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enamelware

(Encyclopedia)enamelware, utensils having a metal foundation and a coating of special glass, called porcelain enamel, applied by fusion. The porcelain enamel, or vitreous enamel, is applied to make the utensils cor...

faro, card game

(Encyclopedia)faro fârˈō [key] [for Pharaoh, from an old French card design], gambling game played with a pack of 52 cards. First played in France and England, faro was especially popular in U.S. gambling houses...

budding

(Encyclopedia)budding, type of grafting in which a plant bud is inserted under the bark of the stock (usually not more than a year old). It is best done when the bark will peel easily and the buds are mature, as in...

blink microscope

(Encyclopedia)blink microscope, in astronomy, device for determining a change in position or magnitude (brightness) of a star relative to other stars in the background. Two photographs of the same field or area of ...

siphon

(Encyclopedia)siphon sīˈfən, –fŏn [key], tube or other enclosed conduit through which a liquid is lifted over an elevation and then emptied at a lower level. The movement of the liquid is driven primarily by ...

Barrow, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Barrow, city (2020 pop. 4,390), N Alaska; inc. 1958. It is the northernmost (71° 16′ N) U.S. settlement and the trade center of the Alaska North Slop...

Vian, Boris

(Encyclopedia)Vian, Boris bôrēsˈ vyäN [key], 1920–59, French novelist. He patterned his literary style on that of terse American crime fiction. His best-known work is J'irai cracher sur vos tombes [I will spi...

Maitland, Frederic William

(Encyclopedia)Maitland, Frederic William mātˈlənd [key], 1850–1906, English legal historian, educated at Cambridge. A thorough scholar, he founded the Selden Society for the publication of early English docume...

fireproofing

(Encyclopedia)fireproofing, method of making normally combustible materials as nearly noncombustible as possible. Fireproofing generally applies to textiles and construction materials that are treated with a soluti...

state of emergency

(Encyclopedia)state of emergency, situation in which a government or a government body is empowered to act with enhanced powers in order to respond to a crisis. The enhanced or emergency powers, and in many cases i...