• Ferry, Paul (French Protestant minister)

    Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet: Early life and priesthood.: …result of his discussions with Paul Ferry, the minister of the Protestant Reformed church at Metz. Bossuet’s reputation as a preacher spread to Paris, where his “Panégyrique de l’apôtre saint Paul” (1657; “Panegyric of the Apostle Saint Paul”) and his “Sermon sur l’eminente dignité des pauvres dans l’église” (1659; “Sermon…

  • Ferry-Porter law (physiology)

    human eye: Flicker: …luminance in a logarithmic fashion—the Ferry-Porter law—so that at high levels it may require 60 flashes per second to reach a continuous sensation. Under conditions of night, or scotopic, vision, the frequencies may be as low as four per second. The difference between rod and cone vision in this respect…

  • ferryboat (watercraft)

    ferry, a place where passengers, freight, or vehicles are carried by boat across a river, lake, arm of the sea, or other body of water. The term applies both to the place where the crossing is made and to the boat used for the purpose. By extension of the original meaning, ferry also denotes a

  • Ferryland (Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada)

    Ferryland, village, southeastern Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It lies on the eastern side of the Avalon Peninsula, about 40 miles (65 km) south of St. John’s. First visited by Portuguese and French fishermen early in the 16th century, it was named Ferryland, probably derived

  • Ferryman, The (play by Butterworth)

    Sam Mendes: In addition, The Ferryman was named best play. During this time he also directed The Lehman Trilogy, which had its world premiere in the West End in 2018. The play centres on the investment firm Lehman Brothers, which went bankrupt during the 2007–08 financial crisis.

  • Ferryville (Tunisia)

    Menzel Bourguiba, town located in north-central Tunisia. It lies on the southwestern shore of Lake Bizerte, 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Bizerte town and the Mediterranean Sea. Menzel Bourguiba, which is of modern origin, owes its development to the adjacent naval base and dockyard at Sidi

  • Fersen, Fredrik Axel von (Swedish politician)

    Fredrik Axel von Fersen was a soldier and politician who led Sweden’s Hat Party during the 18th-century Age of Freedom—a 52-year period of parliamentary government in his country. Educated in Sweden and abroad, Fersen entered the Swedish army in 1737. In 1739 he was given leave to join the French

  • Fersen, Hans Axel von (Swedish politician)

    Hans Axel von Fersen was a Swedish-French soldier, diplomat, and statesman who was active in counterrevolutionary activity after the French Revolution of 1789 and the rise of Napoleon. The son of Fredrik Axel von Fersen, Hans, like his father, transferred from the Swedish to the French army. He

  • Ferstel, Heinrich von (German architect)

    Western architecture: Germany and central Europe: …Church (1856–79) in Vienna by Heinrich von Ferstel. Indeed, Vienna was the centre of the most active and intriguing adaptations of Gothic. Friedrich Schmidt, who had worked under Zwirner at Cologne, was the leading revivalist. He built no fewer than eight churches in Vienna, ranging in date from the church…

  • Fert, Albert (French scientist)

    Albert Fert is a French scientist who, with Peter Grünberg, received the 2007 Nobel Prize for Physics for his independent codiscovery of giant magnetoresistance. Fert received master’s degrees in mathematics and physics from the École Normale Supérieure in Paris in 1962. He earned a doctorate in

  • Fertile Crescent (region, Middle East)

    Fertile Crescent, the region where the first settled agricultural communities of the Middle East and Mediterranean basin are thought to have originated by the early 9th millennium bce. The term was popularized by the American Orientalist James Henry Breasted. The Fertile Crescent includes a roughly

  • fertile material (nuclear physics)

    fissile material: …being artificially produced from the fertile materials uranium-238 and thorium-232, respectively. A fertile material, not itself capable of undergoing fission with low-energy neutrons, is one that decays into fissile material after neutron absorption within a reactor. Thorium-232 and uranium-238 are the only two naturally occurring fertile materials.

  • fertility (human reproduction)

    fertility, ability of an individual or couple to reproduce through normal sexual activity. About 90 percent of healthy, fertile women are able to conceive within one year if they have intercourse regularly without contraception. Normal fertility requires the production of enough healthy sperm by

  • fertility cult

    Aphrodite: …a goddess of love and fertility and even occasionally presided over marriage. Although prostitutes considered Aphrodite their patron, her public cult was generally solemn and even austere.

