F
(ɛf)
the sixth letter of the Roman alphabet, represents historically the 6th letter (waw) of the Semitic alphabet, which expressed the sounds of w (approximately) and the related vowel u. In early Greek writing the letter had at first the same twofold power; but subsequently its accidental varieties of form came to be differentiated in function, the form F (retaining the 6th place in the alphabet) being appropriated to the consonantal use, while V or Y served for the vowel, and is the source of the Roman U, V, Y, as explained under those letters. As the sound w was lost in the chief literary Greek dialects of the classical period, its sign F (called by the grammarians from its form the digamma) is not included in the later Gr. alphabet. In the Roman adoption of the Gr. alphabet the sound given to the 6th letter was the voiceless labiodental spirant (f). In OE. the letter retained the sound (f) unless it stood between two vowels, when it was pronounced as the corresponding voiced spirant (v). In the S.W., according to some scholars, the voiced sound was used also initially. In mod. Eng. F is always sounded (f), exc. in the word of, where it is voiced to (v) through absence of stress.
In MSS. a capital F was often written as ff. A misunderstanding of this practice has caused the writing of Ff or ff at the beginning of certain family names, e.g. Ffiennes, Ffoulkes.
| c 1000 ælfric Gram. iii. (Z.) 6 Semivocales syndon seofan: f, l, m, n, r, s, x. 1580 Baret Alv. F., If ye drawe in length and therewithall put your under lippe to your ouer teeth, ye shall heare the verie sound of EF. |
b. attrib. (see
quots.).
| 1836 Dubourg Violin (1878) 274 The parallel holes on each side..were..straighter than what are called the f holes. 1880 Grove Dict. Mus. I. 500 The holes in the belly of the violin are called the f holes from their shape. |
II. Used as a symbol, with reference to its place (6th) in the alphabet.
1. F, f,
f is used to denote anything occupying the sixth place in a series. (
Cf. A, B, C, etc.)
2. In Music F is the name of the 4th note of the diatonic scale of C major; called F in Germany,
fa in France and Italy. Also the scale or key which has that note for its tonic.
f. clef: the bass clef (see
clef1), placed on the line in the stave appropriated to the note F; its form is said to be a corruption of that of the letter.
| 1848 Rimbault First Bk. Piano 53 Place the first finger on every black key except F-sharp. 1856 Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh v. 214 Boldinacci when her F in alt Had touched the silver tops of Heaven itself. 1880 Grove Dict. Mus. I. 184 The Sonata in C..contained when completed a long Andante in F. |
3. F-layer,
F-region: the highest and most strongly ionized layer in the ionosphere; the Appleton layer.
| 1928 E. V. Appleton in Papers Internat. Union Sci. Radio Telegr. 1927 i. 2/1 ‘Reflection’..takes place at an upper layer (F layer) which is richer in ionization. 1930 ― in Proc. R. Soc. A. CXXVI. 550 The normally polarised components of primary, secondary and tertiary downcoming rays from F region would be F1, F2 and F3, etc. 1930 Appleton & Green Ibid. CXXVII. 170 During the (a) series [of day-time tests]..out of eight runs there were three on which E layer only was recorded, three on which F layer only was recorded, and two days on which both were recorded simultaneously. 1942 Electronic Engin. XIV. 632 The F layer..is composed of two parts..the lower part, at about 130 miles' height..and the upper, at 200 miles. 1968 G. M. B. Dobson Explor. Atmos. (ed. 2) viii. 153 During the night..the ionization of the E region is much reduced, and that of the F1 region is reduced enough to make it indistinguishable from the F2 region and the two become a single F region. |
III. Abbreviations.
1. F.
= various proper names, as Frederick, Fanny;
= Fellow in F.G.S., etc.;
= father as a title of Roman Catholic priests.
b. Physics. F.
= Fahrenheit (temperature).
c. Comm. F stands for
free as in F.A.A. or f.a.a.
