FA Cup
Fabliau
Fallow
Fandango
Fantan
Fantasia
Farad
Faraday Cage
Faraday Screen
Faro
Farthingale
Fasces
Fascism
Fathom
Fatty acid
Feast of Fools
Federal State
Federation
Feet
Fehling's Solution
Felo-de-se
Felt
Felucca
Fermentation
Fermium
Ferret
Ferrite-rod Aerial
Ferrites
Ferrochrome
Ferromagnetic
Ferrous
Fescennine Verses
Fibre Optics
Fibroin
Fife
Filariasis
Filbert
Filigree
Fillet
Fin
Fire
Firedamp
Fish Kettle
Fives
Fjord
Flageolet
Flail
Flat-foot
Fleet Prison
Fleur-de-Lys
Flotsam
Flower
Flugelhorn
Fluorescein
Fluorescence
Fluoride
Fluorine
Fluorocarbon
Fly-wheel
Foal
Fodder
Fog
Fohn
Foil
Folded dipole
Folic acid
Folio
Fondant
Font
Food Council
Foolscap
Foot
Foot-and-Mouth Disease
Football
Forecastle
Forelock
Foresheets
Forest
Forge
Formaldehyde
Formalin
Formic Acid
Fortissimo
Foucault Current
Foundling Hospital
Fountain-pen
Fowler's Solution
Fox-trot
Frail
Fram
Franckincense
Frangulin
Frankincense
Franking
Franklin Aerial
Free Lance
Free Libraries
Freebench
Freemasonry
French
French Chalk
French Revolution
Frequency Drift
Frequency Modulation
Fresco
Fret
Fricasse
Friday
Frith Gild
Fructose
Fruit
Fruit-sugar
Fuchsine
Full Duplex
Fulminate
Funicular Railway
Furlong
Furlongs
Fuse
Fusel Oil
Gabardine
Gabelle
Gabilla
Gadolinium
Gaff
The Association Football Cup (FA Cup) competition was inaugurated in 1872, the final being played originally at Kennington Oval, it is now played at Wembley Stadium.
Fabliau is a form of early French literature consisting of short versified tales, comic in spirit and intended primarily for recitation. They were mainly written between the 12th and 14th centuries in northern France, and caricature every subject, but paricularly women.
Fallow is land left unsown for a period, usually a year. Fallowing is an ancient process, it has been known for centuries that the same crop frown on the same land deteriorates after a few years, partly because the soil is exhausted and partly because of disease. By leaving the land for a year, it can recover and subsequent crops improve.
The fandango is a Spanish dance involving lively movements accompanied by the chatter of castanets, snapping of fingers, and stamping of feet.
Fantan is a Chinese gambling game, in which bets are made on any corner of a rectangular card, with numbered corners. When bets have been made the banker places on the table a head of counters and divides them into fours. The winning number is decided by the number of counters in the last batch; if one counter is left over, number one wins, if 2 number 2 and so on. Fantan is a gambling card game for any number of players, played with a full deck of 52 cards.
In music, a fantasia is a more or less impromptu composition bound by no formal rules.
The farad is the unit of measurement of electrical capacitance. A capacitor has a capacitance of one farad if a quantity of one coulomb has to be imparted to it in order to raise the pottential difference between the plates by one volt. More convenient units for small capacitances are the microfarad and the picofarad.
The Faraday cage is an earthed metallic wire or gauze screen enclosing electrical equipment to shield it from the influence of external electric fields.
A Faraday screen is an earthed wire screen placed in an equipment so as to prevent electrostatic but not electromagnetic coupling between components.
Faro is an old gambling card game, possibly of Italian origin.
A farthingale was a hoop made of whalebone or wood and used in its most extreme form in the 17th century as a support for widespreading skirts. The farthingale originated in Spain and was the precursor of the crinoline.
Fasces were bundles of wooden rods made of elm or birch strapped together with an axe whose head protruded at right angles from the sticks. The fasces symbolised the authority of the senior magistrates of ancient Rome and were carried by the lictors who preceeded them.
