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ornament, in architecture

(Encyclopedia)ornament, in architecture, decorative detail enhancing structures. Structural ornament, an integral part of the framework, includes the shaping and placement of the buttress, cornice, molding, ceiling...

transcendentalism , in philosophy

(Encyclopedia)transcendentalism, in philosophy, term descriptive of systems that hold that there are modes of being and principles of existence beyond the reach of mundane experience and manipulation. The term is n...

eclecticism, in art

(Encyclopedia)eclecticism ĭklĕkˈtĭsĭzˌəm [key], art style in which features are borrowed from various styles. It was once applied to the Carracci, who incorporated elements from the Renaissance and classical...

time , in music

(Encyclopedia)time, in music: see tempo; meter; rhythm; syncopation; metronome and musical notation. ...

ray, in physics

(Encyclopedia)ray, in physics, term denoting the straight line along which light or other form of radiation is propagated from its source. It generally refers to the line of propagation of waves but is also applied...

periwinkle, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)periwinkle, any of a group of marine gastropod mollusks having conical, spiral shells. Periwinkles feed on algae and seaweed. They are found at the water's edge; out of water, they resist drying by cl...

eclecticism, in philosophy

(Encyclopedia)eclecticism ĭklĕkˈtĭsĭzˌəm [key] [Gr. eklektikos=to choose], in philosophy, the selection of elements from different systems of thought, without regard to possible contradictions between the sy...

sublimation, in chemistry

(Encyclopedia)sublimation sŭblĭmāˈshən [key], change of a solid substance directly to a vapor without first passing through the liquid state. The term is also used to describe the reverse process of the gas ch...

Dupuytren, Guillaume, Baron

(Encyclopedia)Dupuytren, Guillaume, Baron gēyōmˈ bärôNˈ düpüēträNˈ [key], 1777–1835, French surgeon. As professor at the Hôtel Dieu, Paris, from 1812, he was noted as diagnostician, lecturer, and surg...

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...