Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Father's Day ... Faylakah

Father's Day: in the United States, holiday (third Sunday in June) to honour fathers. Credit for originating the holiday is generally given to Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, whose father, a Civil War veteran, raised her and her five siblings after ...
fathom: old English measure of length, now standardized at 6 feet (1.83 metre), which has long been used as a nautical unit of depth. The longest of many units derived from an anatomical measurement, the fathom originated as the distance from ...
Fathometer: trade name for a type of sonic depth finder (q.v.).
fatigue: in engineering, manifestation of progressive fracture in a solid under cyclic loading as in the case of a metal strip that ruptures after repeated bending back and forth. Fatigue fracture begins with one or several cracks on the surface that ...
fatigue: specific form of human inadequacy in which the individual experiences an aversion to exertion and feels unable to carry on. Such feelings may be generated by muscular effort; exhaustion of the energy supply to the muscles of the body, however, ...
fatihah: the "opening" or first chapter (surah) of the Muslim book of divine revelation, the Qur'an; in tone and usage it has often been likened to the Christian Lord's Prayer. In contrast to the other surahs, which are usually narratives or ...
Fatimah: daughter of Muhammad (the founder of Islam) who in later centuries became the object of deep veneration by many Muslims, especially the Shi'ites. Muhammad had other sons and daughters, but they either died young or failed to produce a long ...
Fatimid Dynasty: political and religious dynasty that dominated an empire in North Africa and subsequently in the Middle East from AD 909 to 1171 and tried unsuccessfully to oust the 'Abbasid caliphs as leaders of the Islamic world. It took its name ...
fatsia: (Fatsia japonica), evergreen shrub or small tree, in the ginseng family (Araliaceae), native to Japan but widely grown indoors for its striking foliage and easy care. In nature it can attain a height to 5 metres (16 feet); the glossy, ...
fatty acid: important component of lipids (fat-soluble components of living cells) in plants, animals, and microorganisms. Generally, a fatty acid consists of a straight chain of an even number of carbon atoms, with hydrogen atoms along the length of the chain and ...
faujasite: hydrated sodium and calcium aluminosilicate mineral that is a rare member of the zeolite family. Faujasite somewhat resembles chabazite in chemical composition, crystal structure, and distribution. Isolated specimens of the mineral have been found in sedimentary rocks in Germany and ...
Faulhaber, Michael von: German cardinal and archbishop of Munich who became a prominent opponent of the Nazis.
Faulkner, William: American novelist and short-story writer who was awarded the 1949 Nobel Prize for Literature.
fault: in geology, a planar or gently curved fracture in the rocks of the Earth's crust, where compressional or tensional forces cause relative displacement of the rocks on the opposite sides of the fracture. Faults range in length from a few ...
Fauna: in ancient Roman religion, a goddess of the fertility of woodlands, fields, and flocks; she was the counterpart-variously considered the wife, sister, or daughter-of Faunus (q.v.).
faunal region: any of six or seven areas of the world defined by animal geographers on the basis of their distinctive animal life. These regions differ only slightly from the floristic regions (q.v.) of botanists.
faunal succession, law of: observation that assemblages of fossil plants and animals follow or succeed each other in time in a predictable manner. Sequences of successive strata and their corresponding enclosed faunas have been matched together to form a composite section detailing the history ...
faunizone: stratigraphic unit that is distinguished by the presence of a particular fauna of some time or environmental significance. It differs from a biozone because it is based on a fossil assemblage rather than a particular genus or species (compare biozone). ...
Faunus: ancient Italian rural deity whose attributes in classical Roman times were identified with those of the Greek god Pan. Faunus was originally worshiped throughout the countryside as a bestower of fruitfulness on fields and flocks. He eventually became primarily a ...
Faure, Edgar: French lawyer and politician, premier (1952, 1955-56), and a prominent Gaullist during the Fifth Republic.
Faure, Felix: sixth president of the French Third Republic, whose presidency (Jan. 15, 1895 to Feb. 16, 1899) was marked by diplomatic conflicts with England, rapprochement with Russia, and the continuing problem of the Dreyfus Affair.
Faure, Gabriel: composer whose refined and gentle music influenced the course of modern French music.
Fauresmith industry: a sub-Saharan African stone-tool industry dating from the early part of the upper Pleistocene, about 75,000 to 100,000 years ago. The Fauresmith industry is largely contemporaneous with the Sangoan industry (q.v.), also of sub-Saharan Africa. The two tool industries apparently ...
Fauriel, Claude: French scholar and writer whose major contribution was to the development of the study of comparative literature and to the revival of interest in literary-historical studies.
Fauset, Jessie Redmon: African American novelist, critic, poet, and editor known for her discovery and encouragement of several writers of the Harlem Renaissance.
Faust: hero of one of the most durable legends in Western folklore and literature, the story of a German necromancer or astrologer who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge and power. There was a historical Faust, indeed ...