Fascism is a political movement which originated in Italy, deriving its name from fasces, and which holds that the individual exists for the State, to whose good all his work and interests should be directed. Fascism originated in Milan in 1919, as a movement started by Benito Musolini.
Fathom is a nautical measurement, being 2 metres.
A fatty acid is an organic hydrocarbon with a carboxyl group at one end.
The Feast of Fools was a mediaeval Christian celebration and merry-making.
A Federal State is a perpetual union of several sovereign States, which has organs of its own and is invested with powers over the member-States and their citizens. This direct power over the citizens of its member-States distinguishes a federate-State from a confederation.
A federation is a union of States in which the participants retain autonomy in local matters, while a Central Government determines questions of common interest.
Feet is the plural of foot.
Fehling's Solution is a laboratory reagent consisting of a solution containing copper sulphate, caustic soda and a double tartrate of potassium and sodium (Rochelle salt). Fehling's solution is used in the laboratory as a method for the quantitative examination of sugars.
Felo-de-se is latin for a felon with regard to himself, and is an old term describing someone who commits suicide. Until 1823 it was the practice in England to bury suicides at a cross-roads with a stake driven through the body, but a statute of that year directed burial in a churchyard or burial-ground, without religious service, between the hours of 9pm and midnight. In 1882 both these restrictions were removed.
Felt is a fabric which is not woven, but made of fibres, usually wool, which when subjected to beating and vibration grip one another in the form of layers.
A felucca is a fast Mediterranean sailing vessel used chiefly for fishing. It is long and narrow, with a high bow and large lateen sails.
Fermentation is the breakdown of sugars by bacteria and yeast.
Fermium is a man made, radioactive metal element with the symbol Fm. It is named after Enrico Fermi.
A ferret is a domesticated polecat.
A ferrite-rod aerial is a receiving aerial consisting of a small coil mounted on a short rod of magnetic ferrite. The coil is, in effect, a small frame aerial, and the function of the ferrite rod is to concentrate the magnetic flux from a large area surrounding the aerial. Like all frame aerials the ferrite-rod aerial has pronounced directional properties. Its main advantage however lies in its compact dimensions.
Ferrites are a class of chemical compounds having the general formulae MFe2O4, where M is a divalent metal. Certain of these compounds are ferromagnetic, and possess in addition other properties which render them valuable for use in electric circuit components operating at high frequencies.
Ferrochrome is various alloys of iron and chromium employed in the manufacture of steel.
Ferromagnetic is a term applied to materials such as iron, cobalt, nickel and certain alloys, which have a magnetic permeability very much greater than unity and which varies with the strength of the applied field.
Ferrous is a chemistry term referring to materials which contain iron.
The Fescennine Verses were ancient indigenous Roman songs, composed extempore, and recited at rustic merry-makings, particularly weddings. They were generally playfully abusive or licentious.
Fibre Optics is a technology using light as a digital information bearer. Fibre optic cables ( light guides ) are a direct replacement for conventional wire, coaxial cable and many forms of radio, including microwave. Fibre optic lines actually cost less, occupy less space and provided far more transmission capacity than earlier methods, while providing superior quality due to virtual immunity to electrical interference.
Fibroin (Fibrosin) is an albuminoid protein which forms over 50 per cent of silk.
A fife is a small flute originating from Switzerland and used in military bands.
Filariasis is a disease caused by a parasite of the family Filariidea which causes malnutrition and inflammation of the lymphatic vessels.
The filbert is a nut of the cultivated variety of hazel.
Filigree is fine ornamental work of gold or silver wire, closely interlaced.
A fillet was a band worn as a headdress in ancient times. In architecture, a fillet is a band or listel used as a separation for mouldings.
Fins are expansions of the skin or body wall, or the equivalent of limbs, by means of which aqautic animals preserve their balance and swim.
Fire is the rapid liberation of heat by the chemical combination of various substances with the oxygen of the air, a process known as combustion.
Firedamp is the name given by miners to the explosive mixture of the hydrocarbon methane with air, which sometimes occurs in coal-mines.
A fish kettle is a large oval-shaped saucepan, usually fitted with a perforated tray with handles, and used for cooking fish.
