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acacia

(Encyclopedia)acacia əkāˈshə [key], any plant of the large leguminous genus Acacia, often thorny shrubs and trees of the family Leguminosae (pulse family). Chiefly of the tropics and subtropics, they are cultiv...

Lawrence, Sir Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Lawrence, Sir Thomas, 1769–1830, English portrait painter, b. Bristol. He began to draw when very young and developed extraordinary talents as a draftsman; though he studied briefly at the Royal Aca...

lamp

(Encyclopedia)lamp, originally a vessel for holding oil or some combustible substance that could be burned through a wick for illumination; the term has been extended to other lighting devices. Stones, shells, and ...

paint

(Encyclopedia)paint, mixture of a pigment and a binding medium, usually thinned with a solvent to form a liquid vehicle. The term includes lacquer, portland cement paint, printing ink, calcimine, and whitewash. Pai...

insulation

(Encyclopedia)insulation ĭnˌsəlāˈshən, ĭnˌsyo͝o– [key], use of materials or devices to inhibit or prevent the conduction of heat or of electricity. Common heat insulators are, fur, feathers, fiberglass, ...

Transcaucasia

(Encyclopedia)Transcaucasia trănzˌkôkāˈzhə, –shə, trănsˌ– [key], transitional region between Europe and Asia, extending from the Greater Caucasus to the Turkish and Iranian borders, between the Black a...

nutrition

(Encyclopedia)nutrition, study of the materials that nourish an organism and of the manner in which the separate components are used for maintenance, repair, growth, and reproduction. Nutrition is achieved in vario...

Feininger, Lyonel

(Encyclopedia)Feininger, Lyonel fīˈnĭngər [key], 1871–1956, American painter and illustrator, b. New York City. Feininger studied painting in Berlin, Hamburg, and Paris. He was an illustrator and caricaturist...

ozone

(Encyclopedia)ozone ōˈzōn [key], an allotropic form of the chemical element oxygen (see allotropy). Pure ozone is an unstable, faintly bluish gas with a characteristic fresh, penetrating odor. The gas has a dens...

orange, in botany

(Encyclopedia)orange, name for a tree of the family Rutaceae (rue, or orange, family), native to China and Indochina, and for its fruit, the most important fresh fruit of international commerce. Its physical charac...