  • fertility drug (pharmacology)

    infertility: Treatment options: However, these “fertility drugs” also increase a woman’s chances of having multiple births, owing to the release of more than one egg at ovulation under the influence of the drug.

  • fertility leap (human social behavior)

    dance: Defining according to function: One motif in particular, the fertility leap, in which the male dancer lifts the woman as high as he can, is common to many courtship dances, such as the Tyrolean Schuhplattler.

  • fertility rate (statistics)

    fertility rate, average number of children born to women during their reproductive years. For the population in a given area to remain stable, an overall total fertility rate of 2.1 is needed, assuming no immigration or emigration occurs. It is important to distinguish birth rates—which are defined

  • fertility, soil

    agricultural sciences: Soil and water sciences: …century a general theory of soil fertility developed, embracing soil cultivation, the enrichment of soil with humus and nutrients, and the preparation of soil in accordance with crop demands. Water regulation, principally drainage and irrigation, is also included.

  • fertilization (reproduction)

    fertilization, union of a sperm nucleus, of paternal origin, with an egg nucleus, of maternal origin, to form the primary nucleus of an embryo. In all organisms the essence of fertilization is, in fact, the fusion of the hereditary material of two different sex cells, or gametes, each of which

  • fertilization (agriculture)

    Gregor Mendel: Theoretical interpretation: to the cell theory of fertilization, according to which a new organism is generated from the fusion of two cells. In order for pure breeding forms of both the dominant and the recessive type to be brought into the hybrid, there had to be some temporary accommodation of the two…

  • fertilizer (agriculture)

    fertilizer, natural or artificial substance containing the chemical elements that improve growth and productiveness of plants. Fertilizers enhance the natural fertility of the soil or replace chemical elements taken from the soil by previous crops. Soil fertility is the quality of a soil that

  • fertilizin (biochemistry)

    reproductive behaviour: Segmented worms: …produce a chemical substance called fertilizin that attracts the male epitokes and stimulates the shedding of sperm. Male epitokes of a polychaete found in the Atlantic Ocean emit a flashing light; females emit a steady light. The light may serve to attract male and female and to aid in species…

  • Fertő, Lake (lake, Europe)

    Neusiedler Lake, lake in Burgenland (eastern Austria) and northwestern Hungary, named from the Austrian town of Neusiedl and the Hungarian word for “swamp lake.” Formed several million years ago, probably as a result of tectonic subsidence, it is Austria’s lowest point (377 feet [115 metres] above

  • Fertőd (Hungary)

    Fertőd, town, Győr-Moson-Sopron megye (county), western Hungary. It lies near the south end of Fertő (German: Neusiedler) Lake on the Austrian frontier. It was a seat of the Esterházy princes, who were among the leading landed gentry of Hungary. At Fertőd they built the great Esterháza, or

  • Ferula assa-foetida (plant)

    asafoetida: …obtained chiefly from the plant Ferula assa-foetida of the carrot family Apiaceae. The whole plant is used as a fresh vegetable, the inner portion of the full-grown stem being regarded as a delicacy. The plant may grow as high as 2 metres (7 feet). After four years, when it is…

  • Ferula communis (herb)

    fennel: Other species: Giant fennel (Ferula communis), a member of the same family, is native to the Mediterranean region. Its stems grow to about 3 meters (10 feet) high and are used for tinder. Hog’s fennel, or sulfurweed (Peucedanum officinale), is another member of the Apiaceae family and…

  • Ferula foetida (plant)

    asafoetida: …obtained chiefly from the plant Ferula assa-foetida of the carrot family Apiaceae. The whole plant is used as a fresh vegetable, the inner portion of the full-grown stem being regarded as a delicacy. The plant may grow as high as 2 metres (7 feet). After four years, when it is…

  • Fervor (work by Torres Bodet)

    Jaime Torres Bodet: His first collection of verse, Fervor (1918), revealed Modernist tendencies. The theme of loneliness, his search for identity, and a longing for death expressed in these poems all foreshadowed the poet’s later work. El corazón delirante (1922; “The Delirious Heart”) and Canciones (1922; “Songs”) included highly lyrical love poems. In…

  • Fervor de Buenos Aires, poemas (poems by Borges)

