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cotton gin

(Encyclopedia)cotton gin, machine for separating cotton fibers from the seeds. The charkha, used in India from antiquity, consists of two revolving wooden rollers through which the fibers are drawn, leaving the see...

folk art

(Encyclopedia)folk art, the art works of a culturally homogeneous people produced by artists without formal training. The forms of such works are generally developed into a tradition that is either cut off from or ...

swallow

(Encyclopedia)swallow, common name for small perching birds of almost worldwide distribution. There are about 100 species of swallows, including the martins, which belong to the same family. Swallows have long, nar...

Saint Bernard, breed of dog

(Encyclopedia)Saint Bernard, breed of massive working dog developed in Switzerland in the 18th cent. and perfected by British breeders during the 19th cent. It stands from 25 to 29 in. (64–74 cm) high at the shou...

Synge, John Millington

(Encyclopedia)Synge, John Millington sĭng [key], 1871–1909, Irish poet and dramatist, b. near Dublin, of Protestant parents. He was an important figure in the Irish literary renaissance. As a young man he studie...

Durrington Walls

(Encyclopedia)Durrington Walls, large henge overlooking the River Avon near Stonehenge and Amesbury, Wiltshire, S England. Although damaged and diminished by farming, erosion, and road construction, the henge would...

scale, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)scale, in zoology, an outgrowth, either bony or horny, of the skin of an animal. The major component of the scales of fishes is bone, and they are formed directly in the skin membrane as the fish grow...

Stirling, Sir James Frazer

(Encyclopedia)Stirling, Sir James Frazer, 1924–92, British architect., b. Glasgow, grad. Univ. of Liverpool school of architecture (1950). Settling in London, Stirling worked in partnership (1956–63) with James...

Noguchi, Isamu

(Encyclopedia)Noguchi, Isamu ēsäˈmo͞o nōgo͞oˈchē [key], 1904–88, American sculptor, b. Los Angeles. The son of a Japanese poet father and an American mother, he was a student of Gutzon Borglum and won Gug...

neoexpressionism

(Encyclopedia)neoexpressionism, term given to an international art movement, mainly in painting, that began in the 1960s and 1970s, was a dominant mode in the 1980s, and has continued04/98 into the 1990s. A reactio...