Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Shop

0-9

fall line ... fantasia

fall line: line of numerous waterfalls, as at the edge of a plateau, where streams pass from resistant rocks to a plain of weak ones below. Such a line also marks the ...
Fall River: city, Bristol county, southeastern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies on the east shore of Mount Hope Bay, at the mouth of the Taunton River, 18 miles (29 km) southeast of Providence, ...
fall wind: large-scale katabatic wind (air currents descending on the lee side of mountains) that remains cold as it flows downslope. The extremely cold winds along the coasts of Antarctica are fall ...
Fall, Albert Bacon: U.S. secretary of the interior under President Warren G. Harding; he was the first American to be convicted of a felony committed while holding a Cabinet post.
Falla, Manuel de: the most distinguished Spanish composer of the early 20th century. In his music he achieved a fusion of poetry, asceticism, and ardour that represents the spirit of Spain at its ...
fallacy: in logic, erroneous reasoning that has the appearance of soundness. Among numerous types of logical fallacies that have been noted, some of the better known are: post hoc ergo propter ...
Falldin, Thorbjorn: politician who was prime minister of Sweden (1976-78, 1979-82).
Fallen Timbers, Battle of: (Aug. 20, 1794), decisive victory of the U.S. general Anthony Wayne over the Northwest Indian Confederation, ending two decades of border warfare and securing white settlement of the former Indian ...
Fallieres, Armand: French statesman and eighth president of the French Third Republic.
Fallon: city, seat (1902) of Churchill county, west-central Nevada, U.S. Fallon lies about 60 miles (100 km) east of Reno near the end of an arid valley called the 40-Mile Desert, ...
fallopian tube: either of a pair of long narrow ducts located in the human female abdominal cavity that transport the male sperm cells to the egg, provide a suitable environment for fertilization, ...
Fallopius, Gabriel: the most illustrious of 16th-century Italian anatomists, who contributed greatly to early knowledge of the ear and of the reproductive organs.
Fallot, tetralogy of: congenital heart disease characterized by cyanosis (bluish discoloration of the skin) usually after the neonatal period, hypoxic spells (which include difficult or laboured respiration, sudden onset of cyanosis, alterations in ...
fallout: deposition of radioactive materials on the Earth from the atmosphere. The terms rain out and snow out are sometimes used to specify such deposition during precipitant weather.
Falloux, Frederic-Alfred-Pierre, comte de: (count of ) French political figure and monarchist who served in various political roles but is best remembered as the sponsor of the important educational legislation known as the loi ...
fallow deer: (Dama dama), medium-sized deer, family Cervidae (order Artiodactyla), commonly kept on estates and in parks and zoos. The fallow deer was probably native to the Mediterranean region and western Asia ...
Falls Church: independent city, northeast Virginia, U.S., just west of Washington, D.C. Its history centres around the Falls Church (Episcopal; 1767-69), which was built on the site of an earlier church erected ...
Falmouth: town ("parish"), Carrick district, administrative and historic county of Cornwall, England, on the western shore of the Carrick Roads. Falmouth occupies a peninsular site and faces water on two sides. ...
Falmouth: town (township), Barnstable county, southeastern Massachusetts, U.S., on the southwestern end of Cape Cod. It includes the villages of Falmouth, East Falmouth, Hatchville, North Falmouth, Teaticket, Waquoit, West Falmouth, and ...
FALN: separatist organization in Puerto Rico that has used violence in its campaign for Puerto Rican independence from the United States.
false arborvitae: (Thujopsis dolabrata), ornamental and timber evergreen tree or shrub of the cypress family (Cupressaceae), native to Japan. It is closely related to the arborvitae (q.v.) but has larger leaves, marked ...
False Bay: bay on the south side of Cape Peninsula, South Africa, 13 mi (21 km) southeast of Cape Town. Cape Hangklip (east) and Cape Point (west) are about 20 mi apart. ...
false cypress: any of six species of ornamental and timber evergreen conifers constituting the genus Chamaecyparis (family Cupressaceae), native to North America and eastern Asia.
