Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Fairhaven ... fall line

Fairhaven: town (township), Bristol county, southeastern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies on Buzzards Bay across the Acushnet River from New Bedford. The site was settled in 1652 by John Cooke, who, with John Winslow, purchased a tract of land (Sconticut) from the ...
Fairleigh Dickinson University: private, coeducational institution of higher learning in northern New Jersey, U.S. It consists of three campuses. The Florham-Madison campus is the site of the Maxwell Becton College of Arts and Sciences and a branch of the Samuel J. Silberman College ...
Fairmont: city, seat (1842) of Marion county, northern West Virginia, U.S. It lies where the Tygart Valley River and the West Fork River come together to form the Monongahela River, approximately 19 miles (31 km) southwest of Morgantown. The original settlement ...
Fairway: (foaled 1925), English racehorse (Thoroughbred) who, though a successful racer, became best known as a sire. An outstanding stud, he sired Blue Peter and Watling Street. Fairway was foaled by Scapa Flow and sired by Phalaris. Lord Derby owned him, ...
Fairweather, Mount: highest peak (15,300 feet [4,663 metres]) in British Columbia, Canada. The mountain is located on the Alaska border in the Fairweather Range of the St. Elias Mountains, at the southern end of Tatshenshini-Alsek Wilderness Provincial Park in British Columbia and ...
fairy: a mythical being of folklore and romance usually having magic powers and dwelling on earth in close relationship with humans. It can appear as a dwarf creature typically having green clothes and hair, living underground or in stone heaps, and ...
fairy bluebird: any of the numerous bird species that constitute the family Irenidae (order Passeriformes), a taxonomic grouping of disputed composition and in which leafbirds and ioras are sometimes included. Some authors group the fairy bluebirds (Irena) with the Old World orioles ...
fairy ring: a naturally occurring circular ring of mushrooms on a lawn or other location. A fairy ring starts when the mycelium (spawn) of a mushroom falls in a favourable spot and sends out a subterranean network of fine, tubular threads called ...
fairy shrimp: any of the crustaceans of the order Anostraca, so called because of their graceful movements and pastel colours. Some grow to 2.5 cm (about 1 inch) or more in length. They occur in freshwater ponds of Europe, Central Asia, western ...
fairy slipper: (Calypso bulbosa), terrestrial orchid native to North America and Eurasia, the only species in its genus. It thrives in cool forests and bogs.
fairy tale: wonder tale involving marvellous elements and occurrences, though not necessarily about fairies. The term embraces such popular folktales (Marchen, q.v.) as "Cinderella" and "Puss-in-Boots" and art fairy tales (Kunstmarchen) of later invention, such as The Happy Prince (1888), by the ...
fairy wren: any of the 14 species of the Australian genus Malurus of the songbird family Maluridae (sometimes placed in the warbler family Sylviidae). These common names, and bluecap, are given particularly to M. cyaneus, a great favourite in gardens and orchards ...
Faisalabad: city, east-central Punjab province, Pakistan, in the Rechna Doab upland. The city, the district headquarters, is a distributing centre centrally located in the Punjab plain and connected by road, rail, and air with Multan and Lahore and by air with ...
faith: inner attitude, conviction, or trust relating man to a supreme God or ultimate salvation. In religious traditions stressing divine grace, it is the inner certainty or attitude of love granted by God himself. In Christian theology, faith is the divinely ...
faith healing: recourse to divine power to cure mental or physical disabilities, either in conjunction with orthodox medical care or in place of it. Often an intermediary is involved, whose intercession may be all-important in effecting the desired cure. Sometimes the faith ...
Faithorne, William: English engraver and portrait draftsman noted for his excellent line engravings.
Faizabad: city, eastern Uttar Pradesh state, northern India. It lies east of Lucknow, on the Ghaghara River. Faizabad was founded in 1730 by Sadat 'Ali Khan, the first nawab of Oudh, who made it his capital but spent little time there. ...
Fajans, Kasimir: Polish-American physical chemist who discovered the radioactive displacement law simultaneously with Frederick Soddy of Great Britain. According to this law, when a radioactive atom decays by emitting an alpha particle, the atomic number of the resulting atom is two fewer ...
Fajardo: town, eastern Puerto Rico, on the Fajardo River lowlands. Founded in 1772, it was the scene of fighting during the Spanish-American War (1898). Its principal manufactures are cigars, furniture, and metal and electronic components. It is linked by railway to ...
Fakhr ad-Din ar-Razi: Muslim theologian and scholar, author of one of the most authoritative commentaries on the Qur'an in the history of Islam. His aggressiveness and vengefulness created many enemies and involved him in numerous intrigues. His intellectual brilliance, however, was universally acclaimed ...
Fakhr ad-Din II: Lebanese ruler (1593-1633) who for the first time united the Druze and Maronite districts of the Lebanon Mountains under his personal rule; he is frequently regarded as the father of modern Lebanon.
fakir: originally, a mendicant dervish. In mystical usage, the word fakir refers to man's spiritual need for God, who alone is self-sufficient. Although of Muslim origin, the term has come to be applied in India to Hindus as well, largely replacing ...
Falaise: market town of Calvados departement, Basse-Normandie region, northwestern France. It lies on the Ante River, about 20 miles (32 km) southeast of Caen. The town was the birthplace of William the Conqueror, first of the Norman kings of England. The ...
Falange: ("Traditionalist Spanish Phalanx of the Juntas of the National Syndicalist Offensive"), extreme nationalist political group founded in Spain in 1933 by Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, son of the former dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera. Influenced by Italian fascism, the ...
