill Mechanical Industries, part of Cockerill Sambre SA. An old Cistercian abbey located at the edge of the town is now the Val Saint-Lambert glassworks, one of the largest in Europe. There are......
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Cockerill Sambre SA (Belgian company)
...and was the first to use the Bessemer process in steel production (1863). The château of the prince-bishops of Liège was acquired by Cockerill in 1817 and now houses the offices of Cockerill Mechanical Industries, part of Cockerill Sambre SA. An old Cistercian abbey located at the edge of the town is now the Val Saint-Lambert glassworks, one of the largest in Europe. There are......
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Cockerill, William (British inventor)
English inventor and manufacturer who brought the Industrial Revolution to present-day Belgium....
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Cockerill-Ougrée Company (Belgian company)
...and was the first to use the Bessemer process in steel production (1863). The château of the prince-bishops of Liège was acquired by Cockerill in 1817 and now houses the offices of Cockerill Mechanical Industries, part of Cockerill Sambre SA. An old Cistercian abbey located at the edge of the town is now the Val Saint-Lambert glassworks, one of the largest in Europe. There are......
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Cockermouth (England, United Kingdom)
town (parish), Allerdale district, administrative county of Cumbria, historic county of Cumberland, England, situated where the River Derwent emerges from the mountains of the scenic Lake District and is joined by the River Cocker. The community grew under the protection of a Norman castle, now modernized as a private residence. The 19th-cen...
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Cocker’s Arithmetic (book by Cocker)
reputed English author of Cocker’s Arithmetic, a famous textbook, the popularity of which gave rise to the phrase “according to Cocker,” meaning “quite correct.”...
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cockfighting (sport)
the sport of pitting gamecocks to fight and the breeding and training of them for that purpose. The game fowl is probably the nearest to the Indian red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus), from which all domestic chickens are believed to be descended....
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cockfighting chair (furniture)
chair with broad armrests that form a yoke with the back rail, to which a reading desk is attached. Broad in front but curving inward toward the back, the seat was shaped so that a reader could easily sit astride, facing the desk at the back of the chair and resting his arms on the ends of the yoke....
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cockle (mollusk)
any of the approximately 250 species of marine bivalve mollusks, or clams, of the family Cardiidae. Distributed worldwide, they range from about one centimetre (0.4 inch) in diameter to about 15 centimetres (about 6 inches)—the size of the smooth giant cockle (Laevicardium elatum) of California....
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cocklebur (plant)
weedy annual plant of the genus Xanthium of the family Asteraceae, distributed throughout much of Europe and parts of North America. Some authorities consider that the genus contains about 15 species, others say from 2 to 4....
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cockneyism (literature)
the writing or the qualities of the writing of the 19th-century English authors John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Hazlitt, and Leigh Hunt. The term was used disparagingly by some contemporaries, especially the Scottish critic John Lockhart, in reference to the fact that these writers lived in, or...
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cockpit
...must be made to support the plane when it is at rest on the ground and during takeoff and landing. Most planes feature an enclosed body (fuselage) to house the crew, passengers, and cargo; the cockpit is the area from which the pilot operates the controls and instruments to fly the plane....
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Cockpit Country (region, Jamaica)
an approximately 500-square-mile (1,300-square-kilometre) region in the interior of Jamaica, southeast of Montego Bay. It is part of the great White Limestone plateau and has typical karst topography, with innumerable conical and hemispherical hills covered with dense scrubby trees, rising hundreds of feet above depressions and sinkholes with sharp, precipitous sides—the...
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Cockpit, The (theatre, London, United Kingdom)
private playhouse located in Drury Lane, London. Built in 1609 for cockfighting, the small, tiered building was converted into a theatre in 1616 by Christopher Beeston. The following year, however, it was burned down by rioters. The theatre was rebuilt in 1618 and given the name the Phoenix, though it was commonly referred to by its previous name....