False Decretals: a 9th-century collection of ecclesiastical legislation containing some forged documents. The principal aim of the forgers was to free the Roman Catholic church from interference by the state and to ...
false pregnancy: disorder that may mimic many of the effects of pregnancy, including enlargement of the uterus; cessation of menstruation; morning sickness; and even labour pains at term. The cause may be ...
false scorpion: any of the 1,700 species of the order Pseudoscorpiones (sometimes Chelonethida) of the arthropod class Arachnida. They resemble true scorpions but are tailless and only 1 to 7.5 millimetres (0.04 ...
false sunbird: either of two species of birds in Madagascar of the family Philepittidae (order Passeriformes). Both are 10 cm (4 inches) long, with a short tail and a long, downcurved bill. ...
false vampire bat: any of certain bats of the Old World genera Megaderma, Cardioderma, and Macroderma (family Megadermatidae) and the New World genera Vampyrum and Chrotopterus (family Phyllostomatidae), conspicuous because of their large ...
Falsen, Christian Magnus: nationalist political leader, generally regarded as the author of the Norwegian constitution.
falsetto: the upper register of the human voice, the opposite of chest voice. Though sometimes considered synonymous with head voice, the Italian term falsetto means "false soprano" and therefore has been ...
falsework: temporary construction to support arches and similar structures while the mortar or concrete is setting or the steel is being joined. As soon as the work is set, the centring ...
falsobordone: method of harmonizing psalm tunes, closely related to fauxbourdon (q.v.).
Falstaff, Sir John: one of the most famous comic characters in all English literature, who appears in four of Shakespeare's plays. Entirely the creation of Shakespeare, Falstaff is said to have been partly ...
Falster: island, Storstroms amtskommune (county), Denmark. It lies in the Baltic Sea and is connected to southern Zealand (Sjaelland) and Lolland by several bridges. Falster has an area ...
Faltings, Gerd: German mathematician who was awarded the Fields Medal in 1986 for his work in algebraic geometry. (See the table of Fields Medalists.)
Faludi, Susan: American feminist and award-winning journalist and author, known especially for her exploration of the depiction of women by the news media.
Falun: town, capital of the lan (county) of Dalarna and major town of the traditional landskap (province) of Dalarna, central Sweden. It lies along the ...
Falun Gong: controversial Chinese spiritual movement founded by Li Hongzhi in 1992; its adherents exercise ritually to obtain mental and spiritual renewal. The teachings of Falun Gong draw from the Asian religious ...
Fama: in Greco-Roman mythology, the personification of popular rumour. Pheme was more a poetic personification than a deified abstraction, although there was an altar in her honour at Athens. The Greek ...
Famagusta: a major port in the Turkish Cypriot-administered portion of northern Cyprus. It lies on the island's east coast in a bay between Capes Greco and Eloea and is about 37 ...
Famennian Stage: all those rocks deposited worldwide during the Famennian Age (367 to 360 million years ago). The Famennian and the underlying Frasnian Stage together constitute the Upper Devonian Series. The stage's ...
Familia: the leading noble family of Poland in the 18th century, eclipsing the rival Potocki family in both power and prestige.
familial periodic paralysis: any of the forms of a rare disorder that is characterized by relatively short-term, recurrent attacks of muscle weakness. Usually (but not invariably) the disorder is inherited; it is probably ...
familiar: in Western demonology, small animal or imp kept as a witch's attendant, given to her by the devil or inherited from another witch. The familiar was a low-ranking demon that ...
Familist: religious sect of Dutch origin, followers of Hendrik Niclaes, a 16th-century Dutch merchant. Niclaes' main activity was in Emden, East Friesland (1540-60). In his Evangelium regni, issued in England as ...
famille rose: group of Chinese porcelain wares characterized by decoration painted in opaque overglaze rose colours, chiefly shades of pink and carmine. These colours were known to the Chinese as
famille verte: group of Chinese porcelain wares characterized by decoration painted in a colour range that includes yellow, blue, red, purple, and green, the latter sometimes used for the ground. The
Famille, Pacte de: any of three defensive alliances (1733, 1743, and 1761) between France and Spain, so called because both nations were ruled by members of the Bourbon family. The Pactes de Famille ...
family: a group of persons united by the ties of marriage, blood, or adoption, constituting a single household and interacting with each other in their respective social positions, usually those of ...
family court: special court designed to deal with legal problems arising out of family relations. The family court is usually a consolidation of several types of courts dealing with narrower family problems, ...
family law: body of law regulating family relationships, including marriage and divorce, the treatment of children, and related economic matters.
family practice: field of medicine that stresses comprehensive primary health care, regardless of the age or sex of the patient, with special emphasis on the family unit.