Fives is a ball game for 2 or 4 players, in which a small hard ball is struck with the hand against the walls of an enclosed court.
A fjord is a long, narrow inlet resulting from the subsidence of a mountainous coast and the subsequent flooding of the valleys.
The flageolet is an old musical wind instrument, the ancestor of the modern tin whistle.
A flail is two pieces of wood joined by a leather thong or short metal chain and used for threshing. One piece of wood is held and the other then swung.
Flat-foot is a deformity of the foot in which the arch sinks so that the whole extent of the sole is in contact with the ground.
Fleet Prison was a famous London Prison which stood in Farringdon Street, on what was called Fleet Market, from the River Fleet which flowed into the Thames. Its keeper was called the Warden of the Fleet. As far back as the 12th century the Fleet served as a Royal Prison. In the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth I it was used for religious martyrs and the political victims of the Star Chambers. In 1641 it became a place of confinement for debtors and persons commited for contempt of court, and rapidly acquired a notoriety for every kind of brutality and extortion. It was destroyed and rebuilt several times before being finally abolished in 1842.
The fleur-de-Lys (flower of lily) is an heraldic representation of an iris or garden lily. It was the armorial bearing of the Kings of France from 1147 and was also borne by some English families.
Flotsam are goods floating upon the sea, which belong to the Crown unless claimed within a year and a day.
The flower of a higher plant consists of one or two whorls of enveloping leaves surrounding the stamen and carpels, which are the organs essential for sexual reproduction.
The flugelhorn is a brass musical instrument.
Fluorescein is an organic compound obtained by heating together pthalic anhydride and resorcinol. It is a red powder insoluble in water, but it dissolves in alcohol and also in alkalis, giving a brilliant green flourescence. It is used as a dye.
Fluorescence is the process of emission of electromagnetic radiation resulting from the absorption of certain types of energy.
Fluoride is the salt of hydrofluoric acid.
Fluorine is a gaseous element with the symbol F belonging to the group known as halogens. It is the most chemically reactive element (many substances ignite spontaneously in it), and for this reason it is never found uncombined.
A fluorocarbon is a compound in which hydrogen atoms of a hydrocarbon have been replaced with fluorine.
A fly-wheel is a heavy wheel whose inertia maintains a nearly uniform speed of rotation under variable load or driving force. The revolving fly-wheel is a resevoir of energy by virtue of its movement of inertia, and its effectiveness depends on the amount of energy which it absorbs or gives up for a given change of speed.
A foal is a young horse.
Fodder is all manner of foods given to horses, cattle, and other animals. It includes grass or any plant eaten green, or the same dried for convenience or for use in winter, and grain, beans, peas etc. or artificial products made from any nutritional material.
Fog is a cloud that collects at the surface of the earth without any definite shape.
In geography, a fohn is a hot, dry, local Alpine wind produced by the desiccation of an air current in passing over the mountain ranges and its subsequent heating by compression on being drawn into the denser valley atmosphere.
In metallurgy, foil is a term for a thin sheet of metal intermediate between a leaf, such as gold leaf, and sheet metal. It varies in thickness according to the constituent metal or metals. Very thin tin foil is used for backing mirrors, and in chemistry and electronics.
A folded dipole is a dipole aerial consisting of two conductors in parallel, only one of which is broken at the centre for connection to the feeder. This construction increases the bandwidth and the centre impedance of the aerial.
Folic acid is a b vitamin, a lack of folic acid causes anaemia.
Folio is a sheet of paper folded once to make two leaves of a book or manuscript, and hence the term is given to paper of a large size used for this purpose.
Fondant is a soft sweet made of flavoured sugar.
A font is a vessel, generally of stone, used in the Christian Church for holding the water for the sacrament of Holy Baptism.
The Food Council was a body formed in 1925 on the advice of a Royal Commission to investigate charges of food profiteering and to take action in such cases. It had few powers, and the natural fall in prices soon made it unnecessary, however the Food Council did sponsor the Weights and Measures Act of 1926.
Foolscap is a regular paper size of 13.5 by 16.5 inches, so called because it was originally water-marked with a fool's head and cap.
