Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Ficus ... Figg, James

Ficus: a group of about 900 species of trees, shrubs, and vines, commonly called figs. Native primarily to tropical areas of East Asia, they are distributed throughout the world's tropics. Many are tall forest trees that are buttressed by great spreading ...
fiddle: medieval European bowed, stringed musical instrument. The medieval fiddle, a forerunner of the violin, emerged in 10th-century Europe, possibly deriving from the lira, a Byzantine version of the rabab, an Arab bowed instrument. Medieval fiddles varied in size and shape ...
fiddler crab: any of the approximately 65 species of the genus Uca (order Decapoda of the subphylum Crustacea). They are named "fiddler" because the male holds one claw, always much larger than the other, somewhat like a violin. Both claws in the ...
fidei commissum: in Roman law and civil-law systems, a gift of property to a person (usually by will), imposing upon that person the obligation to transfer it to a specified ultimate recipient, the latter being a person legally incapable of taking the ...
fideism: a philosophical view extolling theological faith by making it the ultimate criterion of truth and minimizing the power of reason to know religious truths. Strict fideists assign no place to reason in discovering or understanding fundamental tenets of religion. For ...
Fidenza: town, Parma provincia, Emilia-Romagna regione, northern Italy. It is believed to have been the scene of St. Domninus' martyrdom under the Roman emperor Maximian and was called Borgo San Donnino for more than 1,000 years. The town was renamed Fidenza ...
Fides: Roman goddess, the deification of good faith and honesty. Many of the oldest Roman deities were embodiments of high ideals (e.g., Honos, Libertas); it was the function of Fides to oversee the moral integrity of the Romans. Closely associated with ...
fiduciary: in law, a person who occupies a position of such power and confidence with regard to the property of another that the law requires him to act solely in the interest of the person whom he represents. Examples of fiduciaries ...
Fiedler, Arthur: maestro of the Boston Pops Orchestra for 50 seasons and the best-selling classical conductor of all time; his recordings with the Pops sold some 50,000,000 discs. (The Pops Orchestra is the Boston Symphony minus its principal players.) Fiedler, whose principal ...
Fiedler, Leslie A.: American literary critic who applied psychological (chiefly Freudian) and social theories to American literature.
fief: in European feudal society, a vassal's source of income, held from his lord in exchange for services. The fief constituted the central institution of feudal society (see feudalism). It normally consisted of land to which a number of unfree peasants ...
field archery: form of archery in which targets of different sizes or shapes are placed at varying distances in uneven, often wooded, terrain in an attempt to simulate hunting conditions. As an organized sport it dates from the formation in 1939 of ...
field artillery: any large-calibre, crew-operated, mounted firearm designed for easy movement in the field. See artillery.
field emission: discharge of electrons from the surface of a material subjected to a strong electric field. In the absence of a strong electric field, an electron must acquire a certain minimum energy, called the work function, to escape through the surface ...
field hockey: outdoor game played by two opposing teams of 11 players each who use sticks curved at the striking end to hit a small, hard ball into their opponent's goal. It is called field hockey to distinguish it from the similar ...
Field Museum of Natural History: museum in Chicago, Ill., established in 1893 as the Columbian Museum with a gift from Marshall Field (from whom it derived its present name in 1905). On his death in 1906, Field bequeathed generous sustaining funds and a sum to ...
field theory: in psychology, conceptual model of human behaviour developed by German American psychologist Kurt Lewin, who was closely allied with the Gestalt psychologists. Lewin's work went far beyond the orthodox Gestalt concerns of perception and learning; his theory emphasized an individual's ...
field trial: any of the competitions among individual sporting dogs, under conditions that approximate or simulate those found in the hunting field. Competing dogs need not necessarily be of the same breed. In the United States many of the field trials in ...
Field, Cyrus W: U.S. financier noted for the success of the first transatlantic cable. He was the younger brother of the law reformer David Dudley Field and of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen J. Field.
Field, David Dudley: U.S. lawyer whose advocacy of law codification had international influence. The "Field Code" of civil procedure, enacted by New York state in 1848, was subsequently adopted in whole or in part in many other U.S. states, in the federal court ...
Field, Eugene: U.S. poet and journalist, best known, to his disgust, as the "poet of childhood."
Field, John: Irish pianist and composer, whose nocturnes for piano were among models used by Chopin.
Field, Marshall: American department-store owner whose pioneering activities in retail merchandising were continued and extended into publishing by successive generations of his family.
Field, Nathan: one of the principal actors of England's Elizabethan stage.