= free of all average,
F.O.B., etc.
d. In a ship's log F stands for
fog; FF for
thick fog.
e. In Music
f stands for
forte (loud),
ff for
fortissimo (very loud), but sometimes
ff stands for
piu forte (louder), and
fortissimo is indicated by
fff.
f. F formerly used in criminal procedure (see
quots.).
g. F (
orig. standing for ‘fine’) is the distinctive mark of a particular description of black-lead pencil; also
attrib. h. As a chemical symbol, F
= Fluorine.
| f. 1551 Act 5–6 Edw. VI, c. 4 To be..burned in the cheeke with an hot yron, hauing the letter F. whereby..they may be knowne..for fraymakers and fighters. 1809 Tomlins Law Dict., F. is a letter wherewith felons &c. are branded and marked with a hot iron, on their being admitted to the benefit of clergy. |
i. Biol. F1,
F2, etc.
= first, second, etc., filial generation (see
quot. 1949).
| 1902 W. Bateson et al. Rep. Evol. Comm. R. Soc. I. 160 The offspring of the first cross are the first filial generation F. Subsequent filial generations may be denoted by F2, F3, &c. 1949 Darlington & Mather Elem. Genetics 391 F1, the first generation of the cross between two individuals homozygous for the particular genes which distinguished them. F2, the second filial generation obtained by self-fertilizing or crossing inter se individuals of an F1. F3, progeny obtained by self-fertilization of an F2 individual. 1968 M. W. Strickberger Genetics vi. 99 The smooth F1 seeds..produced upon self-fertilization an F2 of 5474 smooth seeds and 1850 wrinkled. |
j. f or F (
Physics and
Chem.): originally used to designate one of the four main series of lines in atomic spectra, but now more frequently applied to electronic orbitals, states, etc., possessing three units of angular momentum.
| 1910 W. M. Hicks in Phil. Trans. R. Soc. CCX. 97 We recognise four typical sequences, the P, S, D and the new F type.., the fundamental or primitive type. 1965 Phillips & Williams Inorg. Chem. I. ii. 46 There occurs a group of 14 elements, the lanthanides or rare-earths, in which the 4f sub-shell is filled. |
k. In
Physics F is the symbol of the hyperfine quantum number, expressing the resultant of the nuclear spin I and the electronic angular momentum J.
| 1925 Ruark & Chenault in Phil. Mag. 6th Ser. L. 947 We call these integers fine quantum numbers, and shall designate them by the letter f. 1937 J. W. T. Spinks tr. Herzberg's Atomic Spectra & Atomic Structure v. 187 The total angular momentum F of the whole atom, including nuclear spin. 1967 Condon & Odishaw Handbk. Physics (ed. 2) vii. iv. 68/1 At low magnetic fields I and J are tightly coupled to form a resultant angular momentum F = I + J, whose quantum number F at low fields is a good quantum number. |
l. Bacteriol. [
abbrev. of
fertility.]
F,
F agent,
F factor, etc., a particulate factor which determines the mating type of certain bacteria (
esp. Escherichia coli); hence
F+, designating cells possessing the factor but not having it integrated into the chromosome;
F-, designating cells lacking the factor;
F{p} (or
F prime), designating cells in which a chromosomal fragment is attached to the factor. Also
F duction, the conveyance of genes from F{p} cells into F
- cells.
| 1952 J. Lederberg et al. in Genetics XXXVII. 721 At the time, W-1607 was not analyzed further, but in view of later work will be labelled F-, in contrast to the type F+. 1953 Jrnl. Gen. Microbiol. VIII. 92 The majority..of F agents must remain bound to the cells. 1959 Adelberg & Burns in Rec. Genetic Soc. Amer. XXVIII. 57 The wild type sex factor (F{p}) of strain K-12 is characterized by its low affinity for the chromosome. 1960 F. Jacob et al. in Symp. Soc. Gen. Microbiol. X. 77 The similarities observed between this process, which might be called F-duction or sex-duction, and transduction with phage are extremely striking. 1967 F. E. Swatek Textbk. Microbiol. x. 291 In F+ × F- matings the F factor is transferred to F- bacteria. |
2. the three F's (see
quot.).
| 1881 Daily News 19 Jan. 5/4 Fair rents, fixity of tenure, and free sale, popularly known as the three F's. 1891 Ibid. 8 Sept. 3/3 Why not go in at once for the three F's—fair rent, fixity of tenure, and free sale. |
3. a. (Abbreviations given here with the full stop are frequently found without it.)