    Jorge Luis Borges: Life: …was a volume of poems, Fervor de Buenos Aires, poemas (1923; “Fervour of Buenos Aires, Poems”). He is also credited with establishing the Ultraist movement in South America, though he later repudiated it. This period of his career, which included the authorship of several volumes of essays and poems and…

  • Ferzetti, Gabriele (Italian actor)

    On Her Majesty’s Secret Service: …by crime kingpin Draco (Gabriele Ferzetti), who explains that he is a widower and that Tracy is his daughter. Draco is concerned about Tracy’s reckless behaviour, and he offers Bond a large sum of money if he will marry her. Bond pretends to consider the offer and, in return,…

  • Fès (Morocco)

    Fès, city, northern Morocco, on the Wadi Fès just above its influx into the Sebou River. The oldest of Morocco’s four imperial cities, it was founded on the banks of the Wadi Fès by Idrīs I (east bank, about 789) and Idrīs II (west bank, about 809). The two parts were united by the Almoravids in

  • Fès, Treaty of (Morocco [1912])

    Morocco: Decline of traditional government (1830–1912): …choice but to sign the Treaty of Fez (March 30, 1912), by which Morocco became a French protectorate. In return, the French guaranteed that the status of the sultan and his successors would be maintained. Provision was also made to meet the Spanish claim for a special position in the…

  • Fesapo (syllogistic)

    history of logic: Syllogisms: Bramantip, Camenes, Dimaris, Fesapo,

  • Fescennine verse

    Fescennine verse, early native Italian jocular dialogue in Latin verse. At vintage and harvest, and probably at other rustic festivals, these were sung by masked dancers. They were similar to ribald wedding songs and to the obscene carmina triumphalia sung to victorious generals during their

  • Fescennini versus

    Fescennine verse, early native Italian jocular dialogue in Latin verse. At vintage and harvest, and probably at other rustic festivals, these were sung by masked dancers. They were similar to ribald wedding songs and to the obscene carmina triumphalia sung to victorious generals during their

  • Fesch, Joseph (French cardinal)

    Joseph Fesch was a French cardinal who was Napoleon’s ambassador to the Vatican in Rome. Fesch was a Corsican and the half brother of Napoleon’s mother. After studies at the Seminary of Aix (1781–86) he became archdeacon of the cathedral chapter of his native city of Ajaccio. During the French

  • fescue (plant)

    fescue, (genus Festuca), large genus of grasses in the family Poaceae, native to temperate and cold regions of both hemispheres. Several species are important pasture and fodder grasses, and a few are used in lawn mixtures. Some, such as tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea), grow well on bare ground

  • Feso (work by Mutswairo)

    Solomon M. Mutswairo: Mutswairo’s first novel, Feso (1956), was later banned by Rhodesian censors, but it quickly became required reading in nationalist circles because the plot seemed to be an allegory of the British-settler–Zimbabwean conflict. Mutswairo published his English version of the novel in 1974.

  • fess (heraldry)

    heraldry: Ordinaries: …is a bend sinister); the fess, a third drawn horizontally and taking up the center of the shield; and the chevron, resembling an inverted stripe in the rank badge of a noncommissioned officer. It should be noted that the bar is a diminutive of the fess, of the same shape,…

  • Fessenden, Reginald Aubrey (Canadian scientist)

    Reginald Aubrey Fessenden was a Canadian radio pioneer who on Christmas Eve in 1906 broadcast the first program of music and voice ever transmitted over long distances. The son of an Anglican minister, Fessenden studied at Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ontario, and at Bishop’s College in

  • Fessenden, William Pitt (American politician)

    William Pitt Fessenden was an American Whig politician who was influential in founding the Republican Party in 1854. Fessenden graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, in 1823 and began studying law. He was admitted to the bar in 1827 and served the Portland area (as a Whig) in the U.S.

  • festa dei sette pesci (holiday meal)

    Feast of the Seven Fishes, Italian American Christmas Eve meal involving the serving of a meatless dinner composed of seven different dishes of fish. Although Feast of the Seven Fishes is the most common name for this meal, it is also referred to as Christmas Eve Fish Dinner or the Vigil, and many

  • Festa Nazionale (Swiss holiday)

    Switzerland: Daily life and social customs: August 1 is National Day (German: Bundesfeier; French: Fête Nationale; and Italian: Festa Nazionale), which commemorates the agreement between representatives of the Alpine cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Nidwalden, who signed an oath of confederation in 1291. The holiday itself, however, dates only from 1891, and it became…

  • Festa, Costanza (Italian composer)

    madrigal: …generation of 16th-century madrigal composers: Costanza Festa, Philippe Verdelot, Jacques Arcadelt, and Adriaan Willaert. Important works by Festa and Verdelot appear in the first printed book of madrigals (Rome, 1530).