Family, The: millenarian Christian communal group that grew out of the ministry of David Berg (1919-1994) to the hippies who had gathered in Huntington Beach, California, in the late 1960s. It teaches ...
fan: in the decorative arts, rigid or folding hand-held device used throughout the world since ancient times; it has been used for cooling, air circulation, or ceremony and as a sartorial ...
fan: device for producing a current of air or other gases or vapours. Fans are used for circulating air in rooms and buildings; for cooling motors and transmissions; for cooling and ...
Fan Chung-yen: Chinese scholar-reformer who as minister to the Sung emperor Jen Tsung (reigned 1022/23-1063/64) anticipated many of the reforms of the great innovator Wang An-shih (1021-86). In his 10-point program, Fan ...
Fan Si Pan: highest peak (10,308 ft [3,142 m]) in Vietnam, lying in Hoang Lien Son tinh (province) and forming part of the Fan Si Pan-Sa Phin range, which extends northwest-southeast for nearly ...
Fan Wen-ch'eng: minister who advised the Manchu forces of Manchuria in their conquest of China and their establishment there of the Ch'ing (Manchu) dynasty (1644-1911/12).
fan-tan: bank gambling game of Chinese origin, dating back at least 2,000 years and introduced in the western United States in the second half of the 19th century by Chinese immigrant ...
Fan-Tan: card game that may be played by any number of players up to eight. The full pack of 52 cards is dealt out, one card at a time. Thus, some ...
fana: ' ("to pass away," or "to cease to exist"), the complete denial of self and the realization of God that is one of the steps taken by the Muslim Sufi ...
Fana: section of the city of Bergen, Hordaland fylke (county), southwestern Norway, opposite Store Sotra Island. Raune Fjord and its smaller branches, especially Fana Fjord, cut into Fana's irregular coastline. Most ...
fancy: the power of conception and representation in artistic expression (such as through the use of figures of speech by a poet). The term is sometimes used as a synonym for ...
fandango: exuberant Spanish courtship dance and a genre of Spanish folk song. The dance, probably of Moorish origin, was popular in Europe in the 18th century and survives in the 20th ...
Fanfani, Amintore: politician and teacher who served as Italy's premier six times. He formed and led the centre-left coalition that dominated Italian politics in the late 1950s and '60s.
fanfare: originally a brief musical formula played on trumpets, horns, or similar "natural" instruments for signal purposes in battles, hunts, and court ceremonies. The term is of obscure derivation.
Fang: Bantu-speaking peoples occupying the southernmost districts of Cameroon south of the Sanaga River, mainland Equatorial Guinea, and the forests of the northern half of Gabon south to the Ogooue River ...
Fang Lizhi: Chinese astrophysicist and dissident who was held by the Chinese leadership to be partially responsible for the 1989 student rebellion in Tiananmen Square.
Fangio, Juan Manuel: driver who dominated automobile-racing competition in the 1950s, winning the world driving championship in 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, and 1957. He had won 24 world-championship Grand Prix races when he ...
fangyi: type of Chinese bronze vessel in the form of a small hut or granary. Square or rectangular in section, its sides slope outward from a low base to a cover ...
Fano: town and episcopal see, Pesaro e Urbino provincia, Marche regione, central Italy. It lies along the Adriatic coast at the mouth of the Metauro River, just southeast of Pesaro. The ...
Fano: island of the North Frisian group, in the North Sea off Esbjerg, southwestern Jutland, Den. Crown property until it was purchased by its inhabitants in 1741, it supported a large ...
Fanon, Frantz: West Indian psychoanalyst and social philosopher, known for his theory that some neuroses are socially generated and for his writings on behalf of the national liberation of colonial peoples.
Fanshawe, Sir Richard, 1st Baronet: English poet, translator, and diplomat whose version of Camoes' Os Lusiadas is a major achievement of English verse translation.
fantail: any of numerous birds of the Old World subfamily Rhipidurinae, family Muscicapidae (q.v.). Some authors retain these birds in the subfamily Muscicapinae. The fantails constitute the genus Rhipidura. Fantails are ...
fantasia: in music, a composition free in form and inspiration, usually for an instrumental soloist; in 16th- and 17th-century England the term was applied especially to fugal compositions (i.e., based on ...