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dry cleaning

(Encyclopedia)dry cleaning, process of cleaning fabrics without water. Special solvents and soaps are used so as not to harm fabrics and dyes that will not withstand the effects of ordinary soap and water. Dry clea...

Dubuffet, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Dubuffet, Jean zhäN dübüfāˈ [key], 1901–85, French painter and sculptor. Rejecting academic art training, Dubuffet divided his time during the 1920s and 30s between art and the wine business. I...

Phlegraean Fields

(Encyclopedia)Phlegraean Fields flĭgrēˈən [key], Ital. Campi Flegrei, fertile volcanic region, Campania, S Italy, along the Tyrrhenian Sea between Pozzuoli and Naples. It is named for ancient Phlegra, in Macedo...

Zhang Yimou

(Encyclopedia)Zhang Yimou, 1951–, Chinese film director. Sentenced to forced labor during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76) because his father had been an officer in Chiang Kai-shek's army, he then studied at t...

Cameron, James

(Encyclopedia)Cameron, James, 1954–, Canadian motion-picture director and screenwriter, b. Kapuskasing, Ont. Beginning as a screenwriter and then art director, he first directed in 1981. His science-fiction block...

adrenocorticotropic hormone

(Encyclopedia)adrenocorticotropic hormone ədrēˈnōkôrˌtəkōtrŏpˈĭk [key], polypeptide hormone secreted by the anterior pituitary gland. Its chief function is to stimulate the cortex of the adrenal gland to...

Leyte

(Encyclopedia)Leyte lāˈtē, –tā [key], island (1990 pop. 1,689,756), 2,785 sq mi (7,213 sq km), one of the Visayan Islands, the Philippines, between Luzon and Mindanao. A fertile agricultural land, it is the n...

luminism

(Encyclopedia)luminism lo͞oˈmĭnĭzˌəm [key], American art movement of the 19th cent. Luminism was an outgrowth of the Hudson River school. In its concern for capturing the effects of light and atmosphere it is...

ACE inhibitor

(Encyclopedia)ACE inhibitor ănˌjēōtĕnˈsĭn [key], drug used to reduce elevated blood pressure (see hypertension), to treat congestive heart failure, and to alleviate strain on hea...

masque

(Encyclopedia)masque, courtly form of dramatic spectacle, popular in England in the first half of the 17th cent. The masque developed from the early 16th-century disguising, or mummery, in which disguised guests be...