Cancan
a dance, something of the nature of a quadrille, but accompanied by violent leaps and indecorous contortions of the body. The earlier and usual meaning of the word in French is noise, racket, scandal.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Single-source entries: C (17)
These 17 listings are so strange that each appears in only one of the 7 encyclopedias we compared. They include such classics as Cancan, Cancer Root, Candace.
Cancer Root
or BEECH DROPS (Epiphegus virginiana), a parasitic herb of the order Orobancheæ, a native of North America, growing on the exposed roots of beech-trees. The whole plant is powerfully astringent, and the root is especially bitter and nauseous. In conjunction with arsenious acid, it is believed to have formed a medicine once famous in North America under the name of Martin's Cancer-powder. Another American plant of the same order, Phelipæa biflora, sometimes shares the same name and repute in popular medicine; and an infusion of the Common Broomrape (Orobanche major) -a native of Great Britain and of the S. of Europe, parasitic on the roots of broom, furze, and other leguminous plants-has been employed as a detergent application to foul sores.
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Candace
a name apparently common to the warrior queens of Ethiopia, i, e., upper Nubia, between the Nile and the Atbara, in the later period of the Kingdom of Meroë. The most distinguished of them invaded Egypt 22 B. C., was defeated by the Romans and obliged to sue for peace, which she obtained, with a remission of the tribute imposed on her by Petronius. CANDIA. See CRETE.
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Candidate
a term taken from the Latin candidatus, a candidate, literally person dressed in white, because, a among the Romans, a man who solicited an office, such as the prætorship or consulship, appeared in a bright white garment toga candida.
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Candle Fish
a small fish peculiar to the Pacific coast of the United States. It is so oily that when dried and a wick is drawn through it, it will burn like a candle. It is allied to the Smelt family.
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Candleberry
a shrub, natural order Myriceæ, growing from 4 to 18 feet high, and common in North America, where candles are made from its drupes or berries, which are about the size of peppercorns, and covered with a greenish-white wax, popularly known as Blayberry tallow. The wax is collected by boiling the drupes in water and skimming off the surface. A bushel of berries yields from four to five pounds of wax. Another plant belonging to the same genus is the sweet-gale (Myrica Gale), which grows abundantly in bogs and marshes in Scotland-a small shrub, with leaves somewhat like the myrtle or willow, of a fragrant odor and bitter taste, and yielding an essential oil by distillation.
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Candlemas
the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, Feb. 2; so-called from being formerly celebrated with processions and shows of candles. It was instituted in the 6th century, during the reign of Justinian, and came in lieu of the Roman festival of Lupercalia, which had been also celebrated in the month of February, and with candles.
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Candles Burning Blue
There is a superstition that candles and other lights burn blue at the apparition of spirits, probably because of the sulphurous atmosphere accompanying the spectres.
Only in An Encyclopaedia of Occultism
Candytuft
the popular name of several flowers of the genus Iberis, order Cruciferæ, common in gardens: said to be named from Candia.
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Cane
or KEN, a river in Bundelkhand, India, a tributary of the Jumna river. It follows a N. E. course and is about 250 miles in length. In its upper region is an important reservoir.
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Canea
the capital and chief commercial town of Crete, situated on the N. W. coast, with a fine harbor. It occupies the site of the ancient Cydonia, but the present town is due to the Venetians, from whom it was wrested by the Turks after a two years' siege in 1669. Canea is the principal center for exporting the productions of the island. Pop. about 25,000. See CRETE. CANEBRAKE (Ludolfia (Arundi naria) macrosperma), a colossal reed, nearly allied to the bamboo, which reaches a height of 30 or 40 feet, and forms dense swamp-jungles (sometimes of wide area) in marshy places, and along the banks of the Red river, the Arkansas, the Mississippi, and their tributaries. CANES VENATICI (Latin "the Hunting-dogs," Asterion and Chara), one of the northern constellations added by Hevelius in 1690, between Boötes and Ursa Major. On the maps, the two dogs, Asterion and Chara, are represented as held in leash by Boötes, and pursuing Ursa Major, and the celestial pole.
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Canebrake
a thicket of cane. Bundles of the American cane are shipped over the country as "bamboo" fishing poles. Cane grows in almost impenetrable thickets in the bottom lands of Kentucky and southward. Many authorities call cane a bamboo. At all events it is closely related to the larger plant so much used by the natives of southeast Asia. Cane grows from ten to forty feet high with a thickness at the butt of one-half to three inches. Cane is, of course, only a large reed. It belongs, with sugar-cane and broom corn, to the grass family. See Bamboo
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
Canfield
JAMES HULME, an American educator; born in Delaware, O., March 18, 1847; spent his early life on a New England farm; was graduated at Williams College in 1868. In 1872 he was admitted to the bar, and practiced 1 in St. Joseph, Mich., until 1877; in 1877- 1891 he was Professor of History in the University of Kansas; and in 1891-1895 was Chancellor of the institution. He then became President of the Ohio State University. He was secretary and president of the National Education Association, and in 1899 became librarian of Columbia University. He died March 30, 1909.
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Cang
CANGUE, or KEA, the wooden collar, weighing from 50 to 60 pounds, and fitting closely round the neck, imposed upon criminals in China.
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Canicatti
a town in Sicily, province of Girgenti, well built, and with a population of about 30,000, mostly engaged in agriculture.
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Canicula
the dog-star or Sirius; hence Canicular days, the dog-days.
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Canide
a family of mammals belonging to the order Carnivora, and the section Digitigrada. The muzzle is more or less pointed, the tongue smooth, and the claws non-retractile, the last-named character distinguishing it from the Felidæ. The fore feet have five toes each, and the hind ones four. It contains the dogs, wolves, foxes, and jackals. It is akin to the Hyænidæ. Canidæ have been found in the Eocene, but this may not have been the first appearance of the family in geological time. There are fossil as well as recent genera known.
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