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window

(Encyclopedia)window, in architecture, the casement or sash, fitted with glass, which closes an opening in the wall of a structure without excluding light and air. It may have a square, round, or pointed head; may ...

blood clotting

(Encyclopedia)blood clotting, process by which the blood coagulates to form solid masses, or clots. In minor injuries, small oval bodies called platelets, or thrombocytes, tend to collect and form plugs in blood ve...

camera

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Image formed by a camera camera, lightproof box or container, usually fitted with a lens, which gathers incoming light and concentrates it so that it can be directed toward the film (in an opt...

dumb show

(Encyclopedia)dumb show, a theatrical pantomime included as part of a drama, especially in Elizabethan works, from the middle of the 16th cent. well into the 17th cent. Whether presented as a spectacle, with music,...

absolute value

(Encyclopedia)absolute value, magnitude of a number or other mathematical expression disregarding its sign; thus, the absolute value is positive, whether the original expression is positive or negative. In symbols,...

superphosphate

(Encyclopedia)superphosphate or superphosphate of lime, Ca(H2PO4)2, is a compound produced by treating rock phosphate with sulfuric acid or phosphoric acid, or a mixture of the two. It is the principal carrier of p...

bitumen

(Encyclopedia)bitumen bĭtyo͞oˈmən [key] a generic term referring to flammable, brown or black mixtures of tarlike hydrocarbons, derived naturally or by distillation from petroleum. It can be in the form of a vi...

crepe

(Encyclopedia)crepe krāp [key], thin fabric of crinkled texture, woven originally in silk but now available in all major fibers. There are two kinds of crepe. The hard-finished, typically dyed black and used for m...

experience

(Encyclopedia)experience, living through events and the impression on a person or animal of events. In epistemology, a distinction is made between things known inductively, from experience, and those known deductiv...

fetishism

(Encyclopedia)fetishism, in psychiatry, a paraphilia (see perversion, sexual) in which erotic interest and satisfaction are centered on an inanimate object or a specific, nongenital part of the anatomy. Generally o...