  • Festal Letters (letters by Athanasius)

    St. Athanasius: Life and major works: …his flock through the annual Festal Letters announcing the date of Easter. Pope Julius I wrote in vain on his behalf, and the general council called for 343 was no more successful—only Western and Egyptian bishops met at Serdica (modern Sofia, Bulgaria), and their appeal for Athanasius was not accepted…

  • Feste (fictional character)

    Twelfth Night: …members of Lady Olivia’s household—Feste the jester, Maria, Olivia’s uncle Sir Toby Belch, and Sir Toby’s friend Sir Andrew Aguecheek—who scheme to undermine the high-minded, pompous Malvolio by planting a love letter purportedly written by Olivia to Malvolio urging him to show his affection for her by smiling constantly…

  • Festfolk (Swedish music group)

    ABBA, Swedish Europop band that was among the most commercially successful groups in the history of popular music. In the 1970s it dominated the European charts with its catchy pop songs. Members included songwriter and keyboard player Benny Andersson (b. December 16, 1946, Stockholm, Sweden),

  • Festhaus (building, Cologne, Germany)

    Cologne: Architecture of Cologne: The Gürzenich, or Banquet Hall, of the merchants of the city (1441–47), reconstructed as a concert and festival hall, and the 16th-century Arsenal, which contains a historical museum, were both restored to their medieval form only on the outside.

  • Festinger, Leon (American psychologist)

    Leon Festinger was an American cognitive psychologist, best known for his theory of cognitive dissonance, according to which inconsistency between thoughts, or between thoughts and actions, leads to discomfort (dissonance), which motivates changes in thoughts or behaviours. Festinger also made

  • Festino (syllogistic)

    history of logic: Syllogisms: figure: Cesare, Camestres, Festino, Baroco,

  • festino nella sera del giovedì grasso avanti cena, Il (work by Banchieri)

    Adriano Banchieri: His II festino nella sera del giovedì grasso avanti cena (1608; modern English edition, The Animals Improvise Counterpoint, 1937) contains some delightful characterizations.

  • festival (religion)

    feast, day or period of time set aside to commemorate, ritually celebrate or reenact, or anticipate events or seasons—agricultural, religious, or sociocultural—that give meaning and cohesiveness to an individual and to the religious, political, or socioeconomic community. Because such days or

  • festival art (folk art)

    folk art: Festival art: A major folk category is festival art, which owes its genesis and much of its content to ancient seasonal celebrations. Since antiquity, the solar manifestations of the summer and winter solstices and the vernal and autumnal equinoxes have been bound up with the…

  • Festival Ballet (British ballet company)

    English National Ballet, British dance troupe. Organized in 1950 by Alicia Markova, Anton Dolin, and Julian Braunsweg with a corps de ballet drawn chiefly from the Cone-Ripman School in London and at Tring, Hertford, the troupe performs at locations throughout Great Britain and conducts world

  • Festival de Cannes (French film festival)

    Cannes film festival, film festival held annually in Cannes, France. First held in 1946 for the recognition of artistic achievement, the festival came to provide a rendezvous for those interested in the art and influence of the movies. Like other film festivals, it became an international

  • festival mask

    mask: Festive uses: Ludicrous, grotesque, or superficially horrible, festival masks are usually conducive to good-natured license, release from inhibitions, and ribaldry. These include the Halloween, Mardi Gras, or “masked ball” variety. The disguise is assumed to create a momentary, amusing character, often resulting in humorous confusions, or to achieve anonymity for the prankster…

  • Festival of Britain (fair, London, United Kingdom)

    fountain: Modern.: At the Festival of Britain, London (1951), a mobile water sculpture composed of pivotted receptacles was set in motion by changing points of gravity. When each receptacle was filled, it would overturn only to right itself and be filled again with water from above. Of permanent fountains,…

  • Festival of Cats (festival, Ypres, Belgium)

