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waterproof and water-repellent fabrics
waterproof and water-repellent fabrics materials treated with various substances so as to make them impervious to water. Permanent waterproofing is achieved by first coating fabrics with rubber or plasticized synthetic resins, then vulcanizing or baking them. Fabrics so treated lose porosity and li...
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flannel
flannel large group of napped plain-weave or twill-weave fabrics made of cotton, wool, or man-made fibers. Flannel fabrics vary in closeness or firmness of weave and in degree of napping. A French flannel, for example, is a very fine twill-weave fabric, slightly napped on the right side only, where...
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corduroy
corduroy a cut filling-pile fabric with lengthwise ridges, or wales, that may vary from fine (pinwale) to wide. Extra filling yarns float over a number of warp yarns that form either a plain-weave or twill-weave ground. After the fabric is woven the floating yarns are cut, and the pile is brushed a...
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calico
calico plain weave cotton fabric in one or more colors. Calico, named for Calicut, India, where the fabric originated, was mentioned by historians before the Christian era and praised by early travelers for its fine texture and beautiful colors. Block-printed cottons from Calicut imported into Engl...
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Alvin
Alvin city (1990 pop. 19,220), Brazoria co., S Tex.; inc. 1893. The city is chiefly residential but is near an agricultural area where rice, cotton, soybeans, and pecans are raised. Industries include oil and natural gas; rice milling; and the manufacture of concrete, fabricated metal products, and...
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Attleboro
Attleboro , industrial city (1990 pop. 38,383), Bristol co., SE Mass., near the R.I. line; settled 1634, inc. as a city 1914. Its jewelry industry began in 1780; silverware, scientific instruments, and fabricated metal products are also made.
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Carson
Carson city (1990 pop. 83,995), Los Angeles co., S Calif., an industrial and residential suburb of Los Angeles; inc. 1968. Oil refining is the major industry; fabricated metals, paper, and other products are manufactured. The California State Univ. Dominguez Hills is there.
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dry cleaning
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 cleaning began in France about the middle of the 19th cent., at first in small plants, where it was done...
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Charles Macintosh
Charles Macintosh , 1766-1843, Scottish chemist and inventor. In 1823 he developed a waterproof fabric used to make raincoats that were named for him. His other research included preparing sugar of lead and inventing a commercially successful bleaching powder.
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Thomas Tyrwhitt
Thomas Tyrwhitt , 1730-86, English scholar. He was noted for his studies of Shakespeare (1766) and for his edition of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (5 vol., 1775-78). Tyrwhitt revealed in 1777 that the "Rowley Poems" were not actually Middle English poems, but a fabrication by young Thomas Chatte...
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