california

Definition of california in English English dictionary: A western coastal state of the United States of America. Capital: Sacramento; {i} state in the western United States; A western coastal state of the United States of America.Capital: Sacramento; An arm of the Pacific Ocean in northwest Mexico separating Baja California from the mainland. CA a state in the southwest of the US, next to the Pacific Ocean, whose main cities include San Francisco and Los Angeles. State (pop., 2000: 33,871,648), western U.S. Lying on the Pacific Ocean, it is bordered by Mexico and the U.S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona. California is the largest state in population and the third largest in area (158,647 sq mi [410,895 sq km]), extending about 800 mi (1,300 km) north to south and 250 mi (400 km) east to west. Its capital is Sacramento. Within 85 mi (137 km) of each other lie Mount Whitney and Death Valley, the highest and lowest points in the 48 contiguous states. It was inhabited originally by American Indians. The first European coastal expansion took place in 1542-43 when Juan Cabrillo established a Spanish claim to the area. The first mission was established by Junipero Serra at San Diego in 1769. The region remained under Spanish and, after the 1820s, Mexican control until it was taken by U.S. forces in the Mexican War and ceded to the U.S. by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. Though settlement had begun by the U.S. in 1841, it was greatly accelerated by the 1848 gold rush. California was admitted to the Union in 1850 as a nonslavery state under the Compromise of 1850. Its already expanding population grew immensely in the 20th century. It has the largest economy of any U.S. state. It has suffered severe earthquakes, most destructively those of San Francisco in 1906 and 1989 and Los Angeles in 1994. Baja California Lower California Baja California Norte Baja California Sur California Gulf of California University of California Institute of Technology California Institute of the Arts California poppy Regents of the University of California v. Bakke; a state in the western United States on the Pacific; the 3rd largest state; known for earthquakes
California Condor: A North American New World vulture and the largest North American land bird. Scientific name Gymnogyps californianus
California Condors: plural form of California Condor
California Spangled Cat: An extinct medium size, short hair domestic cat breed, originating in the United States during the 1980s, which was bred to resemble a leopard
California dogface butterflies: plural form of California dogface butterfly
California dogface butterfly: A butterfly of the genus Zerene found in the US State of California
California holly: toyon
California laurel: A tree native to the coastal forests of western North America
California laurels: plural form of California laurel
California poppies: plural form of California poppy
California poppy: A popular flowering garden plant, Eschscholzia californica, native to the south-western United States
California rolls: plural form of California roll
California spangled cats: plural form of California spangled cat
California stop: (colloquial, parts of the US) A rolling stop at a stop sign
California stops: plural form of California stop
California Current: A cold current originating in the northern Pacific Ocean and passing southward and then southwestward along the western coast of North America
California Gold Rush: mass migration of people to California in search of gold (began in 1948)
California Institute of Technology: Cal Tech. known as Caltech U.S.-based, highly select, private university and research institute in Pasadena. Established in 1891, it offers graduate and undergraduate instruction and research in pure and applied science and engineering. It is considered one of the world's premier scientific research centres. In 1958 its Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in conjunction with NASA, launched Explorer I, the first U.S. satellite. Caltech operates astronomical observatories at such locations as Palomar Mountain, Owens Valley, and Big Bear Lake, Calif., and Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Other facilities include a seismology laboratory, a marine biology laboratory, and a centre for the study of radio astronomy
California Institute of Technology: {i} Caltech, private coeducational university located in Pasadena (California, USA)
California Institute of the Arts: known as CalArts U.S. private institution of higher learning in Valencia. Created in 1961 through the merger of two other art institutes, it was the first in the U.S. to specialize in degree programs for the visual and performing arts. It consists of five schools art, dance, film and video, music, and theatre and a division of critical studies. All schools award B.F.A. and M.F.A. degrees. A community arts program sponsors work with young students in disadvantaged areas of Los Angeles
California State University: system of public universities in California (USA) with 23 campuses throughout the state