Faustina, Annia Galeria: cousin and wife of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (ruled 161-180) and his companion on several of his military campaigns.
Faustus of Riez, Saint: bishop of Riez, Fr., who was one of the chief exponents and defenders of Semi-Pelagianism (q.v.).
Fauvism: style of painting that flourished in France around the turn of the 20th century. Fauve artists used pure, brilliant colour aggressively applied straight from the paint tubes to create a sense of an explosion on the canvas.
fauxbourdon: musical texture prevalent during the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, produced by three voices proceeding primarily in parallel motion in intervals corresponding to the first inversion of the triad. Only two of the three parts were notated, a plainchant ...
Favara: town, Agrigento province, south central Sicily, Italy, just east of Agrigento city. The name of the town is believed to be of Arabic origin. It is the site of a late 13th-century castle, built by the Chiaramonte family, Sicilian nobles ...
Favart, Charles-Simon: French dramatist and theatre director who was one of the creators of the opera comique.
Faversham: town ("parish"), Swale district, administrative and historic county of Kent, southeastern England. Faversham grew first as a port on the River Swale near Watling Street. It was assessed in 1086 as a royal demesne, and a market was held there. ...
favism: a hereditary disorder involving an allergic-like reaction to the broad, or fava, bean (Vicia faba). Susceptible persons may develop a blood disorder (hemolytic anemia) by eating the beans, or even by walking through a field where the plants are in ...
Favorinus: Skeptical philosopher and rhetorician of the Roman Empire who was highly esteemed for his learning and eloquence.
Favosites: extinct genus of corals found as fossils in marine rocks from the Ordovician to the Permian periods (between 505 and 245 million years old). Favosites is easily recognized by its distinctive form; the genus is colonial, and the individual structures ...
Favre, Jules: a resolute French opponent of Napoleon III and a negotiator of the Treaty of Frankfurt ending the Franco-German War.
fawatih: letters of the alphabet appearing at the beginning of 29 of the surahs (chapters) of the Muslim sacred scripture, the Qur'an. The 14 letters thus designated occur singly and in various combinations of two to five. As the letters always ...
Fawcett, Dame Millicent Garrett: nee Garrett leader for 50 years of the movement for woman suffrage in England. From the beginning of her career she had to struggle against almost unanimous male opposition to political rights for women; from 1905 she also had to ...
fawjdar: in India, under the Mughals, an executive head of a district (sarkar). The fawjdar was responsible for law and order, held police powers and criminal jurisdiction, and commanded irregular levies for the maintenance of peace.
Fawkes, Guy: British soldier and best-known participant in the Gunpowder Plot. Its object was to blow up the Parliament building, while James I and his chief ministers met within, in reprisal for increasing oppression of Roman Catholics in England.
Faxa Bay: inlet of the North Atlantic Ocean on the southwestern coast of Iceland. It indents the coast for 30 miles (50 km) and extends for 50 miles (80 km) between the Snaefells (north) and Reykja (south) peninsulas. The bay is the ...
Faxian: Buddhist monk whose pilgrimage to India in 402 initiated Sino-Indian relations and whose writings give important information about early Buddhism. After his return to China he translated into Chinese the many Sanskrit Buddhist texts he had brought back.
Fay, Sidney Bradshaw: U.S. historian known primarily for his classical reexamination of the causes of World War I.
Faya: oasis town, northern Chad, north central Africa. It lies in the Sahara at the northern tip of the Bodele depression, 490 mi (790 km) northeast of the capital, N'Djamena. Originally called Faya, the town was renamed Largeau following the capture ...
fayalite: silicate mineral that is a member of the forsterite-fayalite series (q.v.) of olivines.
fayd: (Arabic: "emanation"), in Islamic philosophy, the emanation of created things from God. The word is not used in the Qur'an (Islamic scripture), which uses terms such as khalq ("creation") and ibda' ("invention") in describing the process of creation. Early Muslim ...
Fayette: county, southwestern Pennsylvania, U.S., bounded to the north by Jacobs Creek; to the east by Laurel Hill, the Youghiogheny River, and Youghiogheny River Lake; to the south by Maryland and West Virginia; and to the west by the Monongahela River. ...
Fayetteville: city, seat of Cumberland county, south-central North Carolina, U.S. It lies on the Cape Fear River at the head of navigation, about 70 miles (113 km) south of Raleigh. The two original settlements of Cambellton (1762) and Cross Creek (c. ...
Fayetteville: city, seat of Washington county, northwestern Arkansas, U.S., in the Ozarks on the White River, adjacent to Springdale (north). No settlement existed there when the site, on the Overland Mail Route, was chosen as the county seat in 1828. The ...
Faylakah: island of Kuwait, lying in the Persian Gulf near the entrance to Kuwait Bay; it has an area of 15 square miles (39 square km). Inhabited since prehistoric times, it is important archaeologically, remains of human habitation from as early ...