F.A.,
= Fanny Adams 2;
F.A., Football Association;
F.A.F., Fresh Air Fund;
F.A.N.Y., (a member of the) First Aid Nursing Yeomanry; also
Fany;
F.A.O., Food and Agriculture Organization (of the United Nations);
f.a.q., fair average quality;
F.A.Q. (
f.a.q.), free alongside quay;
F.A.S. (
f.a.s.), free alongside ship;
F.B.A., Fellow of the British Academy;
F.B.I., Federal Bureau of Investigation (
U.S.);
F.B.I., Federation of British Industries;
F.C., football club;
F.C.C., Federal Communications Commission (
U.S.);
F.D.C.,
fleur de coin;
F.F.(V.). the first family or families (of Virginia); a member or descendant of one of these (
U.S.);
F.G., fine grain;
F.H.B., family hold back (a
colloq. intimation to the members of a family that their guests have first claim on the course or helping about to be served);
F.I.D.O. (see
FIDO);
F.I.T.,
f.i.t., free in truck;
F.L.N., (
Fr.) Front de la Libération Nationale, an Algerian nationalist organization;
F.M., field-magnet;
F.M.,
f.m., frequency modulation;
F.O., Foreign Office;
F.O.B.,
f.o.b., free on board;
F.O.B.S., fractional orbital bombardment system;
F.O.C., Father of the Chapel (see
chapel n. 10);
F.O.R.,
f.o.r., free on rail;
F.O.T.,
f.o.t., free on truck;
F.P.A., Family Planning Association;
F.P.S.,
f.p.s., feet per second;
F.P.S.,
f.p.s., foot-pound-second; (
cf. foot n. 35);
F.R.C.S., Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons;
F.R.G., Federal Republic of Germany;
F.R.S., Fellow of the Royal Society;
F.S.,
f.s., feet per second;
F.W.D.,
f.w.d., front- (or four-) wheel drive.
| 1919, 1930 *F.A. [see Fanny Adams 2]. 1944 Penguin New Writing XX. 128 Bread—that's about what we got as kids. Bread, and sweet F.A. 1967 J. Gardner Madrigal ix. 251 The small industrial organisation whose own security officers know sweet FA. |
| 1892 in Gibson & Pickford Assoc. Football (1905) I. 112 The meetings of the *F.A. are carried out under rules of procedure. 1930 Morning Post 18 Nov. 15/4 The first round proper of the F.A. Cup. |
| 1907 Westm. Gaz. 22 July 3/2 Without distinction of creed or race, the *F.A.F. takes away the children of the slums from the festering alleys..of London. |
| 1918 E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms 218 Fanny, in the parlance of the British soldier, the name given to the women of the *F.A.N.Y., or First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. 1940 War Illustr. 12 Jan. 599 Two volunteers of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, known as ‘Fanys’, are cleaning their ambulance. 1958 P. Kemp No Colours or Crest xi. 243 The Major-General had a suite of offices managed by four or five very tall, very beautiful F.A.N.Y.s known as the Potsdam Grenadiers. 1966 M. R. D. Foot SOE in France viii. 200 Mary Herbert a FANY courier reached the Riviera by felucca. |
| 1946 New Statesman 14 Sept. 183 (heading) *F.A.O. at work. 1963 Listener 21 Mar. 508/3 The F.A.O. has estimated that about half the population of the world suffers from hunger or malnutrition. |
| 1957 N.Z. Timber Jrnl. Feb. 45 *f.a.q., abbreviation for fair average quality. 1959 Times 3 Jan. 10/2 No doubt Sir Allen Brown would be inclined (in the fashion of his countrymen) to dub himself an ‘f.a.q. Australian’, but in fact ‘fair, average quality’ hardly does justice to the man. |
| 1928 Daily Mail 25 July 19/3 Oats: Plate *f.a.q. afloat 27s. 3d. |
| 1888 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin., *F.A.S., free alongside ship. Engages to deliver goods on the wharf without extra charge. |