    Belgium: Daily life and social customs: Notable events include the Festival of Cats in Ypres, which is held once every three years and commemorates a practice from earlier centuries of tossing cats from the tower of the Cloth Hall to keep their numbers under control. (The cats helped guard textiles kept in the Cloth Hall…

  • Festival of Festivals (Canadian film festival)

    Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), film festival held annually in Toronto in September. It was founded in 1976 as the Festival of Festivals, with the aim of screening movies from other film festivals, and has since become one of the world’s largest annual showcases of film, attended by

  • festival of light (holiday)

    Midsummer, a holiday celebrating the traditional midpoint of the harvest season and the summer solstice (June 20 or 21), the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Midsummer is celebrated in many countries but is synonymous with Scandinavia, where it is observed as a national holiday

  • Festival of Pacific Arts (Polynesian festival)

    Polynesian culture: Contemporary Polynesia: The Festival of Pacific Arts, founded in 1972, has become a major venue for the perpetuation of the region’s arts, music, and dance. With the goal of reviving what was in danger of being lost, the festival is held every four years, each time hosted by…

  • Festival of the 14 Gods (Hindu festival)

    Tripura: Cultural life: The Kharchi Puja—also known as the Festival of the 14 Gods—has its origins in tribal tradition but is now a major temple festival celebrated within a predominantly Hindu framework by both tribal and nontribal peoples; it takes place in Agartala every July and honours the deities…

  • Festival of the Sun (Peruvian feast)

    sacrament: Sacramental ideas and practices of pre-Columbian America: In Peru at the Festival of the Sun, after three days of fasting, llamas, the sacred animals, were sacrificed as a burnt offering, and the flesh was eaten sacramentally at a banquet by the lord of the Incas and his nobles. It was then distributed to the rest of…

  • Festival of Unleavened Bread (Judaism)

    Passover, in Judaism, holiday commemorating the Hebrews’ liberation from slavery in Egypt and the “passing over” of the forces of destruction, or the sparing of the firstborn of the Israelites, when the Lord “smote the land of Egypt” on the eve of the Exodus. Passover begins with the 15th and ends

  • Festival Polonaise (work by Glinka)

    Mikhail Glinka: His last notable composition was Festival Polonaise for Tsar Alexander II’s coronation ball (1855).

  • Festival Theatre (theater, Bayreuth, Germany)

    Bayreuth: …of the Festival Theatre (Festspielhaus) was laid that same year. It opened in 1876 with the premiere performance of the Ring of the Nibelungen cycle. Since Wagner’s death in 1883, the festivals have been carried on by his relatives, including his wife, Cosima, his son Siegfried, and his grandsons…

  • Festival Theatre (theater, Stratford, Ontario, Canada)

    theatre: Theatre building after World War II: …Tanya Moiseyevich, Guthrie designed the Festival Theatre, which represents a fusion of the classical auditorium with the stage of Shakespeare. The experiment, with modifications, was repeated in 1963 at Minneapolis, where the Guthrie Theater was designed to Guthrie’s specifications. The Guthrie Theater, while it is reminiscent of his earlier theatre…

  • festoon (architecture)

    swag, in architecture and decoration, carved ornamental motif consisting of stylized flowers, fruit, foliage, and cloth, tied together with ribbons that sag in the middle and are attached at both ends. The distinction is sometimes made between a swag and a festoon by limiting the former to festoons

  • festoon (floral decoration)

    garland: …draped in loops (festoon or swag). Garlands have been a part of religious ritual and tradition from ancient times: the Egyptians placed garlands of flowers on their mummies as a sign of celebration in entering the afterlife; the Greeks decorated their homes, civic buildings, and temples with garlands and placed…

  • Festspielhaus (theater, Bayreuth, Germany)

    Bayreuth: …of the Festival Theatre (Festspielhaus) was laid that same year. It opened in 1876 with the premiere performance of the Ring of the Nibelungen cycle. Since Wagner’s death in 1883, the festivals have been carried on by his relatives, including his wife, Cosima, his son Siegfried, and his grandsons…

  • Festspielhaus (theater, Salzburg, Austria)

    Salzburg: The Festspielhaus (Festival Theatre), converted from the court stables built into the cliff of Monks’ Hill, consists of the Rock Riding School (1693), an auditorium for open-air performances; two large indoor opera houses (1926, 1960); and the Winter Riding School, used as a reception hall.