California condor: A very large vulture (Gymnogyps californianus), related to the condor of South America, found in the southern California mountains and nearly extinct
California laurel: An aromatic evergreen tree (Umbellularia californica) native to California and southern Oregon and having clusters of small yellowish-green flowers, olivelike yellowish-green to purple fruits, and light brown wood valued for use in fine woodwork. Also called California bay, Oregon myrtle
California nutmeg: An evergreen tree (Torreya californica) native to California, having yewlike linear leaves and solitary drupelike seeds surrounded by a green, purple-streaked, fleshy aril
California nuts: various kinds of nuts grown in California
California orange: type of orange
California poppy: {i} eschscholtzia, annual plant of the poppy family with leaves of a bluish color and colorful orange to yellow flowers
California poppy: An herb (Eschscholzia californica) native to western North America and having finely divided leaves and showy, often orange or yellow flowers. Annual garden plant (Eschscholzia californica) in the poppy family, native to the western coast of North America and naturalized in parts of southern Europe, Asia, and Australia. The flowers are usually pale yellow, orange, or cream in the wild, but whites and shades of red and pink have been developed in cultivation. The foliage is gray-green and feathery. The flowers open only in sunlight. They blossom all summer in northern climates and into the winter in areas with mild winters
California quail: A plump chunky bird (Lophortyx californicus) of western North America, having gray and brown plumage and a curving black plume on the crown of the head
california black oak: large deciduous tree of the Pacific coast having deeply parted bristle-tipped leaves
california black walnut: medium-sized tree with somewhat aromatic compound leaves and edible nuts
california bluebell: annual of southern California with intricately branched stems and lax cymes of aromatic deep blue bell-shaped flowers desert plant of southern California with blue or violet tubular flowers in terminal racemes
california box elder: maple of the Pacific coast of the United States; fruits are white when mature
california condor: North American condor; chiefly dull black; almost extinct
california four o'clock: California four o'clock with purple-red flowers
california fuchsia: shrublet of southwestern United States to Mexico having brilliant scarlet flowers
california jack: A game at cards, a modification of seven-up, or all fours
california lady's slipper: often having many yellow-green orchids with white pouches growing along streams and seeps of southwestern Oregon and northern California
california laurel: Pacific coast tree having aromatic foliage and small umbellate flowers followed by olivelike fruit; yields a hard tough wood
california newt: newt that is similar to Taricha granulosa in characteristics and habitat
california nutmeg: California evergreen having a fruit resembling a nutmeg but with a strong turpentine flavor
california personality inventory: a self-report personality inventory originally derived from the MMPI; consists of several hundred yes-no questions and yields scores on a number of scales including dominance and self acceptance and self control and socialization and achievement etc
california pitcher plant: marsh or bog herb having solitary pendulous yellow-green flowers and somewhat twisted pitchers with broad wings below
california poppy: of Pacific coast of North America; widely cultivated for its yellow to red flowers
california privet: semi-evergreen Japanese shrub having malodorous flowers; used extensively for hedges because more likely to stay green that common privet
california quail: plump chunky bird of coastal California and Oregon
california redwood: lofty evergreen of United States coastal foothills from Oregon to Big Sur
california sagebrush: low ashy-gray California shrub
california sea lion: often trained as a show animal
california single-leaf pinyon: very small tree similar to Rocky mountain pinon but having a single needle per fascicle; similar to Parry's pinyon in range
california sycamore: tall tree of Baja California having deciduous bark and large alternate palmately lobed leaves and ball-shaped clusters of flowers
california whipsnake: a whipsnake of scrublands and rocky hillsides
california white oak: tall graceful deciduous California oak having leathery leaves and slender pointed acorns
california wine: any of various wines produced in California
Baja California: a state of Mexico that occupies the northern part of the peninsula
Baja California: a mountainous peninsula of western Mexico between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California
Californian: Of or relating to California
Gulf of California: a body of water that separates the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland
Baja California: a peninsula (=long thin piece of land) in Mexico that is connected to southern California and goes into the Pacific Ocean. (Spanish; "Lower California") Peninsula, northwestern Mexico. Bounded by the U.S. to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and the Gulf of California to the east, it is about 760 mi (1,220 km) long and has an area of 55,366 sq mi (143,396 sq km). Politically, it is divided into the states of Baja California and Baja California Sur. It has more than 2,000 mi (3,200 km) of coastline, with sheltered harbours on both the western and gulf coasts. The area had been inhabited for some 9,000 years when the Spanish arrived in 1533. Jesuit missionaries established permanent settlements in the late 17th century, but the native Indians were practically exterminated in epidemics introduced by the Spanish. The area was separated from what is now the U.S. state of California by treaty in 1848 following the Mexican War. formerly Baja California Norte State (pop., 2000: 2,487,367), northern Baja California peninsula, northwestern Mexico. It covers an area of 27,071 sq mi (70,114 sq km), and its capital is Mexicali. Although long inhabited, it remained sparsely populated until the 1950s, when it experienced phenomenal growth. This was partly because of its proximity to the U.S. border; numerous foreign companies have established assembly oriented factories (maquiladoras) in the region, a trend accelerated by the establishment of NAFTA in 1994
Baja California Sur: State (pop., 2000: 423,516), southern Baja California peninsula, northwestern Mexico. It occupies an area of 28,369 sq mi (73, 475 sq km), and its capital is La Paz. It became a state in 1974. It is sparsely populated and remains relatively underdeveloped. Much new acreage of cotton has been planted near La Paz, but subsistence agriculture is most common. An increase in tourism and improved communications have begun to alleviate the state's isolation
Californian: An inhabitant of California
Californian: {s} of or from California (USA)
Californian: {i} native or resident of California (USA)
Gulf of California: or Sea of Cortés Gulf separating Baja California from the rest of Mexico. Its area is about 59,000 sq mi (153,000 sq km). Its waters were coloured by red plankton when 16th-century Spanish explorers named it Mar Bermejo ("Vermilion Sea"). Some geologists hold that the gulf is structurally part of the Pacific Ocean; others claim Baja California is pulling away from the continent as it moves north along the San Andreas Fault, allowing the gulf to form
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke: (1978) Decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that ruled unconstitutional the use of fixed quotas for minority applicants at professional schools. At issue was a state medical school's affirmative action program that, because it required a certain number of minority admissions, twice denied entrance to an otherwise qualified white candidate (Allan Bakke). Though the court outlawed quota programs, on the grounds that they violated the equal-protection clause of the Constitution of the United States, it allowed colleges to use race as a factor in making college admissions decisions
University of California: U.S. public university with campuses at Berkeley (main campus), Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego (La Jolla), San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz. Established in 1868 in Oakland, it has become one of the largest university systems in the U.S. In the 1930s research at the Berkeley campus produced the first cyclotron, the isolation of the human polio virus, and the discovery of several new chemical elements. The Berkeley campus remains a leader in scientific fields as well as in many other academic areas. The Los Angeles branch (UCLA), founded in 1919, includes schools of law, medicine, and engineering. The San Francisco campus, originally the university's Medical Center (1873), has schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, and pharmacy. The San Diego campus, founded as a marine station, became part of the university in 1912; it includes the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The Davis and Riverside campuses grew out of agricultural institutes and were both added in 1959. The Santa Barbara campus was granted university status in 1944, those at Santa Cruz and Irvine in 1965. The university operates the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (both nuclear research centres) and the Los Alamos National Laboratory
University of California: large public university system with 11 campuses throughout the state of California (USA)
University of California at Los Angeles: {i} UCLA, public university located in Los Angeles (California, USA)
californian: Of or pertaining to California
californian: a resident of California of or relating to or characteristic of California or its inhabitants; "Californian beaches
californian: A native or inhabitant of California
californian: of or relating to or characteristic of California or its inhabitants; "Californian beaches"
californian: a resident of California
gulf of california: a gulf west of Mexico
lower california: a mountainous peninsula on northwest Mexico
pride of california: shrubby California perennial having large pink or violet flowers; cultivated as an ornamental
university of california at berkeley: a univeristy in Berkeley, California