Definition of "art nouveau" [art nouveau]

• A style of decoration and architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, characterized particularly by the depiction of leaves and flowers in flowing, sinuous lines. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Specific skills taught include using instruments such as the refractrometer and polariscope to identify diamonds and colored stones, identifying ninety-five types of glass including French cameo, Burmese, and milk glass, dating and evaluating neoclassical, Victorian, and art nouveau furniture, and reading “maker’s marks” to determine the identity of pottery and porcelain objects."