  • Festuca (plant)

    fescue, (genus Festuca), large genus of grasses in the family Poaceae, native to temperate and cold regions of both hemispheres. Several species are important pasture and fodder grasses, and a few are used in lawn mixtures. Some, such as tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea), grow well on bare ground

  • Festuca arundinacea (plant)

    fescue: …meadow fescue and tall or reed fescue (S. arundinaceus, formerly F. arundinacea) are Old World species that have become widespread in parts of North America.

  • Festuca elatior (plant)

    fescue: Meadow fescue (Schedonorus pratensis, formerly F. pratensis), a plant about 0.5 to 1.2 metres (1.6 to 4 feet) tall, is used for fodder and as a permanent pasture grass. Both meadow fescue and tall or reed fescue (S. arundinaceus, formerly F. arundinacea) are Old World…

  • Festuca ovina (plant)

    fescue: The fine-leaved sheep fescue (F. ovina), often found on mountainsides, grows in dense tufts and forms turfs in dry or sandy soil. Blue fescue (F. glauca) has smooth silvery leaves and is commonly planted in ornamental borders. Red fescue (F. rubra) is used in lawn grass mixtures.

  • Festuca ovina glauca (plant)

    fescue: Blue fescue (F. glauca) has smooth silvery leaves and is commonly planted in ornamental borders. Red fescue (F. rubra) is used in lawn grass mixtures.

  • Festuca pratensis (plant)

    fescue: Meadow fescue (Schedonorus pratensis, formerly F. pratensis), a plant about 0.5 to 1.2 metres (1.6 to 4 feet) tall, is used for fodder and as a permanent pasture grass. Both meadow fescue and tall or reed fescue (S. arundinaceus, formerly F. arundinacea) are Old World…

  • Festuca rubra (plant)

    fescue: Red fescue (F. rubra) is used in lawn grass mixtures.

  • Festung, Di (poetry by Sutzkever)

    Avrom Sutzkever: Di festung (1945; “The Fortress”) reflects his experiences as a member of the ghetto resistance movement in Belorussia (Belarus) and his service with Jewish partisans during World War II. Sutzkever was also a central cultural figure in the Vilna ghetto, where he organized and inspired…

  • Festus (poem by Bailey)

    Philip James Bailey: …English poet notable for his Festus (1839), a version of the Faust legend. Containing 50 scenes of blank-verse dialogue, about 22,000 lines in all, it was first published anonymously.

  • Festus, Sextus Pompeius (Latin grammarian)

    Sextus Pompeius Festus was a Latin grammarian who made an abridgment in 20 books, arranged alphabetically, of Marcus Verrius Flaccus’ De significatu verborum (“On the Meaning of Words”), a work that is otherwise lost. A storehouse of antiquarian learning, it preserves by quotation the work of other

  • FET (electronics)

    transistor: Field-effect transistors: Another kind of unipolar transistor, called the metal-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MESFET), is particularly well suited for microwave and other high-frequency applications because it can be manufactured from semiconductor materials with high electron mobilities that do not support an insulating oxide surface layer. These

  • Fet, Afanasy Afanasyevich (Russian author)

    Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet was a Russian poet and translator, whose sincere and passionate lyric poetry strongly influenced later Russian poets, particularly the Symbolist Aleksandr Blok. The illegitimate son of a German woman named Fet (or Foeth) and of a Russian landowner named Shenshin, whose name

  • feta (cheese)

    feta, fresh, white, soft or semisoft cheese of Greece, originally made exclusively from goat’s or sheep’s milk but in modern times containing cow’s milk. Feta is not cooked or pressed but is cured briefly in a brine solution that adds a salty flavour to the sharp tang of goat’s or sheep’s milk. The

  • fetal alcohol syndrome (pathology)

    fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), various congenital abnormalities in the newborn infant that are caused by the mother’s ingestion of alcohol about the time of conception or during pregnancy. Fetal alcohol syndrome is the most-severe type of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). The syndrome appears

  • fetal blood sampling (medicine)

    human genetic disease: Prenatal diagnosis: Both percutaneous umbilical blood sampling (PUBS) and preimplantation testing are rare, relatively high-risk, and performed only in very unusual cases. Preimplantation testing of embryos derived by in vitro fertilization is a particularly new technique and is currently used only in cases of couples who are at…

  • fetal doppler ultrasound (medicine)

    prenatal testing: Prenatal diagnostic tests: …amniotic cavity, and fetus; and fetal doppler ultrasound, which is used to examine blood flow in the umbilical cord, placenta, and fetal organs (certain conditions, such as sickle-cell anemia, can restrict fetal blood flow, leading to fetal abnormalities). Invasive prenatal diagnostic tests are associated with an increased risk of miscarriage.

