Documents for "Home Economics":

• blanket sheet, usually of heavy woolen, or partly woolen, cloth, for use as a shawl, bed covering, or horse covering. The blanketmaking of primitive people is one of the finest remaining examples of early...

• candle cylinder of wax or tallow containing a wick, used for illumination or for ceremonial purposes. The evidence of ancient writings is not conclusive as to the history of the candle; words translated "candle" may have meant "torch" or "lamp," and the "candlestick" was probably a stand for one of these lights. The candle probably evolved from wood, rushes, or cords dipped in fat or pitch. Candles as well as lamps were used in Roman times; by the Middle Ages...

• cutlery various types of implements for cutting, preparing, and eating food. In addition to different kinds of knives and the steels to sharpen them, the term usually encompasses forks and spoons. The...

• domestic science see home economics.

• fence [short for defense], humanly erected barrier between two divisions of land, used to mark a legal or other boundary, to keep animals or people in or out, and sometimes as an ornament. In newly...

• home economics study of homemaking and the relation of the home to the community. Formerly limited to problems of food (nutrition and cookery), clothing, sewing, textiles, household equipment, housecleaning,...

• isinglass gelatinous semitransparent substance obtained by cleaning and drying the air bladders of the sturgeon, cod, hake, and other fishes. Isinglass is manufactured in Russia, the United States, Canada,...

• kitchen separate room or other space set aside for the cooking or preparation of meals. When cooking first moved indoors, it was performed, with other domestic labors, in the common room, where the fire...

• knife see cutlery.

• lamp originally a vessel for holding oil or some combustible substance that could be burned through a wick for illumination; the term has been extended to other lighting devices. Stones, shells, and...

• linoleum resilient floor or wall covering made of burlap, canvas, or felt, surfaced with a composition of wood flour, oxidized linseed oil, gums or other ingredients, and coloring matter. An English rubber...

• plastering house construction technique involving the application of plaster to walls and ceilings, exterior plasterwork being of a different composition and generally known as stucco. Plaster was used by the Egyptians (chiefly as a surface to receive color decorations) and by the Greeks. The Romans used it extensively, and there remain, especially at Pompeii, many ceilings and...

• puncheon plank or board made by hewing instead of sawing. American pioneers who could not procure the products of sawmills made much use of puncheons in their log buildings. The puncheons used for floors...

• tent portable shelter of canvas, skins, felt, matting, or other material usually supported by poles and used chiefly by nomads, hunters, and campers. Tents have been used by pastoral peoples since...