| 1911 Jrnl. Roman Stud. I. p. vi, J. E. Sandys, Litt.D. *F.B.A. 1980 Who's Who 201/2 Berlin, Sir Isaiah..FBA 1957. |
| 1936 Lit. Digest 21 Nov. 36 The outlaws shot their way out killing one *FBI man. 1952 Manch. Guardian Weekly 30 Oct. 3 The FBI and the Central Intelligence Agency. |
| 1921 Times 22 Nov. 14/3 (heading) Meeting of the *F.B.I. to-morrow. 1958 Spectator 4 July 33/2 The FBI has just published the results of its second industrial survey. |
| 1908 A. Bennett Old Wives' Tale ii. vii. 254 The Bursley *F.C. had ‘tied’ with the Knype F.C. on the Knype ground. |
| 1937 Printers' Ink Monthly Apr. 53/1 *FCC, Federal Communications Commission. 1955 Times 27 July 9/7 The F.C.C. rules require that if it is extended to one political candidate his opponents must be accorded equal accommodation. |
| 1892 Spink's Numismatic Circ. Dec. 14/2 *F.D.C. = Fleur de coin. 1966 P. A. Rayner Coin Collecting for Amateurs i. 5 The following are the main degrees of condition used in this country: F.D.C. (Fleur-de-Coin): literally—flower of the coin, a French term used to denote perfect mint state with absolutely no wear or damage, [etc.]. |
| 1813 M. L. Weems Drunkard's Looking-Glass (ed. 2) 11 With hearts full charged with *F.F. Slings, they came upon the ground. 1850 ‘M. Tensas’ Louisiana Swamp Doctor 178 Major Smith..[was] the first one of the race [of Virginians] to acknowledge that he was not an F.F. 1917 Birds of Amer. III. 64/2 Better yet, he [sc. the cardinal] is an FF of America. |
| 1847 Knickerbocker XXIX. 495 We could make out..a set of letters that looked like a disorderly *F.F.V... A Virginia scion insisted that they were an abbreviation he had seen used in the navy to represent ‘First Family in Virginia’. 1861 R. H. Newell Orpheus C. Kerr (1863) I. 253 That piece of American intelleck..worthy of an F.F.V. 1931 W. Faulkner Sanctuary iii. 22 An F.F.V., or just an unfortunate sojourner there? |
| 1871 English Mechanic 17 Mar. 615/3 Medium rifle powder..is still used..under the name of ‘powder shell *F.G.’ (fine grain). |
| 1911 ‘I. Hay’ Safety Match v. 82 She murmured to such of the family as were within earshot the mystic formula, ‘*F.H.B.!’ |
| 1888 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin., *F.I.T., free in truck. Engages to load goods in railway trucks without extra charge. |
| 1956 Times 7 Apr. 6/4 An office belonging to the other Algerian Nationalist Movement, the National Liberation Front (*F.L.N.), was also raided today. 1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 14 Feb. 82/5 The French will inevitably have to negotiate with the F.L.N. |
| 1893 W. P. Maycock Electr. Lighting ii. viii. §134 The *F.M.s of an alternator must be separately excited. 1942 Electronic Engin. XIV. 640 A special f.m. amplifier. 1962 FM [see amplitude 6 d.]. |
| 1859 Queen Victoria Let. 14 June in R. Fulford Dearest Child (1964) 194 Lord Palmerston..could not insist on Lord John's not having the *F.O. if he insisted on having it! 1959 E. Pound Thrones civ. 90 Resigned from the F.O. and ‘went into the City’. |
| 1890 Economist 22 Feb. (Suppl.) 12/1 Bleach opened firm in January at {pstlg}7 16s per ton for hard wood, *f.o.b., and {pstlg}7 5s per ton for soft wood f.o.r. 1959 Ann. Reg. 1958 490 A total value of about $20 million f.o.b. for the year. |