  • fetal period (biology)

    gestation, in mammals, the time between conception and birth, during which the embryo or fetus is developing in the uterus. This definition raises occasional difficulties because in some species (e.g., monkeys and man) the exact time of conception may not be known. In these cases the beginning of

  • fetal personhood

    fetal personhood, aspect of legal personhood that designates human fetuses as entities that have rights and protections in the legal system. Laws that grant fetuses legal personhood may also apply to embryos or fertilized eggs, stages that occur before the fetal stage. The fetal personhood issue

  • Fetcani (South African history)

    Southern Africa: The Mfengu and the Mantatee: The upheaval affected the southern chiefdoms and rebellious tributaries attacked by Shaka as far away as Pondoland. Many of the refugees fled either into the eastern Cape or west onto the Highveld, although their precise number is a matter of dispute. In both areas…

  • fetch (oceanography)

    fetch, area of ocean or lake surface over which the wind blows in an essentially constant direction, thus generating waves. The term also is used as a synonym for fetch length, which is the horizontal distance over which wave-generating winds blow. In an enclosed body of water, fetch is also

  • fetch-decode-execute cycle (computing)

    computer: Central processing unit: …the CPU is the “fetch-decode-execute” cycle:

  • fête champêtre (painting)

    fête champêtre, (French: “rural festival”), in painting, representation of a rural feast or open-air entertainment. Although the term fête galante (“courtship party”) is sometimes considered to be a synonym for fête champêtre, it is also used to refer to a specific kind of fête champêtre: a more

  • Fête du Trône (Moroccan holiday)

    Muḥammad V: …the Moroccan nationalists organized the Fête du Trône (Throne Day), an annual festival to commemorate the anniversary of Muḥammad’s assumption of power. On these occasions he gave speeches that, though moderate in tone, encouraged nationalist sentiment. The French reluctantly agreed to make the festival an official holiday, and for the…

  • fête galante (painting)

    Western painting: France: …of Watteau’s wistful fantasies, called fêtes galantes, provided the models for the paintings of Jean-Baptiste Pater and Nicolas Lancret, both of whom conveyed a delicately veiled eroticism. Eroticism was more explicit in the sensuous nudes, both mythological and pastoral, of François Boucher. Another painter with whom amorous dalliance is a…

  • Fête Nationale (Swiss holiday)

    Switzerland: Daily life and social customs: August 1 is National Day (German: Bundesfeier; French: Fête Nationale; and Italian: Festa Nazionale), which commemorates the agreement between representatives of the Alpine cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Nidwalden, who signed an oath of confederation in 1291. The holiday itself, however, dates only from 1891, and it became…

  • Fête Nationale du Québec (Canadian holiday)

    Fête Nationale du Québec, official holiday of Quebec, Canada. Observed on June 24, the holiday marks the summer solstice and honours the patron saint of French Canadians—Jean Baptiste, or John the Baptist. Québécois begin their celebration of the occasion the night before, with bonfires, dancing,

  • Fêtes galantes (poems by Verlaine)

    Paul Verlaine: Life.: In Fêtes galantes personal sentiment is masked by delicately clever evocations of scenes and characters from the Italian commedia dell’arte and from the sophisticated pastorals of 18th-century painters, such as Watteau and Nicolas Lancret, and perhaps also from the contemporary mood-evoking paintings of Adolphe Monticelli. In…

  • Fethiye (Turkey)

    Fethiye, town, southwestern Turkey. It lies along a sheltered bay in the eastern part of the Gulf of Fethiye on the Mediterranean Sea that is backed by the western ranges of the Taurus Mountains. Much of the town is new, having been rebuilt after a disastrous earthquake in 1958. Fethiye’s enlarged

  • Feti, Domenico (Italian painter)

    Domenico Fetti was an Italian Baroque painter whose best-known works are small representations of biblical parables as scenes from everyday life—e.g., The Good Samaritan. These works, which Fetti painted between 1618 and 1622, were executed in a style that emphasized the use of rich colour and the