any small, flat, dark-coloured insect of the family Aradidae (order Heteroptera), which numbers about 1,000 species. Members occur in all zoogeographic regions.
any member of the insect family Silvanidae (order Coleoptera), closely related to and sometimes included in the flat bark beetle (q.v.) family Cucujidae. These beetles are usually less than 3 millimetres (0.1 inch) in length.
(Felis planiceps), extremely rare Asian cat found in the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo. One of the smallest members of the cat family, Felidae, the adult is from 40 to 60 centimetres (16 to 24 inches) long without the 15-20-cm ...
printing press employing a flat surface for the type or plates against which paper is pressed, either by another flat surface acting reciprocally against it or by a cylinder rolling over it. It may be contrasted to the rotary press ...
any of six species of Central and South American birds belonging to the tyrant flycatcher family Tyrannidae (order Passeriformes). Flatbills, which constitute the genera Rhynchocyclus and Ramphotrigon, are distinguished by their exceptionally broad and flat bill. All are olive, marked ...
congenital or acquired flatness of the longitudinal arch of the foot. Usually associated with loss of the arch is a rolling outward of the foot and heel, resulting in a splayfoot position. Normally the arch is maintained by the shape ...
Salish-speaking Indian tribe of what is now western Montana, U.S., whose territory extended from the crest of the Bitterroot Range to the Continental Divide of the Rockies and centred on the upper reaches of the Clark Fork of the Columbia ...
any of the flattened marine fish of the family Platycephalidae (order Scorpaeniformes), found in the Indo-Pacific and in tropical regions of the eastern Atlantic. Flatheads are elongated, large-mouthed fish with tapered bodies, two dorsal fins, and rough scales. As their ...
lake in the Flathead National Forest of northwestern Montana, U.S. Flathead Lake marks the southern limit of the Rocky Mountain Trench, a structural depression extending northward to the Liard Plain of British Columbia, Canada. Bordered on the eastern shore by ...
river rising in the MacDonald Range in southeastern British Columbia, Can., and flowing south for 240 miles (385 km) across the Canada-United States boundary into Montana. After passing between the Whitefish Range (west) and Glacier National Park and the Lewis ...
the presence of excessive amounts of gas in the stomach or intestine, which sometimes results in the expulsion of the gas through the anus. Healthy individuals produce significant amounts of intestinal gas (flatus) daily; without rectal release, gases trapped within ...
spoons, forks, and serving implements used at the table. The term flatware was introduced toward the end of the 19th century. Strictly speaking, it excludes knives, which are classified as cutlery (q.v.), although in common American usage knives are generally ...
any of the phylum Platyhelminthes, a group of soft-bodied, usually much flattened invertebrates. The flatworms are free-living as well as parasitic-i.e., living on or in another organism and securing nourishment from it. They are bilaterally symmetrical (i.e., the right and ...
novelist regarded as the prime mover of the realist school of French literature and best known for his masterpiece, Madame Bovary (1857), a realistic portrayal of bourgeois life, which led to a trial on charges of the novel's alleged immorality.
(AD 69-96), the ancient Roman imperial dynasty of Vespasian (reigned 69-79) and his sons Titus (79-81) and Domitian (81-96); they belonged to the Flavia gens.
bishop of Antioch from 381 to 404, whose election perpetuated the schism originated by Meletius of Antioch (q.v.), a crucial division in the Eastern Church over the nature of the Trinity.
patriarch of Antioch probably from 498 to 512. He was chosen patriarch by the emperor Anastasius I after he accepted the evasive Henoticon, the decree of union between the Monophysites (q.v.) and the Orthodox. In deference to orthodoxy, however, Flavian ...
patriarch of Constantinople from 446 to 449, who opposed the heretical doctrine of the Monophysites (q.v.). He presided at the Synod of Constantinople (448), which condemned the monk Eutyches (q.v.), proponent of an extreme form of Monophysitism. Pope St. Leo ...
any of a group of pale-yellow, greenly fluorescent biological pigments (biochromes) widely distributed in small quantities in plant and animal tissues. Flavins are synthesized only by bacteria, yeasts, and green plants; for this reason, animals are dependent on plant sources ...