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cockpit voice recorder (aircraft instrument)
private playhouse located in Drury Lane, London. Built in 1609 for cockfighting, the small, tiered building was converted into a theatre in 1616 by Christopher Beeston. The following year, however, it was burned down by rioters. The theatre was rebuilt in 1618 and given the name the Phoenix, though it was commonly referred to by its previous name.......
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cockroach (insect)
any of about 4,000 species of insects that are among the most primitive living, winged insects, appearing today much like they do in fossils that are more than 320 million years old. The word cockroach is a corruption of the Spanish cucaracha. The cockroach is characterized by a flattened oval body, long threadlike antennae, and a shining black or brown leathery integument. The...
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cockscomb (Celosia cristata)
common garden plant of the genus Celosia....
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Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary (Belize)
...highest elevation is Victoria Peak (3,681 feet [1,122 m]), near Dangriga (formerly Stann Creek). The mountains have stands of timber that, despite depletion, still constitute an economic asset. The Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary at the eastern end of the range occupies about 150 square miles (390 square km) and has a sizable population of jaguars....
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cockscomb pyrites (mineral)
an iron sulfide mineral that forms pale bronze-yellow orthorhombic crystals, usually twinned to characteristic cockscomb or sheaflike shapes; the names spear pyrites and cockscomb pyrites refer to the shape and colour of these crystals. Radially arranged fibres are also common....
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Cockscomb Range (mountains, Belize)
mountain chain in central Belize (formerly British Honduras), a spur of the Maya Mountains, extending east–west for about 10 miles (16 km). The highest elevation is Victoria Peak (3,681 feet [1,122 m]), near Dangriga (formerly Stann Creek). The mountains have stands of timber that, despite depletion, still constitute an economic asset. The Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctu...
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cocksfoot grass (plant)
(Dactylis glomerata), perennial pasture, hay, and forage grass of the family Poaceae. It has flat leaf blades and open, irregular, stiff-branched panicles (flower clusters)....
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cockspur hawthorn (plant)
A most strikingly thorned American species is the cockspur hawthorn (C. crus-galli), with extremely long, slender spines up to 8 cm (3 inches) long; a thornless variety is also available. The Washington hawthorn (C. phaenopyrum, or C. cordata) is famous for its red autumn colour and its abundant clusters of orange-red fruits that persist on the twigs well into winter; it is......
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Cockspur Island (island, Georgia, United States)
island, Chatham county, southeastern Georgia, U.S., in the mouth of the Savannah River. Known during colonial times as Peeper Island, it was given the name Cockspur for the shape of its reef. Its strategic advantages were early recognized; in the 18th century the island held Fort George (dismantled 1776), used mainly for defense against privateers, and, later,...
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cocktail party effect (physiology)
...presence of a background of noise. They also permit attention to be directed to a single source of sound, such as one instrument in an orchestra or one voice in a crowd. This is one aspect of the “cocktail party effect,” whereby a listener with normal hearing can attend to different conversations in turn or concentrate on one speaker despite the surrounding babble. Whether the......
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Cocktail Party, The (play by Eliot)
After World War II, Eliot returned to writing plays with The Cocktail Party in 1949, The Confidential Clerk in 1953, and The Elder Statesman in 1958. These plays are comedies in which the plots are derived from Greek drama. In them Eliot accepted current theatrical conventions at their most conventional, subduing his......
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Coclé (region, Panama)
...Other significant centres in Colombia include the Muisca region; Calima, famous for its breastplates, tiaras, and brooches; and Tolima. Although not strictly part of the Andes region, the Coclé region in Panama was strongly influenced by the Quimbaya style. It is particularly known for its striking gold pieces set with precious stones, including emeralds, quartzes, jaspers,......
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coco de mer (plant)
native palm of the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean. The flowers are borne in enormous fleshy spadices (spikes), the male and female on distinct plants. Coco de mer fruits, among the largest known, take about 10 years to ripen; they have a fleshy and fibrous envelope surrounding a hard, nutlike portion that is generally two-lobed, suggesting a double coconut. The contents of the nut are edib...
