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whale oil

(Encyclopedia)whale oil, oil extracted from the blubber and other parts of certain species of whales. It varies in composition, color, and the degree of fishy odor according to the method and extent of refining. Fo...

Frankenthaler, Helen

(Encyclopedia)Frankenthaler, Helen frăngkˈənthŏlər [key], 1928–2011, American painter, b. New York City. The youngest of the women who formed part of abstract expressionism's second generation, Frankenthaler...

enamel

(Encyclopedia)enamel, a siliceous substance fusible upon metal. It may be so compounded as to be transparent or opaque and with or without color, but it is usually employed to add decorative color. It was used to d...

postimpressionism

(Encyclopedia)postimpressionism, term coined by Roger Fry to refer to the work of a number of French painters active at the end of the 19th cent. who, although they developed their varied styles quite independently...

tattoo

(Encyclopedia)tattoo, the marking of the skin with punctures into which pigment is rubbed. The word originates from the Tahitian tattau [to mark]. The term is sometimes extended to scarification, which consists of ...

hair

(Encyclopedia)CE5 A. Cross section of a hair shaft B. General structure of a hair hair, slender threadlike outgrowth from the skin of mammals. In some animals hair grows in dense profusion and is called fur or ...

protective coloration

(Encyclopedia)protective coloration, coloration or color pattern of an animal that affords it protection from observation either by its predators or by its prey. The most widespread form of protective coloration is...

Luray

(Encyclopedia)Luray lo͝orāˈ [key], town (1990 pop. 4,587), seat of Page co., N Va., in the Shenandoah valley, in a farm area; inc. 1812. There is light manufacturing and the town is the headquarters of Shenandoa...

Mariotte, Edme

(Encyclopedia)Mariotte, Edme ĕdˈmə märyôtˈ [key], 1620?–1684, French physicist. His De la nature de l'air (1676) includes a statement of Boyle's law (see gas laws), which he discovered independently and whi...

Kroll, Leon

(Encyclopedia)Kroll, Leon krōl [key], 1884–1974, American painter and lithographer, b. New York City. Kroll studied in New York with J. H. Twachtman and later in Paris. He returned to New York, where he became a...