Falasha: an Ethiopian of Jewish faith. The Falasha call themselves House of Israel (Beta Israel) and claim descent from Menilek I, traditionally the son of the Queen of Sheba (Makeda) and King Solomon. Their ancestors, however, were probably local Agew peoples ...
Falcon: estado ("state"), northwestern Venezuela. It is bounded on the north by the Caribbean Sea, west by the Gulf of Venezuela, northwest by Zulia state, and south by Lara and Yaracuy states; it includes the Paraguana Peninsula. Consisting primarily of coastal ...
falcon: any of nearly 60 species of hawks of the family Falconidae (order Falconiformes), diurnal birds of prey characterized by long, pointed wings and swift, powerful flight. The name is applied in a restricted sense, as true falcons, to the genus ...
Falconer, Martha Platt: American social worker who helped transform U.S. institutions for delinquent or displaced and homeless young women from fundamentally a system of incarceration to one based on rehabilitation.
Falconet, Etienne-Maurice: sculptor who adapted the classical style of the French Baroque to a pretty and intimate Rococo ideal. Patronized by Mme de Pompadour, he did work that is the quintessence of taste in the Louis XV period.
Falconetto, Giovanni Maria: Italian painter and architect. His father, Giacomo Falconetto, a brother, Giovanni Falconetto, and a great uncle, Stefano de Verona, also were noted painters.
falconiform: any of the group of swift, graceful birds known for their predatory skill as raptors. Included are eagles, condors, buzzards, kites, caracaras, ospreys, harriers, accipiters, vultures, secretary birds, falcons, hawks, and bateleurs.
falconry: the sport of employing falcons, true hawks, and sometimes eagles or buzzards in hunting game.
faldstool: a folding stool commonly composed of two pairs of crossed legs pivoting at the intersection, each pair joined by stretchers near ground level and by a flexible (usually fabric) seat at the top.
Faleme River: river in western Africa, rising in the uplands of northern Guinea, east of the Fouta Djallon massif, and flowing roughly north-northeast to enter Mali. It then turns northwest to form the Mali-Senegal border for the rest of its course to ...
Fali: a people who inhabit the rocky plateaus ringed by the northernmost peaks of the Adamaoua mountains of northern Cameroon. "Fali" is from a Fulani (Peul) word meaning "perched" and describes the appearance of Fali family compounds on the sides of ...
Falier, Marin: leading official in Venice and doge from 1354 to 1355, who was executed for having led a plot against the ruling patricians. His tragic story has inspired several important literary works, including the tragedy Marino Faliero: Doge of Venice (1821) ...
Faliscan language: an Italic language closely related to Latin and more distantly related to Oscan and Umbrian languages (qq.v.). Faliscan was spoken by the Falisci in central Italy in a small region northwest of the Tiber River. Falerii, the Faliscan capital, was ...
Falisci: ancient people of southern Etruria in Italy who, though Latin in nationality and speech, were culturally closer to the Etruscans. They occupied the region between the Tiber River and Mt. Ciminus, with Falerii (modern Civita Castellana) as their capital. Resistance ...
Falk, Adalbert: Prussian bureaucrat who as state minister of ecclesiastical affairs in the 1870s aggressively headed German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck's Kulturkampf against the Roman Catholic Church.
Falkberget, Johan Petter: regional novelist of life in the east-central mountains of Norway.
Falke, Gustav: German poet and novelist prominent among the new lyric poets of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His verses were influenced by folk songs and the Romantic poets and exhibited a feminine mood as well as a celebration of ...
Falkenhayn, Erich von: Prussian minister of war and chief of the imperial German General Staff early in World War I.
Falkirk: royal burgh (town) and important industrial centre in Falkirk council area, historic county of Stirlingshire, Scotland. It lies midway between the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. Grangemouth, the site of Scotland's main container port and petrochemical complex, lies 3 miles ...
Falkirk: council area, east-central Scotland, encompassing a mostly low-lying area extending inland from the south bank of the River Forth estuary. It lies about midway between Glasgow and Edinburgh. Most of the council area lies within the historic county of Stirlingshire, ...
Falkland: small royal burgh (town) and former royal residence in Fife council area and historic county, eastern Scotland. It sits at the northern base of the East Lomond Hill, which has an elevation of 1,471 feet (448 metres). The burgh's 12th-century ...
Falkland Current: branch of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current in the Southern Hemisphere, flowing northward in the South Atlantic Ocean along the east coast of Argentina to about latitude 30° to 40° S, where it is deflected eastward after meeting the southward-flowing Brazil ...
Falkland Islands: self-governing colony of the United Kingdom in the South Atlantic Ocean. It lies about 300 miles (480 km) northeast of the southern tip of South America and a similar distance east of the Strait of Magellan. The capital and only ...
Falkland Islands War: a brief, undeclared war fought between Argentina and Great Britain in 1982 over the control of the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and associated island dependencies.
Falkland Sound: strait in the South Atlantic Ocean, separating East and West Falkland (islands). It extends from northeast to southwest for 50 miles (80 km) and is 1 12 miles (in its narrowest passages) to 20 miles (2 km to 32 km) ...
Falkland, Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount of, Lord Carye: English royalist who attempted to exercise a moderating influence in the struggles that preceded the English Civil Wars (1642-51) between the royalists and the Parliamentarians. He is remembered chiefly as a prominent figure in the History of the Rebellion by ...
fall line: line of numerous waterfalls, as at the edge of a plateau, where streams pass from resistant rocks to a plain of weak ones below. Such a line also marks the head of navigation, or the inland limit that ships can ...