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amber

(Encyclopedia)amber, fossilized tree resin. Amber can vary in color from yellow to red to green and blue. The best commercial amber is transparent, but some varieties are cloudy. To be called amber, the resin must ...

bullfighting

(Encyclopedia)bullfighting, national sport and spectacle of Spain. Called the corrida de toros in Spanish, the bullfight takes place in a large outdoor arena known as the plaza de toros. The object is for one of th...

Jiangxi

(Encyclopedia)Jiangxi kyăngˈsēˈ, jyängˈ– [key], province (2010 pop. 44,567,475), c.66,000 sq mi (170,940 sq km), SE China. Nanchang is the capital. The largely hilly and mountainous surface is drained by ma...

advertising

(Encyclopedia)advertising, in general, any openly sponsored offering of goods, services, or ideas through any medium of public communication. At its inception advertising was merely an announcement; for example, en...

sign language

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Manual alphabet sign language, gestural communication used as an alternative or replacement for speech. Sign languages resemble oral languages in every way other than their modality. As with o...

Carroll, Lewis

(Encyclopedia)Carroll, Lewis, pseud. of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, 1832–98, English writer, mathematician, and amateur photographer, b. near Daresbury, Cheshire (now in Halton). Educated at Christ Church College, ...

Freemasonry

(Encyclopedia)Freemasonry, teachings and practices of the secret fraternal order officially known as the Free and Accepted Masons, or Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Because of its identification with 19th-cent...

logic

(Encyclopedia)logic, the systematic study of valid inference. A distinction is drawn between logical validity and truth. Validity merely refers to formal properties of the process of inference. Thus, a conclusion w...

chromium

(Encyclopedia)chromium krōˈmēəm [key] [Gr.,=color], metallic chemical element; symbol Cr; at. no. 24; at. wt. 51.9961; m.p. about 1,857℃; b.p. 2,672℃; sp. gr. about 7.2 at 20℃; valence +2, +3, +6. Chromiu...

flax

(Encyclopedia)flax, common name for members of the Linaceae, a family of annual herbs, especially members of the genus Linum, and for the fiber obtained from such plants. The flax of commerce (several varieties of ...