Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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factoring ... Fairfield University

factoring: in finance, the selling of accounts receivable on a contract basis by the business holding them-in order to obtain cash payment of the accounts before their actual due date-to an agency known as a factor. The factor then assumes full ...
factory ship: originally, a large ship used in whaling, but now, more broadly, any ship that is equipped to process marine catches for various consumer uses. It most commonly serves as the main ship in a fleet sent to waters a great ...
facula: in astronomy, bright granular structure on the Sun's surface that is slightly hotter or cooler than the surrounding photosphere. A sunspot always has an associated facula, though faculae may exist apart from such spots. Faculae are visible in ordinary white ...
Fadden, Sir Arthur William: accountant, politician, and for a short time prime minister of Australia (1941).
Fadeyev, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich: Russian novelist who was a leading exponent and theoretician of proletarian literature and a high Communist Party functionary influential in literary politics.
Fadiman, Clifton: American editor, anthologist, and writer known for his extraordinary memory and his wide-ranging knowledge.
Faenza: city, Ravenna provincia, in the Emilia-Romagna regione of northern Italy, on the Lamone River, southeast of Bologna. In the 2nd century BC it was a Roman town (Faventia) on the Via Aemilia, but excavations show Faenza to have had a ...
Faenza majolica: tin-glazed earthenware produced in the city of Faenza in the Emilia district of Italy from the late 14th century. Early Faenza ware is represented by green and purple jugs decorated with Gothic lettering and heraldic lions and by Tuscan oak ...
Faerie Queene, The: one of the great long poems in the English language, written in the 16th century by Edmund Spenser. As originally conceived, the poem was to have been a religious-moral-political allegory in 12 books, each consisting of the adventures of a ...
Faesi, Robert: Swiss poet, dramatist, short-story writer, and literary critic, noted for his trilogy of novels on Zurich life and for important critical studies of literary figures.
Fagales: beech order of dicotyledonous woody flowering plants, a division of the subclass Hamamelidae.
Fagaras: town, Brasov judet (county), central Romania. It lies north of the Fagaras Mountains, a range of the Transylvanian Alps (Southern Carpathian Mountains), on the Olt River. First mentioned in documents in 1291, Fagaras became a military centre during the Middle ...
Fagaras Mountains: mountain range, the highest section of the Transylvanian Alps (Southern Carpathian Mountains), south-central Romania. Their steep northern face rises above 8,000 feet (2,450 m) and overlooks the Fagaras Depression, through which flows the Olt River over a gentler gradient south ...
Faguet, Emile: French literary historian and moralist who wrote many influential critical works revealing a wide range of interests.
Faguibine, Lake: isolated lake in Mali, west of Timbuktu (Tombouctou). It lies north of the Niger River in the Macina depression, and it is reached by branches of the Niger in times of flood. At high water it reaches a length of ...
Fagunwa, D.O.: Yoruba chief whose series of fantastic novels made him one of Nigeria's most popular writers. He was also a teacher.
Fahd: king of the Saudi Arabians from 1982 to 2005. As crown prince and as an active administrator, he had been virtual ruler during the preceding reign (1975-82) of his half brother King Khalid.
Fahrenheit temperature scale: scale based on 32° for the freezing point of water and 212° for the boiling point of water, the interval between the two being divided into 180 equal parts. The 18th-century German physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit originally took as the ...
Fahrenheit, Daniel Gabriel: German physicist and maker of scientific instruments. He is best known for inventing the alcohol thermometer (1709) and mercury thermometer (1714) and for developing the Fahrenheit temperature scale; this scale is still commonly used in the United States.
Faial Island: Portuguese island forming part of the Azores archipelago, in the North Atlantic Ocean. Its area of 67 square miles (173 square km) was increased by 1 square mile (2.5 square km) because of volcanic activity in 1957-58. The centre of ...
Faidherbe, Louis: governor of French Senegal in 1854-61 and 1863-65 and a major founder of France's colonial empire in Africa. He founded Dakar, the future capital of French West Africa.
faience: tin-glazed earthenware made in France, Germany, Spain, and Scandinavia. It is distinguished from tin-glzed earthenware made in Italy, which is called majolica (or maiolica), and that made in The Netherlands and England, which is called delft.
faience blanche: (French: "white faience"), type of French pottery of the late 16th and early 17th centuries; it copied bianchi di Faenza, a sparsely decorated Faenza majolica (tin-glazed earthenware), which appeared about 1570 as a reaction to an overornamented pictorial style. In ...
faience fine: fine white English lead-glazed earthenware, or creamware, imported into France from about 1730 onward. Staffordshire "salt glaze" was imported first, followed by the improved Wedgwood "Queen's ware" and the Leeds "cream-coloured ware." It was cheaper than French faience, or tin-glazed ...
faience parlante: (French: "talking faience"), in French pottery, popular utilitarian 18th-century earthenware, principally plates, jugs, and bowls, that had inscriptions as part of its decoration. The city of Nevers was the outstanding centre for the production of faience parlante. The range of ...
faience patriotique: French 18th-century earthenware, chiefly plates and jugs, decorated with themes drawn from the French Revolution and its ideology or from national political events. The first example of a faience patriotique was a Moustiers dish occasioned by the Battle of Fontenoy ...
