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Encyclopedias since 1768

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Flodden, Battle of ... Floridor

Flodden, Battle of: (Sept. 9, 1513), English victory over the Scots, fought near Branxton, Northumberland. To honour his alliance with France (1512) and divert troops from the main English army, which was then in France under Henry VIII, James IV of Scotland crossed ...
Flodoard: chronicler whose two major works, the Annales, a chronicle covering the period 919 to 966, and the Historia Remensis ecclesiae ("History of the Church in Reims"), provide the essential documentation for this period.
flogging: a beating administered with a whip or rod, usually on the person's back. Flogging was once a common method of punishing criminals and of preserving discipline in the home, school, armed forces, and prisons. In the Mosaic code flogging was ...
Flogstad, Kjartan: Norwegian poet, novelist, and essayist best known for his novel Dalen Portland (1977; "Portland Valley"; Eng. trans. Dollar Road).
Floire et Blancheflor: French metrical romance known in two versions from the 12th and 13th centuries and thought to be of Greco-Byzantine or Moorish origin. Its theme of separation and reunion of young lovers is the same as that treated in Aucassin et ...
flood: high-water stage in which water overflows its natural or artificial banks onto normally dry land, such as a river inundating its floodplain. The effects of floods on human well-being range from unqualified blessings to catastrophes. The regular seasonal spring floods ...
Flood, Curt: American professional baseball player whose antitrust litigation challenging the major leagues' reserve clause was unsuccessful but led ultimately to the clause's demise.
Flood, Henry: Anglo-Irish statesman, founder of the movement that in 1782 forced Great Britain to grant legislative independence to Ireland.
floodgate: gate for shutting out or releasing the flow of water over spillways, in connection with the operation of a dam. Vertical lift, or radial, gates rise to permit flow under the gate but over the spillway crest. Drum gates rotate ...
floodplain: flat land area adjacent to a stream, composed of unconsolidated sedimentary deposits (alluvium) and subject to periodic inundation by the stream. Floodplains are produced by lateral movement of a stream and by overbank deposition; therefore they are absent where downcutting ...
floor covering: material made from textiles, felts, resins, rubber, or other natural or man-made substances applied or fastened to, or laid upon, the level base surface of a room to provide comfort, durability, safety, and decoration. Such materials include both handmade and ...
floor exercise: gymnastics event in which movements are performed on the floor in an area 12 metres (40 feet) square. This area is covered by some type of cloth or mat, usually with some cushioning. No other apparatus is used. Men's routines ...
Floquet, Charles: French politician whose deep attachment to the republic led him to become an antagonist of the political aspirations of Gen. Georges Boulanger.
Flor, Roger de: Sicilian-born military adventurer and mercenary captain whose service to the Byzantine emperor Andronicus II had disastrous consequences.
Flora: in Roman religion, the goddess of the flowering of plants. Titus Tatius (according to tradition, the Sabine king who ruled with Romulus) is said to have introduced her cult to Rome; her temple stood near the Circus Maximus. Her festival, ...
floral decoration: art of arranging living or dried plant material for adornment of the body or home, or as a part of public ceremonies, festivals, and religious rituals.
Florence: city, capital of Firenze province and Toscana (Tuscany) region, central Italy. The city, located about 145 miles (230 kilometres) northwest of Rome, has, during its long history, been a republic, a seat of the duchy of Tuscany, and a capital ...
Florence: city, seat (1889) of Florence county, northeastern South Carolina, U.S. Established in the 1850s as a rail junction and transfer point for the Wilmington and Manchester, the Northwestern, and the Cheraw and Darlington railroads, it was called Wilds for a ...
Florence: town, seat (1875) of Pinal county, central Arizona, U.S., 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Phoenix. It lies on the Gila River in a farming area (mainly cotton) that is irrigated by means of the Ashurst-Hayden Diversion Dam. One of ...
Florence: county, east-central South Carolina, U.S. The Great Pee Dee River constitutes its eastern boundary, and the Lynches River part of its western. The county is situated in a low-lying, generally flat area of the Coastal Plain.
Florence: city, seat of Lauderdale county, northwestern Alabama, U.S. It lies on the Tennessee River about 65 miles (105 km) west of Huntsville, forming with Sheffield, Tuscumbia, and Muscle Shoals a four-city metropolitan area in the Muscle Shoals region. Settlers first ...
Florence Of Worcester: English monk, usually accepted as the author of Chronicon ex chronicis, which is valuable for late Anglo-Saxon and early post-Conquest history. Its basis is the universal history (from the creation to 1082) compiled by Marianus Scotus, an Irish recluse at ...
Florence, University of: university that originated in Florence in 1321 and became later in the century, through the activities of the writer Giovanni Boccaccio, an early centre of Renaissance Humanism. Boccaccio secured a post there for Leonzio Pilato, whose rough Latin translations of ...
Florence, William Jermyn: U.S. actor, songwriter, and popular playwright, one of the most popular actors of his day. He was one of a select number of Americans to win the ribbon of the French Societe Histoire Dramatique.
Florencia: city, southeastern Colombia, in the eastern slopes of the Andean Cordillera Oriental, on the Orteguaza River, a tributary of the Caqueta. It was founded in 1908 by Capuchin missionaries. Cattle raising and rice cultivation are widespread around Florencia. The city ...
Florencio Varela: partido (district), at the southeastern limits of Gran (Greater) Buenos Aires, Argentina, in Buenos Aires provincia (province). Founded as the town of San Juan in 1873, Florencio Varela was declared a city in 1953. ...