Field, Stephen J: associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and chief architect of the constitutional approach that largely exempted the rapidly expanding industry of the United States from governmental regulation after the Civil War. He found the judicial instrument for the protection ...
Fielden, John: radical British reformer, a notable proponent of legislation protecting the welfare of factory workers.
Fielding, Henry: novelist and playwright, who, with Samuel Richardson, is considered a founder of the English novel. Among his major novels are Joseph Andrews (1742) and Tom Jones (1749).
Fielding, Sir John: English police magistrate and the younger half brother of novelist Henry Fielding, noted for his efforts toward the suppression of professional crime and the establishment of reforms in London's administration of criminal justice.
Fielding, William Stevens: journalist and statesman whose 19-year tenure as dominion finance minister was the longest in Canadian history.
Fields Medal: award granted to between two and four mathematicians for outstanding or seminal research. The Fields Medal is often referred to as the mathematical equivalent of the Nobel Prize, but it is granted only every four years and is given, by ...
Fields, Dame Gracie: English music-hall comedienne.
Fields, Dorothy: American songwriter who collaborated with a number of Broadway's top composers during the heyday of American musical theatre, producing the lyrics for many classic shows.
Fields, James T: author and leading publisher in the United States.
Fields, W.C.: actor whose flawless timing and humorous cantankerousness made him one of America's greatest comedians. His real-life and screen personalities were often indistinguishable, and he is remembered for his distinctive nasal voice, his antisocial character, and his fondness for alcohol.
Fiennes, Celia: English travel writer who journeyed on horseback all over England at the end of the 17th century, and whose journals are an invaluable source for social and economic historians.
Fieschi Family: a noble Genoese family whose members played an important role in Guelf (papal party) politics in medieval Italy. The Fieschi allied with the Angevin kings of Sicily and later with the kings of France; the family produced two popes, 72 ...
Fieschi, Gian Luigi, Il Giovanne: (the Younger) Genoese nobleman, whose conspiracy against the Doria family is the subject of much literature. The Fieschi family (q.v.) was one of the greatest families of Liguria.
Fieschi, Giuseppe Maria: French republican conspirator who on July 28, 1835, unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate King Louis-Philippe.
Fiesole: town and episcopal see of Florence provincia, Tuscany regione, north-central Italy. It is situated on a hill overlooking the Arno and Mugnone valleys just northeast of Florence. A chief city of the Etruscan confederacy, ...
Fiesta Bowl: annual American college gridiron football game held at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. It is one of four bowls that take turns hosting the national championship game of college football. Since 1982 the game has typically been played on ...
Fife: council area and historic county of eastern Scotland, covering a peninsula bounded on the north by the Firth of Tay, on the east by the North Sea, on the south by the Firth of Forth, and on the west by ...
fife: small transverse (side-blown) flute with six finger holes and a narrow cylindrical bore that produces a high pitch and shrill tone. The modern fife, pitched to the A♭ above middle C, is about 15.5 inches (39 cm) long and often ...
Fifinella: (foaled 1913), English racehorse (Thoroughbred) who in 1916 won the Derby, and two days later the Oaks; she was the last horse to win both events in one year.
fifth column: clandestine group or faction of subversive agents who attempt to undermine a nation's solidarity by any means at their disposal. The term is credited to Emilio Mola Vidal, a Nationalist general during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). As four of ...
Fifth Monarchy Men: an extreme Puritan sect that came into prominence in England during the Commonwealth and Protectorate. They were so called from their belief that the time of the fifth monarchy was at hand-that is, the monarchy that (according to a traditional ...
fig: plant of the genus Ficus, of the mulberry family (Moraceae), especially Ficus carica, the common fig. Ficus carica, which yields the well-known figs of commerce, is indigenous to an area extending from Asiatic Turkey to northern India, but natural seedlings ...
fig wasp: any of about 900 species of tiny wasps responsible for pollinating the world's 900 species of figs (see Ficus). Each species of wasp pollinates only one species of fig, and each fig species has its own wasp ...
Figaro: comic character, a barber turned valet, who is the hero of Le Barbier de Seville (1775; The Barber of Seville) and Le Mariage de Figaro (1784; The Marriage of Figaro), two popular comedies of intrigue by the French dramatist Pierre-Augustin ...
Figaro, Le: morning daily newspaper published in Paris, one of the great newspapers of France and of the world.
Figes, Eva: English novelist, social critic, and translator who reacted against traditional realist literature by inventing new forms for her own works.
Figg, James: first recognized bare-knuckle boxing champion of England. Also an expert at wrestling, swordplay, and fighting with cudgels, he became prominent as a pugilist about 1719.