Fain, Agathon-Jean-Francois, Baron: French historian, secretary, and archivist to the cabinet of Napoleon, who is best known for his personal reminiscences of Napoleon's reign. His works are important sources for the history of the French empire.
Fain, Sammy: prolific American composer of popular songs, including many for Broadway musicals and Hollywood motion pictures. Numbered among his best-known tunes are "Let a Smile Be Your Umbrella," "Tender is the Night," and "I'll Be Seeing You," all of which became ...
fainting: in physiology, loss of consciousness owing to a temporary decrease in the blood supply to the brain. See syncope.
fair: temporary market where buyers and sellers gather to transact business. A fair is held at regular intervals, generally at the same location and time of year, and it usually lasts for several days or even weeks. Its primary function is ...
Fair Deal: in U.S. history, President Harry S. Truman's liberal domestic reform program, the basic tenets of which he had outlined as early as 1945. In his first postwar message to Congress that year, Truman had called for expanded social security, new ...
Fair Labor Standards Act: the first act in the United States prescribing nationwide compulsory federal regulation of wages and hours, sponsored by Sen. Robert F. Wagner of New York and signed on June 14, 1938, effective October 24. The law, applying to all industries ...
fair-trade law: in the United States, any law allowing manufacturers of branded or trademarked goods (or in some instances distributors of such products) to fix the actual or minimum resale prices of these goods by resellers. The designation "fair-trade law" is peculiar ...
Fairbairn, Sir William, 1st Baronet: Scottish civil engineer and inventor who did pioneering work in bridge design and in testing iron and finding new applications for it.
Fairbairn, Stephen: British oarsman, coach, and writer who enjoyed great success at Cambridge University.
Fairbanks: city, east-central Alaska, U.S. It lies along the Chena River (tributary of the Tanana), some 360 miles (580 km) north of Anchorage and about 100 miles (160 km) south of the Arctic Circle. The site was originally inhabited by nomadic ...
Fairbanks, Charles Warren: 26th vice president of the United States (1905-09) in the Republican administration of President Theodore Roosevelt. He was sometimes referred to as "the last of America's log-cabin statesmen."
Fairbanks, Douglas: American motion picture actor and producer who was one of the first and greatest of the swashbuckling screen heroes. His athletic prowess, gallant romanticism, and natural sincerity made him "King of Hollywood" during the 1920s.
Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation: American electronics company that shares credit with Texas Instruments Incorporated for the invention of the integrated circuit. Founded in 1957 in Santa Clara, California, Fairchild was among the earliest firms to successfully manufacture transistors and integrated circuits. Headquarters now are ...
Fairchild, David Grandison: American botanist and agricultural explorer who supervised the introduction of many useful plants into the United States.
Fairchild, Mary Salome Cutler: American librarian, a central figure in the establishment and teaching of the field of library science in the United States.
Fairfax: city, seat (1779) of Fairfax county (though administratively independent of it), northeastern Virginia, U.S., about 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Washington, D.C. It developed after 1799 with the construction of the county courthouse and relocation of the county seat ...
Fairfax, Edward: English poet whose Godfrey of Bulloigne or the Recoverie of Jerusalem (1600), a translation of Gerusalemme liberata, an epic poem by his Italian contemporary Torquato Tasso, won fame and was praised by John Dryden. Although translating stanza by stanza, Fairfax ...
Fairfax, Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Baron: general who fought on the parliamentarian side in the English Civil Wars and who was father of Thomas, 3rd Baron Fairfax, and parliamentarian commander in chief.
Fairfax, Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Baron: commander in chief of the Parliamentary army during the English Civil Wars between the Royalists and Parliamentarians. His tactical skill and personal courage helped bring about many of the Parliamentary victories in northern and southwestern England.
Fairfield: urban town (township), Fairfield county, southwestern Connecticut, U.S., on Long Island Sound adjoining Bridgeport (northeast). It includes Southport, a village on Mill River. Possibly named for Fairfield, England, it was settled in 1639 by Roger Ludlow, who in 1637 had ...
Fairfield: county, southwestern Connecticut, U.S. It is bounded by Long Island Sound to the south, New York state to the west, and the Housatonic River to the east, and it includes several islands in the sound. Most of the county lies ...
Fairfield: county, central South Carolina, U.S., consisting of a hilly piedmont region. The Broad River forms the western boundary, and the Wateree River and Wateree Lake form part of the eastern boundary. Monticello Reservoir, Lake Wateree State Park, and the eastern ...
Fairfield: city, seat (1838) of Jefferson county, southeastern Iowa, U.S., halfway between Mount Pleasant (east) and Ottumwa (west). Settled in 1839, Fairfield was the site (1854) of the first Iowa State Fair (now held in Des Moines). It was named by ...
Fairfield: city, seat (1858) of Solano county, north-central California, U.S. Adjoining Suisun City to the south, Fairfield is located 45 miles (70 km) northeast of San Francisco. The area, which lies between the foothills of the Coast Ranges and Suisun Bay, ...
Fairfield University: private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Fairfield, Conn., U.S. It is affiliated with the Jesuit order of the Roman Catholic church. The university consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions, ...