Page 265 - WEBSTER Essential vocabulary

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cacophony (kuh KA fin ee) n. harsh, jarring sound; noise
•A cacophony of automobile and truck horns greeted the ears of pedestrians
walking by the traffic jam.
• When the 35 members of the second-grade band began to play their
instruments, the audience was greeted with a cacophony of screeches.
[cacophonous adj., cacophonously adv., cacophonies pl.]
cadge (KADZH) vt. to beg or to acquire as a result of begging; to sponge
• Most children learn to cadge (or not to) at an early age.
• Jason never cadged; he just asked for two of anything he wanted, figuring
that his parents would compromise and get him one.
[-d, cadging]
calibrate (CAL ib RAYT) vt. to fix, check, or adjust the graduations of an instru-
ment of measurement, such as a meter or scale
• Most bathroom scales need to be calibrated by means of a knurled knob.
• Instant-read meat thermometers can be calibrated by turning their dials.
[-d, calibrating]
caliper (KAL ip oer) n. 1. an instrument with two curved legs joined at one end
by a rivet and used to measure thicknesses and diameters; 2. the part that presses
against the spinning wheel in a bicycle brake or on a car’s disc brakes
• By swinging the legs of a caliper apart and then bringing both tips to the
opposite sides of a glass, the glass’s outside diameter can be measured.
• Disk brakes bring a car to a stop by the calipers pressing their pads against
the captive rotors.
camouflage (KAM uh FLAHZH) vt. to disguise a person or thing to conceal it
(from an enemy) —n. any such disguise or disguising
• It is customary to camouflage soldiers and weapons to keep them hidden
from the enemy.
• Camouflage is worn by all U.S. soldiers and Marines under battlefield
conditions.
[-d, camouflaging]
caustic (KAHS tik) adj. 1. able to eat away, burn, and destroy living tissue by
chemical means; corrosive; 2. biting or sarcastic in wit; cutting type of humor or
remark
• Some acids are more caustic than others, and you don’t want to get them
on your skin.
• Sarcasm is caustic wit at its most virulent.
[-ally adv.] [Syn. corrosive, sarcastic]

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