Florensky, Pavel Alexandrovich: Russian Orthodox theologian, philosopher, and mathematician.
Florentine diamond: clear, pale-yellow stone weighing 137 carats; of Indian origin, it was cut as a double rose with 126 facets. Once owned by Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, who lost it when he fell in battle in 1477, the stone ...
Flores: city, northern Guatemala. It is located on San Andres island in the southern part of Lake Peten Itza, at an elevation of 449 feet (137 metres) above sea level. Once capital of the Itza Indians (a Maya people who successfully ...
Flores: departamento, south-central Uruguay. The rolling hills of the territory culminate in the east-west-trending Grande Inferior Range (Cuchilla Grande Inferior) and are drained by the Yi River and the Arroyo (stream) Chapicuy Grande. Economic activity centres around livestock raising and agriculture. ...
Flores: one of the Lesser Sunda Islands in Nusa Tenggara Timur (East Nusa Tenggara) provinsi (province), Indonesia. The last major island in the chain, which extends eastward from Java, it is long and narrow, 5,500 square miles (14,250 square km) in ...
Flores Island: westernmost island of the Portuguese Azores archipelago, in the North Atlantic. It forms, together with the Ilha do Corvo, the Santa Cruz group. The island has an area of 55 sq mi (142 sq km), is volcanic in origin, and ...
Flores Sea: portion of the western South Pacific Ocean, bounded on the north by the island of Celebes (Sulawesi) and on the south by the Lesser Sunda Islands of Flores and Sumbawa. Occupying a total surface area of 93,000 sq mi (240,000 ...
Florey, Howard Walter Florey, Baron: Australian pathologist who, with Ernst Boris Chain, isolated and purified penicillin (discovered in 1928 by Sir Alexander Fleming) for general clinical use. For this research Florey, Chain, and Fleming shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1945.
Florez, Enrique: Spanish historian and representative figure in the movement to reform education under Charles III; he was the major scholar behind the 51-volume Espana sagrada ("Sacred Spain"), a monument of 18th-century historiography.
Florian: Roman emperor from June to September 276. The brother, by a different father, of the emperor Tacitus, he at once seized power on the death of his brother. Although his action was tolerated by the Senate and the armies of ...
Floriano: city, west central Piaui state, northeastern Brazil, on the Rio Parnaiba, at 280 ft (85 m) above sea level. Floriano was elevated to city status in 1897. It is a trade centre with livestock raising and the extraction of carnauba ...
Florianopolis: port city and capital, Santa Catarina state, southern Brazil. The city lies on the west coast of Santa Catarina Island and is linked to the mainland by the Hercilio Luz Bridge (1926), a suspension bridge (2,788 feet [846 metres]) that ...
Florida: constituent state of the United States of America. Admitted as the 27th state in 1845, it has an area of 58,664 square miles (151,939 square kilometres). The capital is Tallahassee, located in the northwestern panhandle.
Florida: city, south-central Uruguay, on the Santa Lucia Chico River. Founded in 1809, the city processes the wheat, corn (maize), oats, sugar beets, linseed, and other products of the agricultural hinterland. Lumber mills and factories manufacturing textiles, mosaics, and hosiery also ...
Florida: city, central Camaguey provincia, east-central Cuba. Lying just north of the Munoz River, Florida is a rail junction and manufacturing centre for the surrounding agricultural and pastoral lands. The principal agricultural products of the area are sugarcane and oranges. Cattle ...
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University: public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Tallahassee, Florida, U.S. It is a historically black, land-grant institution and part of the State University System of Florida; its enrollment remains predominantly African American. The university includes colleges of arts and sciences, ...
Florida Atlantic University: public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Boca Raton, Florida, U.S. Part of the State University System of Florida, it is composed of nine colleges and offers an undergraduate curriculum that includes study in business, engineering, nursing, arts and letters, ...
Florida Bay: triangular-shaped shallow body of water between the Gulf of Mexico and Biscayne Bay at the southern end of Florida, U.S. The bay, which covers about 850 square miles (2,200 square km), is partially sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean on the ...
Florida Current: swift surface oceanic current flowing northward, following the shallow continental slope between the Straits of Florida and Cape Hatteras. Emerging from the Caribbean Sea, carrying about 880,000,000 cubic feet (25,000,000 cubic m) of water per second, the Florida Current is ...
Florida Keys: island chain, Monroe and Miami-Dade counties, southern Florida, U.S. Composed of coral and limestone, the islands curve southwestward for about 220 miles (355 km) from Virginia Key in the Atlantic Ocean (just south of Miami Beach) to Loggerhead Key of ...
Florida State University: public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Tallahassee, Florida, U.S. It is part of the State University System of Florida and consists of eight schools and eight colleges, including a college of engineering that is jointly operated with Florida Agricultural ...
Florida, Straits of: passage connecting the Gulf of Mexico with the Atlantic Ocean, extending for about 110 miles (180 km) between the Florida Keys, U.S., on the north and Cuba and the Bahamas on the south and southeast. The straits mark the area ...
Florida, University of: public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Gainesville, Florida, U.S. It is a comprehensive research university with land-grant status and is part of the State University System of Florida. The university awards bachelor's, master's, doctoral, and professional degrees and consists ...
Floridablanca, Jose Monino y Redondo, conde de: Spanish statesman and minister who became identified with the reform program of King Charles III.
Floridor: original name Josias De Soulas, Sieur (lord) De Prinefosse French leading actor who headed the important troupe of the Theatre de l'Hotel de Bourgogne, in Paris, where he created many roles in plays by the French masters Pierre Corneille and ...