Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

airline industry

(Encyclopedia)airline industry, the business of transporting paying passengers and freight by air along regularly scheduled routes, typically by airplanes but also by helicopter. Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin set up ...

linseed oil

(Encyclopedia)linseed oil, amber-colored, fatty oil extracted from the cotyledons and inner coats of the linseed. The raw oil extracted from the seeds by hydraulic pressure is pale in color and practically without ...

fusel oil

(Encyclopedia)fusel oil fyo͞oˈzəl [key], oily, colorless liquid with a disagreeable odor and taste. It is a mixture of alcohols (largely amyl alcohols) and fatty acids, formed during the alcoholic fermentation o...

drying oil

(Encyclopedia)drying oil, any of several natural oils which, when exposed to the air, oxidize to form a tough, elastic film. The common drying oils are cottonseed oil (see cotton), corn oil, soybean oil, tung oil, ...

crude oil

(Encyclopedia)crude oil: see petroleum.

palm oil

(Encyclopedia)palm oil: see under palm.

olive oil

(Encyclopedia)olive oil, pale yellow to greenish oil obtained from the pulp of olives by separating the liquids from solids. Olive oil was used in the ancient world for lighting, in the preparation of food, and as ...

oil beetle

(Encyclopedia)oil beetle: see blister beetle.

Browse by Subject