Roman legal writer and politician who made public the technical rules of legal procedure, which had been kept secret by the patricians and the pontifices (advisers to the king, dictator, or emperor) so that they could maintain their advantage over ...
any of a class of nonnitrogenous biological pigments (biochromes) that includes the anthocyanins and the anthoxanthins. Extensively represented in plants, the flavonoids are of relatively minor and limited occurrence in animals, which derive the pigments from plants. Many members of ...
in particle physics, property that distinguishes different members in the two groups of basic building blocks of matter, the quarks and the leptons. There are six flavours of subatomic particle within each of these two groups: six leptons (the electron, ...
any of the liquid extracts, essences, and flavours that are added to foods to enhance their taste and aroma. Flavourings are prepared from essential oils, such as almond and lemon; from vanilla; from fresh fruits by expression; from ginger by ...
(genus Linum usitatissimum), plant of the family Linaceae and its fibre, which is second in importance among the bast fibre (q.v.) group. The flax plant is cultivated both for its fibre, from which linen yarn and fabric are made, and ...
any member of the insect order Siphonaptera. They are parasites that live on the exterior of the host (i.e., are ectoparasitic). Fleas (see ) are bloodsucking insects, important carriers of disease, and sometimes serious pests. As the chief agent transmitting ...
any member of the insect subfamily Alticinae (Halticinae) belonging to the leaf beetle family Chrysomelidae (order Coleoptera). These tiny beetles, worldwide in distribution, are usually less than 6 mm (0.25 inch) in length and dark or metallic in colour. The ...
any of the plants of the genus Erigeron of the family Asteraceae, order Asterales, containing about 200 species of annual, biennial, and perennial herbs native primarily to temperate parts of the world. Some species are cultivated as rock garden or ...
in French architecture, any spire; in English it is an architectural term for a small slender spire placed on the ridge of a church roof. The fleche is usually built of a wood framework covered with lead or occasionally copper ...
British blues band that evolved into the hugely popular Anglo-American pop-rock group whose 1977 album Rumours was one of the biggest-selling albums of all time. The original members were Mick Fleetwood (b. June 24, 1947, Redruth, Cornwall, ...
American brothers, animated-cartoon producers of such characters as Betty Boop and Popeye. Producer Max and director Dave Fleischer were considered Walt Disney's main rivals in the 1930s.
an unknown Flemish painter and leading artist of the northern Renaissance, whose work is characterized by naturalistic and sculptural conceptions that signalize the replacement of the decorative International Style of the late Middle Ages. By the late 20th century, after ...
members of the two predominant cultural and linguistic groups of modern Belgium. The Flemings, who numbered about 6 million in the late 20th century, speak Netherlandic (Flemish) and live mainly in the north and west. The Walloons, numbering about 3,300,000, ...
suspense-fiction novelist whose character James Bond, the stylish, high-living British secret service agent 007, became one of the most successful and widely imitated heroes of 20th-century popular fiction.
outstanding lyrical poet of 17th-century Germany. He brought a new immediacy and sincerity to the innovations of metre and stanza introduced by his teacher, Martin Opitz.
American soprano noted for the beauty and richness of her voice and for the thought and sensitivity she brought to the texts. Fleming's repertoire was extraordinarily broad, spanning three centuries and ranging from Handel and Mozart through 19th-century bel canto ...
Canadian-born U.S. oceanographer who conducted wide-ranging studies in the areas of chemical and biochemical oceanography, ocean currents (particularly those off the Pacific coast of Central America), and naval uses of oceanography.
Scottish bacteriologist whose discovery of penicillin (1928) prepared the way for the highly effective practice of antibiotic therapy for infectious diseases. Fleming shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Ernst Boris Chain and Howard Walter Florey, ...
one of Hollywood's most popular motion-picture directors during the 1930s. With producer David O. Selznick, he was responsible for completing Gone with the Wind (1939).