| 1967 Economist 11 Nov. 622/2 *FOBS puts a vehicle into orbit round the earth, in either direction, about a hundred miles up; it then launches a missile, when told to do so, probably before completing a full circuit. 1969 U.S. News & World Rep. 10 Mar. 31/3 FOBS, fractional-orbit bombardment system. A missile that orbits the earth and can deliver its warheads from space. A Soviet development that has no U.S. counterpart. |
| 1929 Printing Federation Bull. Nov. 6/1 Many *F.O.C.'s will agree there are circumstances in many printing firms which militate against the formation of works committees. 1955 R. J. Schwartz Compl. Dict. Abbrev. 73/2 FOC, Father of the Chapel. 1986 Times 11 Mar. 2/8, I appreciate the FOCs' concern for those who went on strike and were sacked. |
| 1888 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin., *F.O.R., free on rail. Signifies the placing of goods on the railway without extra charge. 1890 f.o.r. [see f.o.b. above]. |
| 1888 Lockwoods's Dict. Mech. Engin., *F.O.T., free on truck. The same as F.I.T. |
| a 1940 9th Ann. Rep. Family Planning Assoc. 2 The Report on the Committee before which the *F.P.A. presented evidence in December, 1937. 1966 New Statesman 17 June 870/1 When Mr Robinson, the Minister of Health, opened the Family Planning Association's recent conference in London he gave the final pat to the..mantle of respectability resting on the FPA's shoulders. 1986 Roundabout (Brisbane) 19 June 14/1 The 30 second commercial features Brisbane Bullets captain Larry Sengstock, as part of the FPA's campaign. |
| 1945 T. A. Dickinson Aeronaut. Dict. 433/2 *F.P.S., feet per second. 1962 J. Glenn in Into Orbit 200 It was 25,730 fps instead of 25,738 fps. |
| 1892 G. F. Barker Physics i. ii. 10 In applied physics another absolute system is sometimes used, based upon the foot, the pound, and the second... This system is called the foot-pound-second system, or more briefly the *F.P.S. system. 1962 A. R. W. Hayes Revision Physics §1. 4. The foot-poundal is the f.p.s. unit of energy or work. |
| 1829 Edin. Med. & Surg. Jrnl. XXXII. p.iv, Observations on painful subcutaneous tubercle, with histories and cases of the disease. By William Wood, *F.R.C.S. 1936 Mencken Amer. Lang. (ed. 4) 272 A surgeon is usually plain Mr., and prefers to be so called, though he may have M.D. on his card, along with F.R.C.S. (fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons). 1984 Whitaker's Almanack 1985 221/2 Serjeant Surgeon, W. Slack, m. ch., f.r.c.s. |
| 1960 Internat. Affairs (Moscow) Dec. 69/1 The greatest concentration of American armed forces in Europe is in the *F.R.G. 1978 Europa Year Bk. I. 712/1 Saarland, under French occupation, was rejoined with the FRG administratively in January 1957. |
| 1731 Gentleman's Mag. I. 181/1 The Gardeners Dictionary: By Phillip Miller, *F.R.S. 1969 Listener 22 May 728/2 It is heartening these days to find John Sparrow reaffirming his faith in that civilisation..whose key emblems he takes to be an FRS and a Chancery Judge. |
| 1880 Encycl. Brit. XI. 304/2 The bullets themselves should retain a velocity of about 500 *f.s. on striking. 1905 Kynoch Jrnl. July–Sept. 156 Accuracy does not demand a muzzle velocity higher than 2,300 f.s. |
| 1958 News Chron. 25 Nov. 7/5 (Advt.), The Austin commercial range includes all-purpose vehicles..and the *FWD Gipsy with rubber torsion suspension. 1959 Motor 11 Feb. 62/1 Nowadays f.w.d. is invariably combined with independent front wheel springing. |
b. Photogr. F, f
= Focal length. Used in combination with numbers to indicate the ratio between the focal length of the lens and the diameter of the stop.
