A CPU', or Central Processing Unit, is the (or one of the) primary computational engine in a computer system. You may hear people refer to a computer's microprocessor (uP) as the CPU, though technically, the CPU is inside the uP, and is only one part of it. The CPU is also referred to as the core of the processor. Lately you've probably heard alot about multi-core or dual-core processors. This means the processor actually has multiple CPUs inside.
The CPU basically contains the entire CPU Pipeline (assuming it's a pipelined CPU, but they all are now), the register file, the controller unit, the ALU, and maybe a handful of other gates and mini-ALUS.
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