The foot is a unit of the imperial scale of measurement of length equivalent to 12 inches or 30.48 centimetres.
Foot-and-Mouth Disease is a desease of horned cattle, sheep, etc. caused by a virus and characterised by the appearance of vesicles on the mouth, tongue and elsewhere, and salivation and champing of the mouth. The disease is intensely sontagious, and has an incubation period of between 2 and 5 days.
Football is the name of several games involving the kicking of an inflated ball around a pitch, the modern football games evolving around the middle of the 19th century.
The forecastle is a short deck in the forepart of a warship. In merchant ships it is the forepart of the ship where the sailors live.
A forelock is a wedge put through a hole in a bolt to keep the bolt in place.
The foresheets is the inner part of the bows of an open boat where the bowman stands.
Forest is a term properly applied to an extensive woodland or to a large tract of mingland woodland and open uncultivated land. In English law, a forest was a territory privileged for game generally belonging to the sovereign and set aside for his recreation.
A forge is a blacksmith's fireplace or furnace for melting and refining metal.
Formaldehyde (methyl aldehyde) is the simplest representative of the aldehydes. It has the formula H.CHO, and is a colourless and very pungent gas. It is very soluble in water. It has a powerful preserving effect and is used in aqueous solution for preserving anatomical specimens.
Formalin is an aqueous solution of formaldehyde (40 per cent) and often 15 per cent methyl alcohol. It is used as a disinfectant and as a preservative.
Formic acid is the lowest member of the fatty acids. It has the formula H.COOH and is found in nature in ants, stinging nettles, and in various parts of the animal body. Commercially it is used in tanning and electro-plating.
Fortissimo is a musical term directing the singers to sing with the utmost strength and loudness.
see "Eddy Current"
Foundling hospitals were charitable institutions for the care of children abandoned by their parents. They were first founded to reduce instances of infanticide during the 7th and 8th centuries by church authorities and their numbers increased rapidly during the Middle Ages, especially in France.
A fountain-pen is a refillable pen which carries its own supply of ink which runs to the writing point as required from a reservoir in the holder.
Fowler's Solution is a solution of potassium arsenite, prepared by boiling together arsenic trioxide and potassium bicarbonate in water. It was used in medicine as a mild tonic for digestive disorders.
The fox-trot is a ball-room dance danced against jazz music.
A frail is a rush basket for packing figs and raisins.
The Fram was a three-masted schooner built in 1892 for Nansen's expedition to the Arctic, and used by Amundsen in the Antarctic in 1911.
Franckincense is a gum resin obtained from trees of the genus Boswellia, used in the making of incense and in ancient times in medicine.
Frangulin is a yellow crystallizable dye extracted from the bark of the alder. It is used to dye wool, silk and cotton.
Frankincense is an incense derived from the resin of the tree boswellia.
Originally, franking was the right of sending letters free of charge. It was claimed for letters both sent and received by the House of Commons in 1660, and fully legalised in 1764 when all members of both Houses were allowed to send 10 and receive 15 letters a day gratis. The priviledge was withdrawn on the introduction of the penny postage in 1840. Today the term is most commonly applied to the mechanical stamping of letters and parcels in place of fixing an adhesive stamp.
The Franklin aerial is a directional aerial consisting of a number of radiating elements, uniformly spaced on a line at right angles to the desired direction of maximum radiation.
The term Free Lance was originally a soldier who fought as a mercenary for anyone who would pay him for his service. Now the term is applied to anyone who works for anyone who will pay them, but is not on the regular staff of any company, such as a writer for example.
Free Libraries are libraries supported by municipalities, counties or charitable organisations etc. available to the public without charge. The first was established in Manchester in 1653.
Freebench was an English right of a woman during her widowhood to an interest, generally one-third, in her late husband's copyhold land. It was abolished in 1925.
Freemasonry is a cult with a secret ritual, considered by some to have originated with Solomon and the building of the Temple, but in its modern form dating from the mid 18th century when the Grand Lodges of England, Scotland and Ireland were constituted. Members are mainly well-to-do businessmen.