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Coco, Isla del (island, Costa Rica)
island of volcanic origin lying in the Pacific Ocean, about 300 miles (480 km) south of the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica. It rises to an elevation of about 2,800 feet (850 metres) above sea level, is about 5 miles (8 km) long and 3 miles (5 km) wide, and has a total area of 9 square miles (24 square km). Geologically, it is part of the Cocos Ridge and is related to the Galapagos Is...
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coco plum (plant)
(species Chrysobalanus icaco), evergreen tree, in the family Chrysobalanaceae, native to tropical America and Africa. The tree, up to 9 m (30 feet) tall, has roundish shiny green leaves and clusters of white flowers. The fruit, up to 4 cm (1.5 inches) long, is a pulpy drupe, sweet but rather tasteless, sometimes used in preserves. Coco plum is planted occasionally in the subtropical United...
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coco plum family (plant family)
In Chrysobalanaceae, Balanopaceae, Trigoniaceae, Dichapetalaceae, and Euphroniaceae, each ovary chamber usually has only two ovules, and the seeds have at most slight endosperm. Within this group, Chrysobalanaceae, Trigoniaceae, Dichapetalaceae, and Euphroniaceae are especially close. All have leaf margins that lack teeth; there are often flat, rarely raised glands on the lower surface of the......
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Coco River (river, Central America)
river in southern Honduras and northern Nicaragua, rising west of the town of San Marcos de Colón, in southern Honduras, near the Honduras-Nicaragua border. The Coco flows generally eastward into Nicaragua, then turns northward near Mount Kilambé. For much of its middle and lower course the river flows generally northeastward, forming a delta and emptying into the Caribbean Sea at Ca...
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Coco, Vincenzo (Italian historian)
Italian historian noted for his history of the Neapolitan Revolution of 1799....
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cocoa (tree)
tropical tree, whose scientific name means “food of the gods” in Latin. Originating in the lowland rainforests of the Amazon and Orinoco river basins, cacao is grown commercially in the New World tropics as well as western Africa and tropical Asia for its seeds called cocoa beans, which are processed into cocoa powder, cocoa butter, and chocolate. This article treats the cultivation ...
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Cocoa (Florida, United States)
adjoining cities, Brevard county, east-central Florida, U.S., on the Indian River (lagoon; part of the Intracoastal Waterway), about 45 miles (70 km) southeast of Orlando. They are linked to Merritt Island, Cape Canaveral, and the city of Cocoa Beach by causeways across the Indian and Banana rivers....
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cocoa (food)
highly concentrated powder made from chocolate liquor—a paste prepared from cocoa beans, the fruit of the cacao—and used in beverages and as a flavouring ingredient....
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Cocoa Beach (Florida, United States)
city, Brevard county, east-central Florida, U.S., on a barrier island between the Banana River (lagoon) and the Atlantic Ocean, just south of Cape Canaveral and near Patrick Air Force Base, about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Orlando. Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León visited Cape Canaveral in 1513. Originally a s...
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cocoa bean (fruit)
highly concentrated powder made from chocolate liquor—a paste prepared from cocoa beans, the fruit of the cacao—and used in beverages and as a flavouring ingredient....
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cocoa butter
pale-yellow, edible vegetable fat obtained from cocoa beans, having a mild chocolate flavour and aroma, and used in the manufacture of chocolate confections, pharmaceutical ointments, and toiletries. It is valued for its melting characteristics, remaining brittle at room temperature or lower but melting just below body temperature. One of the most stable fats known, cocoa butter contains antioxida...
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cocoa mass (food)
Chocolate is made from the kernels of fermented and roasted cocoa beans. The kernels are ground to form a paste called chocolate liquor, which may be hardened in molds to form baking (bitter) chocolate; pressed to reduce the cocoa butter (vegetable fat) content and then pulverized to make cocoa powder; or mixed with sugar and additional cocoa butter to make sweet (eating) chocolate, developed......
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cocoa powder (food)
highly concentrated powder made from chocolate liquor—a paste prepared from cocoa beans, the fruit of the cacao—and used in beverages and as a flavouring ingredient....
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