| 1892 C. H. Bothamley Ilford Man. Photogr. v. 34 For example, f/8 and f/16 mean that the diameter of the stop is, in the first case, one-eighth, and, in the second case, one-sixteenth of the focal length of the lens. 1903 A. Watkins Photogr. (ed. 2) 42 Instead of having to work out afresh the value of the diaphragm, it is much more convenient to regard the lengthening of the camera as a separate influence which I have named the F factor. Ibid. 43 The F factor to allow for the lengthened focus of the lens, and S the value of the subject. Ibid. 45 The F figure (distance of image to lens in terms of focus of lens) is always the same as the degree of enlargement plus 1. 1918 Photo-Miniature XV. Mar. (Gloss.), F(f/·) Numbers—denote the ‘speed’ of a lens. About the most rapid lens is f/3 to f/4·5... The f/ number is the number of times the diameter of the stop will divide into the focal length of the lens. 1959 News Chron. 20 June 6/7 The apertures or stops, as they are sometimes called, are marked in f/numbers. If a lens is described as an f/4 lens, it means that is its maximum or widest aperture. 1968 A. Diment Gt. Spy Race vii. 107, I started photographing right then, the light meter said I was okay on F2·8 at a thirtieth. 1970 Amateur Photographer 13 May 66/1 The actual diameter of the hole was marked on it, so that f/11 showed that the hole was one eleventh of the focal length. |
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Add:
[III.] [1.] m. [
Abbrev. of
fibre.]
F Plan Diet, a commercial name (proprietary in the
U.S.) for a type of high-fibre diet. Freq.
ellipt., as
F-Plan.
| 1982 A. Eyton F-Plan 9 The F-Plan shows you how to cut your calorie intake and at the same time increase your intake of dietary fibre from the unrefined cereal foods and the fruits and vegetables which provide it. 1983 Financial Times 18 Aug. 9/4 The newly promoted F plan diet, which underlined the nutritional value of beans, fortuitously coincided with the Heinz campaign message. 1983 Which? Oct. 443/1 The ‘F-Plan’ is probably the best known, but many of today's diets—both for slimming and health reasons—recommend a high intake of fibre. 1984 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 1 May tm43/2 P. Leiner Nutritional Products, Inc., Torrance, Calif...F Plan Diet... For vitamins and dietary food supplements. |
[3.] [a.] FCL, full container load.
| 1968 Proc. Internat. Container Symposium (London Chamber of Commerce) May 83/2 The provision of the complete door-to-door operation by them, irrespective of whether cargo moves in full container loads (*FCL) or less than container load (LCL) quantities, is generally assumed to sound the death knell of the forwarding agent in the Australian trade. 1986 FCL [see LCL s.v. *L 8 a]. |
FT, Financial Times;
esp. in
FT Index, any of a number of stock indices published daily by the
Financial Times newspaper;
cf. *
Footsie n.| 1960 Financial Times 2 Jan. 6 (in figure) *F.T. Industrial ordinary index 50{pcnt}. 1965 Ibid. 1 Jan. 17/1 There were 764 gains in F.T.-quoted stocks. 1981 ‘D. Jordan’ Double Red xv. 69 The FT index had predictably plunged to a new low. |
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FP n. chiefly
Sc. former pupils (or pupil);
esp. in the names of certain rugby clubs which were originally established by alumni of a particular school.
| 1921 Times 14 Jan. 5/4 Stewartonians v. Glasgow High School *F.P. 1993 I. Welsh Trainspotting (1994) 63 Nay wey though, will they offer a George Heriots FP a porterin joab in a hotel. That's only fir us plebs. 2007 Evening News (Edinb.) (Nexis) 9 Oct. 18 Bruce changed the rugby landscape in Scotland. Before he came along, all the FP clubs were virtual closed shops. |
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FDI n. Econ. = foreign direct investment n. at
foreign adj. and
n. Additions.