French is a term used to denote someone or something from France.
French Chalk is a form of steatite or talc, used by tailors for marking cloth for which its softness and burability on the material make it very suitable. It is also used as a dusting agent to prevent adhesion of a tacky surface, as a filler in plastics and to polish floors. It can be distinguished from ordinary chalk by its greasy feel.
The French Revolution occured in 1789 and overthrew the despotic Bourbon Monarchy, only to itself be overthrown by the Empire of Napoleon. In 1830 another revolution overthrew the again reigning monarchy, and again in 1848.
Frequency drift is a phenomenon which affects electronic circuits. It is variations in the natural frequency of an oscillatory circuit of an oscillator due for example, to changes of capacitance with changes of temperature.
Frequency modulation is a system of radio transmission in which the amplitude of the carrier remains constant but the frequency is varied in accordance with the amplitude of the modulating waveform. In frequency modulation the loudness of the applied audio-frequency modulation is represented by the amount of change of carrier frequency, and the frequency of the signal is reprented by the number of times the carrier frequency is changed every second.
A fresco is a painting done on plaster.
In architecture, a fret is a decorative pattern consisting of a continuous series of short, straight lines or bars joining one another or interlacing, usually at right angles.
Fricasse is a dish consisting of small pieces of white meat in a flavoured white sauce made from the stock in which the meat was cooked, with the addition of milk.
Friday is the fifth day of the week, the name derives from the Saxon Frige-doeg, the day sacred to Freya.
A Frith Gild was a Saxon voluntary association of neighbours for purposes of order and self-defence. They repressed theft, traced stolen cattle and indemnified parties robbed from a common fund raised by subscription of the members.
Fructose (fruit-sugar or laevulose) is a simple and very sweet sugar found in plant juices, fruit and honey. It is a mono-saccharose, white, crystalline compound.
Fruit is a botanical term for the mature ovary of a plant comprised of two parts, the pericarp and the seed.
see "Fructose"
see "Magenta"
Full Duplex is a communications term referring to a circuit which allows independent transmission information in both directions simultaneously. - Synonym: In wire telephony, 4 wire circuit.
Fulminates are the mettalic salts of fulminic acid. They can be made by dissolving a metal in strong nitric acid and adding alcohol. The fulminate is then precipitated. Fulminates are highly explosive compounds used for the manufacture of detonators.
A funicular railway is a railway for transporting passengers up a steep incline. They often run on the principle of balance, two carriages of equal weight being joined by a long cable which passes over a pulley at the upper end. Small power is required at the pulley to bring one car up the slope while the other descends.
The furlong is a unit of the imperial scale of measurement of length equivalent to 10 chains, 220 yards or 201.168 metres. The name furlong derives from furrow-length.
see "furlong"
a fuse is a slow burning cord or other mechanism for delaying igniting a charge, such as a mine. Early fuses (slow-matches) were made of lightly twisted hemp dipped in potassium nitrate and ignited. Modern fuses may be electrical attached to a timer, or chemical in which an acid burns away a division in a container holding two chemicals which ignite when combined.
Fusel oil is the residue left after removing the ethyl alcohol from various liquors obtained by fermentation, potato spirit being the best source. Fusel oil consists principally of isoamyl and normal amyl alcohols, together with smaller amounts of butyl alcohol, and various aldehydes and esters. It is a poisonous, unpleasant smelling, oily liquid principally used as a source of amyl alcohol.
Gabardine is a fabric particularly suited to water-proofing, composed of fine botany wool yarn warp, and cotton weft. The name is also given to a raincoat made from the material.
Gabelle was a tax on salt imposed in France from 1286 until 1790. It was levied unequally and caused a lot of discontent.
Gabilla is a Cuban measurement of tobacco. One gabilla is comprised of 36 or 40 leaves, 4 gabillas comprise 1 hand and 80 hands comprise 1 bale.
Gadolinium is a metal element with the symbol Gd of the group of rare earth metals. It is found in the mineral gadolinite.
A gaff is a spar used in ships to extend the upper edge of fore-and-aft sails which are not set on stays.