ca

noun

• Abbreviation of California, a state of the United States, North America [The most populous state of the United States. Capital: Sacramento. Largest city: Los Angeles.]
• Abbreviation of Canada, a country in North America [A country in North America.]
• (Canada, politics) Initialism of Canadian Alliance, Conservative-Reform Alliance Party, Reform-Conservative Alliance Party
• (software, computing) Initialism of Computer Associates, an American software company.
• (sports, cricket) Abbreviation of Cricket Australia, the governing body of cricket in Australia.
• (cellular automata) Initialism of cellular automaton. [(computing theory) An automaton consisting of cells arranged in a regular grid, in one or more dimensions. Each application of an associated rule creates a new generation, where the cells have a new configuration of values.]
• (computing) Initialism of certificate authority. [(computing) An organization that issues digital certificates for use by other parties.]
• (US, nautical) Initialism of armored cruiser, a type of warship [(military) A type of cruiser (the warship) common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, carrying a small number of moderately-heavy main guns plus a large secondary battery of smaller guns and with armor protecting the sides and upper and lower decks, but lighter and with thinner armor and less powerful guns than a battleship; a mainstay of battle fleets around the turn of the 20th century, but displaced from this role by the more powerful battlecruiser after ca. 1908, becoming obsolescent by the time of WWI.]
• (US, nautical) Initialism of heavy cruiser, a variant of the cruiser type of warship [(nautical) A type of cruiser, characterised by its heavy armament.]
• (US, military) Initialism of civil affairs, a military occupational specialty or branch
• (organic chemistry) Abbreviation of cyanoacrylate. [(organic chemistry) Any of a class of esters of cyanoacrylic acid that are used as instant adhesives.]
• (Scotland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, accounting) Initialism of chartered accountant. [(accountancy) A member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants]
• (Japan) Initialism of cabin attendant.
• Initialism of central authority.
• (UK, law) Initialism of Companies Act. [(law, Commonwealth) A stock short title used for legislation relating to companies.]
• (TTY/TDD) Initialism of communications assistant.
• Initialism of closed access, as opposed to open access.
• (linguistics, uncountable) Initialism of conversation analysis. [(sociology, linguistics) An approach to the study of social interaction and language.]