| 1974 Jrnl. Internat. Business Stud. 5 93 The parts suppliers have also been active in foreign direct investment (*FDI). 2002 Foreign Policy Sept.–Oct. 60/1 During the eight years before NAFTA, the average annual flow of FDI into Mexico was approximately $3.47 billion. |
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FEMA n. U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, an agency of the
U.S. federal government established in 1979 to coordinate disaster relief and prevention efforts.
| 1978 Reorganization Plan No. 3 (Disaster Preparedness): Hearings before Subcomm. Intergovernmental Relations (U.S. Congr. Senate Comm. Governmental Affairs) 3 The establishment of the Federal Emergency Management Agency—*FEMA—an independent unit in the executive branch, whose director will report directly to the President. 2004 Los Angeles Times (Electronic ed.) 8 Jan. (Home ed.) b8 [Governor] Schwarzenegger has asked for public agency and individual relief from FEMA. |
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fMRI n. Med. = functional magnetic resonance imaging n. at
functional adj. and
n. Additions; (also) a scan carried out using this technique.
| 1993 Magn. Resonance Med. 30 161 The methods are applied to experimental *FMRI data from the motor-cortex. 1997 Daily Tel. 17 Mar. 14/7 PET and fMRI detect brain regions with the highest blood flow—regions which are working hardest. 2002 T. Shimoda Fourth Treasure (2003) 88 We primarily conduct brain fMRIs in this lab. If you want good results, the subject's head has to be absolutely immobile. |
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FMV n. = full-motion video n. at
full adj. and
n.3 and
adv. Additions.
| 1985 Back Stage 30 Aug. b20/2 Full motion video (*FMV) teleconferencing, EM (Electronic Mail), CBI (Computer Based Instruction), et al. 1991 New Scientist 21 Sept. 35/2 The multimedia units due to go on sale in Europe early next year will offer FMV. 2000 S. Poole Trigger Happy iv. 90 FMV sequences can be graceful and beautiful in their own right (especially in the Final Fantasy games, where they alone can eat up $4 million of the budget). |
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FoE n. (also
FOE)
= Friends of the Earth n. at
friend n. and
adj. Additions.
| 1971 Ecologist Dec. 33/1 The dropping of the Boeing SST scheme, the non-flooding of the Grand Canyon and the halting of the Alaska oil pipeline may all legitimately be put down to successful *FOE lobbying there. 1986 Griffitti (Brisbane) Sept. 9/1 FOE Adelaide called a rally to march on the Labor Party state conference. 1997 Guardian 13 Aug. (Society section) 5/5 The failure so far to protect the threatened Offham Marshes site of special scientific interest in East Sussex makes FoE fear for the future. |
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FSA n. Brit. Financial Services Act (of 1986), a statute regulating the investment business in the United Kingdom (
rare after the 1997 formation of the Financial Services Authority).
| 1987 Financial Times 16 Jan. 16/5 The protagonist, a brewing company, would not even have been covered by the *FSA. 1999 Scotl. on Sunday (Nexis) 21 Feb. 5 The vagaries of the Financial Services Act (the FSA was drafted in 1986 before angel investment activity really took off) mean that much of what angels do is illegal. |
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FSA n. Brit. Financial Services Authority, an organization established in 1997 to act as the regulator of financial companies and institutions in the United Kingdom.
| 1997 Evening Standard 28 Oct. 35/2 The Bill will also set out the statutory objectives of the *FSA. 2003 Daily Tel. 19 May 25/1 The FSA is particularly interested in share purchases and complex bets taken out on the Selfridges share price, known as contracts for difference. |
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FTL adj. and
adv. Science Fiction faster than light (also as
adv.).
| 1964F. Pohl in If Nov. 115/2 Until some frabjous super-Batman invented the mythical *FTL drive it would always be so. At possible speeds..it was a matter of decades to reach almost every worthwhile planet. 1969 Amazing Stories Mar. 73/2 They'll probably stay sub-light... But would it help us to go FTL? 2001 Sci. Fiction Chron. July 26/3 The problem is with a new FTL drive that apparently works except that the six guys who've tested it haven't been heard from since. |